There is nothing quite like a song to transport you to a time a place, a person, in your life.
I always make a point of claiming a song from everywhere I go and make up playlists when I go home.
It helps me hold on to that place that little bit longer.
And bring it up every time I hear it again.
The song can be a random, recognisable tune you hear on the radio or the TV.
I’m in there somewhere: At Red Rocks
Or a new tune that you pick up which leads you to investigate the singer, band or composer and build a collection.
While the best of all is if you see live music when you are abroad.
In this random series I will share some of the great music I’ve heard on my travels which oft times has defined the destination.
I’m going to kick things off with one of the great musical venues in the world, Red Rocks in Colorado.
Hymn of the Republic
Where I saw Denver band OneRepublic.
I stopped and stared: At Red Rocks
I didn’t know it at the time.
But the lead singer Ryan Tedder as well as penning a number of very recognisable songs I didn’t know were his has also written for a number of big stars.
Including Beyonce – and he sang a rousing Halo.
And here’s me giving all Ryan’s secrets away…
But the tune which stayed with me was set in his experience of growing up in Colorado and thinking of moving on grabbed me.
Stop and Stare cut the brisk Colorado night.
And of course the ancient rock setting and the acoustics from the music hitting them made for a magical night.
Red Jocks: Myself and fellow Scot Neil at Red Rocks
The only regret was that I hadn’t seen The Beatles, The Stones, Bruce and U2 play there.
Rocks of ages
But I will be back and I expect Brandon Flowers and The Killers to keep their side of the bargain and be on when I’m there.
Summer is drawing to a close and it needs to be marked in the ancient manner – a music festival. Daddy’s Little Girl is off with her pals again to trudge through the mud to listen to her favourite beat combo band.
Rave on as nobody other than Dancing Dads might say… here are a few random festivals…
Electric Picnic
Not your typical picnic, folding tables, stools, tuppaware and stools. This is Electric Picnic, Ireland’s answer to Glastonbury.
Of course, the festival in Stradbally Hall, Co. Laois in the middle of Ireland, is on a more intimate scale but it has that same indie vibe.
With a Body and Soul tent with the obligatory bean bags (my entire furniture in my first flat), massages and tarot cards (I still have my pack). There’s also a comedy tent.
You want to know about the music. Choose from any of these from yesteryear… Nick Cave, New Order, Bjork, Aracade Fire. The Flaming Lips and the Sex Pistols. While this year Florence & the Machine are the big draw.
One close to my heart and my work… my first writing job was just across the road.
And it was while I was there that Meatloaf had a bottle of urine thrown at him which hit him square in the face. He got off that stage like a bat out of hell but not before giving the crowd the finger.
Now play nice, boys and girls!
The Reading Festival has been built on its rock foundations but in truth it has been a magnet to all the big Festival acts.
Both British: The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, The Who. Genesis, The Jam and Pulp and Oasis. Heavy metal is big here with Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Status Quo.
And international: Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, AC/DC. Metallica. Guns n’ Roses, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers. And, erm, Eminem.
Reading has just packed away last weekend where The 1975, The Foo Fighters, Post Malone and Twenty One Pilots were the headline acts. Next year will be from August 28-30. Visit http://www.readingfestival.com.
T in the Park/TRMSMT
Scotland in the Seventies was a bit of a cultural wasteland.
Sure there were the good jobbing bands like Nazareth, my first big boys’ concert and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
But generally Scottish music wasn’t promoted as it should have been.
Now Tennents has a lot to answer for for its fizzy electric lager but it does deserve credit for championing Scottish music and international maps and putting my wee country on the gigs map.
And of course it received the ultimate recommendation when the world’s greatest band The Killers headlined.
Now revived as TRNSMT and held on Glasgow Green http://www.trnsmtfest.com, its last iteration was from July 12-14 and was headlined by among others George Ezra and Stormzy.
The Montreaux Jazz Festival
A place of mythical proportions on account of Frank Zappa burning a mobile recording unit to the ground and Deep Purple immortalising it in Smoke on the Water.
In its 53rd year, it is held in Vevey, Switzerland, and yes, Purple in whatever line-up they are on by now, are regular visitors.
The festival includes blues, soul and rock music in addition to jazz. And as you’d expect it is quite pretty too. And Frank isn’t around anymore with a box of matches. Visit http://www.montreauxjazzfestival.com.
Coachella
OK, so this is not a summer festival but it is America’s favourite, or certainly the celebs’ favourite.
So if you like a bit of a celeb spotting then the Empire Polo Club in Indio in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert where Pearl Jam first played.
Over two weekends in April it is one of the most profitable music festivals in the world, but heck, that’s not what we’re interested in.
It’s all about the music. This year was the 20th anniversary with Chidish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande all performing. Watched by a host of celebs. Visit http://www.coachella.com.
Our national airline carrier is offering up to 20% off destinations across Europe.
Fashion capital: Milan. Photo by bruce mars on Pexels.com
Prices start from €39.99 for Bordeaux, Lisbon, Faro, Paris, Milan, Paris, Toulouse and Vienna. Travel between 23 September and 24 October and rise but not by much.
The sale ends Thursday midnight.
These are all good cities I think you’d agree, although Faro is more of a thoroughfare.
One whose airport is a pleasure to rest awhile in and where you bump into the most unlikely of people.
Faro is certainly one place I need to investigate more rather than just jump in the taxi, coach, or hired car.
Too early for the mistletoe
But if it is your starting point then Aer Lingus offers this package: €297pp with seven nights at the. 4* Estrella do Vau.
I always get a thrill when I hear of people cruising for the first time.
And before I forget to get angry I’m reclaiming that word ‘cruising’ which has come to mean something else.
My old friends Dougie and Julie are floating around the western Med at the moment and the last time I checked they were in northern Italy. Bella, Bella.
Every sailing though will inevitably be compared with a round-the-world trip for my very own Scary One.
Who came back as a kid from Australia on a working ship.
It doesn’t sound like much work was done though and she was supposed to have been schooled on board.
But all she tells me about are parties, particularly the Neptune and the Equator one. And going through the Panama Canal.
They have an 11-night Mediterranean Fly & Cruise on MSC Opera from €799pps which is exclusive to Click&Go http://www.clickandgo.com from November 30.
So you’ll take in Rome, Genoa, Malaga, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Morocco, Cartagena in Spain and then back to the Eternal City.
Christmas on the river
Oh, I wish it could be Christmas every day.
And in a shop in my old stomping ground of Edinburgh, on the Royal Mile, it was.
And guess what? As you would expect the man who is most associated with December 25, sent them a letter which was proudly displayed at the front.
Yes. Cliff.
If you like an oul’ Christmas Market (misseltoe and wine) then Cassidy Travel has a Rhine River cruise, stopping off at the Christmas markets of Rudesheim, Koblenz and Koln.
It’s part of their first dedicated Christmas Markets brochure which I’ll bring you more on.
Bur for now, the Rhine cruise in December is from €759 which includes flights from Dublin. http://www.cassidytravel.ie.
Like people, I suppose we all have our types, and I venture for the loyal, sparky types. It helps if they’re cute too.
The best friend a man ever had was Greyfriars Bobby who I make no apologies in bringing up again and whom Disney made a film about.
Bobby slept on the grave of his maister (that’s Scottish for master) in Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirk (a graveyard). And their graves lie next to each other now.
That’s my pub too: Greyfriars Bobby
There is a statue outside the kirk, and a pub, in his honour too.
You’re either a cat person (and my kind of human being) or a dog person (and probably not).
No doubt if I google it I’ll be able to find out what a cat person is and what constitutes a dog person.
Equally there’s bound to be some kerching mug, plate or tea towel saying why dogs are better than men and also cats. In fact I know there are.
Now don’t get me wrong I love dogs (most of them) but it’s just their owners.
Have you no respect?
Let me kick off with their extendable leads.
What was wrong with the small leads? They didn’t stretch far enough I hear dog owners scream.
But then what are you meant to do when you’re walking along the pavement?
Minding your own business, and you get your way blocked by Fido or Rover?
You’re forced into the road where you step on Fido’s do-dos.
Puss in books
OK, there’s less of that now, but the sight of dog owners earnestly and smugly gathering their pet’s poo in an outpoured plastic bag (and don’t get me going on plastic bags).
Or using that pooper scooper.
Cat’s litter
I mean why can’t they do like cats and do it in a tray or in someone else’s flower bed (I know I do, the last bit anyway, or at least I used to as a student).
And then you can’t get past two dog owners who meet in the middle of the pavement and start pawing each other’s pets.
And again you never get that with cats.
Spot the human: In South Africa
I was reminded of cats’ superior place in God’s choir by an old pal and fellow felinophile.
He was responding to my recent review on Istanbul by lauding the Turks, not least for their love of cats.
Bazaar cats
And yes, I was taken by the cats sprawling over the book stalls in the Grand Bazaar…
Something you definitely wouldn’t want a mangy old dog doing.
Although I will give the dog who photobombed my pic of a Camino cross by piddling on it an A+.
Although I doubt it would have helped him getting to doggie heaven.
And my fur is growing… on the Camino
And, of course, I’ll always purr at the memory of our beloved First Born, our cheeky, too brave for his own good tabby Celtic.
He incurred the wrath of a particularly menacing crow – I think he was eyeing up her baby bird.
My cuddles
But the most majestic of all animals are the big cats and I will treasure getting this close to these pussycats on safari in the East Cape in South Africa.
In fairness, Martin Luther never billed himself as the Father of Protestantism, or the Reformation, when he nailed his Ninety Five Theses to the door of the All Saints Church in Wittenburg in 1517.
He was the pious, monk type, rather than the self-publicising kind.
And iconoclasm was the very thing he was railing against… that and the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church to ease your path from Purgatory to Heaven.
Another reason why he wouldn’t have claimed that he was launching a new, and rival, branch of the Christian church is because he must have known he wasn’t.
OK, it just looks like I’m sainted. In Marianske Lazne
The First Protestants (and who can really say?) were the Bohemians.
Some 100 years previously.
I stumbled upon the First Protestants while making my way back to my hotel in Prague… I often get waylaid.
In truth, I’m always drawn to places of worship and often hang in doorways contemplating on going in.
I always do.
Broadening horizons: Prague
It was a basic prayer meeting house with no pictures to distract you from the pastor.
Who was preaching in his native tongue.
He also had his back to us at the start and was playing the organ.
Maybe it’s a thing.
Huis arrest
Whether Jan Huis did the same in 1412 I guess we’ll never know, and to be fair, this is a pretty general sketch of what he might have been like.
What we do know though is that he challenged the authority of the Papacy by asserting that Christ was the Supreme Judge and that worshippers should appeal directly to him.
A challenge that cost Huis his life.
Thankfully times have changed and it is not at all dangerous spending an afternoon in worship with the locals in Prague.
Although many in the Czech capital swear by another religion Urquell Pilsener…
It’s not surprising that Andy Murray has had to have his body reconstructed from spare parts.
Because it’s not easy carrying the sporting hopes of an entire nation, Scotland, on your back.
And yes, we know he’s also British.
But, of course us Scots love to joke that the English media call him British when he’s winning.
But Scottish when he loses.
Or golf
To us Scots though he’s always a winner, and we will miss him not playing at the US Open in Flushing Meadow which starts this weekend.
He won the title here, the first of his three grand slams, in 2012.
I had the pleasure of spending some quality time with Andy’s mum, Judy, the world-renowned tennis coach.
And Strictly Come Dancing sensation.
Judy was giving a group of British and Irish journalists a coaching class at The Campus sports complex in Quinto da Lago in Portugal.
Or cycling
Of course it was a great privilege although there is always a class joker who has to be brought to heel.
Coaching schools are increasingly popular holiday packages for the whole family.
And as well as Judy’s classes, The Campus offers the best in golf technique and expertise at the Paul McGinley Academy.
And beautiful courses.
If it’s cycling you like then this part of the Algarve is unspoiled, quiet.
Or yoga
And for this cyclist whose bike is in the shed because it’s so hilly around Co. Wicklow in Ireland, Quinto most importantly is flat.
Portugal has become a great favourite for sports fans with golf holidays long established.
But if your game is of the crazy variety then you might prefer a kick about instead.
Even if you’re not Premier League standard, and top English teams go to The Campus on training camps, then there are plenty of other football courts around.
A daily five-a-side game was something I got up looking forward to in Cabanas.
Or football
With Duffers, Ray and the local Portuguese kids.
The banter was great between Manchester United fan and Paul Scholes lookalike Terry and Leeds United fan Ray.
Terry still had the skills that saw him have trials at Chelsea although age had caught up with him.
While your diarist got to sport his green and white hooped Sporting Lisbon top although no Cristiano Ronaldo me.
Right, the world’s leaders aren’t going to stay in a caravan park but I do heartily agree with the G7’s choice of Biarritz.
In a former life, and former newspaper, when I had to compete with others (the cheek of it!) to be picked to go on a travel trip, I landed Biarritz.
The newspaper’s system, as far as I could figure it out, was that the first one to reply was rewarded, though I suspect that quality control came into play too.
It went down though like a fart at a funeral among the women in the office that I was being sent to a Thalassotherapy Centre for some water-based spa pampering.
Water everywhere: At the Sofitel
The Hotel Spa Biarritz Le Miramar – Sofitel is where you should go when you’re in town.
And I fancy that The Donald, The Boris, the Emmanuel and The Justin all like a pandering.
I’ve also got a soft spot for The Angela and have been concerned to see her shaking, so she certainly deserves some spoiling.
You too can avail of some treats, and God knows, you deserve it.
Jump in: The Sofitel, Biarritz
I can still feel the seaweed wraps and a shiver goes down my back thinking back on the water hosing I got from the assistant.
The previous time I’d been hosed down was by a life guard in a swimming baths in Glasgow for messing about.
There are some things that will scar your kids… seeing their Dad smoking a Shisha pipe is one.
It’s not as if they put any drugs in it, or at least I think they didn’t, more of a sweet-smelling tobacco. Still impressionable seven-year-old minds and all that.
Bodrum in Turkey was perhaps my favourite of our family holidays, possibly on account of the Turks making a fuss of our Ally (like Ali, they said).
And our Laurie befriending Shannon.
And me taking second place in the talent contest, doing a Highland jig in my kilt.
Click&Go has half-board Turkey holidays among a clutch of great offers.
A seven-night stay at the 4* Ambrosia Hotel from €399pps. Travel in October. With return flights from Dublin to Bodrum. http://www.clickandgo.com.
And if you’re looking for another Turkish treat my Istanbul trip this summer is in today’s Irish Sun.
I do hope the PR woman who was taking her first media group on what was then the inaugural Swansea-Cork Ferries trip was not put off by us all getting sea-sick.
And continued with her career.
It proved a thoroughly enjoyable introduction for another tyro, me, into the world of travel and Press groups.
Not least because it also included the use of Citroen cars for a spin around the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula.
These days, mainly because The Scary One has taken the wheel. I prefer to walk.
And that’s not because she throws me out of the car.
I’m off to Tenerife next month and am also trekking in Austria.
The beautiful Dingle Peninsula
And that means I won’t be able to avail of this intriguing walk in Kerry.
Courtesy of The Rose Hotel in Tralee this is a Walking Weekend organised for September 27 and 28.
Check in on the Friday evening and on Saturday guests will join Wild Water Adventures on a guided walk with a choice of three routes.
The Dingle Way (Easy 2.5 hours), Loch a Duin Valley (Moderate 4.5 hours) or Mount Brandon (Strenuous 6 hours).
The Walking Weekend package costs €160pp.
It includes two nights accommodation with dinner on one evening, guided walk, packed lunch and transport.
To book or for further enquires please contact The Rose Hotel visit www.therosehotel.com.
A little bit of sunny Scotland
Scotland, Barbados: Dwayne and I
I love finding Scotland abroad… in the world’s place names.
Here I am in sunny Scotland (obviously not the original) in Barbados.
Equally I have travelled in other lands where my Scottish forbears have gone before.
The Deep South of the US has a rich Scottish history with Ben Lomond and Banff revealing its Caledonian links.
But you can be deceived. Nevis in the Caribbean has no connection with Britain’s tallest mountain, Ben Nevis.
The Caribs first tried out Ouailie (Land Of Beautiful Water) while the early British settlers called the island Dulcina (Sweet Island).
Until they settled on Nevis from the Spanish Nuestra Senora de las Nievas (Our Lady of the Snows).
Does it even snow there though?
Tropical Sky www.tropicalsky.ie has savings of up to €1,200pp on seven-night stays at the 5* Nisbet Plantation Beach Club.
For travel completed before December 19, if booked before August 31.
The holiday now costs from €1,899pp. Includes return flight from Dublin.
Exotic: Thailand. Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi on Pexels.com
You wouldn’t immediately associate Thailand with Halloween, it’s just that our holiday providers like to link dates and places.
In fact it isn’t Buddhist and Halloween is a Christian festival, but being Buddhist they do channel the spirits.
And go for miniature spirit houses outside their homes and businesses where they present gifts to their forefathers.
Emirates Holidays www.emiratesholidays.com is offering a ‘fangtastic’ (their words) seven nights at the 4* Santhiya, Koh Yao Yai from €3,729 per family.
That’s two adults, two children (under 11 sharing).
Including return flights from Dublin. Depart October 26.
Me, I’m a practising Boozist!
Malta pleasers
In neighbouring Gozo
It’s getting around to that time of year again when I made the besotted Miss F the happiest woman in the world.
I bent down to tie my shoelaces in Malta and she shrieked YES.
