Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Rocking My Life Away Writing about Music and Other Matters by Anthony DeCurtis Rock critic lectures on music. '' editor Anthony DeCurtis visited Kelly Writers House, but got mixed reviews. By Rebecca Blatt The Daily Pennsylvanian February 22, 2002. Another acclaimed writer visited the Kelly Writers House this week. But this one was not there to discuss poetry or prose -- he was there for rock and roll. On Tuesday afternoon, music critic Anthony DeCurtis spoke to about 25 people in the front room of the Writers House. The crowd included Penn students, professors and local music lovers. DeCurtis is an editor of Rolling Stone magazine, host of an internet music show and the author of Rocking My Life Away: Writing About Music and Other Matters. He won a Grammy Award for his essay accompanying 's Crossroads box set and contributes to many other publications as well. DeCurtis appeared very prepared for the lecture. He took the podium armed with a pad of notes and a pitcher of water. However, some felt that DeCurtis's speech lacked focus. College sophomore Daniel Kaplan was so disappointed with DeCurtis that he left the event early. "He was a writer so pleased with himself and his accomplishments that he seemed to forget that speeches are supposed to be coherent," Kaplan said. Philadelphia resident Hop Wechsler, however, was a little bit more forgiving. "I guess I was expecting more about how he got where he is," Wechsler said. "But what I got was fun for what it was." English Department Chairman David Wallace introduced DeCurtis. Wallace knows DeCurtis personally through the music community and admires his work. "I like the way DeCurtis' career has panned out -- making a hobby into a way to make a living," Wallace said. DeCurtis did manage to get across to the audience his reservations about quantitatively rating music. "Interpreting the star ratings is no easier than interpreting the actual review," he said. "I'm more interested in exploring complexities rather than making a definitive conclusion." DeCurtis emphasized the relationship between music and real life. "The question is, 'Is there something here for people. and why are they gripped by this?'" he said. Finally, DeCurtis encouraged young writers to find their passion and write about what they love. Wallace said he hoped DeCurtis' story was encouraging for young writers. And according to some, it was. "His positive attitude and enthusiasm for his career was really inspiring," College freshman Carly Greenberg said. element to be the width of the picture. For example, if the picture is 250 pixels in width, the element's style should read style="width: 375px;" The element's class is set to "right" by default. This aligns the picture and caption to the right. If you'd like to set it to the left, type class="left" instead. Or, to center the photo, you can type in the element. Anthony DeCurtis. Anthony DeCurtis is a Distinguished Lecturer in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania and a Contributing Editor for Rolling Stone . His most recent book is : A Life , a biography of Lou Reed published by Little, Brown in October 2017. He also cowrote ’s autobiography, The Soundtrack of Our Lives (Simon and Schuster, 2013), a New York Times nonfiction bestseller. In addition, he is the author of In Other Words: Artists Talk about Life and Work (Hal Leonard) and Rocking My Life Away: Writing About Music and Other Matters (Duke University Press). He is the editor of Blues and Chaos: The Music Writing of (Scribner) and Present Tense: Rock and Roll and Culture (Duke University Press). He received a Grammy in the Best Album Notes category for his essay accompanying the Eric Clapton box set Crossroads . He holds a PhD in American literature from Indiana University. Rocking My Life Away: Writing about Music and Other Matters. Title: Rocking My Life Away: Writing about Music . Publisher: Duke University Press, Durham-London. Publication Date: 1998. Binding: Hardcover. Book Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. Signed: Inscribed by Author(s) Edition: 1st Edition. About this title. New in paperback Rocking My Life Away represents nearly twenty years of writing by one of the premier critics of popular music in America today. In these pieces from Rolling Stone , the New York Times , and other publications, Anthony DeCurtis reveals his ongoing engagement with rock & roll as artistic forum, source of personal inspiration, and compelling site of cultural struggle. Including significant new work—liner notes commissioned for the Phil Spector box set and a spirited discussion with Peter Buck of R.E.M. about rock criticism, for example—DeCurtis also ventures with insight and power beyond the world of rock & roll. A joint profile of the political writers Neil Sheehan and Taylor Branch and provocative looks at the work of novelists Don DeLillo and T. Coraghessan Boyle round out this eclectic collection. Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis's collection of articles and essays often feels more like a scrapbook than a book, as it includes a number of well-written, but hardly deathless, record reviews and profiles. DeCurtis is on firmest ground in reprinting essays on late-'80s and early-'90s rock and rap controversies, although current updates on these ongoing cultural battles would have made welcome inclusions. A previously unpublished interview with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck is at the heart of Rocking My Life Away , however, and it makes the volume worth buying. In it, longtime friends DeCurtis and Buck engage in a lengthy discussion that takes in everything from R.E.M.'s efforts to stay musically fresh in the face of immense success to the idea of remaining in love with new sounds into one's middle age to the aesthetic and political failures of Forrest Gump . The piece also serves as a welcome rejoinder to fans who question the validity of rock criticism as a whole, with Buck heartily praising the thought-provoking and entertaining nature of the best of the form. Visits with the Stones, Prince, and are also eye-opening, if less surprising than the author's debriefing of Buck. --Rickey Wright. "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title. We guarantee the condition of every book as it's described on the Abebooks web sites. If you're dissatisfied with your purchase (Incorrect Book/Not as Described/Damaged) or if the order hasn't arrived, you're eligible for a refund within 30 days of the estimated delivery date. 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At other times, he was a foreign correspondent based in London; a baseball writer covering the Philadelphia Phillies; a general-assignment feature writer; and a longtime regular contributor to the newspaper's Sunday magazine, where he wrote long-form pieces about everything from Nazi war criminals to the comeback of the condom. Prior to the Inquirer , he was a metro columnist on the Hartford Courant , and was the founding editor of an alternative newspaper, the Hartford Advocate . Dick attended George Washington University, where he served as managing editor of the college newspaper, and graduated with a BA in Public Affairs in 1973. He first came to Penn in 1999, when he audited classes during a one-semester fellowship, and he started teaching at Penn part time in 2003. Dick and his wife, Elise Vider, live in Center City. They have a son, who works at Cigna in Center City, and a daughter who attends Bard College. Anthony DeCurtis, Ph.D. Anthony DeCurtis is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone , where his work has been featured for 35 years, and is a distinguished lecturer for the University of Pennsylvania's creative writing program. DeCurtis is the author of several works, such as Rocking My Life Away: Writing About Music and Other Matters and In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life and Work . He is the editor of Present Tense: Rock & Roll and Culture and Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer , and is the co-editor of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll and The Rolling Stone Album Guide . DeCurtis additionally co-wrote The New York Times ' bestseller The Soundtrack of My Life , Clive Davis' autobiography. His liner notes for the Eric Clapton box set "Crossroads" won a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes, and he has three times received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing about music. He is currently writing a biography of Lou Reed for Little, Brown and Co. ​ DeCurtis earned a PhD in American literature from the IU College of Arts and Sciences in 1981. He lives in New York City. Other 2015 Luminaries. Learn more about the inspiring College alumni who've returned to Bloomington to share their knowledge and experience.