By Yosef Rosenfield and the Dorons
My family band, the Dorons, will be performing on Sunday, December 20 to facilitate my completion of Yeshiva College’s music major requirements. The band consists of me (vocals, guitar), my brother (electric bass, vocals), my dad (guitar, keyboard) and my mom (drums). The Dorons played at Schottenstein Theatre on the Wilf Campus in May 2017 when my brother was a music major at YU. However, given YU Facilities’ current on-campus event policies and COVID-19 restrictions, the band will instead livestream the December concert from our home studio in Providence, RI. YU students will receive a university email containing a Zoom link to the show as the concert date approaches. Viewers who tune in to the performance can look forward to hearing the band’s unique blend of punk rock and new wave with elements of alternative and grunge.
Meet the band:
Norman Stuart Rosenfield: My dad was heavily involved in the Boston music scene during the 1980s and ‘90s — as a performer, manager and producer — whose associated bands included New Deal, Curtis Gone Bad, The Roosters, Kildevil Blues, The Jokermen and other acts. He and my mom played across the country together with their other band members and even performed regularly in Israel in 1978. My dad’s 30 year old production label, Nail Soup Records (which corresponds to his initials), has continued to work with the Dorons as well as the solo musical outfits of his two sons, Aryeh and me.
Janice Kaidan: My mom worked alongside my dad for over a decade, contributing as the lead vocalist, writer and bassist of New Deal and Curtis Gone Bad; she later sang and played percussion for The Jokermen, while also lending her songwriting talents to The Roosters. Kaidan’s singing ability and profound lyrical wisdom are featured in her many timeless songs — often political in nature — such as “The Mushroom Tree” and “The Great Divide.” She left the music industry and became a schoolteacher after learning of the halachic (Jewish legal) issues with singing before live audiences.
Aryeh Rosenfield: As the firstborn child of the Kaidan/Stuart songwriting duo, my brother surprised no one when he chose to major in music during undergrad at Yeshiva College. Aryeh hosted a music radio show between 2013 and 2015 on YU’s student-run radio station, WYUR. He also founded the first ever YU Rock Ensemble in 2014 and played bass as a member of the ensemble while earning one “Performance: Chamber Ensemble” credit for each of their end-of-semester live performances. Although a rocker at heart, he also played bass for the YU Jazz Ensemble during his senior year. Despite having temporarily put music on the backburner in order to finish his law degree, Aryeh has become a skilled musician, analyst, and aficionado whose comprehensive musical knowledge and taste are unparalleled.
Yosef Rosenfield (myself): After playing three concerts as the lead singer of the YU Rock Ensemble and a fourth paying tribute to the discographies of Maroon 5 and Panic! At The Disco, I began performing my own music under the same one-credit music performance course — adopting a pen name I’ve carried for years, Joe Rosenbran. I write almost exclusively from personal experience and spiritual struggle, applying an understanding of artistic expression and music theory to hopefully create songs that are both divinely inspired and musically sophisticated. My final two YU concerts are scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 28 and Sunday, May 2.
What to expect:
The last Dorons performance at YU honored the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Rolling Stones, highlighting a particular album by each of the two legendary bands, and also included a couple of songs by the Clash. By contrast, our upcoming December 20 concert will feature live versions of my parents’ older originals, in addition to unreleased songs written by Kaidan and demoed over 25 years ago by her and my dad’s former bands. “Absolutely Right”, for example, is the opening track off of Curtis Gone Bad’s 1989 debut album, “Jolt and Bolt” — this song addresses the hidden narratives behind many widely accepted historical truths. In “Precious Pain,” written circa 1991, Kaidan offers a heartfelt plea for the subject to let go of her imagined suffering — though the song also has universal meaning in its unintended criticism of victim mentality. Stylistically, the arrangements reflect a mixture of rock, pop and synth influences from ‘80s artists through contemporary music.
We hope you can all join us virtually on Sunday, December 20 at 6 p.m. EST as we pay homage to the Dorons’ roots and explore the future of our band’s musical vision.