“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood!” has been the credo of this creative colossus as he propelled himself through 40 years in the music business, publishing and online communications to his current state of being semi-retired in his late 60s. Living the dream on a mount overlooking the Pacific Ocean in a subtropical small city microclimate six hours North of Sydney, he grows organic chilli peppers, is a renowned travel writer and author.
He's enjoyed a colourful life in Hawaiian shirts, run a few creative content businesses, written thousands of articles for leading newspapers, magazines and online, enraged many powerful people, stuck up for the little guy in the music industry and generally had an incredible amount of fun, which he shares here.
From a start as a frustrated musician, he saved the world from his mediocrity and built a long and diverse career in the business of music. His company IMMEDIA! published the AustralAsian Music Industry Directory for 23 years; produced the biennial AustralAsian Music Business Conference for over 19 years and ran the leading music business website TheMusic.com.au.
In 2010 on his 60th birthday, he divested his print and online businesses, sold his Newtown inner-city Sydney compound, took the bags of cash, his music and Hawaiiana and moved to Coffs Harbour to semi-retirement. Now he happily whiles away his days with Ecelectus Parrot Jackson within an organic set of gardens high on a hill overlooking the ocean—his dream from youthful years.
As an Army brat, he travelled the world with his military police officer father and later became a criminal himself. But he left that career path and became a top production and tour manager with major rock, blues, jazz and soul music artists in the 70s and 80s handling concerts and festivals in various cities and countries from small venues to stadiums.
Moving to Australia in the early 80s, he switched career paths again and his skills as a freelance writer and investigative journalist racked up over 100 media outlets with stories on the music industry, music video, email and online music that far back as well as trends in music technology and culture. He's also turned a hobby of penning travel tales to being a prolific and respected travel writer.
From a boyhood of dogs and snakes, to early adulthood with a tarantula and iguana as pets, he and his former partner Lisa Treen created the upmarket quarterly magazine Urban Animal in 2004 and made it the pet industry's leading pet lifestyle magazine. She took over the title on his retirement and they remain friends.
He's also a Hawaii-o-phile who has Australia's largest collection of Hawaiian shirts, Hawaiian music and Hawaiian cookbooks. Having been back and forth to the islands since he was 7, he still maintains the ringtone of Hawaii-5-0 on his mobile 55 years later.
As of July 2019, he retired from all music business, creative content and events background. He's finishing a memoir, "What A Long Strange Tripp It's Been" which spans the arc between two murders in his 20s and a variety of wild adventures of the 70s before emigrating to Australia.
Contact Phil: phil@philtripp.com
Phil Pheatures...
Phood & Wine
Phil loves to sear flesh, play with the chemistry set of spices and cater to oral sects with his cooking. In this section, Phil shares some of his favourite recipes.
Phil also gives a few recommendations here not only of wines but also wine and beverage events and a few other liquid goodies as well as other sources. It starts with pinot and ends with coffee.
- Phil The Glass – Wine and Bevvies
- Phil’s Phood Recipes
Stuph Phil Uses
Phil gets asked a lot... "Hey! Where did you get that!?!" and he figured that if he was going to have fun on his own site, he might as well share the sources of fun stuff.
Who knows? One of them may decide to be his sponsor or seek a commercial endorsement.
- Phil The Ears Music
- Trippy Reads
- And other Stuph I Use
Journey Journalism
Phil Tripp is a former rock ‘n’ roll tour manager and music executive who has travelled the world babysitting major artists and attending music conferences and festivals in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Asia, the UK and Europe.Phil started writing about travel when he got bored investigating or analysing the music industry. He is now a travel writer, having converted a hobby of over a decade ago to a revenue stream. He shares his tips for finding the best deals, getting around problems and travel techniques of the not so rich and famous.- Tripp's Travel Writing
- Tripp's Travel Advice
- Phil’s Phave Places
Phil Sez Quotes
“You can’t un-ring a bell.”
Tom Waits
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
Aldous Huxley
“There is nothing in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and he who considers price only is that man’s lawful prey.”
John Ruskin
“Stand by the river long enough and you’ll see all the bodies of your enemies float by.”
Another Chinese saying
“Money is the way that people with no talent keep score.”
Michael Coppel, promoter
“One person with a belief is worth a thousand with merely an interest.”
Ancient Chinese saying
