Dennis Atkins
Dennis Atkins is the national affairs editor at Brisbane’s Courier-Mail where he writes the regular political column Party Games, mostly analysing and laughing at the antics of our federal politicians.
He’s been a journalist for about 35 years, having started in Adelaide as editor of the children’s section of The Sunday Mail, Possum’s Pages.
Since then his writing has been divided between politics and music, two great passions. After two long periods living in the national capital, he’s escaped to the riverside tranquillity of Brisbane.
Articles by Dennis Atkins
We may have been late but we caught up quick
Moseley Square is the end of the line for Adelaide’s only tram, with the ocean and St Vincent’s Gulf to…... Read more
Dylan: Brilliant songwriter, brilliant songs, but…
Who can forget the gunshot snare drum bang that ushers in Like a Rolling Stone? When Bruce Springsteen gave his…... Read more
Political commentary with an emphatic rhythm
Ryland Cooder has been around for ever. He’s played with everyone from the Monkees to the Rolling Stones, dug up…... Read more
Simone Felice - a new musical force at the helm
At about the same time the legendary drummer, singer and songwriter Levon Helm - best known for his work with…... Read more
The artist whose music grows younger every day
It’s a musical image that plays with your mind. A teenage Neil Young playing matinee shows in his hometown of…... Read more
A rocky upbringing but a bright future for son of a star
You don’t have to read very far into Steve Earle’s 2001 short story collection, Doghouse Roses, to know he might…... Read more
A complete course in modern culture in one album
Brisbane songwriter maestro Robert Forster fell into an old but reliable trap last month when he used Bruce Springsteen as…... Read more
The mud Labor flung swung back in their faces
Queensland’s ground-breaking election at the weekend did one thing above all else. Voters had an overriding message about the nasty,…... Read more
Queensland: Labor one day, Liberal the next
The smash-up arrived. A hyper-powered LNP vote - not just above 50 per cent but half way to 60 per…... Read more
Labor will be left with nothing but crumbs
In his six types of ill-fated armies, the brilliant Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu identified one called “crumbling”. “If the…... Read more
Anna Bligh’s been reduced to begging for votes
Someone deep inside the Labor bunker provided an exquisite campaign truth this week. Discussing the increasingly desperate Labor tactics -…... Read more
The inauthenticity of the new political “authenticity”
At the South by South-West music conference in Austin, Texas, last Thursday, Bruce Springsteen let a brilliant cat out of…... Read more
Serious music for serious times
No ads on the ABC? Don’t believe it for a minute. Last Sunday’s Insiders was chockers with ads. The political…... Read more
What happened on the road to Splendour in the Grass
It was a moment that cut me but I tried so hard not to show it. In 2007 on a…... Read more
The Boss is still the boss
Springsteen has done it again. You’ve got to look for the silver lining in these troubled times and if the…... Read more
A quirky southern folk rock that will send you into a spin
Half a dozen years ago I regularly attended concerts in the dark and smaller halls of inner-Brisbane with a guy…... Read more
Here’s to drinking songs, they’re true blue…
It was when the Captain Matchbox Whoopie Band let fly with its dated fart joke interlude that I started thinking…... Read more
Blessed by the presence of Lucinda Williams
Suicide among musicians is, sadly, far too common. Artistic temperaments, self-medication and substance abuse, depressive personalities and the ease with…... Read more
Throw your panties at the CD player, Tom Jones is back
In these troubled times anything that makes your feet move involuntarily is a good thing. That’s what happened when I…... Read more
The Band that holds under the weight of time
Throughout my high school years I used to walk to Brighton High in Adelaide’s beach suburbs with my mate Andy…... Read more
Bring Le Noise: Neil Young is back in the ditch
Neil Young is back in the ditch. Next Tuesday as our new paradigm Parliament shuffles towards getting stampy over who’s…... Read more
Why Brisvegas totally rocks
Great music cities don’t just suddenly emerge, although some have their genesis in rebellion or in the emergence of some…... Read more
There is a guy from North Ontario
It was this statement that caught my attention: “There’s no band, but I got in there with my sonics. There’s…... Read more
Quality vinyl: the top 25 side one track ones of all time
It’s possible no-one under 25 will get this article. But the joy of side one, track one is one of…... Read more
Micah P. Hinson: Don’t mess with this Texan
Micah P Hinson is a Texas-raised singer songwriter – although born in Memphis, Tennessee - who should have been on…... Read more
The boy who was better than the Beatles
The thing about Alex Chilton is that he was a musician from the south of the United States. The hardest…... Read more
The Sydney cabbie who’s writing the songs of our lives
Peter Corris’s Glebe PI Cliff Hardy has a modern Australian playlist in his latest adventure, Torn Apart, including the Whitlams,…... Read more
Seven ages of rock will have you arguing for ages
Forget Hank Williams singing Move It On Over in 1947. And that ground- breaking 1939 boogie tune, Rockin’ Rollin’ Mama…... Read more
The best bands you’ve never heard of
Here’s proof of the abundance of great new music. The great benefit of those end of the year lists of…... Read more
Tragic end for the talented victim of a failed system
The just gone year was crowded with bad news and the chances are this one will be the same. As…... Read more
This is Rosanne Cash’s Patsy Cline record
I saw Rosanne Cash play at Dooley’s Hotel in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in the early 90s, on a bill to…... Read more
When David Letterman’s sex scandal does you a favour
Sometimes luck just runs. Consider California-born, Texan-by-conviction and New York resident Tom Russell, a singer-songwriter who has been making music…... Read more
The record label that helped abolish the death penalty
It’s a record label that carries a quote from muck-raking journalist H.L. Mencken as its motto, was largely responsible for…... Read more
At the roundabout, turn left and revisit Highway 61
Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour, which broadcasts on New York’s Sirius XM satellite radio and the BBC, produces some…... Read more
Mavis Staples and a whole bunch of other talented folk
WHAT a life Mavis Staples has had. Her father, Roebuck “Pops” Staples, was a gospel/soul/pop singer, ace guitarist and songwriter…... Read more
You may have heard of his family, but listen to him
Most music fans first heard about the Felice Brothers – especially us blokes – with a reference to the opening…... Read more
The hottest 100, for the slightly elderly
THERE was a time any song list from the ABC’s Triple J would be a talking point for at least…... Read more
Music from a time before coffee shops and laptops
East Nashville is a lovely part of the world. It’s nicely gentrified, full of neat houses with neat gardens. There…... Read more
Wilco has grown up
The Hideout is a bar in the ostentatiously hip inner north western suburbs of Chicago, although its dead-end location in…... Read more
Star-struck in Austin: Meeting my musical hero
Maria’s Taco Express sits on a busy expressway in south Austin, Texas, snuggled in between car yards and furniture stores.…... Read more
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Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go
Tim says:
They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go
Kel says:
If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
Superman needs saving
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