It was in the early 80s when I was about 3 or 4 years old that I was first introduced to the music of Chuck Berry. Dad brought home the cassette tape of Simon & Garfunkel’s The Concert In Central Park and amidst all the P. Simon writers credits was one for a certain C. Berry. This…
LA’s Greatest Rock & Roll Hotels – My Let’s Travel Mag Article On The Sunset Marquis & The Redbury
The latest issue of New Zealand’s number one travel magazine, Let’s Travel, is out and it features my article about two of the coolest hotels I’ve ever stayed at. The theme of the piece is about the “greatest rock & roll hotels”, focusing on two in LA that sit at the top of the heap….
Top 20 Photos From Bruce Springsteen’s Auckland Concert, Feb 25 2017
I’m not going to lie, these images are unlikely to win any awards in the field of concert photography, not least because even with a 30x zoom and a reasonably flash Lumix camera, I was still much further from The Boss than was ideal this past Saturday night in Auckland, New Zealand. That said, they hopefully can give…
Does Kokomo Really Exist? My Top 50 Florida Photos + My Latest NZ Herald Article
Yesterday the Herald On Sunday published my article about Miami and the Florida Keys. Click here to link to it and find out my picks for where to stay, which beaches to visit, what architecture to see and most crucially, whether or not Kokomo (as sung about in the 1988 US #1 hit of the…
Barry Gibb On Piers Morgan’s Life Stories
I’ve just finished watching the 46-minutes of Bee Gee Barry Gibb on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and as is sometimes the compulsion from late night Gibb activity, I wanted to post a link to it before going to bed. This was a This Is Your Life style production that featured Piers one-on-one with Barry as well…
Popping The Question At Tauranga’s French Country House (& getting there in a new Holden Captiva)
After just over a month of having been upgraded from “boyfriend” to “fiancee” by virtue of a lovely lady named Aimee saying “yes” to a certain question I asked, it’s high time I thanked a few folks. For starters, Kay who runs Tauranga’s gorgeous French Country House. This is a luxury boutique hotel that is…
Rockin’ Rod Becomes A Sir – The Greatest Dozen Rod Stewart Songs Ever
And a baker’s dozen at that. Normally I shy away from non-neat numbered lists. It should be 5, 10, 15 or 20 etc – not “the 9 things you need to do to avoid blah blah blah,” or “the 14 ways to ensure yada yada,” etc. Or in this case, my 13 favourite Rod…
Carrie Fisher: ‘If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it’
The next sentence to that quote from her memoir Wishful Drinking (as used in the headline) had Carrie Fisher adding, “Because he is so brilliant at it.” Indeed he was and none better than the title track from Hearts And Bones – the underbought 1983 precursor to the mega-selling Graceland in 1986. If 2016 was…
The Torment Of George Michael & How He Became 1 Of The Most Successful Brits In The History Of The US Charts
George Michael was just 19 when he wrote Careless Whisper and just 53 when he died. He was just 23 when he broke up one of the biggest bands of the 80s, Wham!, and just 24 when he released Faith, amongst that decade’s most defining albums. George Michael was just 24 when he duetted with the…
The Terracotta Warriors & The Surprise Of Xian – My Top 50 Photos & My Latest Let’s Travel Mag Article
The Dec/Jan issue of New Zealand’s number one travel magazine, Let’s Travel, is out now and it features two of my articles. One is on the jungle adventures of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands – click here to link to my recent photo essay about this – and the other is on the Chinese city…
1 Of NZ’s Finest Boutique Hotels – My Top 50 Waipoua Lodge & Kauri Coast Photos
Gazing at Tane Mahuta. Every now and then as a travel writer you stay somewhere that isn’t just fancy, isn’t just in a beautiful setting and doesn’t just have a point of difference. Which isn’t to say that all of the above aren’t enormously good fun and even a prerequisite for a high end hotel….
Walking In Memphis – My NZ Herald Article + My Top 60 Memphis Photos, Including A Brand New Elvis-Themed Hotel
Outside Graceland with Aimee Palmer. This week the New Zealand Herald published my article on Memphis, focusing on my stay at a brand new Elvis-themed hotel called The Guest House At Graceland. Click here to link to the article which explains all the cool things about the hotel (TVs on the ceiling! Soap with Elvis’s…