Fleetwood Mac, 1977. *SEE JULY 1st UPDATE BELOW Tickets to Fleetwood Mac’s two Auckland concerts in December sold out today in 15 minutes. Which raises a couple of questions: Firstly is the issue of pre-sales. I bought a ticket last week in one of the pre-sales because I’m a LiveNation member and happen to have…
Nelson Mandela In Hospital – Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna’ Come’
Nelson Mandela. With the news 94 year old Nelson Mandela is back in hospital, I wanted to end last night’s episode of The Two (co-hosted by Pam Corkery, Newstalk ZB Friday and Sunday evenings from 8pm) with a suitably incredible song for such an incredible man. I chose a song which these days is better…
Where To Stay In Sydney & Melbourne If You Love Historic Hotels
Melbourne’s Hotel Windsor. Yesterday the Herald On Sunday published two of my articles in a very swish looking two-page spread. I’ve been ducking across the Tasman a bit lately and figured it might be fun to seek out a couple of not just luxurious hotels, but places with genuine points of difference. Click here for…
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,…
Why Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Mirage’ Is Their Most Underrated, Mega-selling LP
Fleetwood Mac during the Mirage era. The last couple of days I’ve had a couple of Twitter conversations with Ken Caillat, most famously the producer of the biggest Fleetwood Mac albums and the father of singer Colbie Caillat. I took it upon myself to let Ken know that amongst my fellow Fleetwood Mac buddies, the…
Robin Gibb’s Death 1 Year On – A Stunning Secular-Gospel Bee Gees Song From The Early 70s
The Bee Gees circa 1981. One year ago today I was lying by the pool in Bali, checking email and realising one of my heroes had just died. If you click here you can link to the piece I wrote later that day in a disastrously a/c-free internet cafe about Robin Gibb’s death and what…
Bobby Womack Live In Auckland – His Most Monumental Song
Bobby Womack. Things have been a bit of whirlwind lately and – forgive me Bobby – but I somehow forgot that soul great Bobby Womack was playing in Auckland tonight. Realising my error just before show time, not surprisingly I missed out on tickets to the man who once played guitar in Sam Cooke’s backing…
Wishing Billy Joel A Happy Birthday With His Saddest Song
Billy Joel. A very quick post to wish Billy Joel a happy 64th birthday. I hope Billy gets inspired by Rod Stewart who has said goodbye to years of writer’s block and has finally released an album of new, self-written songs (Time). And while it may not seem like a particularly long time, believe it…
Fleetwood Mac’s First New Music In 10 Years Reviewed – ‘Extended Play’
Fleetwood Mac are back with their first new recordings as a band for 10 years. Particularly from the thinking man’s guitar hero Lindsey Buckingham, there have been plenty of solo projects in more recent years and Stevie Nicks even managed an acclaimed solo album in 2011 (In Your Dreams). But this is the first time…
When A Cambodian Makes Landmine Jokes – Herald On Sunday Cambodia Article 2008
Angkor Wat. Below is a link to another old Herald On Sunday travel article of mine which had previously been unavailable on The Roxborogh Report, this one about my first trip to Cambodia in 2008. Two years later I explored Cambodia in much greater detail and got to the scratch more than just the surface…
Tioman Island Malaysia – Why I Went Back 3 Years In A Row – Herald On Sunday Article From 2008
Tioman Island, Malaysia. With winter just a little over a month away here in the Southern Hemisphere, I’m thinking where might be nice to duck away for a couple of weeks of tropical sunshine. I’m determined to go somewhere different, but it’s amazing how Malaysia – the country I spent seven years as a kid –…
The Bee Gees 1972-74 – A Hidden Gem From Their Most Forgotten Era
For Anzac day I was trying to think of an appropriate song and funnily enough, a Bee Gees song popped on my iPod and there it was, the perfect song. A slow, almost genteel acoustic ballad, King And Country ranks as one of the Gibbs’ great forgotten works from their transition period in the early…
