Category Archives: Portraits I’m not the first to say it, but music crosses boundaries: the boundaries of time and place. One of the things I always loved about the annual Easter long weekend Byron Bay Bluesfest music festival was the cross-section of ages, styles, and origins, of the performers – and of the audience members. The family-friendly event always […]  It was a trip I’d been anticipating for a long time: an ocean voyage on a small ship to visit remote West Papuan villages and to snorkel in the marine-rich waters around Raja Ampat and the Spice Islands. The chance to swim with giant whale sharks was what had sold me on this particular itinerary. […]  Bluesfest desk tapes 2018-2024 by Hussy Hicks Music can serve to both describe our pain and lift us out of it. For me, the highlights of this year’s annual Easter long weekend Byron Bay Bluesfest were the “story artists”: those musicians whose performances feel personal, and for whom the lyrics are as important as the […]  Any visitor to these pages knows I love my music festivals. While small festivals (eg: Thredbo Blues, Thredbo Jazz, and Vancouver Island Music Festival) have their charm, the granddaddy of them all is the annual Easter long-weekend Byron Bay Bluesfest. I first attended back in 1999 when it was a three-day celebration of local and international […]  It was a bittersweet feeling: this was our last day of trekking in the magnificent Annapurna mountains of Nepal. Every step of this “Easy” Poon Hill Trek had reminded me that I’m not as young as I once was. But, the accommodation was vastly improved compared with my first visit to this region many years […] |
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