We were in last chance saloon. When I say “we”, sure, I was fulfilling the role of the hand-squeezer while also in charge of the delivery-room music, but “we” was really quite clearly just my wife Aimee and her midwife Annie. As for “last chance saloon” though, that was more clear cut: there would be…
Piha’s Jaw-Dropping Mercer Bay Loop Track With Riley Roxy In The Backpack
How is it you can be pushing 40, consider yourself outdoorsy, have lived in the same city roughly three-quarters of your life, and still find jaw-dropping walks you haven’t even heard of, let alone done? Well firstly, I’m grateful that’s the case given seemingly all I want to do these days is discover new walks…
Anger & Hope – 10 Vital, Socially-Conscious Soul Songs The World Needs Right Now
Imagine, if just for a second, that President Obama had ordered peaceful protesters outside a historic church to be dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets just so he could get a photo op with an upside down Bible. No clergy at the church were consulted, no prayers were made and no passages of scripture…
Suva Has One Of The World’s Great Colonial Hotels & Too Few Kiwis Know About It – Reviewing The Grand Pacific Hotel
Always a sucker for a historic hotel, as soon as I heard Fiji’s 1914-built Grand Pacific Hotel had been given a multimillion dollar refurbishment to celebrate its centenary, I knew I had to go there. Five years on from that Suva stay and as we grapple with what tourism will be post-Covid-19, I wanted to…
Samantha Gibb Covers Her Dad’s Most Beloved Song – What Maurice Said To Me Backstage With The Bee Gees In 1999
March 20th, 1999 and I’m in some kind of delirious state of nirvana because I’m backstage with Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb – the Bee Gees – at Western Springs stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. Against the hum of 70,000 awaiting fans and here I am, a 17-year old in my new corduroy pants and…
The Bee Gees ‘Cucumber Castle’ Turns 50 & It’s Time This Brilliant, Forgotten Album Was Rediscovered
50-years ago this month, Cucumber Castle by the Bee Gees was released. To mark the anniversary of this largely forgotten album, I’ve done a deep dive to figure out how something this good managed to slip through the cracks… The semi-soundtrack to a silly TV special nobody saw, likewise became an album that few people bought….
Farewell Bill Withers – You Didn’t Have Many Hits, But Wow, All Of Them Were Classics
Sometimes – and maybe only sometimes – the headline says it all. Bill Withers only had about half-a-dozen hit songs, but those six or so tracks are as essential as any six songs in all of American soul music. Most of the giants of any music genre have significantly more placings in the US top…
The Surf, Sand, Scenery – Not To Mention Golf – Of Coromandel’s Matarangi Resort
I could wait until once the Covid-19 lockdown has finished to publish this article, but the dream of travel is something I’m all about right now. If nobody on Planet Earth can holiday at this precise moment in history – and realistically, nobody can – we shouldn’t deny ourselves the pleasure of a bit of…
Kenny Rogers Dies Aged 81 – Half A Dozen Unbelievable Songs The Bee Gees Wrote For Him
It’s a testament to how a big a deal Kenny Rogers is that his death yesterday at the age of 81 has successfully snuck its way through all the Coronavirus-related headlines. And Kenny Rogers was – for over 50-years – a very, very big deal. This is a man who sold over 100-million records, who…
Forget Bradley Cooper, Here’s Who Should Play Barry Gibb In The Upcoming Bee Gees Biopic
OK, forgive me the headline because truth be told, if the rumours are correct and Bradley Cooper does end up playing Barry Gibb in the upcoming movie about the Bee Gees, I’ll be more than happy. He’s got the acting chops, looks and musical sensibilities, not to mention the necessary Gibb-like hirsuteness and Gibb-like tan-ability….
Road-Tripping New Zealand’s Pacific Coast Highway In A Luxury Motorhome – My Top 50 Papamoa To Gisborne Photos
It’s one year since my wife and I baby-mooned up a storm while driving roughly 600-kilometres in a Mighway Motorhome from Papamoa to Gisborne and back again. We took what’s known as the “Pacific Coast Highway” for leg one, before taking the more direct route through the Waioeka Gorge for the return leg home. Both…
Gig Review: A Remarkable, Ageless Gladys Knight At The Civic, Auckland
2 days on and I stand by my initial take on Gladys Knight live in the year 2020: there isn’t a greater soul singer alive, and nor is there a pop star I’ve seen in my 30 years of gig-going capable of a more flawless in-concert vocal performance. The fact all of this is delivered by someone aged…
