They are the two worst concerts I’ve ever been to. And that’s OK, I am still a Bob Dylan fan. I can also admit the 70th birthday of one of the top 10 greatest songwriters of all time is probably not the best occasion to bemoan a compulsion to live bastardising of back-catalogue. However…. It’s…
Category: Artists: A-C
New Zealand Broadcaster Kerry Smith Dies – A Hidden Gem From Cliff Richard
Kerry Smith. I just heard the sad news that New Zealand radio announcer / TV host / actress Kerry Smith has died. Like many, I didn’t even know she was sick but had read she was on leave from her 10am-2pm slot on radio station The Breeze. It turns out her leave was due to…
Michael Jackson’s Secret Duet With Barry Gibb Finally Revealed – ‘All In Your Name’
For years there has been talk amongst fans of Michael Jackson and the Bee Gees of several unreleased collaborations between these two giants of pop. I can even remember an interview back in the late 90s where the Gibbs were talking about recording an entire album with Michael with Babyface producing. While the album never…
The Japanese Earthquake & The Real Origin Of Bruce Springsteen’s My City Of Ruins
Bruce Springsteen from the Born To Run shoot. A great friend of mine named John Budge, the man who got me started in radio back in the late 90s, sent me an email a couple of days ago reminding me of a Bruce Springsteen song I’d somehow forgotten about. It was a song Budgie –…
Bee Gee Maurice Gibb 8 Years On – Song Of The Week
Today marks eight years since Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees died while on the operating table in Miami after suffering from a twisted intestine. He was only 53 and as a lifelong fan of the brothers Gibb, I remember feeling extremely sad but also privileged that I was on the radio and could…
Brandon Flowers’ Ode To The Bee Gees & Vangelis On His Stunning Solo Song ‘Only The Young’
Life at Club Med in the Whitsundays has been a hectic combination of dodging torrential rain (November had five times the average rainfall and well over double the record for this part of Queensland), playing tennis, killing cockroaches, kayaking to tiny islands, dealing with tropical mold, doing the sound for the nightly shows, shooing wild…
The Arcade Fire & My Favourite New Song Of 2010
I’m not going to lie, it’s not a short flight from Vancouver to Auckland, particularly when you’re enroute to Brisbane enroute to Hamilton Island enroute to Lindeman Island. Needless to say, I had a bit of time on my hands and discovered this song by Canadian band (and fellow Springsteen fans) The Arcade Fire called…
Mickey Rourke’s ‘The Wrestler’ & How It Parallels The Life Of Pop Star Andy Gibb
At home yesterday I cracked out some of my old Andy Gibb LPs. I wanted to hear Shadow Dancing again which despite being the biggest hit of 1978 in the US, you hardly hear on the radio anymore. What a great song, what perfect pop albums and as is always the case with Andy, listening…
Whatever Happened To 5 Time Grammy Winner Christopher Cross? (written late 2007)
Holmsey is back, all is forgiven at TVNZ and now that we’ve found out the Bay City Rollers never made any money and that the David Cassidy of 2007 owns an unusually tight forehead, it’s time to turn our attention to another potential Whatever Happened To… guest star. He is a man who won five…
The Colbie Caillat Interview, On The Brink Of Stardom – August 2007
You’d think she’d be sick of being asked about them. After all, her dad produced Rumours, Tusk and Mirage – three albums that sold more than 40 million copies between them. He was there when Stevie and Lindsey were interchanging vicious argument for sublime harmony. He was the one who mortified the band by tipping…
