by John Hanlon | Jul 14, 2023 | Uncategorized |
F It has taken nearly half a century but now, at last, there is video footage of me in concert. It’s a No Frills, Warts & All acoustic show entitled ‘JOHN HANLON. NOW & THEN’ that staged at The PumpHouse, Takapuna, Auckland, in March 2023. By any...
by John Hanlon | Jan 28, 2023 | Uncategorized |
Hi Friends, We are desperate to put bums on seats for our next two concerts. Sales are low and slow and one gig is only a week away. So I’m resorting to bragging. Here are some audience reactions to our fist gig, which people have kindly allowed me to use in...
by John Hanlon | Feb 20, 2022 | Uncategorized |
A year ago, I was deep in sleep. To be more specific, I was in an Intensive Care Unit at Auckland Hospital, in the second of two induced comas. My wife, Yana, waiting anxious, helpless, and ever supportive by my side. Things had gone awry after my kidney transplant....
by John Hanlon | Dec 2, 2021 | Uncategorized |
It may seem strange to begin a true story with a fabricated photograph but I had no choice. I wanted to write about a series of recording I did with The Rebels, (Larry Morris’s band) in 1979: Viv McCarthy (bass and vocals), Denis ‘Nooky’ Stott (drums...
by John Hanlon | Aug 31, 2021 | Uncategorized |
The first night on my first visit to Paris found me in a noisy, woodfire-smoke-scented restaurant, (recommended by the late Anthony Bourdain), having dinner with a dear friend and her new man. Just before midnight, overcome by weariness, I excused myself and set out...
by John Hanlon | Aug 12, 2021 | Uncategorized |
I do this often. I wrap a deliberately saccharine tune around a message that can be hard to swallow for some people. Damn the Dam, for instance, much loved now, was seen as a ‘protest song’ when released nearly 50 years ago. Because back then environmentalism —...
by John Hanlon | Aug 2, 2021 | Uncategorized |
While I’m often called a musician, the reality is that I‘m just a singer-songwriter plain and simple. I play guitar well enough to put on an acceptable acoustic concert, but no one is ever going to call me in to play on their recording. Truth is, I rarely play on my...
by John Hanlon | Jul 11, 2021 | Uncategorized |
When it comes to technology, I am incompetent. This was never better demonstrated than my interview with Karyn Hay on Radio National this morning. I’d expected to have one song off my new album NAKED TRUTHS played on this show and was delighted to hear that they would...
by John Hanlon | Jun 26, 2021 | Uncategorized |
It has been nearly fifty years since I released my first album FLOATING. In terms of sales, it pretty much bombed. Were it not for the unshakable faith of the record company head, Tim Murdoch, my career would have ended there and then. Thankfully, Tim persisted and...
by John Hanlon | Mar 29, 2021 | Uncategorized |
I’ve recently seen two inspiring television items concerning Kiwi ingenuity on farms. Specifically, environmentally responsible farming. The first — on Country Calendar a program that rarely fails to inspire me — was about a family that have taken their farm back to...
