First up...

Bonjour!


Well, for some years now various folk have urged me to get writing on the old blog system. I set up an account last year, but until now it remained rather...derelict.

You may have seen/read/been a part of Lushmail or even been privy to the 'odd' rambling email/letter. I love to write. It's not Chekhov, or Wordsworth, Winton or Starkey, but I love to write just the same.

One friend started his own blog a couple of weeks back, and I tell ya, it was the catalyst I reckon to get going.


Although worlds apart, (you can find his here, thought provoking and articulate compared to the walffle you'll encounter in The Whisky Bar!), I suppose the purpose of our blogs, and indeed anyone who takes time out to write one is to share (with those interested) thoughts on what makes us tick, what drives us, what evokes passion for something, and what we feel are things we need to inform others of.

There's also room for self-indulgence on the old blogger sites, and in this day and age, that should come as no surprise.

I suppose you'll find here at The Whisky Bar an array of topics. There'll be some obvious calls, some obscure calls and some outrageous calls, but I hope they all provoke thinking. Or smiles at the very least.


So, welcome to The Whisky Bar. Many personal connotations are associated with this, but foremost is the fact that I have, over the years, come to crave, love, live for and absolutely adore music despite being...well, pretty much tone deaf; thus the affiliation with The Doors hit, The Whisky Bar (Alabama Song).

I don't know much about whisky itself, apart from having to memorise 150 odd when I lived in Scotland- location, levels of peat, age etc. What I can say though is Laphroiag is simply...exceptional. And the only whisky to be allowed into the US when being pioneered due to it's marketing as 'medicinal'...clever stuff from that distillery all those years ago!


I am on a neverending mission to learn more about music. The diverse group of friends I have means I can avoid mainstream radio but still know the words to songs at the pubs, clubs and parties. I love seeing any friend in action, regardless of genre. Death metal, heavy rock, classical, country, musical theatre. You name it, I've been there.


I am on a blues buzz at present. I haven't been able to get past John Mayer in awhile, well, in actuality the John Mayer Trio with the very versatile Pino Palladino on the bass (incidentally he toured with The Who on their recent trip to NZ). Palladino is a name I'm eager to hear more on. His presence in the music world makes me smile. And he's not alone with this...'honour'.

Music figures like that intrigue me. Are they similar to the ever-cast 'side kick' roles in Hollywood? Almost ubiquitous yet rarely credited with the praise duly deserved?

Elton John owes half his career to Bernie Taupin...Fleetwood Mac would be nowhere without the foundations laid by Peter Green; Joe Cocker has 50/50 praise/criticism due to not being a writer himself yet happy to have a career spanning decades; Hendrix was backed not by the Experience at Woodstokc, but by 3 random gypsy folk who happened to have a couple of bongos and a spare guitar; Clapton established The Yardbirds, Cream, Derek and the Dominoes with artists who went on to join The Who, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones and the Spencer Davis Group....no doubt more will spring to mind once I've wrapped this up.

Anyway, once a month at Bodega, 3rd Thursday of the month, you'll find Blues month at Bodega (fantastic interview here with bar manager Murray)...some might say it's one more place Wellingtonians can don their fedoras, I say it's been a long time coming and gives one a reprieve (if only brief and not from desperation, merely change of scene) from the dulcet yet sometimes monotonous tones of Wellington's mellow scene...look to checking it out.

Until next time,

L.