LIMITED EDITIONS
In 2015 Roy Murphy, manager and trombone player of Blerta, compiled an informal publication of his collection of news items, articles and photos covering the shows and activities of the theatre, film and music group, Blerta, during the years of 1971 to 1979. The currrent edition, privately published in 2022, is a special limited edition of five copies of that earlier version. This limited edition is more attractively bound and has incorporated a CD of Blerta jazz-infused music that was never released, and a DVD of the films Blerta regularly showed behind the band when it was performing. A notable feature of the films was when they illustrated the songs being played, the actors in the films often appeared on stage and reacted and related to the action on the film. This technique was reproduced in Blerta’s six-part light entertainment series, Blerta, which won the New Zealand Feltex Award for Best Light Entertainment Show for 1976.
Blerta was known for its anarchical presentation style and for the wide range of musical styles that it displayed, from jazz through pop to rock. It toured New Zealand and Australia several times in its iconic red Blerta bus; scored a top hit single, “Dance All Around the World”; produced two LPs, This Is the Life and Wild Man; six halfhour award-winning light entertainment shows, Blerta; and a feature film, Wild Man, which was the first out of the gate when the New Zealand film industry started to take off in 1977.
Softcover limited edition of 5 copies, 183 pages, 10¾"×7¾", 63 articles, 6 appendices, 20 photos, 53 newspaper photos, 2 line illustrations, with a foreword by the editor, Roy Murphy. CD of Blerta music and DVD of Blerta film enclosed. Privately published by Phoenix Story Publications llc. The books were designed, printed and handbound by Roy Murphy.
Blerta was known for its anarchical presentation style and for the wide range of musical styles that it displayed, from jazz through pop to rock. It toured New Zealand and Australia several times in its iconic red Blerta bus; scored a top hit single, “Dance All Around the World”; produced two LPs, This Is the Life and Wild Man; six halfhour award-winning light entertainment shows, Blerta; and a feature film, Wild Man, which was the first out of the gate when the New Zealand film industry started to take off in 1977.
Softcover limited edition of 5 copies, 183 pages, 10¾"×7¾", 63 articles, 6 appendices, 20 photos, 53 newspaper photos, 2 line illustrations, with a foreword by the editor, Roy Murphy. CD of Blerta music and DVD of Blerta film enclosed. Privately published by Phoenix Story Publications llc. The books were designed, printed and handbound by Roy Murphy.
