Tag: Rod Stewart

Gigs from Abroad Part 27 Greece – Part 2

In 2023 we decided to head to Crete for our 25th wedding anniversary. Crete is a fair size land mass and is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and welcomes 6.3 million visitors per year. The island was the home of Europe’s first advanced civilisation, the Minoans who hung around for 1300 BC years and built the palace of Knossos.

Famous residents include the Greek god Zeus, actor John Aniston (Giannis Anastasakis), father of Jennifer Aniston, singer Nana Mouskouri and professional gambler Nick Dandolos, otherwise known as ‘Nick the Greek’. Though the latter named sounds like a fringe character on Only Fools and Horses, wonder whether he ever met ‘Dirty Barry’!  

Nana Mouskouri. Image Credit photos.com

It has two international airports, one at the capital Heraklion in the north, the second resides at Chania which is where we flew into. We were fortunate to grab some lovely accommodation in a suburb called Kato Daratsos village, which was a short bus ride away from Chania or a more leisurely walk along the seafront which we completed a couple of times.  Our lodgings were linked to a family run pool complex next door and the lady there could not have been more friendly and welcoming.

There were a few beach bars and some fine local restaurants, and we managed to source a nearby one with an enclosed outdoor veranda called Sterna Chrisi Atki on our anniversary. Whilst we were having our meal, completed with a mighty slab of Cretan Orange Cake, we observed a huge local family on another table. They were several young kids in their party, and it was thoroughly refreshing to see them all well behaved and thoroughly engaged at the table throughout their dinner with no phones, drawing books or tantrums!

There were several streets off the main drag running down to the sea and on one such avenue there was Kato Daratsos Thea Artemis Café where one night we saw a singer called Sebastian performing. Close by our accommodation we also caught a portion of Rock Lobbies set at Kato Daratsos Theos Village. We headed into Chania for a few nights out and there were many small windy streets and busy squares in the old town. At one point, we ended up at Chania Harbour where we saw a local chap called Carlos playing.  

In June 2025 we completed our latest trip to Greece and headed initially to the island of Zante (known locally as Zakynthos), which is part of the Ionian islands and also has the name of ‘Fioro di Levante’ which translates as the Flower of the East. During World War II the Mayor and the Bishop (it is not a precursor to a joke) refused the German requests and hid all the residents jews in rural villages, and all 275 survived the conflict and both dignitaries were later listed as Righteous Among the Nations for their bravery and compassion.

Chania Harbour. Image Credit pixels.com

Zante was battered in 1953 by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake which resulted in most of the buildings being destroyed. Subsequently all buildings were then strengthened and proved to be effective when a 6.4 scale earthquake struck in 2018 as it caused significantly less damage.

On our visit we headed into the resort of Argassi for a period of eight days and understandably given the time of year it was rather scorchio! It was a tidy spot with a plethora of restaurants and bars, many of which we visited. One particular spot deserves mentioning and that was the friendly Beer Academy where they had an extensive selection of Greek bottled beverages which I obviously took it on my shoulders to work my way down the list, with my favourite being a Thessaloniki brew called Nymfi.

On the inventively named Main Road there was Argassi Nonna’s Kitchen Bar where we saw an act called The Boys playing and further down at Argassi Diane Palace Hotel a chap called Stavros was performing. There were the predictable tribute acts on stage at Argassi Legend Sports Bar and Grill where we saw ‘Rod Stewart’ and at Argassi Captains Hotel we witnessed Gary playing.

The Beer Academy. Image Credit argassizakynthos.com

There was a chilled beach bar called Argassi Solesea which was a fine spot to while away a couple of hours gazing out at the Ionian Sea and on one particular visit there was a chap called Al tinkling away gently on the house piano.

There were two establishments that had music on every evening, the first was the Argassi Green Frog Bar, which had a busy restaurant attached to it. It was a cosy establishment and when we attended there was a decent ‘mash-up’ singer called James Erlam performing. At the opposite end of the resort was Argassi Artemis Bar which was a slightly weatherbeaten venue and an accomplished veteran blues guitarist called Nightshift Kim Starner provided the tuneage.  

We were a couple of miles away from Zante town and we mulched into there a few times, either on foot or on the bus which dropped you at the bus station which was situated on a dusty road overlooking the town. Due to the hot weather, the shops in the capital had proper siesta compliance with a complete shutdown in the afternoon hours.   

There was one restaurant on the front called Spartakos which we visited a couple of times and where we had a fantastic fish platter. Further sealing the deal was when I went to settle up the bill and I spied a picture of my favourite tennis player Rafa Nadal with the owner from when he had visited the establishment.

Liverpool Venues 21 to 24

Liverpool Tess Riley’s is a hostelry that is situated on Great Charlotte Street. The history behind the naming of this boozer runs back to prior to the Second World War, so if you are sitting comfortably, I shall begin…

Back in the 1930’s an entrepreneurial lady called Tess Makin developed her initial business acumen when working on her mother’s market second hand clothes stall. On the occasional non-market days, she took it upon herself to travel over to the Wirral to pick up the stock. She became a dab hand at bartering with the affluent traders to obtain the best price before returning to the market and selling on the goods for a tidy profit. In 1947, she marries a chap called Joe Riley and they had four children together. Bear with me, I will get there eventually!

Tess Riley. Image Credit pubsgalore.co.uk

In 1970, when her kids had grown up, she retrained in the pub industry and undertook her apprenticeship at the Pig and Whistle and the Old Mona. She then took over the ropes as The Jester for five years before she bought the freehold of The Beehive in the Mount Pleasant area of the city in 1978.

Her novel approach of installed a free jukebox that only played songs from the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s captured the zeitgeist of the era and the once quite pub was transformed into one of the busiest places in Liverpool. They also staged live music at quiet periods and on Sundays where Tess herself would step up alongside the resident organist to contribute a couple of ditties. She was reportedly very glamorous, and this provided the launching pad for her retirement on board cruise ships.

Her eldest child Joan also moved in the family trade and ran a couple of successful pubs using the same tried and tested template. In 1996 they purchased a unit in the former Blackler’s building and then decided to name the pub in honour of her mother. It remains a lively place to this day thankfully staying away from karaoke, but they do have live music and on my one visit I saw a local lass called Annie perform there.

Directly above Tess Rileys is the Liverpool Central Sports Bar, which is a very popular wall to wall sports viewing establishment, but they also stage live music, and I once saw a local fella called Edwin play there.     

Celtic Corner. Image tripadvisor.co.uk

Nearby to there on the intersection point of Lime Street and Ranelagh Street you would find the Liverpool Celtic Corner. As I am sure you can glean from its moniker, it is another Irish based hostelry. It initially opened in 2017 taking over from the old retail site of the Army and Navy stores. It is a very large establishment with an enormous room downstairs and a function room for hire situated in the upstairs area.

There is an abundance of seating at the front for the sunshine days. It also had a mechanical rodeo bull that kicked into life every Saturday from 3pm but I believe that has been retired and sent to pasture a couple of years ago. There is a sizeable standalone stage, and I saw a decent local singer Lochlan undertaking a gig on that very stage.

Nearer to the main train station on Lime Street is located the Liverpool McHales Irish American Bar. The establishment is a single room bar and when I visited, I saw a singer called Michael perform there. Its history runs back to 1830 and at that point in time it was positioned on the other side of the street. It was initially closely linked to the nearby Empire Theatre and then became a very popular haven for US naval men during the First World War and was known as the American Bar or more colloquially as the ‘Yankee Bar’.

One urban legend is that there was a local prostitute called Maggie May (or Maggie Mae) who used to frequent the bar, and she later featured in a skiffle folk song telling the tale of her robbing a ‘homeward bounder’. The latter term relating to a sailor coming home from a round trip. The song is potentially crafted from a similar 1856 American slave song called ‘Darling Nellie Gray’.

Maggie May songs EP with a picture of the old thriving Liverpool Docks. Image Credit ebay.co.uk

The 1950’s version referenced featured a direct reference to Liverpool in the lines ‘Oh, dirty Maggie Mae, they have taken her away, and she’ll never walk down Lime Street anymore’. The composer Lionel Bart used the tune and back story to devise a musical called Maggie May set in Liverpool Docks, which ran in a London theatre for two years.

The most well-known recorded version was by the Vipers Skiffle Group in 1957, but the BBC decided to ban it because of the lyrics ‘sexual content’. There were also covers by the Searchers, the Spinners and a 40 second edition by the Beatles which serves to curtail Side 1 of their final album ‘Let it Be’. Rod Stewart also stated this song was an inspiration for his No 1 hit of the same name.