Chris Scanlon: Blog

A friend posted something on Facebook that was hard to swallow. He said after listening to Darkness on the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen for the first time in years that "Candy's Room" is still its only great song. Since Darkness is one of my favorite albums of all time I foolishly responded saying that I had to fight him on that. His response was “Convince me why I should dust off my vinyl copy for another listen.” Hours later I wished I hadn’t responded at all. I’ve come to despise debate about the merits of music, art, etc. It’s pointless. Still, I felt like I had to say something.
A lot has been said about Darkness on the Edge of Town over the years by rock critics, culture hounds and even academics. I can only say what I feel about an album that’s been an important reference point for me as an artist and as a person. When I listen to that 1978 release I meditate on my dreams, the cost of straying from them, and the very real circumstances that [...]

When did writing and performing rock operas come back into style? Anais Mitchell just performed her rock opera "Hadestown" in Turners Falls, MA recently and it was all the rage amongst my friends. The Decemberists just pulled one off to critical acclaim. I'm guessing these artist never listened to Yes, Rush or Emerson, Lake & Palmer when they were kids, because if they had they wouldn't touch a concept album with a ten foot metaphor. Thanks to these artist and others, the rock opera/concept album became a used and abused format (though I bet someone is going to challenge me on 2112 by Rush). Music journalists took aim at artists who tried to do more than just put a collection of songs together for an album. I sadly watched my favorite songwriter growing up, Pete Townshend of The Who (who pioneered the format), get skewered by critics as he put forth grandiose rock operas and concept pieces as a solo artist. Eventually it became really uncool to release a concept album, often earning [...]

Much to my surprise my hometown of Matawan, NJ was listed as one of the top 50 towns by Businessweek to "raise your kids for less." In fact it came in at 12. I must admit I am a little shocked by this. This is not the Matawan I remember.
The article lists the top 50 towns with the best family-oriented neighborhoods, the most affordable homes and the best schools. They say "a good measure of all the things a child needs to grow and prosper every parent should consider when choosing a new home: test scores, cost of living, recreational and cultural activities, number of schools, and risk of crime." To determine the best schools the authors took into account the number of public and private schools in the vicinity, how well the reading and math test scores at those schools stacked up against the state average, and any No Child Left Behind awards or grants received from the government. Oh yeah, they mentioned something about "diversity" as part of the criteria. Gotta put that in somewhere....
In [...]