Principal cast of Stereophonic | post by Merry Loomis
Merry Loomis of Main Dock sends along this account of Sausalito being featured in a Broadway show:
On a recent visit to New York City I had the pleasure of nabbing a last minute ticket to the 2024 Tony Award winning play “Stereophonic”. I went in knowing that the play with music by Will Butler of Arcade Fire fame was a loose reworking of the Fleetwood Mac story during the year of their break up and that the entire play takes place within a recording studio. What I didn’t know was that the recording studio was none other than Sausalito’s very own Record Plant and that the album they were working on was the mega hit “Rumors” which was recorded there.
As the lights dim a supertitle is projected across the proscenium arch: “February 1976, Sausalito, California”. Wow! I thought, I live there! I was immediately hooked. There we were, 1970’s Northern California, bell bottoms, fringed jackets, men with long hair and plenty of marijuana and lines of cocaine to share. The open set of this three-hour play is a two level recording studio/lounge with a view over the engineering board into the raised glassed-in sound booth beyond. The five band members and two engineers are midway between their year long stay and are slowly beginning to crack when the play begins.
About forty-five minutes into the first act, the bass player, who also won a Tony, starts talking about what he did yesterday and enthusiastically shares his discovery of this wild place called Waldo Point! He goes on to talk about all these cool people who got together in boats on the water and made this community on streets but not really streets but like streets and it’s just this amazing place where everyone is an artist and living free. He goes on to talk about the Houseboat Wars with the rich people in the hills and tells the band that he thinks they should all live there. “It’s only about 500 meters away,” he intones, “we should go there right now!”
The Record Plant at 2200 Bridgeway today | photo by Merry Loomis
They decline and want to get back to recording but I was with him all the way!
Waldo Point? It took all my self-control not to grab my neighbors and tell them: “I live there, I’m one of those artistic, free spirited people!” I felt like such an insider, but at a few hundred dollars a ticket I thought better of sharing my story and held my joy in check—until now.
For those who don’t know, the Record Plant at 2200 Bridgeway was a world renowned recording studio hosting dozens of the most famous bands ever! From Fleetwood Mac to Stevie Wonder to Metallica, Bob Marley, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin and more; this studio was a home to them all. A quick Google search will give you more details about the history, bands and albums that were recorded there starting with the Grateful Dead in 1973.
Suffice it to say, it was HUGE!
The Record Plant closed in 2008 but when I rang the bell on a recent Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the renamed 2200 Bridgeway is back in action as a recording studio again. It isn’t 500 meters away, but it is an easy 15-minute walk or 5-minute drive to stand in awe of this wood sided monument to America’s most influential music. Be aware that 2200 Bridgeway is not on Bridgeway proper but down Marinship Way between the tennis courts and the Bay Model.
“Stereophonic” is slated to close mid-August but the message of that unique lifestyle on those ‘streets that aren’t streets’ in a magical place called Waldo Point lives on.
