VersoFest Oral History Podcast: Paul Shaffer w/Christine Ohlman

Sponsored by the Y’s Men of Westport/Weston

The television’s on, it’s late night, and there’s music. Johnny Carson and Doc Severinsen’s era is over. David Letterman is the new, fresh face at NBC, and inside 30 Rock, Paul Shaffer is conjuring an enduring late-night template in song.

Straight out of years on the bandstand at Saturday Night Live in that very same building, and together with Steve Jordan, Will Lee, and the late Hiram Bullock, beginning in 1982 Shaffer will join his 1950s/1960s transistor radio memories with ours, celebrating the fabulous moments and fabulous tunes that reminded us on Letterman — every night — that the River of Popular Song is deep and wide ... lifting, connecting, delighting, and inspiring us.

Shaffer’s place in pop culture as a music historian par excellence made him the natural choice to helm the house band for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions beginning in 1986, and The Maestro has continued — to this day — that ongoing love affair with the chords, the backbeat, the melody, the HEART of what makes a great song, well, great!

On April 6, as part of The Westport Library’s four-day celebration of music, media, and creativity, the 2025 VersoFest Oral History Project (recorded and archived for podcast) will join Shaffer with The Beehive Queen, Christine Ohlman — herself a veteran of that same SNL Band — to talk about the journey that brought him from a small town in Canada at the very northernmost tip of Highway 61 to sail that River of Song along with The World’s Most Dangerous Band, and his — and our — wonderful place in that musical history, then and now.

P.S.: There’ll be a piano onstage, and there WILL be music!

Join us at 11:00 for coffee and donuts provided by the Y's Men, and the program begins at 11:30 on stage!

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VersoFest is The Westport Library’s annual music and media conference and festival where knowledge is shared and inspiration is discovered — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge. VersoFest includes conversations where experts share their perspective and vision. Intimate workshops provide creators the opportunity to deconstruct, improve, and hone their craft. Performances entertain and inspire.

Click here to learn more about this year’s festival.

Host or Publisher The Westport Library