Anthony DeCurtis
Anthony DeCurtis is an American author and music critic, who has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Relix and other publications.
DeCurtis is now a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, where his work has appeared for more than thirty years. He holds a Ph.D. in American literature from Indiana University, and teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a music critic for WFUV-FM, where he does on-air reviews.
DeCurtis's essay accompanying the Eric Clapton box set Crossroads won a Grammy in the "Best Album Notes" category, and on three occasions he has won ASCAP's Deems Taylor awards for excellence in writing about music. He has appeared as a commentator on MTV, VH1, the Today Show and many other news and entertainment programs. From 2006 through June of 2008 he directed and helped design the arts-and-culture curriculum at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He was an editorial consultant and the primary interviewer for "Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound," a documentary for PBS American Masters.
“In fact, among the people I met, the term soviet served essentially as a synonym for 'fucked up'. I'd been in the country about three days when a car that was sent to take me to an interview failed to start. After several attempts to get it going, the driver turned to me, smiled wearily and explained: 'Soviet car'. By that time, that was all the explanation I needed.”