“New Brunswick, New Jersey, Goodbye…” book by RONEN KAUFFMAN
When I went to CMJ recently, I had the great experience of meeting Ronen Kauffman, author of “New Brunswick, New Jersey, Goodbye…”. He invited me to do an interview for his podcast, Issue Oriented, which is one of the great podcasts centered around independent music. Ronen was so kind, he gave me a copy of his book which I read from cover to cover traveling back to Colorado from New York. Reading the book got me really excited and made me think that I should be carrying books on Vinyl Collective.
I loved the book and here is why. All of us have stories on how we found our connection with punk rock and as much as our stories are unique and define who we are, there are others who have had similar experiences. Ronen grew up in the New Jersey punk rock / hardcore scene and although there are plenty of differences, his story really reminded me of how punk rock really changed my life. It made me think of all of those early shows I attended which inspired me to get involved and start a fanzine. Ronen tells his story of how he got into punk and hardcore, how he started a fanzine, how he started playing in bands, and how these experiences helped him to become the person he is today.
I recommend everyone pick up this book not just because I loved the book, but because Ronen is one of the good guys and he deserves to sell a million books.
On my long list of things to do is to start adding more books to our store so stay tuned! We need something to do while we listen to records, right?
Vinyl Collective boards
2 Comments
Virgil – for book #2 you should carry the brand new “The Anti-Matter Anthologies,” from Revelation Records, which compiles interviews done by Norm Brannon (formerly Arenas) for his rad zine Anti-Matter. It’s pretty much a collection of stories some of the most influential hardcore/punk/indie people of the early to mid 90s.
I think its a great idea to carry books. Literature and music is what makes the world go round.