Kirk Whalum | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* Nedbank has rolled out its Pocket POS in Sport Taxis and City Cabs in Cape Town, and other metered taxi operators in Durban and Johannesburg, to allow customers to pay by credit and debit card in the taxi.

* Clem Sunter and Justice Malala will speak at a Breakfast session on 10 June at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on ‘State of the Nation’, looking at the next five years post the General Election. Cost R895. (received via e-mail from Front Foot Events)

* Fourpure Brewery in the UK has won a competition to brew the perfect ‘Roux Brew‘ as a house beer to be served in the top-rated Landau, La Gavroche, and Roux at Parliament Square restaurants of Chef Michel Roux Jnr in London. ‘The winning brew featured hand-zested fresh pink grapefruit zest, fresh Sicilian Navelina orange zest and coriander seed’, good for pairing with Continue reading →

At the media launch yesterday of the 15th Cape Town International Jazz Festival at the Cape Town International Convention Centre Mayor Patricia de Lille said that the goal of Cape Town is to become the Events Capital of Africa, and with it the Capital of Jazz in Africa, attracting 37000 Festival goers. An exciting line-up of international and local jazz artists was announced at the launch.

The launch was addressed by a number of speakers. Billy Domingo, the Chief Operating Officer of espAfrika, the events company organising the Jazz Festival, was a witty MC for the event. Rashid Lombard organises the musical side of things, and announced that since ticket sales opened last month, all two-day passes have been sold,. There are about 500 day tickets available for each of the two days. The event is a team effort, within their company (of mainly ladies he joked) and also with the City of Cape Town. They want to create a legacy through the event, which includes a training and development programme which has already seen six students study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in the USA. Job creation is another goal. Lombard proudly shared their Social Media statistics, having more than 14000 Twitter followers, close to 9000 Likes on Facebook, and 140000 YouTube views.

Lombard also presented the eagerly awaited line up for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, which includes top international jazz artists Level 42, Shakatak, Eryka Badu (but not mentioned in the media release), and Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya. Other international artists are Andreya Continue reading →