Music and Art 69 Podcast

Episode One

Why listen to a podcast about a group of folks that graduated high school in 1969? Well, because you also went to high school and formed life long relationships with adolescents who grew to be adults. Plus, these kids were creative teens and kept their mojo going.

We introduce the podcast, and give you a reason to follow us. Listen here, or subscribe/follow on your favorite podcast app.

Episode Three

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. Listen here.

Episode Five

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

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Episode Two

The history of The High School of Music and Art. We introduce some characters we'll need help locating, and Leonard Bernstein kvells about a pop song written by one of our vanished classmates. Listen here, or subscribe/follow on your favorite podcast app.

Episode Four

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.