Caryn Rose's Blog, page 16

Latest for the Village Voice: “First Worsts” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

Sound of the City, the Voice‘s music section has a new series for June called “First Worsts,” “a series in which our writers remember the first time… they ever hated a song enough to call it The Worst.” My candidate: Bonnie Tyler and “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

If you liked Latest for the Village Voice: “First Worsts” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart” you may be interested in my novel, "B-sides and Broken Hearts": http://www.bsidesandbrokenhearts.com/

Johan Santana is a rock star, too

I don’t usually put my baseball writing on this site, but it’s not every day you’re lucky enough to witness the Mets first no-hitter in 50 years.

Read BLAME BELTRAN, OR: A TALE OF THE JOHAN SANTANA NO-HITTER. over at metsgrrl.com.

If you liked Johan Santana is a rock star, too you may be interested in my novel, "B-sides and Broken Hearts": http://www.bsidesandbrokenhearts.com/

Rebirth of the Cool: the Afghan Whigs at the Bowery Ballroom, 5-22-12

Band reunions are tricky, complicated, emotional things. In these days of holograms and reunion tours that go on for 5 years, the concept of accepting that this entity to which you had such an emotional connection, or never got to experience, will never be available to you (either again or for the first time) is unpopular. I never saw the Who with Keith Moon, never got to see Sterling Morrison play guitar on the same stage as Lou Reed, John Cale and Maureen Tucker, never saw the New York Doll...

“beloved rock band” aka the Afghan Whigs return on Jimmy Fallon

I am in this photo!

In one of those moments of my life in which I know I did something right, I was extended the opportunity to see the 2012 Afghan Whigs during dress rehearsal for their Late Night With Jimmy Fallon appearance tonight. It goes without saying, but I will say it in case you are new around these parts: the Whigs are a Top 10 artist for me. I got to work Gentlemen when it came out. I have a long, long history with them (which I will save for another time).

So being able to step th...

THE HUNTING OF THE (ROLLING STONES) SNIPE.

I know better, really, I do know better than to fall for amateurs who insist that, say, U2 are playing at CBGB on a Tuesday night in the 1am slot because they looked up every single band on the bill and have never heard of Hoover Monkeys before and they know U2 are in town rehearsing and Larry Mullen once played in a band where the lead singer once said he liked monkeys and if you can’t see HOW CLEAR IT IS then you don’t deserve to see them.

I have had these conversations a lot over the years....

The Gaslight Anthem, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 5-16-12

Tonight’s Gaslight Anthem show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg was, at least in my mind, going to be an album preview, a taste of the new music to come. Alas, this was not to be. After the opening half dozen oldies but goodies, I was ready for the band to dive into the new material. Instead, we only got two new songs, the single ’45′ and “Biloxi Parish,’ which had already made its way into the intertubes by virtue of having been performed live once in Australia. I kept waiting… and waiting…...

For Adam Yauch. I am so tired of writing these.

This is obnoxious and obscene and don’t let your kids listen to it. Or if you’re a kid listening to it, just don’t tell your parents.

This was their first single. I heard it on WNYU, which is where I first heard of the Beastie Boys. I may or may not have seen them play as a hardcore band, back in the 80s I once tried to figure it out but never could. I do know that I took my life into my hands going out to the Capitol Theater in Passaic to see them, back when they had the go-go dancers...

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Review: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Prudential Center, 5-2-12

I am not shy about saying that the experience of seeing Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey is highly overrated; that New Jersey crowds (outside of Asbury Park) are horrible; that you would be better off at seeing him in Boston or Philly or at Madison Square Garden. Tonight, the audience at the Prudential Center in Newark proved all of that wrong by being the best audience I have ever been part of in New Jersey and probably the best this tour so far. I turned around during “Rosalita” and s...

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Prudential Center, 5-2-12

I am not shy at saying that the experience of seeing Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey is highly overrated; that New Jersey crowds (outside of Asbury Park) are horrible; that you would be better off at seeing him in Boston or Philly or at Madison Square Garden. Tonight, the audience at the Prudential Center in Newark proved all of that wrong by being the best audience I have ever been part of in New Jersey and probably the best this tour so far. I turned around during “Rosalita” and saw...

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Bruce Springsteen For Beginners

I wrote this piece back in 1999, during the Reunion tour, when I found myself having too many discussions with music fans in their 20s who just refused to tolerate the very idea of Bruce Springsteen. It has been revised and updated.

I am often asked by music fans where they should start if they wanted to acquaint themselves with Bruce Springsteen’s catalog. This is not an easy question to answer. If your entree into Springsteen was your parents’ copy of Nebraska, I will tell you to go to the v...