Caws is also a member of the indie rock duo Minor Alps, alongside Juliana Hatfield.

[1] Caws' mother, a Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and French at the Graduate Center at CUNY,[2] lives in New York City.

She is married to humorist and playwright Jonathan Caws-Elwitt, who also writes erotica under the pen name Jeremy Edwards.

There he joined The Cost of Living in 1982 or 1983, a band formed by a teacher, Patrick Thouron, and a few students, including Daniel Lorca, Stéphane Dehais, and Fabrice Griffoulière-Frère.

This enterprise was short-lived and they soon split up, despite the recording of a demo, unreleased to this day, for the label Stickboy, which would later release Nada Surf's first single (7"), "The Plan/Telescope", in 1994.

She helped develop and influence her younger brother's musical tastes, lending him records from her impressive collection and cassette tapes of her show.