Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song

Posts Tagged Holiday

Archive

December 25, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

RNZ Feature: The Music of Billie Holiday

About once a month or so I have a long chat on RNZ about a particular musical artist or genre or a theme – for their regular Tuesday music features. For my final time at the wheel this year I chose to talk about Billie Holiday. She’s never far from my mind, that voice. And the […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Addiction, Afternoons, BILLIE, Billie Holiday, Holiday, Jazz, Jesse Mulligan, Karyn Hay, Radio, Radio Feature, Radio NZ, RNZ, RNZ Feature, RNZ Feature: The Music of Billie Holiday, Simon Sweetman, The Music of Billie Holiday, Trauma, Vocals ·

Archive

February 8, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Cool Summer: The Musical Rediscoveries of 2020/2021

Every year it’s music. All day it’s music. All the time. And if it’s not then there’s a film on – and I’m usually noticing the music. Or it’s a podcast. Which has music. Or is an interview about music. When I’m reading it’s a music biography or it’s poetry – which has its own […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Ambient, Bananarama, Book, Brian Eno, Car, Carole King, Charles Mingus, Cool Summer, Cool Summer: The Musical Rediscoveries of 2020/2021, Cruel Summer, Damn The Torpedoes, Daniel Lanois, Discreet Music, Driving, Emmylou Harris, Ennio Morricone, Family, Hermit of Mink Hollow, Holiday, John Martyn, Playlist, Rage Against The Machine, Reading, Roadtrip, Score, Solid Air, Soundtrack, Spotify, Summer, The Mission, The Musical Rediscoveries of 2020/2021, Todd Rundgren, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Wrecking Ball, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

January 17, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Stubs: # 280 – Waiheke Island, Auckland, 2021

Well, it took most of my life before I made it to Waiheke Island – and then only two years to get back there. Good time on the island for sure. We had a few days in Auckland and kicked it off with a stay in Waiheke – early flight to the big city and […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2021, Akld, Auckland, Bach, Beach, Boat, Ferry, Fullers, Holiday, Stubs, Stubs # 280, Stubs: # 280 – Waiheke Island, Waiheke Island, Water ·

Archive

December 20, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Off The Tracks Christmas Hours 2020: Happy Holidays!

Hiya! I don’t ‘blog’ as often as I used to. I mean it’s all blogging at the end of the day. Reviews, poems, columns, essays – they all live here on this site. And they’re all part of a massive blog. And that’s fine. But daily missives are really a part of Facebook now more […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 20/20, Blog, Blogging, Break, Christmas, Happy Holidays, Holiday, Off The Tracks, Off The Tracks Christmas Hours 2020, Off The Tracks Christmas Hours 2020: Happy Holidays!, Summer, Summer Holiday, Writing, Xmas, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

December 8, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Tori Amos: Christmastide (ep)

Tori Amos Christmastide (ep) Decca (UMO) Tori Amos has released a Christmas EP – it’s a clever bit of holiday-related merch for her fans but this is Christmas-adjacent as much as it is anything resembling true holiday fare. These are original songs, there’s mention of Christmas directly in the title track and there’s clues in […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Acoustic Christmas, Album Review, Christmas, Christmastide, Christmastide (ep), Decca, EP, Holiday, Holidays, Midwinter Graces, Original Songs, Seasonal, Tori Amos, Tori Amos: Christmastide (ep), Winter, Xmas, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

December 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Los Lobos: Llego Navidad

Los Lobos Llego Navidad Rhino Records From collections of Disney songs to old rock’n’roll covers if you need a band to deliver the goods – and reflect their own unique skill and flavour all the while then Los Lobos is a safe bet. So it’s no real surprise they’ve released my favourite new Christmas album […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged ¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?, Album Review, Central America, Christmas, Covers, Holiday, Llego Navidad, Los Lobos, Los Lobos: Llego Navidad, South America, Standards, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Yuletide ·

Archive

July 29, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Stubs: # 230 – Waiheke Island, Auckland, 2019   

It took until 2019 for me to visit Waiheke Island. For some odd reason I’ve kept the ferry ticket stub…hang on, I say some odd reason…what I mean was: This was an amazing holiday! My brother owns a house on the island – and finally we organised the time to go there, which meant flying […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2019, Akld, Auckland, Family, Ferry, Holiday, Stub, Stubs, Stubs # 230, Stubs: # 230 – Waiheke Island, Ticket, Waiheke Island ·

Archive

December 28, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

DJ Setlist: San Fran presents Summer Sounds with Simon Sweetman, December 28, 2018

Most years between Christmas and New Year’s I do a wee DJ set at the San Fran, our way of letting the people know the bar’s open again in the lead up to Bill E’s New Year’s Eve extravaganza. It’s a low-key thing. Summer tunes. Usually “Kiwi BBQ” is the theme, this year I decided […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2018), 70s, 80s, Balcony, Chill, chillout, Christmas, Cuba Street, December 28, DJ, DJ Set, DJ Setlist, DJ Setlist: San Fran presents Summer Sounds with Simon Sweetman, Friday, Holiday, Kiwi, LP, New Year's, NZ, Records, Relaxed, San Fran, Simon Sweetman, Summer, Summer Sounds, Summer Sounds with Simon Sweetman, Tunes, Vinyl, Wellington, Yacht Rock, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

August 14, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Stubs: #206 – Sting & Peter Gabriel, Seattle, USA, 2016

Last year we were in America – it was the best holiday, and I saw some great gigs. I turned 40 when we were over there – the trip, all of it, everything – was my present. A gift to and from all of us, really. A family vacation – an amazing one. Disneyland, a […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2016), America, Genesis, Gig, Holiday, Last Year, Live Music, Peter Gabriel, Rock Paper Scissors, Seattle, Sting, Stub, Stubs, Stubs # 206, Stubs: #206 – Sting & Peter Gabriel, The Police, Tour Diary, Travel, USA, WA ·

Archive

April 11, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Driving in America: A Soundtrack For Your Voyage(s) in The United States

Music is with me every step of every day – and on my first visit to America I was amazed to see Grateful Dead CDs in every house that I visited. I figured it to be a bit like finding Dave Dobbyn or Crowded House or Bic Runga or Exponents CDs in New Zealand homes. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged A Soundtrack For Your Voyage(s) in The United States, America, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Driving, Driving in America, Driving in America: A Soundtrack For Your Voyage(s) in The United States, Driving Music, Eye of the Hawk, Grateful Dead, Holiday, Jef, Music, The Roots, Travel, USA ·

Archive

March 30, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 13: The Roots, San Francisco 2012

Me and my brother-in-law drove down to San Francisco – left the rest of the family back in rural California, decided to take a couple of days out for ourselves. The aim, at first, was to see The Cult. But we drove down with no tickets, no accommodation, and turned up to find it sold […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2012, America, Best Gig, DJ Set, Holiday, It Was The Best Gig Ever, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 13, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 13 The Roots, Questlove, San Francisco, San Francisco 2012, The Roots ·

Archive

March 1, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Stubs: #201 – Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, USA, 2016

It was a pretty great 40th birthday last year – and I wrote a wee bit about it here. Suddenly, just the other day I thought about it again, specifically the trip to the Contemporary Jewish Museum – which was showing an amazing Stanley Kubrick exhibition. I was listening to a podcast with a film […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 201, 2016), 40th Birthday, America, Contemporary Jewish Museum, Exhibition, Film, Holiday, Museum, San Fran, San Francisco, Saturday, Stanley Kubrick, Stub, Stubs, Stubs # 201, Stubs: #201 – Contemporary Jewish Museum, USA ·
← Older posts

Popular

  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Prince: Tokyo Dome 1990
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Time Casts Its Spell: When Silver Springs Became The Secret Weapon It Had Always Threatened To Be
  • Everything Must Go: My Last Time At The Record Fair
  • Bono’s Book
  • On: Neil Young’s Decade
  • My Pink Floyd Tapes

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Blog Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Poetry Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spines Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2022 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press