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April 8, 2022 • Schneps Media
Jane Hanson
Schneps Media is pleased
to welcome Emmy
Award-winning journalist
Jane Hanson as the new host
of the web series 2022 Meet the
Candidates!
Jane brings over 30 years
of experience to the Schneps
Media team, and her sharp
eye and incisive questions
are perfectly suited for interviewing
candidates for New
York political office.
Jane worked previously as
primary anchor for NBC and
hosted “Jane’s New York.”
She has received numerous
honors for her work and
community service, and is
a past president of the New
York Chapter of the National
Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences.
“I’m excited to join the
Schneps Media team as we
prepare for this year’s important
elections in the New
York metro area,” Jane says.
“I’ll be helping you get to
know the candidates better
through our 2022 Meet the
Candidates series, as well as
through debates. It’s all an
effort so you can make good
choices at the ballot box.”
Check out Jane’s first
video with a candidate at
politicsny.com.
BY MAX PARROTT
The collection of music publishers
and songwriters
responsible for vast contributions
to the “great American
songbook” just became part of the
great New York cityscape.
Preservationists, historians and
Manhattan officials came together
on April 2 to unveil the official Tin
Pan Alley street sign at West 28th
Street and Broadway commemorating
the area of New York that
became known as the birthplace
of American popular music.
“This is the first place where
artists could make a living by
writing songs, which we take
for granted now. That started
here,” said Manhattan Borough
President Mark Levine.
The area known as Tin Pan Alley
was a locus of various sheet
music publishers, composers, and
performers who worked together
in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries to create what is now
known as the beginning of American
pop music. The area’s nickname
was originally a derogatory
reference to the racket made by
the chorus of pianos playing different
tunes, akin to the banging
of pans in an alley. Its hits, some
still common today, include “Take
Me Out to the Ball Game” and
“God Bless America.”
The new “co-naming” status of
the historical district follows the
designation of 47-55 West 28th
Street as an official city landmark
from 2019, which formalized the
group of buildings into a Tin Pan
Alley Historic District.
“The co-naming is a major
milestone because now everyone
in perpetuity who walks by … will
see that it’s Tin Pan Alley and will
know where it is. Tin Pan Alley
is a global phenomenon. Not everyone
knows that it was in one
specific place,” said George Calderaro,
director of the Tin Pan Alley
American Popular Music Project.
The musical styles of Tin Pan
Alley range from waltzes and
marches in its early days to the
rise of ragtime.
NYC Landmarks Preservation
Commission researcher Kate
Lemos McHale talked about how
LOCAL NEWS
the rise of Tin Pan Alley provided
significant milestones for populations
of Eastern European Jewish
immigrants and the shift of
many in America’s black population
to New York beginning in
the early 1880s.
“It brought ragtime to an international
public, offered unprecedented
opportunities for black
artists and publishers to create
mainstream American music,”
Lemos McHale said.
She did not neglect to mention,
however, that learning the history
of the area also means acknowledging
the existence of racist minstrel
songs that were published
by some prominent Tin Pan Alley
songwriters in the reconstruction
era of the industry.
John Reddick, a black historian
who spoke at the event,
added that the legacy of the music
district also included new opportunities
to Black performers
and songwriters.
“It was the first time African
Americans didn’t come to the
street and just get paid for the
song and become anonymous,”
Reddick said.
In addition to remarks on the
historical legacy of Tin Pan Alley,
the event featured singing performances
from the Jesse Breheney
Trio with a vocal performance
from Liora Michelle.
The effort to preserve the history
of the musical district comes
as a result of advocacy from the
culture and historical organization
the Tin Pan Alley American
Popular Music Project. In his remarks,
Councilman Eric Bottcher,
thanked its director, Calderaro,
who was behind the push
for the co-naming as well as the
historical landmarking.
“Because of George’s efforts
and the efforts of so many of
you, Tin Pan Alley is gonna be
here for generations to come,”
Bottcher said.
Schneps
welcomes
Jane Hanson
for ‘Meet the
Candidates’
Tuneful ode to history
Tin Pan Alley finds its place on new Manhattan street sign
PHOTO BY MAX PARROTT
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, City Council Member Erik Bottcher and others marked
the renaming of West 28th Street in Chelsea as Tin Pan alley.
/politicsny.com
