Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

The roster of Warner Brothers Records and its subsidiary labels reads like a roster of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Prince, Van Halen, Madonna, Tom Petty, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, and dozens of others. But the most compelling figures in the Warner Bros. story are the sagacious Mo Ostin and the likely crew of hippies, eccentrics, and enlightened execs who were the first in the music business to read the generational writing on the wall in the mid-60s. How did they do it? And what can we learn about the the industry today and to come from these unique operators? Journalist and music biographer Peter Ames Carlin joined us to celebrate the story of this innovative label, in conversation with musician and Tom Petty biographer Warren Zanes. Contained in his book, Sonic Book: The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, from Hendrix to Fleetwood Mac to Madonna and Prince, Carlin captured the rollicking s