Author Archives: browney

Graham Edge drummer and inspiration behind The Moody Blues – RIP

Leave a reply
Graham Edge – source ABC.net.au/AP Photo/David Richard


From my first listening to Every Good Boy Deserve Favour, there is no time that I have not enjoyed listening to The Moody Blues. I was introduced to them by a school teacher who proved to be the biggest musical influence of my life – he also introduced me to Dylan and Springsteen and sparked a mini revival of Richard Harris’s version of MacArthur Park in my home town.
Edge who died aged 80 this week was pivotal to The Moody Blues.

Edge was a founding member of The Moody Blues, who when formed in the early to mid 1960s had a typical Mersey beat style about them. Their hit Go Now was the most memorable of that incarnation. The band progressed to be an early proponent of Prog Rock.

The Moody Blues were distinctive. Edge’s poetic introductions to songs were part of that, but as I realised when I saw them in concert for the last time a few years ago, their distinctive style was the drumming. Yes, there were soaring vocals, and harmonies but through it all the drumming was central. Just listen to the drum solo to I’m Just a Singer if you need reminding.

Justin Hayward is quoted in The Guardian saying “Graeme’s sound and personality is present in everything we did together and thankfully that will live on.” Just as his drumming was central to the Moddies sound, he was central to the band’s very existence.

I was lucky enough to see the Moody Blues twice. They still had it even in their early 70s, when if my memory is correct Edge said perhaps my favourite ever concert line, that he’d been lucky enough to live through the 60s twice. At 80 his time has come for which I’m very sad but also grateful for the music, his drumming, his poetry and the Moody Blues.


Take the turn off – Mundulla & Dimboola

2 Replies

With travel still restricted, we are all being encouraged to travel locally. Australia is vast and highways mean so many of the little towns are a detour off the highway.

In this post I pick two that are definitely worth taking the turn off for. We have!

Mundulla is a delightful Australian country town going through a serious rejuvenation. It’s a few kilometres off the Dukes Highway on the Adelaide side of Bordertown. A detour of just a few minutes.

The town has been a multiple winner of the best small town and sustainability awards, all very much due to the efforts of an active local community.

The town’s centrepiece is the Old Mundulla Hotel. It is everything a country pub should be: a friendly publican, a few locals, and some travellers like ourselves. The hotel has accommodation that includes a B&B, a newly built self-accommodation home, and three small modern cabins. At the time of our visit, the B&B was under renovation and the home in the final stages of completion. We booked one of the small cabins. Check-in is at the pub. Our cabin was modern, small and adequate – just the spot for an overnight stop-over.

My suggestion is to drop your bags and head to the pub. If it’s a warm day the beer garden out the back with its big grassed area with a verandah is just the place for a beer or glass of wine or two. If the weather is less inviting stay inside and perhaps settle in by the fire with a glass of red from the nearby Coonawarra.

We visited in late summer and sat outside before heading inside for dinner. We had a table in the window that looked across the main street. The bar behind us had a few people settling in for dinner. The food is simple and excellent – the atmosphere delightful.

It’s definitely worth going for a walk around the town. The old council chambers weren’t open on our visit but the building has been restored – the chambers were only used for a couple of years. It was quiet and the dusk light made the walk a delight. There is a nature walk through the scrub on the town’s perimeter.

Council Chambers

The pub is not open every night although the accommodation is.

The general store does a great breakfast from around 6.30 am every morning. Good coffee and a pretty traditional Aussie breakfast menu. They also sell Frances Strawberries Strawberry Jam!

My second detour is a short stop in Dimboola just a few kilometres off the Western Highway near the South Australian – Victrorian border.

Continue reading →

Legacy fan

2 Replies

I have been an Arsenal fan from afar for the best part of 50 years. Living on the other side of the world meant that I either had to be near the radio for the classified results on a Sunday morning or hope our local daily had enough column space to print the results. on a Monday or Tuesday. I used to read Shoot magazine with my copy arriving at the newsagent weeks after it came out in England. The only TV coverage was Match of the Day The Big Match hosted by Brian Moore and the FA Cup final.

Continue reading →

An IOU Christmas

3 Replies


Well, that’s Christmas done. An awesome day with family and such benign weather after last year’s heat and fires had such a disruptive impact.

Our family Christmas table a year late!

When I said that Christmas is done, I meant the day is over not so the present giving in our case. My favourite person’s main present is in transit. It seems to order it six weeks before Christmas just wasn’t earlier enough. It should arrive next week.

As for me, my children have told me they hope my presents will arrive soon! Again ordered weeks ago, the pandemic has struck.

My youngest daughter thinking on her feet hastily altered cards for a couple of small gifts so I received something from my other daughter and a bottle of Rhubarb Gin from my son and his wife meant I didn’t feel I’d missed out at all. As for my favourite person, she didn’t miss out receiving a new bag hastily arranged with the help of one of her favourite stores.

The lack of gifts made absolutely no difference to a wonderful day Christmas.

We were so lucky that we were able to celebrate with all of our family when so many people in Australia and elsewhere were denied the opportunity.

A short trip to Kangaroo Island -Day One

Leave a reply
Cape Willoughby Lighthouse

A couple of months ago we booked a trip to Kangaroo Island. Kangaroo Island is a short drive from our beach house and then a ferry ride of about 45 minutes. A welcome short break away from my studies. 

We left Adelaide just after lunch and drove to our beach house about 90 kms from Adelaide, rather than an early start from Adelaide the next morning. Second Valley is stunning and we never tire of the view.  We are lucky because we are able to enjoy Second Valley anytime, but if Kangaroo Island is on your wishlist, stopping a night on the way at Second Valley and having dinner at Leonards Mill Restaurant makes a great start to the trip.

After breakfast, we made the 15 minute drive to the ferry terminal at Cape Jarvis. We were early, so after checking in we had time for a coffee. We were called to drive the car onto the ferry about 20 minutes before we departed. They ask the drivers to go to their cars to drive them on and the passengers’ board separatley.


It’s only 16kms to Pennyshaw across Backstairs package, it was windy meaning the boat rolled a little on the 45 minute trip. I don’t have great sea legs so it would be fair to say I was happy that it wasn’t too rough. I’d have preferred it to be pan flat as it was one day when I rode my bike across to Cape Jervis and saw a group of jet skiers riding across.

We were quickly off the boat and headed to the Fat Beagle for an awesome coffee. Friendly staff and awesome coffee – the best we had on the Island. As well as enjoying the coffee we used the time to think about the day as the weather was not great. From there we headed across to Frenchman’s  Rock about 2 minutes away. The rock has an inscription made by Nicolas Baudin’s crew on their mapping expedition in 1803. 

Continue reading →