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Written by Laura Hamlett Sunday, 09 September 2007 07:53

I'm a sucker for the well-written, well-told rock 'n' roll tale, and in terms of writing, style, progression, and humor, this book had me from page one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've never heard of Ronen Kauffman or his former band, try.fail.try. I'm not at all familiar with the New Jersey hardcore scene of the 1990s. In fact, I'm not familiar with any hardcore scene, being that I've never seriously listened to the genre. Oh sure, back in high school and early college, I was known to pop in a punk tape or two, attend a hardcore show of sorts at the local VFW Hall, and hang out with some people whose hair styles could only be described as skinhead.

Rather, I read this book because I'm a sucker for the well-written, well-told rock 'n' roll tale. And in terms of writing, style, progression, and humor, this book had me from page one. (I begin a helluva lot more books than I finish. Life's too short to read bad books, right?)

Aside from a brief, college-years stint as the frontman for the aforementioned hardcore band, Kauffman was a bright yet independent, almost anarchic adolescent. Though drawn to the expansive power of music from a young ("our youth became almost exclusively defined by the constant uncovering of new listening material"), he didn't play until college, and even then he admitted to not being very good. New Brunswick manages to capture the young individualist's idealism, exploration and musical education, highlighting group living, parties, road trips with bands, impromptu shows, and alcohol, with only the occasional foray into drugs and the very rare mention of female companionship. "And while I was definitely self-conscious," he writes, "I was also confident. I believed that punk and hardcore meant, at least in part, that people should do what they want to do, and that I didn't have to care about what others thought or said."

Instead of dwelling on the trivial, though, Kauffman offers nuggets of insight and bursts of inspiration. In the preface, for example, he recognizes that every reader will bring him- or herself to the pages. "[E]verything you read passes through that same unique lens, ground from the circumstance and physiology of your own particular life. This means that no one can read these words the way you are reading them right now. No one can hear that song and feel it the way you do."

Arriving at college, Kauffman quickly joins the school newspaper and launches his own fanzine, Aneurysm. As he meets skinheads and fellow hardcore fans, his world expands; we get to know the individuals who surround him as they are encountered: Zak, Tweety, Fid, Christine. Many punk and hardcore bands represent what is known as "P.M.A.": positive mental attitude. Says Kauffman, "Understandably, the thrust of P.M.A.-to help oneself find success, to learn from failure, to fear no obstacle, and all kinds of other sensible but obvious sort of shit-was a solid match for angry kids who wanted to change the world." Kauffman even goes so far as to point out the difference between the two genres: "I once read a quote that said: ‘If punk is "I won't" then hardcore is "I will."'"

He quickly falls in love with political science-"Almost all of my favorite music echoed ideas once offered by the great thinkers I'd been exploring. To me, this lent a credibility to punk and hardcore."

After a botched tour, abandoning his musical endeavors and ending his 'zine, Kauffman looks back, older, wiser:

"Needless to say, the idea of living life ‘as one pleases' is kind of silly; no one can truly live outside the bounds of society, because the whole of human civilization includes each and every corner we carve. Even the most provocative rebels are, by their very own existence, bound to the establishment against which they somehow rail. Who is the artist without an audience, or the audience without art?"

Whatever your interest in music, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Goodbye is a compelling, entertaining and enlightening read, one that's highly recommended. | Laura Hamlett