Music and Art 69

In this episode we pay a brief tribute to High School of Music and Art grad Laura Nyro, and do a deep dive on the career of her brother Jan Nigro, M & A class of 1968, who created and nurtured a project called Vitamin L with his wife Janis for more than three decades.

The Class of 1969 at the High School of Music and Art experienced a senior year unlike any before or since. The school year began in the chaos of a teachers' strike, and ended at our graduation in Carnegie Hall, as we sped into uncertain futures. At the helm was the youngest principal to ever take over a New York City high school, Richard A. Klein. Mr. Klein died on June 27, 2024, at the age of 94. We interviewed him less than 3 weeks before his death, and he remembered us well.

Host Steve Mencher remembers an afternoon in Riverside Park with Pablo Frank and other friends. Elliot Gertel and Margery Meadow schmooze, and our 94-year-old principal makes an appearance.

We delve into the history of M&A. We talk to a classmate about the friendships that have sustained her for 50+ years, and we meet a pop star who started her high school days at the castle.

Why listen to a podcast about a group of kids that graduated from the High School of Music and Art in 1969? Well, because you also went to high school and formed lifelong relationships with adolescents who grew to be adults. Plus, these kids were creative teens growing up in New York City, and most kept that mojo going for more than 50 years. In some ways, this podcast is by and for us. But it's constructed to welcome everyone by producer and host Steve Mencher.