Flogging My Back Pages in Adelaide
So many of my back pages were written in, or about Adelaide, that it seemed obvious to kick off any promotional activity about my book…
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Flogging My Back Pages in Adelaide
So many of my back pages were written in, or about Adelaide, that it seemed obvious to kick off any promotional activity about my book of the same name in the Festival City. I called my old mate John Schumann. Would you be willing to do a ‘conversations with …’ thing? No worries, he said. The last week of October would suit, as he’d be in town rehearsing with The
‘My Back Pages’ – where can I get it?
You can get a copy of ‘My Back Pages’ at the following retailers. Click on links for details. If you’re going into a bricks and mortar store, it’s always wise to check that they haven’t sold out and are awaiting new stock. New South Wales GLEBE: Gleebooks, Glebe Point Road NORTHBRIDGE: Book Face, Northbridge Plaza SYDNEY: Abbey’s Bookshop, York Street SYDNEY: Redeye Records, York Street Victoria CARLTON: Readings, Lygon Street HAWTHORN:
My Back Pages
My new book, an amalgam of memoir and anthology, is now available to order (link below). There’s the experience of emigrating to the steel town where the desert meets the sea; the escape to Adelaide’s nourishing airs; the return to Britain to fathom why the family left; and the realisation there was no future in England’s dreaming. Then the plunge into publishing. Rock ‘n’ roll stories of course; Springsteen, Split
‘Murder’: The disturbing story of Scotland’s greatest revolutionary
By Neil Mackay, The Herald (Scotland) A new biography charts the life and death of the socialist firebrand John Maclean. Our Writer at Large talks to author Donald Robertson about a man as loved as he was loathed THE state feared John Maclean so much that he was hounded, denounced, deprived of employment, blackballed, imprisoned and finally tormented to his death. One friend claimed “he was the victim of calculated
The Drums, by Rob Hirst
I was delighted when Rob Hirst accepted my invitation to contribute a chapter on drums to Roll Over Beethoven. As editor of Roadrunner and Countdown magazine in the late 70s and early 80s, I’d covered and written about the steady and uncompromising rise of Midnight Oil to the top rank of the Australian music industry. Describing a March 1981 open-air concert at Adelaide University I wrote: ‘It was awesome, brilliant,
Recorder, issue 313, November 2025
Donald Robertson, Great John Maclean Has Come Home to the Clyde: The Life and Times of Scotland’s Greatest Socialist (Resistance Books: London, 2025). Review by Jim Claven. This new biography of the Scottish socialist and activist John Maclean is a tour de force. Well researched and written in a clear and engaging style, its nearly 600 pages include more than 50 pages of references covering a wide range of primary and
Thanksgiving
On the morning of Thursday 28 November 1918, the Imperial War Cabinet met at 10 Downing Street in London. Outside the weather was wet and windy and the temperature struggled to reach seven degrees Celsius. It was the American holiday of Thanksgiving; but Americans were not the only ones feeling thankful. The armistices signed by the Allies on 30 October (with Turkey), 3 November (Austria-Hungary) and 11 November (Germany) had
In November 1975, London was finally ready for Bruce Springsteen
Lately, I’ve been thinking about Bruce. First, I saw the film, Deliver Me From Nowhere. Excellent. Shortly afterwards, I read Bruce, the authorised biography by Peter Ames Carlin. Pretty good. Then I realised it was coming up to fifty years since I travelled from Bath to London to see the man. I got to reminiscing. Dug out some old letters and clippings. Hit the internet. And came up with this