By Kevin Coughlin
When you’ve toured with Peter Gabriel, scored TV soundtracks for Carl Sagan, tinkered at Bell Labs and patented infrared audio technology, what do you do for your next act?
If you’re Larry Fast, you make a documentary about the Great Swamp.
Or rather, a film about the epic battle to thwart the Port Authority from transforming it into a jetport more than a half-century ago.
“They thought, ‘It has insects and snakes and swamps. Nobody lives there.’ They were working behind the scenes, working to buy the land,” the Long Hill resident recounted over dinner Thursday at Great Conversations.
Fast was among 30 “conversationalists” featured at the eighth annual fundraiser for Morris Arts. Nearly 300 patrons came to the Madison Hotel in Morris Township, where they paid $225 for the chance to mingle and dine with leading figures from the worlds of art, science, public service, sports, health care and business.
“This is such a unique event, unlike most rubbery-chicken events,” said Tom Werder, executive director of the nonprofit arts organization. Proceeds amount to about 20 percent of the budget for Morris Arts, which supports a wide range of arts programs across Morris County.
Each dinner table had its own star: NJTV news anchor Mary Alice Williams over here, renowned restaurateur Chris Cannon over there. The eclectic roster included Bob Gruen, who was John Lennon’s personal photographer, and Dave Kaplan, a co-founder of the Yogi Berra Museum. Marines veteran David Keefe, creator of the Combat Paper project, led another table.
Conversation was free-wheeling at Fast’s table, where guests savored a taste of the ever-changing music business, served by a modern Renaissance man.
If his parents had their way, Fast would have followed the family’s long line of engineers and lawyers. But The Ed Sullivan Show threw a mop-topped monkey wrench into that equation.
“When The Beatles happened, I watched on television. I said: ‘I want to do that,‘” he said.
Fast took some computer science classes at Lafayette College in the early ’70s, designed synthesizer modules for Rick Wakeman of Yes, and consulted for Moog Music on its synthesizers.
Over the years, Fast has churned out several albums of electronic music, a project called SYNERGY. He created his own record label, and his catalog remains in print. He also did some ad campaigns with the late Mike Smith, of Dave Clark Five fame.
And Fast toured with Nektar, a zesty German band that he compared to the fictional combo in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.
Next came a decade-long collaboration with Peter Gabriel, described by Fast as a cerebral, well read musical genius who shared his passion for visiting museums between gigs.
Fast said the music business has evolved from a sometimes “ugly” system controlled by powerful labels who gave a few artists a shot at making big money, to a digital environment where anyone can make an album–and almost nobody can make any money.
In the old days, Fast said, the publishing side of the industry generated revenue that was plowed back into artist development and promotion. Now, Wall Street pumps cash into streaming services such as Spotify, which sprinkle a few dollars on the dwindling labels. Very little trickles down to the artists, he said.
An exception is Apple. Fast said iTunes music downloads pay artists a share roughly equivalent to what they make from CD sales. But once songs hit streaming services, he said, sales of physical media evaporate.
Today’s surest path to stardom is a viral one. Grab as many eyeballs as you can on social media. “If there’s enough buzz, then someone will be interested” in signing you, Fast said.
His interest in history–he serves on the Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund Review Board–led him to the Great Swamp project.
Fast is co-producing the independent documentary with David Morris —another of Thursday’s Great Conversationalists– and they aim to have a rough cut ready by summer.
When the jetport plans were hatched in the late 1950s, commercial jets needed much longer runways than they do nowadays. And crashes were more frequent. Planners thought Morris County’s expansive, secluded Great Swamp was ideal for an airport.
But when the Newark News broke the story, opposition quickly mounted to what many argued would have been a disaster for the area’s groundwater and quality of life.
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