Does anyone remember the Radio Hauraki New Rock Zone hosted by Dave 'The Green Man" Green in the late 90's?? 7pm til 11pm, then the computer took over till midnight.

Man, that shit was epic. I remember staying up late playing Star Wars FPS's or Syndicate listening to Faith No More and Foo Fighters, Eve 6 and Matchbox 20. I distinctly remember when Greenie called Everlong the most beautiful song he'd ever heard. I think that was a moment when I began to come to terms with the fact that rock music could be beautiful.

My brother and I really enjoyed it so when The Green Man made comment that it was his birthday and he hadn't gotten a present I grabbed Chris and we headed to Cook St where the studio was (is?). We stopped to buy a 6 pack of Speights because that was Greenie favourite.

I don't know what made us think that we could just waltz into a highly secure building, wander around and eventually amble into the studio. There was no way we were going to get in.

But we did. By some miracle the front door onto Cook St was unlocked. Unlocked!! So we just waltzed in through the front door. The security desk was vacant. Vacant!! So we just wandered around the offices, files strewn about, computers on and half drunk coffee cups on desks.
We eventually found the studio and banged on the soundproof door. OK, so banging on a soundproof door was probably not the worlds greatest plan, but blow me down, the DJ saw us through the window and a look of 'Who the fuck are these guys?' appeared all over his face.

And what a face. Sheesh, not a handsome man. Great voice (and face) for radio. Short, fat, bald (with what I can only describe as a very short, Mohawk coming off one side of his face only)

I guess he went to commercials and then came over and opened the door. "Who are you?"

"Steve and Chris. We brought you beer!"

"Beer? Cool. Wait, how did you get in?'

Shrug of shoulders. "The doors were unlocked."

"What, all of them?'

"Yep. Do you want a beer?"

And after that we were best mates. He took us into the studio and introduced us to the listeners as two crazy guys who broke into the studio on a beer mission. We debated Metallica songs on air, explained our break in, had a laugh and were on our way.

It wasn't long after this we somehow got invited to his Christmas party, which is still one of the best days of my life. But I will go into that another time.