“Still Sane” – The Carolyne Mas Story  

“Mas” means more in Spanish and in 1978 legions of East Coast rockers were clamoring for just that from Carolyne Mas and she didn’t disappoint. Hailed as one of the femmes of rock by the New York Times, the newspaper wrote: “The idiom of her songs is close to Bruce Springsteen’s, but they are a woman’s songs. . .her singing is powerful without being overbearing and she knows how to drive a band on rhythm guitar.”

After the positive reviews and the three-album deal with Mercury Records was signed in 1978, the music industry began to listen; the label’s PR machines worked double-time crafting her image into a commodity. And, for a moment, Mas was indeed a hot commodity.

Her ascent up NYC’s steep music scene found her climbing alongside the likes of Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny Lyon, Phoebe Snow, Robert Palmer, Sammy Hagar and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. She was also sharing stages with established legends, such as Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee. During her nationwide tour to promote the first album “Stillsane”, Mas often found herself traveling Led Zeppelin style: first class jets, the best hotels and the finest dining establishments. But fame and the high life aren’t the only outcomes of record deals, as Mas soon found out. Like many bursting into stardom, Mas found others taking pieces of her success. It didn’t take long for the pieces taken to be everything she had.

Legal and financial troubles took Mas’ career in a decidedly different direction. By the mid-1980s, she was in debt and had to work menial jobs. Yet, she continued to make music, often playing at the now-famed The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. One night in 1986, after walking home from the venue (Springsteen had played with her that night), she was stabbed numerous times by a still unidentified assailant. 

A Carolyne Mas documentary may or may not resurrect the music of her genius; that will be up to the audiences. What it will do is bring her back into the public eye, shining a new spotlight on a woman who, long before the term diva segued from opera to mainstream music, helped paved the way for women in rock and roll. The film intends to be more than a pure biopic tribute to an important artist. Also ‘co-starring’ will be the barriers broken by women during the advent of 1970s rock and roll, the professionals who preyed upon Mas and the now legendary musicians who befriended her. Ultimately, the documentary will pay homage to a career and body of work deserving of such.

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