Established more than 40 years ago, the Exponents are Kiwi rock legends.

They’re part of New Zealand’s sonic landscape – a guaranteed play at the pub, a party, or a summer barbeque.

The band initially parted ways in 1999, but have periodically reunited in the years since and will be doing the same for this year’s Synthony Festival.

Frontman Jordan Luck told Jack Tame they’re very excited about this one – they only do a handful of shows as the Exponents these days, so he’s really looking forward to it.

"It’s going to be an amazing event.”

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Amid all the nostalgia and reunion tours of late, Kevin Milne has been battling to keep his music taste fresh.

Instead of rushing to buy a ticket for Guns N’ Roses or Split Enz, he picked up a ticket to Kiwi band The Beths and went along last night.

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"It’s been three years since I was last in Tauranga and it’s so uplifting to see cranes in the sky, the glossy sheen of brand-new buildings, and the civic centre’s sure-footed makeover taking shape. Fresh and inviting public spaces are continuing to unfurl across the Te Papa peninsula and waterfront. After paying my regards to the delightful Hairy Maclary and friends sculptures adorning the fabulously enticing children’s playground on Tauranga’s waterfront in a story book setting, I checked out The Strand Reserve and waterfront boardwalk. It has immeasurably enhanced the city centre’s sense of connection with Tauranga Harbour. There’s a great new sense of art-filled vitality sprouting in the city centre. A starring specimen in Red Square is the stunning public sculpture called Rauhea."

Read Mike's full article.

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Hamilton is welcoming thousands of music fans for Homegrown festival today.

The festival has returned to the city it started in after almost two decades on Wellington's waterfront.

More than 25 thousand people are expected at Claudelands Oval, including Chris Schulz.

He joined Jack Tame from the festival to chat about this year’s offering.

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A Better Life by Lionel Shriver

Gloria Bonaventura, a divorced mother of three living with her 26-year-old son Nico in a sprawling house in Brooklyn, decides to participate in a new city programme - Big Apple, Big Heart - that would pay her to take in a migrant as a boarder. Gloria is thrilled when sweet, kind, helpful Martine arrives. But Nico is sceptical. A classic live-at-home, unemployed Gen Zer with no interest in adulthood, Nico resents the indignity of moving from his self-contained basement flat and back into his childhood bedroom.

As the months go by, Martine endears herself to both Nico's sisters, while finding her way into Gloria's heart. But as Martine's disturbingly dodgy compatriots begin to show up, Nico grows only more hostile to both his mother's altruism and the 'migrant crisis' in general - though turns out to be anything but a reliable narrator himself.

Rasputin by Antony Beevor

When Russia’s Dowager Empress was pregnant with the future Tsar, she dreamed that a peasant would one day kill her son. The idea terrified her, and for the rest of her days she ‘lived under the pressure of the prophecy’. Did the prophecy come true with the arrival at court of a mysterious, barely literate moujhik from Siberia, Grigori Rasputin?

In this extraordinary portrait of an enigmatic character, Antony Beevor brings readers closer than ever before to Rasputin’s scandalous life and death. Though he had no official position at court, Rasputin’s hold over the Romanovs became the stuff of legend. Exaggerated accounts of political and financial corruption swirled around him, to say nothing of the stories of his debauchery with the Empress and even her daughters. The consequences of the rumor and conspiracy theories were devastating—when the February revolution broke out in 1917, hardly a sword was raised in the Tsar’s defense.

Through extensive use of previously unpublished reports, interviews, and interrogations, Beevor shows the truth of Rasputin’s rampant lust and opportunism, victimization of poor and vulnerable women, and deep hypocrisy and corruption. Part political thriller, part gothic mystery, Rasputin is a fascinating story of human perversity.

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Even though everybody has to sleep, it's rare that people consider how sustainability can play a role in their bedroom.

Kate Hall joined Jack Tame for a chat about a few ways you can make your sleeping environment a bit more sustainable – from the mattress to the bedding to the furniture itself.

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Cicadas are slowly on the wane towards the end of March. It’s been a pretty Noisy March so far, typical of the regular system whereby Cicadas have a three, five, or seven year life cycle.

Black field crickets (Teleogryllus commodus) are still making a heck of a noise in the late afternoon/evening, especially in the North Island and top of the South. They’ll be enjoying that dodgy boy-girl party for at least another month or more! Black field crickets make their characteristic noise by rubbing their wings together (great mating calls).

You won’t see them often, as they hide in cracks in the soil during the day, but when the sun goes down the crickets will come to the surface to eat grasses – they can do a lot of damage to pasture and lawns, leaving bare soil around their home cracks.

Control is quite hard. In the old days, farmers used wheat, soaked in Maldison, strewn over the paddock in early summer (January is the month before crickets become adults and hence, reproduce). For a lawn it might be a nice idea to pour water with a good dash of dish-washing liquid down the holes of these insects in the middle of a hot day. The crickets emerge in the noon-day sun (because the soapy water stings their eyes, I reckon) and the sun will heat the black bodies up real quick (Natue’s Micro-wave oven!).

Another “singer” in autumn is the Katydid (Caedicia simplex); mostly in the afternoon and early evening.

It creates a rather unique noise by rubbing the edges of its stiff forewings together, like a fingernail on a comb. The noise has the quality produced by a ventriloquist – the insect “throws its voice” so you can never be sure where it is calling from.

Katydids feed on garden plants, especially flowers, and they truly seem to like the roses and Dahlias that flower in autumn! They are well-camouflaged on green plants, so birds, frogs, and lizards can find it tricky to locate them.

Gardeners who feel they’re being “attacked” by these insects often ask if there’s a way to “get them” with some insecticide… “Only when you’re very good at ventriloquism” is my answer – I love them!!

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On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 14 March 2026, Kiwi rock legend Jordan Luck joins Jack to discuss The Exponents reuniting for a special performance at Synthony.

Jack champions an alternative transport option as fuel prices rise.

Louis Theroux's latest Manosphere documentary is spotlighted in Screentime.

Nici Wickes joins Jack live from the Wānaka A&P show.

And Kevin Milne battles to keep his music fresh.

Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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