From a nonexistent Bee Gees LP, photo circa 1973. Less than two weeks out from Christmas, it’s time for a good Christmas-y post, so here are two clips, one from the Bee Gees and the other from Sheryl Crow. The Bee Gees clip is both charming and unique. Appearing on Cilla Black’s TV show in…
Nelson Mandela Dies – U2 Pays Tribute With ‘Ordinary Love’
Nelson Mandela. “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” I thought of this Nelson Mandela quote a couple of days ago when New Zealand politician John Banks was once again trying to tell all who’d listen that anyone who knows him knows he’s an…
30 Years Since Beach Boy Dennis Wilson’s Death – The Stunning Surf Gospel Of ‘River Song’
Dennis Wilson. Yesterday would’ve been the 69th birthday of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson so I played a bit of his spectacular solo work River Song on the radio in his honour. After playing the clip it occurred to me it must be close to 30 years since his death (through drowning) and a quick Google…
20 Years Since The Bee Gees ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ – Their Finest Post-Fever Song?
Maurice, Barry and Robin Gibb – 1993. This November marked 20 years since the Bee Gees released one of the strongest ballads of their career with a song that – had it not been for the likes of Mr Blobby – may’ve even been a UK Christmas #1. As it turned out, the brothers had…
So What If We’re Controlling All The Oil? Prince, Sheryl Crow & The Debate Over Deep-Sea Oil Drilling
Sheryl Crow. In New Zealand right now there is a huge amount of talk about the rights and wrongs of deep-sea oil-drilling, so I thought it only appropriate to find a way to link this topic to a couple of songs. Like a lot of debates, I’ve been frustrated at peoples’ desire to make this…
My NZ Herald Myanmar Series Part 1: Yangon’s Crumbling Colonial Architecture & Chaotic Streets, Incl. 30 Favourite Photos
The Shewedagon Pagoda Yesterday the New Zealand Herald published part one of my three-part series of travel articles on Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). Thanks to Intrepid Travel, Flight Centre and Student Flights, I had a 15 day Intrepid tour of what is really the last undiscovered country in South East Asia. The tour began…
The Commodores 1975 Instrumental Named After An Island In The Philippines
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…
Lulu Turns 65 – A Motown-Sounding Bee Gees Song From 1993
Lulu with then husband Maurice Gibb circa 1970. Lulu turned 65 this week so here’s a song of hers’ which should’ve been a smash hit during her early 90s comeback, but somehow missed. Written by the Bee Gees (including ex-husband Maurice Gibb), Let Me Wake Up In Your Arms was one of several Motown-styled songs…
15 Favourite Photos From Koh Chang, Thailand
A snorkeling / island-hopping trip off the south of Koh Chang. At the end of 15 days in Burma / Myanmar I thought it would be fun to have a week in Thailand and decided to head to an island I’d never been before, Koh Chang. Thailand’s second largest island after Phuket, Koh Chang didn’t…
The Best Fleetwood Mac Song You’ve Never Heard
John McVie. Doubly sad music news this long weekend, first with word that the “Mac” in Fleetwood Mac – bassist John McVie – will be undergoing treatment for cancer in December, meaning that the 14 date tour of Australia and New Zealand is cancelled. Being that Fleetwood Mac are still touring right now (with ex-wife…
Reflections On My Myanmar Adventure + My Top 40 Photos
I’ve just got home from my first ever adventure in Burma / Myanmar, a place I’d long wanted to visit but which has been closed off to the outside world for so long. It is cliche to see new places and tell everyone what a contradiction of old and new they were, of rich and…
When Alicia Keys Turned Vector Arena Into The Apollo Theatre
Alicia Keys. Alicia Keys is returning to New Zealand for the first time in five years and I would still rate that December 2008 concert as one of the top 10 I’ve been to. Auckland’s Vector Arena felt like the Apollo Theatre that night as Keys delivered a show looser, rowdier and more gospel sounding…
