The Bee Gees with Robert Stigwood, Brit Awards, 1997. There are so many grand stories, some admittedly more myth than reality, about Robert Stigwood. The man who launched careers as stratospheric as Cream and the Bee Gees has died in England of a heart attack aged 81. As a manager, producer and one of the…
Aretha Franklin Brings The House Down – And Obama To Tears – At Kennedy Centre Honours
Aretha Franklin at the Kennedy Centre Honours 2015. It’s all about the clutch purse. Aretha Franklin is so relaxed about delivering this ridiculously brilliant performance that she casually walks out to the piano with her purse. She plops it down, starts playing and blows everyone away. I can’t think of the last time a living…
My Top 50 Favourite Photos Of 2015 – A Travel Writer’s Year In Review Including Fiji, Australia, Malaysia & New Zealand
Monkey Bay, Tioman Island, Malaysia. 2015 had me swashbuckling / cramping up embarrassingly through Malaysian jungles, spearfish snorkeling / ripping my swim-shorts in the butt-crack region in Fiji and hiking the lush and rocky landscapes of Victoria’s Grampians National Park. While getting chased by a kangaroo. For every premature self back-pat, something unexpected or awkward…
Summer At The Chateau – My Top 50 Photos From 1 Of NZ’s Most Iconic Hotels
Summer at The Chateau. With the New Zealand Herald publishing my article on what is arguably the most famous hotel in New Zealand – The Chateau in Tongariro National Park – I thought I’d head on back. Why not! Only this time it was with the idea of doing a Summer At The Chateau photo…
Why Do We Only Hear The Same Christmas Songs Every Year? 3 Underrated Christmas Songs From Coldplay, The Band & Josh Groban
It seems strange to me that every Christmas we tend to hear pretty much just the same dozen or so Christmas songs on the radio. This year I even got requests from people wanting to enlighten me that “Stevie Nicks does a really good version of Silent Night.” No kidding – that’s one of the same…
3 Days In Wellington – What To Do, Where To Stay & My Top 50 Photos
Oriental Parade. I wonder if there are other major cities in the world with the unofficial slogan “you can’t beat it on a good day.” Because Wellington is not alone in being beautiful when the weather is nice, just think of northern rival Auckland along Tamaki Drive with the sparkles of the harbour and the…
Hobbiton Top 40 Photos + The Thigh-busting Wairere Falls
Outside Bilbo Baggins’ hobbit hole, Hobbiton. I’d held off visiting the preserved movie set of Hobbiton for two main reasons. One, at $79 for an adult it’s not exactly cheap. And two, New Zealand’s full of pleasant – let’s be honest, sometimes pleasantly dull – rolling farm country. Why pay for it when you can…
Where To Stay In Waikato If You Love Luxury And Gardens – Sarnia Park And The Acclaimed Hamilton Gardens
The lobby and grand staircase at Sarnia Park. As I continue my unexpected crusade to challenge the notion Waikato is less interesting than the rest of New Zealand, I was invited back to the province last week. I say “unexpected” because it’s a part of the country I’ve been to a million times for family…
Elton John’s Tribute To Jonah Lomu
Jonah Lomu I was surprised by how affected I was hearing the news of Jonah Lomu’s death. Sitting on a bus of tourists set to explore the preserved movie set of Hobbiton in New Zealand’s Waikato, I was the only Kiwi on board when it was announced on the PA. In a group of 30…
Coldplay’s New Single ‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’ Reviewed
Here’s the brand new song from Coldplay, an upbeat though somehow still melancholy gem called Adventure Of A Lifetime. It’s a precursor to the band’s soon-to-be released seventh album A Head Full Of Dreams (out December 4) which is rumoured to be Chris Martin and co’s last. I don’t believe them. At least I don’t…
The Overlooked Genius Of The Bee Gees’ Lyrics
Something occasionally said even by staunch admirers of the Bee Gees is that they were melodically and vocally superior than they were lyrically. What this overlooks is a point made in a recent The Paris Review article about the Gibbs: the appeal, even if it was subconscious, of the “melancholic emotion, even paranoia,” of the brothers’…
Did Elton John Really Stay At A 2-Star Guesthouse In Cambodia?
The signed photo that hangs proudly at the Fancy Guesthouse. With news Elton John is about to release his 33rd studio album (entitled Wonderful Crazy Night*), there’s one lingering question that remains tantalizingly unanswered for fans: Did he or did he not stay at a 2-star guesthouse while in Cambodia a few years ago? According…
