I left work a little early yesterday to attend a press screening of a film I'll be reviewing next week. The screening room was located in the Brill Building, I was delighted to discover. I had never been to the Brill Building before, or even noticed before it as I walked along Broadway, but this is the famous building where hordes of ambitious songwriters would crank out tunes for hire day in and day out back in the '60s. Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Gene Pitney, Jim Croce, Kris Kristofferson, Paul Simon ... the list goes on and on, and defines a whole generation of popular song. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker even worked there for a bit.

I didn't see any famous songwriters there yesterday, but I did arrive at the elevators at the same time the movie—two big reels on a handtruck—did.