West Side Studio Stories 1954-79

Walking past some bland and banal buildings on and off Broadway, you’d never know they birthed enduring records like Aretha Franklin’s Respect. Who knew white rock and roll was arguably born blocks from Lincoln Center?

Pop records were an industry – a business – and these clustered offices and studios were an assembly line with careers driven single-to-single.

We’ll find the pharaohs who presided over Buddy Holly’s string session with NBC Symphony musicians, and you’ll see a Gothic portal that links a church and funding the Woodstock festival with the Ramones and Frank Sinatra. You’ll stand where a Bob Dylan cover was shot and hear how his inspired producer electrified Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sounds of Silence, launching their career.

From Duke Ellington and Irving Berlin to Carole King and Neil Diamond, you’ll come to understand how they came together to craft and create by the neon lights on Broadway.