Yachting on Sydney Harbour

On the 8th May, I had ‘the big one’ – my 30th Birthday. When I thought about what I wanted to do to mark the occasion, I lost interest in big parties and lot’s of drinking, or restaurants and picnics. So I thought I’d take a few of my best friends out on a yacht on Sydney Harbour.

After some calls I hired a ‘Jarken 35‘ yacht from Sail Australia. It was skippered by a nice guy called Eddie and although deemed to be a lowly ‘budget’ yacht by the hire company, was perfectly fine for my purposes.

We had a lovely picnic lunch at Balmoral beach beforehand, then got onto the ‘Balmoral Star’ and slowly puffed past ferries and the truly beautiful Sydney Harbour. The weather was great and everyone got along really well.

It really was a great way to spend my 30th. Of course, there are a few other things I’m doing as well, like taking my actual birthday off and going to Brooklyn, and having dinner with my family.

So if your sick of the usual birthday celebration guff, I’d recommend spending the day out on one of the best harbours in the world.

My Rating: 5 Stars

Jazz meets the Symphony with Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin has been doing ‘Jazz meets the Symphony‘ for a while now. In this case, he’s brought together James Morrison (trumpet), Christian McBride (bass) and Gordon Rytmeister (drums) together with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Schifrin either wrote or arranged the whole performance, and he’s done a great job. The Orchestra can feel like a bit of a support act when the soloist’s get carried away, but generally the Jazz musicians and the SSO work well together. I really liked the first half, but thought the Tribute to Bix in the second half was just too long, and too brassy for my liking.

The audience seemed to contain a lot of James Morrison fans, who seemed to think the Opera house was joking when they said no cameras. I thought Christian McBride was a better, more interesting performance than Morrison.

Despite the music being full of rhythm, the audience stayed stock still for the entire performance. Maybe it’s the effect of the concert hall, but I think I would have enjoyed it more in a smaller, more jazz friendly venue. Something serving wisky, and with red velvet.

Apart from the Mission Impossible theme at the end, a great night out:

My Rating: 4 stars