For the people of the Philippines reeling from the devastation of typhoon Haiyan (2000 estimated dead, 600,000 homeless, two million in desperate need of clean water), here is the Commodores song named after the Philippine island (and city) Cebu. In the mid-70s the Commodores fame spread far from their Alabama homeland and made them superstars…
Category: Artists: I-P
Katy Perry Responds To PETA Criticism – A Homage To Hall & Oates?
Katy Perry from the Roar video. On my Facebook page the other day I posted the following message about how PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) are diluting the validity of many of their battles by so often picking the wrong fights. According to PETA, the video for Katy Perry’s Roar (her eighth US…
Linda Ronstadt Diagnosed With Parkinson’s – Beautiful Uncredited Duets With Art Garfunkel & Paul Simon
Linda Ronstadt, 1970s. A couple of weeks ago Linda Ronstadt (67) announced to the music world she can no longer sing a single note as result of Parkinson’s disease. Diagnosed late last year, the sad news has only just been made public. In thinking about it all, I realised there is a case to be…
Kenny Rogers’ 75th Birthday – 2 Songs The Bee Gees Wrote For Him Just As Good As ‘Islands In The Stream’
Barry Gibb & Kenny Rogers, 1983. A quick post to say Happy 75th birthday to Kenny Rogers for yesterday and to draw your attention to two of the other songs (aside from Islands In The Stream) from his Bee Gees’ written album Eyes That See In The Dark. 30 years ago Rogers teamed up with…
The Dark Gospel Of Johnny Cash – ‘God’s Gonna’ Cut You Down’
Johnny Cash Sometimes I need only the most tenuous* of links to select a brilliant song to play in closing on Newstalk ZB’s The Two (Pam Corkery / Tim Roxborogh – Fridays and Sundays from 8pm) and last night was one of those occasions. Pam had mentioned “ramblers and gamblers” in passing and it made…
The Genius Of Nile Rodgers – Collaborations With Daft Punk & Paul Simon
The biggest international hit of 2013, Get Lucky, is credited to “Daft Punk feat. Pharrell”, but it’s the rhythm guitarist with the dreads you see in the music video who really makes the song. If those scratchy rhythmic leads sound familiar it’s not just because they’re derivative of classic 70s disco and 80s dance music,…
Paul Simon Concert Review, Auckland 2013 – The Michael Jackson Song He May’ve Inspired
Paul Simon. Dare I say it, last night’s Paul Simon Vector Arena concert in Auckland was even better than Simon and Garfunkel’s show at the same venue in 2009. That concert was more rooted in glorious nostalgia, never more emblematic than when the lights silhouetted the two “old friends” and despite it being 40 years…
Paul Simon Live In Auckland Tonight – His Farewell Song To Art Garfunkel
My all-time favourite lyricist is in town tonight and I can’t wait. About 10 years ago I saw Art Garfunkel solo, in 2009 I saw Simon and Garfunkel together but tonight will be the first time I’ve ever seen a solo Paul Simon show. I say favourite lyricist because I don’t know of any other…
The Timeless Genius Of Paul Simon’s American Tune
Over the last couple of weeks, Pam Corkery and I (Newstalk ZB’s The Two) have been doing ZB’s weekday evening show and have loved bringing what we do (which is normally once a week on Sundays between 9pm-midnight) to an even wider audience. For us a hugely important part of our shows is the music, even…
Pink’s Domestic Violence Ballet ‘Try’ – Her Greatest Song Yet
A still from the video for Try. Just a short post to follow-up on a discussion Pam Corkery and I had on last night’s episode of The Two (Newstalk ZB, Sunday evenings, 9pm-midnight) about Pink’s latest song, Try. I don’t know a great deal about what constitutes pioneering dance choreography, but as far as I can…
When A Great Band Gets A Good Album’s First Single Wrong #U2 #TheKillers
Apologies for the hashtags in the headline, but two of my favourite bands have erred in recent times with their new album’s first single and somebody needs to come forward and tell them. Pick me! Today I was at JB HiFi and was reminded of just how brilliant and inspirational U2 can be. Lots of…
Barry Gibb’s First Solo Tour – The Time The Bee Gees Did Simon & Garfunkel Better Than Simon & Garfunkel
With advance tickets to Barry Gibb’s first solo concert tour (Australia, February next year) having just gone on sale, I couldn’t not draw attention (yet again) to one of the lesser known treasures in the Gibb catalogue. The Mythology tour will be tinged with sadness with Barry coming to terms with the fact he is…
