NYU Steinhardt's Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions in association with the Americana Music Association Foundation presents Words & Music with Phil Galdston on Thursday, May 6 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. His guest is music business professional, motion picture producer, cultural critic, intellectual property advocate, and author Jonathan Taplin. The event is free to the public. Click here to register for the event.

Taplin’s extraordinary journey has put him at the crest of every major cultural wave of the past half-century. He began his career in the 1960s as tour manager for Bob Dylan and, subsequently, filled the same role for The Band. He was Production Manager for George Harrison’s The Concert for Bangladesh and served as Executive Producer of The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese’s renowned documentary, which is widely considered to be the holy grail of Americana concerts. He produced Scorsese’s breakthrough film, Mean Streets, as well as movies for Wim Wenders, Gus Van Sant, and many others. 

Jonathan created the Internet’s first video-on-demand service and his commentary about technology in the new millennium has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, the Huffington Post, the Guardian, Medium, the Washington Monthly, and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy and the forthcoming memoir, The Magic Years: Scenes From a Rock and Roll Life. He is the Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California.

Phil Galdston is a songwriter/producer whose many and varied efforts have made him one of the few in the field to score hits on virtually every major Billboard chart. Over 130 million copies of his songs and productions have appeared on more than 80 million records worldwide in recordings by artists ranging from Celine Dion to Sheryl Crow, from Chicago to Beyoncé, from Brandy to Esperanza Spalding, from Yolanda Adams to Kurt Elling. Among his many successes is "Save the Best For Last," recorded by Vanessa Williams, which simultaneously topped Billboard's three major charts, was nominated for a GRAMMY® as Song of the Year, and was ASCAP's Song of the Year.

Phil has worn many hats in music and the music community. In addition to his ongoing songwriting and producing, he is or has been a music publisher, film and TV composer, film and TV music supervisor, producer of comedy records and videos, theatrical producer, playwright, and volunteer leader at The Recording Academy and ASCAP. He was Songwriter-in-Residence at the Berklee College of Music and was appointed the first member of the Songwriting Faculty at NYU Steinhardt and the first Faculty Songwriter-in-Residence in NYU’s history. He is the founder, curator, and moderator of WORDS & MUSIC, conversations with the great songwriters, where his guests have included many of the most important practitioners of the art and craft of song, and a curator/moderator of Steinhardt’s FRIDAY@1, a weekly series of conversations with musical luminaries. He is a co-founder of MusicAnswers, a pure voice for songwriters, composers, performers, and producers.

Phil is the recipient of the Grand Prize of the American Song Festival, the Time For Peace Award, two Nashville Songwriters' Association citations, Cable ACE and DOVE Award nominations, four ASCAP awards, five GRAMMY® nominations, the Time For Peace Award, the Gold Award from Parents’ Choice, a Gold Award from Mom’s Choice, a CD of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine, the Academics’ Choice Smart Media Award, a Family Choice Award, and NYU’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award. His work has appeared on recordings that have received 18 GRAMMY nominations or Awards.

Founded in 1890 as the first school of pedagogy in the US, today NYU Steinhardt advances the education, health, and well-being of people and communities around the world. They achieve this by fostering knowledge, creativity, and innovation at the crossroads of culture, education, and human development.