UPDATE JUNE 2012: Barry’s brother Robin lost his battle with cancer a couple of weeks ago. Click here to read my tribute, focusing on the fight for the Bee Gees’ legacy and the challenges these remarkable songwriters overcame. Today is Barry Gibb’s 65th birthday so as I am wont to do, it’s time to wind…
Hall & Oates Announce New Zealand Tour – Why They Were So Underrated
Daryl Hall & John Oates. I was a music geek, even as a kid and can still remember going to the public library in downtown Kuala Lumpur as a 7 year old, taking out the book 20 Names In Pop Music and learning about all the acts who would soon become my heroes. As a…
Legendary Motown Songwriter Nickolas Ashford Dies – His Greatest Ever Song
Nickolas Ashford, of the famed soul songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson, died yesterday in New York from throat cancer, aged 70. His death will not attract the column inches of someone like Amy Winehouse, though he departs this world as one of the greatest soul hitmakers of the 20th century. And thanks to Winehouse, he and…
The Tangiwai Movie – Why They Got It Wrong
On Sunday night I sat down with a couple of friends for a Kiwi film we’d all decided was a must-watch, Tangiwai – A Love Story. Within minutes we were squirming in our seats, at the half-way point I felt mildly ill and as the end credits rolled I’d declared it the worst film of…
The Edge Turns 50 – U2’s Best Soul Song
The vitriol against U2 fascinates me. A recent article here in New Zealand about Bono being the biggest prat in music attracted pages and pages of comments, most of them agreeing. Here is arguably the most dominant band of the last 30 years, a musical outfit capable of rock, pop, soul, electronica, dance, rock ‘n’ roll,…
Amy Winehouse Dead At 27 – Is The 27 Club Real?
Amy Winehouse. This morning the news arrived that so many music fans had feared for years. Amy Winehouse is dead, found by paramedics in her North London home a few hours ago. It is uncomfirmed what killed her and though she had been suffering emphysema, her rampant drug and alcohol addicitions must have ultimately played a…
Did TLC Rip-off Paul McCartney?
Amidst all the excitement that the latest addition to the Beckham clan has the middle name Seven (Harper Seven Beckham), another equally historic piece of entertainment news has semi-slipped through the cracks. Rumour has it Paul McCartney will play a part in the 2012 London Olympics, be it the opening or closing ceremony, and will most…
Bruce Springsteen’s Spectacular Eulogy To Clarence Clemons
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the death of Clarence Clemons, the famous sax player who stood alongside Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band for 40 years. I analysed the friendship of Clarence and Bruce, one that Clarence had described as “the most passion without sex,” which is really as poignant as it is…
Barry Gibb & Michael Jackson – The Completed, Full Length Duet ‘All In Your Name’.
The Bee Gees with Michael Jackson in the mid 80s. Well, it is finally here in its entirety. All In Your Name, a nearly 10 year old duet between Barry Gibb and Michael Jackson is now complete and presented to the world on the second anniversary of Michael’s death. Barry had fed fans a couple…
In Search Of Lindeman Island’s Mythical Waterfall – My Return To The Whitsundays
Since finishing my contract with Club Med as their sound engineer/DJ in the Whitsundays, Queensland, I’ve spent the last two months seeing friends and family in Sydney, the Central Coast, Melbourne and Brisbane. While awaiting my posting with Princess Cruises as an Assistant Cruise Director, I had a couple of weeks up my sleeve and decided…
“The Most Passion Without Sex” – Bruce Springsteen Explains His Friendship With Clarence Clemons
The Big Man, Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band died over the weekend due to complications from a recent stroke – he was 69. He is the biggest of my musical heroes to pass away since Michael Jackson nearly two years ago and right now as I type, the iPod is set to…
Why People Convince Themselves Bob Dylan Is Good In Concert
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…
