Echoes of old songs hovered over Manhattan's Ritz-Carlton ballroom one night last week, reviving memories of the days when people crowded three and four on a piano bench, craning to read sheet music tattered from use, or when they sat in beer gardens singing along with wheezy little orchestras, beating time with their fans. At the Ritz the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers was having its annual dinner. No music was played but present among the 350 songwriters were erect, square-cut old Theodore Metz, 86, who wrote "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight''; thin, bald...
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