I am always listening to music or watching video clips. Saturdays tuned into Max on Foxtel, playing a CD, watching a music DVD/Bluray, logged into Spotify, Pandora or a visit to the CD shop are all very much part of my day.

So today when I checked to see what Max were featuring I knew the challenge of what to play whilst writing my monthly article for a local newspaper and completing my journal entry for Uni was solved: Top 70 from the 70s.

I was a teenager for most of the 70s

and as I think about my favourite artists most apart from The Beatles and Tori Amos were at their peak during that decade.

I have so many LPs, CDs and now playlists from the period. Favourite albums such as Born To Run, Blood on the Tracks, Court and Spark, The Kick Inside, Running on Empty and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour were all bought on vinyl during the 70s and are now owned on CD and are on my iPod and in the Cloud!

I played my vinyl version of Born to Run so much I had to buy another copy!

There were also so many amazing songs from the period, American Pie, Bohemian Rhapsody, Wuthering Heights, Born to Run(!), Desparado, Somebody’s Baby, Band on the Run, and on I could go.

For me I am happy to listen to music from any era but my favourite is the 70s.

Sorting out the airfares, planning the places to visit, reading hotel reviews, buying travel books, finding places where we might eat, sights to see, buying new luggage and so on!

We decided a couple of weeks ago that we would take three to four weeks in late June through July and go somewhere. It’s peak season in Europe and not really our preferred time for travel, but it’s also University semester break and the quietest time at work in my year.

Where should we go?
The key requirement is that we can fly on points. A check of the Qantas Website showed a limited number of flights departing Adelaide for Europe at that time, and none with a return date anywhere near when we needed it. It was a bit different for the US with a reasonable number of options to consider. Whilst we quite liked the idea of going back to the US, we really wanted to go to Europe and visit some places we hadn’t been before.

So after a weekend of looking at options, including cheap flights, we found no real options for Europe. On the recommendation of a colleague I rang Qantas and asked them what was available. They were just so helpful finding flights I wasn’t able to see. We settled on Adelaide to Munich via Dubai – the flight out of Australia is at a horrible time (2.40am), but a stopover in Dubai will make it a little easier. We will return via Paris; three weeks in all – awesome! With flights sorted thoughts about what we will do start.

In our usual style we quickly come up with about a million places to go to in the three weeks. We quickly dismiss the idea of a couple of days in Copenhagen and settle on Munich, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Edinburgh, London and Paris.

We haven’t been to Munich, Vienna, Prague, Berlin or Edinburgh before. We have recommendations for Berlin based upon our son’s trip last year and Edinburgh based upon our daughter’s time there whilst studying.

Whilst we have a lot of travel books from previous trips, it’s a good excuse to buy some more! We have some favourites being the Eyewitness Travel Guides country guides and their Top 10 series, and start with these. I also like Lonely Planet’s Pocket Guides and will make sure we have checked these out before we go. Also there is Trip Advisor which has become our travel bible since it was recommended to us by a close friend in 2008.

Trip Advisor forum sections also provide really good information on where to go and what to see and as luck would have it, someone had just posted a question about what to do with four days in Munich. Members responses on this post have given us so many ideas for our time in Munich. We will continue to use the forums for information and questions until we leave.

As we start to think about accommodation sites like Trip Advisor, tablet, or Booking.com really helpful.

Whilst I feel comfortable with airfares and accommodation I have never really got a handle on how to organise train travel. In the past I have always relied on a travel agent to sort this out. This time however I am really keen to do it myself. As a start I have found a useful App (Rail planner) which we can use to plan our rail travel. Now it’s a matter of working which pass to get.

With about 10 weeks to go the fun of planning is underway!

We’ll just have to wait and see I guess.

Still it’s week five and I am still going.
I marvel how well others in the class pick things up whilst I bumble along, but I am determined to at least get the basics. I have been doing my homework, and listening to my dialogue CDs, all of which seem to be assisting.

I don’t expect over the course of the year to become fluent in the language, just get the basics,such as:

Introducing myself Mi chiamo…..

Asking directions Scusi, dov’e …..

Even ordering a drink! Una vino bianco per favore

In part my desire to learn the language arises from a very embarrassing experience some years ago in Florence, when a man felt quite offended as I ignored him, whilst he spoke fluently (in Italian) to me about his Sicilian cousin. Apparently I bore a close resemblance. He thought I was being rude until my wife said “He doesn’t speak Italian”. There was much laughter, however it wasn’t to be the last time on that and subsequent trips that it was expected that I could speak Italian.

We take our native language (English in my case) for granted, not really worrying about the language structure, but as I try to learn a new language I have realised how important it all is: nouns, verbs, pronouns, conjunctions etc. I have also come to appreciate how wonderful it is that English doesn’t really have the masculine or feminine form, a concept I remember from my days of school French.

It has also made me think that an intensive language course studied in Italy might be a good idea! Definitely worth some further investigation.

From the opening song Long Walk Home to the final song American Land, I along with a capacity crowd at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne were spellbound by the electricity which “The Boss” exudes. Springsteen had the audience eating out of his hands. How is that after so many years of touring you can come on stage and still be at the top of your game?

He is a master

and simply owned the arena for three hours. He played the songs he wanted, as well as those the crowd asked for; grabbing signs from the crowd as a prompt for the next song. His comfort with the audience meant, his and the band’s, walks through the crowd were all done with a minimum of fuss and lapped up by the audience. He even crowd surfed his way back to the stage on one occassion!

A quick look at my iPod shows I have hundreds of Springsteen songs and I hoped some of my own favourites would be played. I wasn’t disappointed: We Take Care of our Own, Candy’s Room ( an audience vote was made to select this), Jungleland, Bandlands and the anthem, Born to Run we’re all there, along with many, many more.

Songs that don’t regularly come on my playlist, Pay me My Money Down, The Ghost of Tom Joad, My love will not let you Down were also highlights, with Better Days another audience request played for the first time in concert since 2003! We were privileged!

Loud, slick and brassy were features of the incomparable E Street Band! Seventeen members in all, including “The Boss”, Nils Loftgren, Jake Clemons, and Roy Bittand, Garry Tallent, & Max Weinberg there – just incredible!

I am not surprised people follow Springsteen around the world; he is a master performer with an extensive repertoire which fully explores.

It won’t be another forty years before I see “The Boss” again.

Source:setlist.fm

We decided on New Zealand – what a great choice! Only half a day from Adelaide and we were in Auckland, a harbour city
that is like a mini Barcelona. It’s harbour setting provides wonderful views, and with them comes great restaurants and a relaxed feel. We stayed at the recently redecorated Art Deco styled, Hotel de Brett one of the more interesting places we have stayed.

Hotel de Brett

It’s not just

the great rooms, excellent restaurants, and great decoration that makes this a wonderful place, but the pre-dinner drinks in the library: full of books, CDs, and DVDs. A place where guests can relax and chat. On one of the nights, we had a fabulous conversation with the owners about how they had gone about the renovation and redecoration. There haven’t been many places where we have done that before!

From there it was on to a lodge just out of Rotorua. Set on the Lake Terawera, Solitaire Lodge

View of Lake Terawara from Solitaire Lodge

is secluded without being truly out of the way. Great hosts, amazing food cooked by the two resident chefs and a seemingly endless list of recommendations of places to see, one of which was White Island

To get to the Island we were picked up from the lodge by helicopter. We were flown across the lake with a short stop on top of an extinct volcano, where we had an uninhibited view in all directions. We could see to the coast on either side of the island. From there it was a fly over of the Terawera Falls, across the coast and a low pass over a pod of hundreds of dolphins before arriving at White Island

White Island is a live volcano complete with steam, noise and the pungent smell of sulphur making masks essential.

Helicopter view of White Island

White Island – Complete with Crash Helmets

Thankfully the crash helmets we were also obliged to wear weren’t put to use! There were so many incredible sites as we walked to the craters edge, alongside steaming water pools and mud pools. Even better we had the island to ourselves. Just amazing and we thought better than Mt Etna!

Whilst White Island was the highlight, Rotorua, although a bit kitsch was worth the visit. The museum was intriguing. We also had a day trip to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley.

From the boat – Waimangu Volcanic Valley

On our final day at Solitaire Lodge our hosts recommended we walk to Terawara Falls.

The Falls

The next day it was the not to arduous drive back to Auckland and another night at our new favourite hotel and then home.

It wasn’t Italy, but it was a wonderful week.

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We found both the Hotel de Brett and Solitaire Lodge using Tablet Hotels and Trip Advisor

Which was my favourite and which the most disappointing? Why I had gone ….

I went to my first concert in the early 1970s – The Survivors

a concert promoted by local AM radio station, 5KA I think and a forerunner to the now mega BigDay Out. The last at this stage is Carole King.

I am not going to even attempt to put the concerts in chronological order as it spans such a long period I won’t get it right and I know I will have forgotten some. What I have done is tried to capture my memories.

There have been those occasions when I have sat or stood there and gone “Wow I am actually here”.

The first of those truly Wow moments was seeing Paul McCartney which I know was in 1974 because it was in the middle of my Year 11 Exams. An incredible concert and the nearest I got to seeing The Beatles. More of that later. It was the same seeing Burt Bacharach – even in his 80s he was marvelous and what a catalogue. Carole King, Jackson Browne, Tori Amos, and Dave Groll the same. And then there was Dylan – as a schoolteacher and music mentor of mine said “He is the Beginning, The Middle and the End”.

When it came to being spellbound, seeing Tori Amos the first time at Her Majesty’s, an intimate Theatre probably takes the cake. There were times I felt she was just singing to me. I was transfixed on her. She has amazing talent and a haunting voice. My wife takes a different view and certainly felt in no way transfixed but rather I suspect was hoping to be transported to another place – she didn’t enjoy it at all!

Then there was the concert I was probably most looking forward to but was most disappointed with – Joni Mitchell. Her only Australian tour was in the early 80s. By that time her musical influence was Jazz and so it wasn’t surprising that she played in that style, however for her to completely ignore her folk period was so disappointing. I still love listening to her including her jazz albums but I wish that I had seen her sing some of her early music in the style it was recorded.

Whilst in the vein of female vocalists my current favourite is Regina Spektor. She has a true talent for story telling with her songs beautifully brought to life on stage. It was such a simple concert, Regina on piano and vocals with a trio supporting her. I think we were the oldest people there!

My children had introduced me to Dave Groll via Nirvana and then to the The Foo Fighters. We had the opportunity to see them at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre a few years ago. When it comes to big stage performances this one would be hard to top. Dave Groll has energy and magnetism that infects the crowd. Loud and powerful and hit after hit. It would definitely be in my Top 5 concerts!

Not in the same class when I think back on it now was Suzie Quatro who I saw whilst still at school. She seemed so hot! About 40 years on it seems rather funny really!

Through my high school years I really got into The Moody Blues and for a long time they were my favourite band, however living in Australia there was no real prospect that they would tour. It wasn’t until the mid 1980s that I finally had my chance to see them. They really weren’t that great on that occasion and I wished I hadn’t gone. I was quite disappointed so when I saw they were touring again in 2011 I was unsure whether to risk it. I am glad I did they were fantastic. Justin Haywood’s voice shone and Ray Thomas’s comment about having survived the sixties twice, having just turned seventy put their longevity in perspective. This one goes down as one of my favourites.

I was to young to see The Beatles when they toured, so seeing Paul McCartney at the now demolished Apollo Stadium was the next best thing. I still remember how for the whole of the first song the stadium was lit up with thousands of flashes. The audience was enthralled for the whole concert whether it was a Wings song or a Beatles song. That said Yesterday brought the house down. McCartney was at the top of his game and definitely worth missing a night’s study!

The first time I saw Bob Dylan was his Budokan Tour, a stadium concert at West Lakes in the late 70s. He was still at his peak and was fantastic. I have never been one of the Dylan purists and appreciate that with Dylan it’s where he is at the time. It’s pot luck. For me that concert still stands as one of the best. I saw him again on his Modern Times Tour about 30 years on from the Budokan concert and his voice deteriorating but he was still Dylan and amazing – I loved it. Rockabilly. Plenty of people walked out but I just lapped it up.

Another stadium comcert ws Niel Diamond. I had discovered Niel Diamond when Hot August Night came out. It’s one of the great live albums. I went to this concert with my parents. I generally didn’t share the same tastes in music as my parents but on this one we did. It was a lovely late summer/ autumn night and a great concert. I paid for my ticket which is not the way it seems to work when I go to concerts with my children!

I saw Daniel Johns & Paul Mac, and Silverchair with my two older children. Both concerts were at the Thebarton Townhall. The children asked me to buy three tickets for Daniel Johns and Paul Mac without me realising that I was going to be the third person. I probably wouldn’t have gone otherwise. I stood at the back with the other parents and loved every minute of it. I only saw Silverchair once, a band my son introduced me too. It was their Young Modern Tour and was earsplittingly loud and awesome. Daniel Johns has real charisma and a swagger to go with it.

Whilst thinking about concerts with my children I took my youngest child to see Powderfinger at a post V8 race concert. On the oval in the middle of the race track and a rough crowd. She loved it and so did I. Powderfinger were a great concert band and powered through their set ending with the classic (Baby I’ve Got You) on my Mind.

I have never really been into guitar solos so I am not sure why I saw both Jeff Beck & Robin Trower in the same week.

ELO’s concert at West Lakes was the first time I had seen a laser light show. My memory of this concert is the 4 Cello strings beamed from the grandstand to the stage and with every note the
laser beams being cut and shooting into the sky.

We have seen Simon & Garfunkel a couple of times, most recently in 2009. Whether singing their classics together or their solo sets it was a wonderful night. For me the highlight of a hit filled evening was Art Garfunkel’s Bright Eyes, words failed me. I still get shivers thinking about him singing it.

The Beach Boys late 70s tour was on a hot Adelaide day at West Lakes. Maybe they weren’t at their best but the atmosphere was perfect. Hot day, lots of Sun and a crowd in the mood.

The Ike and Tina Turner Review was like nothing I have seen before or since. Big band, singers and Ike and Tina Turner playing upto each other and the crowd. River Deep Mountain High live was incredible.

I saw Brian Ferry play solo at Apollo Stadium, he was so cool, and then just after John Lennon died we saw Roxy Music at the Festival Theatre. They played from behind Venetian blinds which was an interesting effect. Jealous Guy brought a tear to the eye. We saw them again a couple of years ago. They’ve still got it and Brian Ferry is just as cool as he was in the 70s just a little greyer!

When Burt Bacharach cancelled his concert tour in 2010 I thought I wouldn’t get a chance to see him. Fortunately a 2012 tour was announced, we snapped up tickets – it was incredible. I swear if he and the band had played every song he’d written they would still be playing! He tickled the ivories a bit and sang even less, but he was there on stage a true living legend. Accompanied by a super talented band taking the audience through decades of hits I think this is the best concert I have ever been too.

A couple of bands it wasn’t cool to see were The John Paul Young Allstars and Sherbert. JPY was a great singer and his Allstars truly were. Sherbert were similarly not cool unless you were a teenage girl so unless you had a girlfriend you were unlikely to see them live. Those who didn’t really missed out, they were a great rock band best exemplified by their traditional encore, Joe Walsh’s, Rocky Mountain Way

I saw John Denver at Adelaide Oval whilst at University. It was a balmy summer night at Adelaide Oval. Denver played hit after hit backed by an orchestra. Sure some of his songs were schmultzy but he can sing. The soaring Rocky Mountain High was inspiring and when I looked at the tears rolling down my friend’s face as he sang Leaving on Jet Plane it was hard to say it wasn’t both a wonderful and memorable performance.

My wife and I are old enough to remember Flower Power albeit too young to have participated. One of the icons of that era was Donovan. We took the opportunity to see him in the early eighties. It was such a small crowd they could almost have come to our place and sat round our dining room table. He sang his hits and others, however it was his forgetting the words to Universal Soldier that I remember most. It was OK because the audience knew the words and he just rejoined in the chorus!

I saw Ross Ryan an Australian folk artist a few times with the most memorable being one at Adelaide University. He just walked into the University refectory and played for 3 hours – not bad value for 50 cents even in 1974!

Skyhooks played their first Adelaide concert as a support to Daddy Cool. They were so different and I thought awful, but wow was I wrong. They turned out to be one of my favourite bands, and a real factor in the rise and rise of Australian music via Countdown.

So that brings me to my last concert so far, Carole King. Since the release of her Living Room Tour CD I had been keen to see her and on my third attempt we finally got there. At 70 plus she has energy, a wonderful voice and enthusiasm. With so many hits she could have played all night.

In all of this there isn’t Springsteen. That’s because I haven’t seen him yet! He has been to Australia twice before, the week my son was born and the week he turned 21. His third tour is timed incredibly for the week of his 28th birthday but this time we are going and I am looking forward to it.

I could have written about other concerts Elton John, Ry Cooder, Melanie, Don McLean, Leo Sayer, Olivia Newton John, Dire Straits, Split Enz, REM and numerous music festivals but I set out to write about those concerts that truly stuck in my memory rather than just list them all.

I am not sure whether it was the TDU hype, a January free from work travel or a lengthy break from riding during 2012, but my desire to get back on the bike has certainly been certainly increased.

The TDU is fantastic and we are lucky as the Tour Village is at the end of our street

and the Criterium course only a couple of hundred metres away!

The criterium start line.

The Criterium

Why the TV coverage is so good

The Criterium

Entrance to the Tour Expo & Village

Willunga Stage where the race was won!

So why is this relevant to planning for our Italian trip? Simply that our current plans will see us in Italy during the Spring Classics and the Giro d’Italia.

In 2008 we had the opportunity to see two stages of the Tour de France and it was amazing.

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Cholet for the Time Trial. For a cycling devotee a Time Trial is a great way to see all the cyclists close up. I was able to see the cyclists warming up, start as well as walk to the finish and see that!

We also took in a road stage. Just standing on the side of the road with the French public gave us a chance to understand the true romance of the race. We stood on the side of the road for a couple of hours waiting for the cyclists. It seems like a long time just to see them go buy in a minute but that’s the fun. First there’s the caravan, the hundreds of cars that precede the race, a giant sponsors advertisement, then the noise of the helicopters signifying the approaching cyclists and finally they come. You are so close and then they are gone and into our cars and off we go. It’s a great experience.

As an Aussie I couldn’t resist this picture from the caravan.

We need to factor time watching some cycling and for me to ride!

So do I take my bike or hire? I have asked around and found that hire is possible but it’s pretty expensive if you want to ride on multiple days. It does however solve the hassle of lugging the bike around.

There’s more research to do on this one!

Anyway it wasn’t going well for an Arsenal supporter 2-0 down early in the second half so I turned the TV off and decided to get an early start at work. By the time I got downstairs and my iphone had picked up the radio broadcast it was 2-2. Should I go back
and watch the rest? I decided not to as I had an article to write so an early start would be a bonus!

When I got to the traffic lights a gentleman in his 60s asked me where I was walking to so I told him. He asked if he could walk with me as he was not feeling well and was on his way to the hospital What could I say but yes. It quickly transpired that he wasn’t at all well and that I would need to walk the whole way to the hospital with him.

He had driven down from the country as he was scheduled to have surgery and had left his car at a friend’s house. They had already gone to work and so he thought he would catch a taxi – no luck so he decided to walk.

I asked if he had friends or family to keep an eye on him whilst in hospital and he sort of said not really.

It made pause to reflect on all the lonely people and what they do in similar circumstances. More specifically it made me think how lucky I am to have my family and friends around me.

Postscript : It made my day yesterday when he called to say he had got through his surgery OK (1/2/13)

So it’s been a few weeks since I first saw the movie and I am in withdrawal!

For all who are suffering from similar symptoms and don’t feel they can go and see the movie again – even if it is awesome and worth seeing again anyway – the CD/itunes playlist is a quick fix.

A listen to the highlights quickly makes you realise that the cast can sing – yes even Russell Crowe. Anne Hathaway version of is truly amazing – I so hope she wins the Oscar. Her version of I Lived a Dream even without seeing the pain on her face is overpowering. She has stamped her name on this song forever.

Hugh Jackman’s version of Bring Him Home may not be the best version, but is still a wonderful version of a marvelous song which has been sung by many truly talented singers who certainly can’t act as he can!

The versions of Red & Black, In my Life – A Heart Full of Love, and On my Own, come to life brilliantly as performed by Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tweit, Amanda Seyfreid, and Samantha Banks. When I watched the movie I was not totally taken by Eddie, but when you listen to him singing Empty Chairs at Empty Tables you immediately understand why he was cast.

I could go on and on about every song but really it is not necessary it’s a wonderful accompaniment to the movie.

It’s a CD that I could listen to endlessly!

We had been discussing the idea of three months in a little town on the Amalfi Coast. We love the area and its breathtaking scenery.

I have been taken with the idea of cycling the road ever since a chap on a bike followed us for a number of kilometres along the coast road on our previous trip. It’s proximity to Sicily and Naples Railway Station meant it ticked more boxes!.

I googled apartments for long term rent on the Amalfi Coast and up came plenty. Which town to choose? I was quite taken by Minori. It seemed like a quaint little town near Amalfi and on the bus route. The apartments looked reasonably priced.

As we continued to discuss the potential location of our stay I went to the Italy Forum Section of Trip Advisor to see if there was any guidance. It is a fantastic website/app for planning and we have used it extensively since our 2008 trip. Maybe not surprisingly someone else was asking a similar question. I followed the responses to his post as well as seeking some guidance on where to stay on the Amalfi Coast for 3 months on a budget? Was Minori a good idea?

The responses to my post were interesting with a couple of comments particularly so, one that three months on the Amalfi Coast may be a little dull and another that “on a budget” might be a challenge. The responses to my fellow traveller’s post however threw up the thought of Florence. We had been to Florence with our children in the late 90s but not in our subsequent visits. We had really enjoyed it and decided that we should include it as a possible base.

So what had seemed an easy decision had been complicated by a tempting alternative! Amalfi’s fabulous coastline, Possitano, Ravello,Pompeii etc versus Florence, the Duomo, Michelangelo’s David, the markets, and that it is after all Tuscany!

Being practical meant considering how much would Florence cost? A scan of posts on expat sites etc suggested somewhere between €800 -€1200 per month for a suitable flat in which which visitors could also stay. Our son’s girlfriend’s Christans Card had already floated the idea that she wass looking forward to staying with us! A quick review of airbnb suggested plenty of options.

With plenty of time until our trip it will be fun to weigh up the alternatives and in some ways planning is half the fun!

Should we go straight to Italy or make a few stops on the way. London has been our jump off point the last couple of times.

London is amazing, easy to spend time acclimatising with so much to see Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Big Ben,etc. Starting there makes it logical to then go to Paris, only a couple of hours by train. We need no convincing to go to Paris, the people the sites and Shakespeare and Company Paris’s iconic bookstore. One of my very favourite days was on a work trip to France where I had a day all to myself, I was truly in the words of Joni Mitchell ” A Free Man in Paris”. It’s a day I will cherish forever!

This time though, given our current thoughts are to arrive in Europe in Spring it might be wise to avoid the cold of London. That way we don’t need to pack as much cold weather clothing. Maybe we should land somewhere a little warmer?

So with these basic thoughts and plans Christmas and New Year was all done it was back to work!