Monthly Archives: July 2014

I loved New Mexico. What’s not to love about a state that reveres spiritual ancestors, country and western legends, Mother Mary, and extraterrestrials – seemingly in equal measure! It’s not that I have any particular affiliation with any of the above, but I admire a culture that allows for – and celebrates – such diversity. […]

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Agra, in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, is more than just the home of the Tāj Mahal. Once the capital of the Mughal (Moghul) Empire, ruling over all of India from 1556 to 1658, Agra houses many splendid Mughal-era buildings, three of which – the legendary Tāj Mahal, the wonderful deserted city of Fatehpūr Sikrī, and the magnificent Agra Fort – are UNESCO World Heritage listed. […]

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There is something universal about the search for beauty. We may not agree on what “beauty” is – indeed, Western philosophy has argued conceptions of beauty extensively over time – but we all seek to surround ourselves with objects that are not merely functional, but are also aesthetically pleasing. One of the many joys of […]

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Names drop like musical notes – and me, once again, am caught without an umbrella… Apologies for the paraphrase, but when I envisioned dropping the names of some of the musical heavy-weights we had the good fortune to listen to at the Byron Bay Bluesfest 2014, I “saw” the names coming down like rain; like the tears in […]

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Isn’t it funny how we experience a “kinship” with identities whose views and/or behaviour we admire? And, how we feel a “connection” with personalities whose faces are visible in the media or whose opus with which we are familiar? We “know” these people – even though they have no idea who we are. Music is so evocative […]

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