If you’ve spent any time at all in Northern Liberties, then you might have heard the name Larry Freedman. Locals know Freedman as chairman of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association’s zoning committee — he helps make decisions on development around the neighborhood.
However, Freedman, who has been in Northern Liberties since 1987, is also an avid music lover who started out playing the drums.
Today, he owns his own production company in Northern Liberties called 2nd Street Productions, located at 618 N. 2nd St.
His company has created music for the country’s largest news radio stations that play around the clock, including KYW 1060 in Philadelphia and WBZ 1030 in Boston. In addition, he has produced hundreds of commercial jingles, including those for familiar companies like Thompson Toyota, Dietz and Watson, Rita’s Water Ice, and Steven Singer Jewelers.
Now Freedman, along with his partners — musician Danny Gold and filmmaker Ron Stanford — have ventured into the world of television with an original production called “Danny’s Guitar Shop.” The show is a 30-minute inside glimpse at the world of music.
The program gets its name from the music store located in Narberth, Pa. and owned by Danny Gold.
“The show is about discovering and creating 30-minute stories about musical people, musical places, and musical things,” Freedman said.
The show has been airing on the small secondary PBS channel YARTS (Comcast channel 257) on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. since February.
However, the program took a huge leap forward on Sunday, Oct. 21 when it began airing in high definition on PBS WHYY (Comcast channel 12) at midnight, following the very popular show “Austin City Limits.”
The production has virtually no budget, and is funded by Freedman and his partners along with local businesses North Bowl, Onion Flats architecture group, The Electric Factory, Old City Publishing and Gunner’s Run.
“Our goal is to get a budget and go national,” Freedman said.
They’ve completed eight episodes so far, including shows on the Center City-based School of Rock Philadelphia; a show on the legendary guitarist David Bromberg; a show on the Martin Guitar Factory in Nazareth, Pa., and an “Open Mic Night” show from The Fire music venue and bar in Northern Liberties.
“Right now all of our shows have been local, but eventually we would like to be able to go anywhere in the world to create a show,” he continued.
You can see the first seven episodes of “Danny’s Guitar Shop” on the show’s web site, www.dannysguitarshop.tv.
Contributor Greg Pacana can be reached at gppacana@yahoo.com.
