My love of music and my years in the music industry as a songwriter, producer and music executive have given me insights and personal stories that I love to share. My lectures include classes on Rock & Roll, Broadway, The Great American Songbook**, and much more.
Here are some of the lectures that we'll be doing in 2025. PLEASE NOTE: You can only register for classes through the venue, not through us and sign- ups will be available approximately 6-8 weeks before the start date of the course.
Rock & Roll's Tin Pan Alley - The Brill Building
If you have a favorite song from the late ‘50s through the early ‘60s, “chances are” it was written by a songwriter from The Brill Building.
The songwriters, led by Leiber & Stoller, were mostly teenagers from Brooklyn, New York. Some of them, like Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Paul Simon and Neil Diamond would go on to become major artists, as well.
The Brill Building was called ‘Rock & Roll’s Tin Pan Alley.
(This will be a six-week course at Calabasas Senior Center each Wednesday, July 23 through August 27, 2025, 1:00PM to 3:00PM and will be in person ONLY, not on Zoom)
The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals - Part 2
Part two of this course will continue to look at the history of “The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals”. However, as compared to part one, this time we’ll also be moving on past the mid ‘50s, when most musicals were derived from Broadway shows. From blockbusters like “The Sound of Music”, “My Fair Lady” and “Fiddler On the Roof” to disappointments like “Camelot” and “Finian’s Rainbow, we’ll visit them all.
We’ll also look at animation and Rock & Roll’s influence on the genre. There’s still lots of great singing and dancing to be enjoyed on the big screen during the seven weeks of “The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals”.
(This will be a seven-week course at The Skirball Cultural Center, each Thursday, October 9 through November 20, 2025, 1:00PM to 3:00PM and will be in person only, not on Zoom)
Hope you can make it to some or all of these classes.
Best regards,
Steve Barri
**People have asked what songwriters and singers are featured in the four volumes of “The Great American Songbook”. Here’s a list:
Volume 1:
The Songwriters: Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Rodgers & Hart.
The Singers: Al Jolson, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Eddie Fisher, Bobby Darin and Andy Williams.
Volume 2:
The Songwriters: Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin, Gus Kahn, Howard Dietz & Arthur Schwartz, Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn.
The Singers: Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Mel Tormé, Tony Martin, Rosemary Clooney, The Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller and more.
Volume 3:
The Songwriters: Harold Arlen, Burton Lane, George M. Cohan, Dorothy Fields, Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh, DeSylva, Brown & Henderson, Mack Gordon, Alan & Marilyn Bergman.
The Singers: Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis, Jr., Perry Como, Dean Martin, Frankie Laine, Johnny Ray and a look at some big bands such as Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and more.
Volume 4:
The Songwriters: Harry Warren, Duke Ellington, Leo Robin, Yip Harburg, Livingston & Evans, Paul Francis Webster, Henry Mancini, Vernon Duke, Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby, Walter Donaldson, Ned Washington, Frank Loesser and Jules Styne.
The Singers: Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé, The Mills Brothers, Billie Holiday, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Peggy Lee and a wrap up of any songwriters or singers we’ve missed along the way.
All of the songwriters mentioned above have given us some of the best music the world has ever known.