Roy Colbert

By the time he gets to Phoenix ...

The boy has gone to Phoenix, Arizona. Information is scant from a son to a parent, and it was only a couple of weeks ago he casually mentioned to us over dinner at the end of a sentence asking for the salt that he was heading over there. Phwooaar, we thought as one, Phoenix, Arizona.

Singer finds perfect pitch for pathos

Red Sovine was so much more than a moral philosopher and truck-driving tear-sucker.

Singer finds perfect pitch for pathos

Many years ago I bought an album by Red Sovine called I Know You're Married But I Love You Still, simply for its title.

A birthday selection of prized sardines with bells on

Most rational thinkers would agree that the measure of a man is found in the birthday presents he buys for his partner.

The Dainty Dairy: From halcyon days to a slow demise

The Dainty Dairy is no more.

In the groove: doing stuff with Erica

Erica von Kessler. Now there's a name.

When gambling is in the family DNA

For years, all I knew about my mother's mother was that she had a brain the size of Brazil.

A drizzle of Ida Valley books

Unusually thwarted by drizzle in the Ida Valley last week, I turned indoors to books.

How to buy a 50in plasma TV and get away with it

Any bed salesman worth his salt will tell you a bed is a terribly important thing.

Sign up 'The Hoff' for 'Labour's Got Talent'

Most rational thinkers would agree the phenomenon that is David Hasselhoff is an insulting nonsense, one of the most alarming examples in recent times of someone sustaining fame through being famous.

From shag pile to chic - bagging the carpet

Carpet. Now there's a thing. I love carpet.

We have the technology to rebuild you . . .

Most male rational thinkers bring a raft of highly discussionable topics to a dinner party, because men like to prepare.

And the audience clapped as if they had to - to stay alive

Selwyn Toogood puts the questions in Dunedin Town Hall. Photo: ODT Files.

And the audience clapped as if they had to - to stay alive

When I was young, television's It's in the Bag seemed silly, about as demanding as folding paper.

An entrepreneur on his lemonade stand

The grandson Rowan returned from the Ida Valley last week, his tiny pockets stuffed with money.

Christmas dunking double delivers both delight and disappointment

ODT columnist Roy Colbert makes the most of a Christmas toy.

Christmas dunking double delivers both delight and disappointment

When people are asked would they change anything if they could live their lives over again, they invariably say no.

Wizardry of modern age no match for old-fashioned plotting

Wizardry of modern age no match for old-fashioned plotting

Most rational thinkers would agree that the Christmas New Year period is the one time of the year when you should be seeking out highly intelligent and complex information.

It's harder to write a terrible cracker joke than you think

People in a valedictory mood are fond of suggesting they have left their place or position in much better shape than how they found it.

The new bookcase takes all my stuff - trashy pulp

One of life's more astonishing facts, and it is reprinted everywhere, is that 70% of visitors to your home look in your bathroom cabinet.

Philosophy handed down from the deck chair of age and reason

In the raggle-taggle garage sale of academia that formed my three-quarters of an arts degree at Otago University, there was a year studying Plato.

Gardener's constancy would set the world to rights

The gardener is back.

Feeling all right, with Joe

Joe Cocker performs in the Dunedin Town Hall in 2005, 28 years after the author's encounter with...

Feeling all right, with Joe

Joe Cocker is coming back to town.

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Roy Colbert