Caryn Rose's Blog

hi! this site is defunct.

hi there. I haven’t updated this site in years!

My author site is http://www.carynrose.com/If you’re looking for my most recent work, you can check out my clips here.I’m on Twitter  @carynroseEmail inquiries: caryn dot rose at gmail

hi! this site is mostly defunct.

hi there. I haven’t updated this site in years! I’m working on a redesign, but in the meantime:

If you’re looking for my most recent work, you can check out my clips here.I’m on Twitter as @carynroseEmail inquiries: caryn dot rose at gmail

R.E.M.’s “Out of Time” 25 Years Later

25 years ago, I was the label manager for Warner Bros. in Tel Aviv. I’ve written about this a little bit before; it was a gig I fell into because I was in the right place at the right time, spoke English and had been working at the outer edges of the U.S. music business for a couple of years. There was a lot of music I was continually told would not ever be popular in Israel, and R.E.M. was one of those bands.

Except that it wasn’t true. We broke them in the territory during Out of Time and...

Vulture’s “All 314 Bruce Springsteen Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best”

Late last year, an editor I was working with at Vulture asked me if I was interested in taking on the assignment of ranking and rating all of Bruce Springsteen’s songs, similar to other major ranking projects they have on their site. I immediately said “yes.” I like hard assignments that take me out of my comfort zone and give me a chance to go deep.

We deliberated a bit on what made the list — no covers, only officially released songs — and I went to work.

This isn’t a list of my favorite...

On Prince, Bruce Springsteen, & Mourning In Public

I was happily off the clock last weekend at the Springsteen show in Brooklyn, until Bruce opened with “Purple Rain.” By the time the show hit “Backstreets” I had an idea of what I thought I wanted to say, and woke up Sunday morning and basically let the piece write itself. My debut for NPR Music.

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Related PostsThe Ties That Bind – Coverage Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy, 5 July 2012 in...

Fact-checking Martin Scorsese’s “Vinyl” on HBO

It would have been good if I’d remembered to post about this sooner, but suddenly it’s Episode 7. Over at Salon I’ve been recapping “Vinyl” each week from a music fact checking perspective. If you know me, this is basically the equivalent of “sitting next to Caryn while she’s watching a music documentary.” If you don’t, you get to have this delightful experience in writing form. Best way to follow along is my author page over at Salon; posts go up every Monday morning.

(This is not a debate...

Review: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Madison Square Garden, March 28, 2016

This was my fourth show on this 2016 outing for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. (As a matter of principle I do not going to call it “The River Tour” because that already happened.) This was the reschedule for the snowed-out show back in January. I was curious how the show would play this far into the tour and if there would be a special treat since it was a makeup gig. I was hard side stage behind Charlie, picked up on the original drop for this show and acquired from someone who co...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, February 12, 2016

I reviewed this show for Backstreets(look for February 12). These are some additional thoughts (not a review).

There was so much to like about Philly. That said, I thought it lacked the intensity of Pittsburgh or the focus of MSG, and it definitely took a while for the band to get momentum going during the album segment. But it is so great to be in a room with the people of Philadelphia watching Bruce Springsteen. There were a lot of moments tonight where it felt like the Spectrum (without...

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Madison Square Garden, 1/27/16

I reviewed this show for the Village Voice. This is the inside baseball edition.

Pure and simple, it was a barnburner tonight. Somehow the band were even tighter than Pittsburgh, for the entire night. It was absolutely insane, in the best way possible.

Two shows have showed them how they need to run this thing, and there is zero lost energy between songs. There is just none. You think that it doesn’t matter, but to me it was such a marked difference. It doesn’t feel rushed and if you aren’t...

Bowie Tributes

Rounding up my work following the man’s passing:

Salon.com: “Look up, I’m in heaven”: Bowie’s haunting farewell “Blackstar” is a triumph Bitter Empire: Thank God Ambitious Bootleggers Preserved A David Bowie and Stevie Ray Vaughan Rehearsal Salon.com: Bowie’s Live Aid magic: An unforgettable show, from the spine-tingling “Heroes” to his audacious “Dancing in the Street” duet Village Voice: DAVID BOWIE’S BEST LIVE MUSIC MOMENTS IN NYC(Also in the print issue out today)

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