MEETING / SELA COMMENT / ASMAC LUNCHEON / COMMENTS / EVENTS
I. REMINDER: CRUCIAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING MONDAY, OCTOBER 26th
II. MEMBER COMMENT CONCERNING SELA
III. ASMAC HONORS MIKE LANG AND ABE LABORIEL SR.
IV. COMMENTS
V. EVENTS AND CONCERTS
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I. REMINDER: CRUCIAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING MONDAY, OCTOBER 26th
Colleagues,
Don’t forget the upcoming general membership meeting on
Monday, October 26th, 7pm at the Local!
Have questions about the SELAS or their re-instatement? Health
Insurance? Officer Conduct? Rehearsal Rooms? Recording Studio?
Anything else you want discussed?
The October 26th meeting is the venue!
As a reminder, those on the Local 47 side of the table in the
SELA decision were:
President Vince Trombetta, Hal Espinosa and Jay Rosen.
PLEASE BE THERE!
THE COMMITTEE
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II. MEMBER COMMENT CONCERNING SELA
Don’t drink the cool-aide that the Local is selling you. H&W
trustees are totally different than Local 47 trustees, and they
serve on an equal footing with the management trustees. The
union trustees are not controlled by management, they are
equal. Three management trustees, three union trustees,
one management lawyer, one union lawyer. And a hired
staff to administer the fund, answerable to the trustees.
The fact that the trustees let the only effective contract for
freelancers be shutdown speaks volumes. Years ago when one
of the biggest payroll services in L.A. was found to have
defrauded the system over many many years, did the trustees
shut down the contracts they were using? No. Were the offenders
thrown out of the union? No. (They were fined and barred from
being a payroll service.) Were any of the hundreds if not thousands
of musicians who had used their services barred from submitting
contracts in the future? No. Did any musicians, other than the two
offenders, suffer any loss of benefits from the union? No.
As the vast majority of musicians who submit contracts were
thrown under the bus, the union H&W trustees were supposedly
silent, if not enabling, on the cancellation of the SELA contract.
In the beginning the board had to be cajoled, threatened and
embarrassed into approving the SELA contract. Then it had to be
approved by the H&W board, which is when Levy got to throw in tons
of extra legalese, but the essence was still there. It is based on the
AFM LS1 contract developed by Tom Lee, which does very similar
things for bandleaders and sidemusicians to get pension benefits.
A whole new contract was called for to include Local 47’s health
plan. The Federation has no health plan - yet. The LS1 deals only
with wages and pension benefits.
[The LS1 contract is no longer posted on the AFM website.
Coincidentally Tom Lee recently sent an email from the AFM saying
that they are exploring how to institute a health plan federation-wide.
That would solve our problems. ]
If it were not for one group of musicians I would be in favor of
scrapping the H&W fund altogether, and going with a total self-pay plan.
We desperately need a self-pay plan because that is where this is going
eventually if not tomorrow.
Who is enrolled in the Heath & Welfare plan? Our ’star’ musicians? That
is what you would think. No. The recording musicians have a separate
Cadillac plan, as Espinoza liked to call it. And the L.A. Philharmonic
musicians also have their own separate plan. Who’s left? Everyone else.
How many of the Everyone Else qualifies for health coverage? A pitifully
small number. Probably less that 5% of the membership. Without the
SELA contracts maybe much less than that. Leaving the only group left
making regular contributions - the symphonic freelancers who work under
collective bargaining agreements. For arguments sake let’s say that 5%
of the membership qualify for health insurance. That means that 95%
do not! And they are taxed 10% of their pay on each union gig to help
pay for the one out of twenty musicians who gets health insurance.
It has always been the union’s argument that everyone pays a little so
that those who reach a low qualifying number will get coverage. That
argument might fly if a lot more people were qualifying. 50/50 maybe,
even 60/40. But when 19 members of the band have to pay extra so that
the 20th member can get health insurance, something is very wrong. And
how about that qualifying number? In one year the H&W trustees increased
the qualifying contributions by 50%, from $600 to $900, keeping many
more musicians from qualifying.
BUT - funniest thing… Insurance companies and funds have a term they
use for financial health of the fund itself. If a fund has monies to pay
out if everyone covered got sick, it is termed Fully Funded. Local 47
has been proud over the years that it has been Triple-Funded. (Three
times the money that it needs.).
“It is true that in 2007 we were “triple-covered.” But the 2008 H&W report,
which gave us the bad news that the bar was raising to $900, said: we are
now down to “double-coverage” due to high payouts. And yet they raise the
qualifying number by 50% and cancel the SELA contracts. This will cause
many bandleaders to not file contracts at all.
It is so painfully obvious what they are doing. Rephrased - it is obvious
and it is painful.
=======================
III. ASMAC HONORS MIKE LANG AND ABE LABORIEL SR.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MUSIC ARRANGERS & COMPOSERS
PRESENT OUR SPECIAL LUNCHEON GUESTS:
Mike Lang and Abe Laboriel Sr.
Wednesday, October 21st - 11:30am
at Catalina’s in Hollywood
A few words from Mike Lang
composition with Alexander von Zemlimsky. However,
after I told him I wanted to become a composer of Cereal
Music, he rejected me, explaining that hunger strikes were
coming… Some years later, I attempted to write an opera
based on themes of Scott Joplin. He pirated the whole thing
and produced “Treemonisha” under his own name. What’s
the matter with these Ragtime guys? After I “invented jazz
outright in 1902″, I accepted Jelly Roll Morton as a student,
and he appropriated my assertion. What’s the matter with
these Jazz guys??!
After these frustrating experiences, I decided to try something
new and managed the great blues artist, Robert Johnson.
But because he refused to limit his blues choruses to 12 bars,
I couldn’t get him any gigs. So I went into isolation for many
years, living as a hobo on trains, and trying to create microtonal
instruments in Just Intonation. But I could never find enough water,
and my lips got “Partched”! Be receptive to the unknown —
let things come from who knows where, and pass through you
to your audience. Mistakes are divine, erring is human. One
cannot hope to control the unexpected.
Be serious in not being too serious. Art is human experience. The
profundity of laughter cannot be overestimated
MOTTO: Do everything as if it were the first AND last time.
Passion is GOOD!
Abe Laboriel — A pioneer who redefined the role of the electric
bass in contemporary music, he likes to say he “invites the music
to visit” as he opens his heart to the moment and lets the music
flow. A master of the groove, Abraham is “the most widely used
session bassist of our time’ according to Guitar Player magazine.
Having performed on over 4000 recordings and soundtracks, his
first love remains connecting with a live audience and enjoying
the “music of the moment.”
Born and raised in Mexico to Garifuna parents, he received his
earliest musical training from his father, a gifted composer
and guitarist. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music,
Abraham was a founding member of pioneering jazz groups
Friendship with Lee Ritenour, Ernie Watts, and Alex Acunaand
Koinonia. He has performed and recorded with a remarkable
array of jazz artists including Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau,
George Benson, Larry Carlton, Dave Grusin, Quincy Jones,
Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, George Duke, Joe Sample,
the Crusaders, Manhattan Transfer, Gary Burton, Joe Williams,
and Joe Zawinul.
JOIN US FOR WHAT SHOULD BE A VERY INTERESTING, AND MUSICAL, LUNCH!!!
Wed. October 21st
11:30 cocktails/12noon Lunch
Catalina Bar & Grill
6725 West Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028
(1 BLOCK E OF HIGHLAND - north side of street - cor of McCadden)
Cost: ASMAC Members & Students $30 - Guests and all walk-in $35
Parking: Valet $3.00 - Enter on McCadden - west side of Catalina’s -
lot at back
Please make reservations by Tuesday morning, Oct. 20th - 818/994-4661
OR by email to asmac@theproperimageevents.com
Check us out at www.asmac.org
SAVE THE DATES
November 18th - Special Guests Bruce Fowler & Walt Fowler
Sunday, December 13th - Joint Holiday Brunch with L.A. Jazz Society
starring the John Clayton Trio - At Catalina’s in Hollywood
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IV. COMMENTS
The comments below and elsewhere in this mailing represent the
typically uncensored views of the readers and not necessarily those
of the COMMITTEE. In the faith that freedom of expression allows
for the birth and ascendancy of the most beneficial ideas, all sentiments
expressed are welcome, subject to the bounds of good taste and
decorum. If you disagree with an opinion expressed by any contributor,
we encourage you to rebut it here.
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http://www.scoringsessions.com/news/207/
Summit Entertainment (the distributor of Astro-Boy), is not an AFM
signatory. Actually since there are so many indie films made now with
non-signatory studios.. will there be ANY recording here in the USA in
2010-2011? or will they continue to go to London, Prague, etc?
Anonymous
————————-
Just as a question why are you listing performances that are featuring
musicians not listed on the union roster?? example from this news
letter you listed a Marcelo Cesen and Matthew Alcazar but neither is
listed on the union roster.
E. Gene Stephenson President Local 362-691
[President Stephenson,
Thank you very much for writing us from Huntington, West Virginia!
Sometimes union members perform with non-union musicians, as we
all know. Since they may not be the featured performers, their
names might not appear. Chances are if it's a totally non-union group
they won't even know about this newsletter, being targeted as it is to
Local 47 members, AFM Locals and other interested parties.
For the record, we don't charge anything for listing members' concerts
here, and those entities who do charge for the same service (and a much
smaller list) have advertised non-union performances that include non-
union singers and musicians as well.
Thank you again for writing and write anytime.
THE COMMITTEE]
————————-
The AFM Observer has responded to a statement from the Committee’s
comment section. The comment from the Committee’s blog says the
RMA is not a labor organization. The comment from AFM Observer
says: “Wrong and wrong”.
I did some research since the writer of the AFM Observer seemed to
be at a loss for words and came up with this: “Labor unions are labor
organizations, but not all labor organizations are labor unions.
IRC 501(c)(5) labor organizations do not need to be recognized labor
unions. “from IRC 501(c)(5) Organizations By John Francis Reilly, Carter
C. Hull, and Barbara A. Braig Allen
apps.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicj03.pdf.
As to whether the RMA meets the requirements for a 501(c)(5) could
be argued. One thing is for sure. According to the rules of 501(c)(5)t
the RMA exists to benefit it’s own, good, bad, or indifferent. That’s just
the way it is. The leadership for this organization should at least be
honest about it and not have Mark Sazer give a speech filled with what
amounts to double talk at the players conference with; ‘You need us’
while preparing to withdraw from the AFM with the non-union PMG and
filing lawsuits against the AFM with the idea that they will either win or
bankrupt the union.
————————-
From another Local 47 member:
I have responded to the AFM Observer blog that tried to say the
Committee is wrong again. The blog has not yet approved of the
response and will not post unless their censor says yes. Please
see below what was sent:
The writer (whoever posted on the Comm. Site) quoted directly
from the RMA’s attorney opinion letter of October 10, 2002.
page 7. At the time the RMA was trying to find a way to change
it’s status from “A Business League or Chamber of Commerce”
to a “Labor Organization”.
” The IRS could very well determine that the RMA does not qualify
for Section 501 (c)(5) status because RMA is simply not a labor
union (i.e. RMA is not a party to any collective bargaining agreement,
is not a certified/recognized bargaining agent, does not represent
a single person for purposes of that individual’s wages, terms and
conditions of employment, does not otherwise “deal directly” with
employers as to employees’ wages and conditions of employment,
etc.). If this occurs, and the RMA has its Section 501 (c)(6) status
revoked at its request, RMA will not longer have any tax exempt
status;”
————————-
This sums up the attitude of the RMA general membership:
“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will
eat him last.” - Winston Churchill
====================
V. CONCERTS AND EVENTS
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10/18/09
Come hear “John Van Houten, Tuba, with Friends -
An Evening Recital” on Sunday, October 18 at 6:00pm.
“California State University Long Beach Cole Conservatory
of Music Faculty Recital”
Start Time: Sunday, October 18 at 6:00pm
End Time: Sunday, October 18 at 7:30pm
Where: California State University Long Beach (CSULB)
To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=150083655998&mid=134bc33G2d9f0742G37b778bG7
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10/18/09
Agnes Szekely Schwartz’ Violin Recital
on Sunday, October 18th 2009
Independent Hungarian Reformed Church of Ontario,
1053 East 6th Street, Ontario, CA 91764
will take place as part of the service and
commence about 11:50 or 12:00 noon.
Not at 2:30 pm!!!
Works by J S Bach,
Pugnani-Kreisler, Debussy, Saint-Saens
and Bartok-Z Szekely.
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10/19/09
Join us on October 19th
as we honor those whose contributions
through music have changed our lives.
Featuring Performances by:
Honorary Chairs
JOHNNY MATHIS
PATTI AUSTIN
Emcee JUSTIN GUARINI (Season One American Idol Finalist)
Honorees
Music Educator VINCENT HOUSER
Grammy-Winning GORDON GOODWIN’S BIG PHAT BAND
Tickets
$150 General Seating / $250 VIP Seating
If purchased after 10/10/09:
$200 General Seating / $300 VIP Seating
To purchase tickets:
Please visit etmlagalaevent.eventbrite.com
All proceeds will support in-school, yearlong music
education for over 2,000 underserved Los Angeles youth.
For sponsorship opportunities and questions about
ticket purchases, please contact Aliza Kennerly
at 818-433-7600 or akennerly@etmla.org
Education Through Music-Los Angeles
2501 W. Burbank Blvd. Suite 305
Burbank, California 91505
818-433-67600 www.etmla.org
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10/19/09
Kim Richmond Ensemble
WHEN: Monday, October 19, 8 PM to 10
WHERE: Tim Pinch’s studio.
The address is 141 Allen Avenue in Glendale 91201.
It’s just about a block from the LA Equestrian
Center on Riverside Drive. People should arrive
around 7:30 and go around to the back for the entrance.
WHO: John Daversa, trumpet; Joey Sellers, trombone;
Andy Langham, piano; Kristin Korb, bass; Jamey Tate, drums.
DOOR CHARGE: None, but donations welcome to pay
the musicians.
PARKING: Residential area, street parking
REFRESHMENTS: Light refreshments provided free
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10/20/09
Chamber Music Palisades Thirteenth Season
CHAMBER MUSIC PALISADES
begins it’s 13th seas
on!
October 20th, 8 p.m.
1031 Bienveneda Av.,
Pacific Palisades, Ca. 90272
$25. per person; free for students
For info call: 310-463-4388 www.cmpalisades.org
Bing Wang violin;
Carrie Dennis viola;
Peter Stumpf cello;
Niko Abondolo bass;
Susan Greenberg flute;
Delores Stevens piano;
Dr. Alan Chapman commentator
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10/21/09
Relax during your lunch hour with live music.
Light lunch created by ANGELA’S BISTRO available
for $6 after concert.
LOCATION:The Chapel at FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF GLENDALE
209 N. Louise St. (at Wilson)
Glendale CA 91206
818 242 2113
Map & venue info http://www.fbcglendale.net
More info email teena.frazier@fbcglendale.net
************************************
OCTOBER 21, 2009
In Recital:
Works for VIOLIN by J.S. BACH & ANTONIN DVORAK
Johana Krejci - violin
CONCERT UPDATES:
http://www.glendalenoonconcerts.blogspot.com
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10/23/09
MESSAGE FROM AWARD WINNING COMPOSER CARL JOHNSON
I’ve recently written the score to a new musical theatre work
based on the book “At Home in Mitford” by Jan Karon. We’re
having a “staged reading” (no sets, costumes or props, actors
reading from scripts) on October 26 in Burbank. It’s still a
work-in-progress, but it should be a lot of fun. Here are the
particulars. Thanks! Carl Johnson
At Home in Mitford: A New Musical
Based on the best-selling book by Jan Karon
Book by Cynthia Ferrell
Music by Carl Johnson
Lyrics by Chana Wise
Presented in concert by the Academy Repertory Company
Monday, October 26, 2009
7:30 pm
at the Colony Theatre
555 Third Street
Burbank, CA
Tickets $10
For reservation: www.anmt.org
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10/26/09
Message from Scott Whitfield and “Ginger and Scott”
On Sun., Oct. 25, 2-6pm, Ginger & Scott will be
live in concert at a private home in Pico Rivera, CA.
For more info, please contact Gilles Mongeau at
(562)949-4264 OR (909) 241-0165 OR ggmongeau@msn.com.
We will have a dream team with us of Roger Neumann
(saxes/flute), Jeff Colella (piano), Adam Cohen (bass),
and Kendall Kay (drums).
This is our last gig in LA before we hit the road, so be sure
to come out for this one!
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MESSAGE FROM BILLY MITCHELL
Dear Friends,
The SAPPA program continues to open programs for youngsters
in underserved areas. We are in need of orchestra instruments.
Please check your closet and garage. If you have any instruments
that are not being used and that you would like to DONATE please
contact me at 626-574-5040.
Thank you for your support!
MITCH
BILLY MITCHELL-SAPPA
www.sappa.net
www.youtube.com/sappaprogram
sappaprograms@gmail.com
626-574-5040
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MARTIN’S MUSIC STUDIO (since 1982)
Martins’s Music Studio is renting band and orchestra
instruments for the new school year.
Instrument Rentals for Fall
Prices per month:
Violin - Guitar - Snare Drum - Bell Kit
Used $20/New $25
Flute - Clarinet - Trombone - Trumpet
Used $25/New $30
Viola
Used $30/New $40
Cello
Used $35/New $40
Alto Sax - Oboe
Used $35/New $40
Bass Clarinet - Tenor Sax
Used $45/New $55
French Horn - Euphonium
Used $55/New $65
Martins’ Music Studio offers lessons in piano, guitar,
keyboard, flute, clarinet, saxophone, didgeridoo,
shakuhachi, pennywhistle, composition, theory, music
appreciation and recorder. We also offer ear training,
sight singing, rhythm, the art of listening, relaxed
playing, note reading, playing by ear and improvisation.
We are both graduates of USC and The Juilliard School
and are young children friendly. We also teach popular
music in our relaxed studios. Please join us. You are never
too young nor too old to learn about music.
The first lesson is free.
Check out our updated website:
www.MartinsMusicStudio.com
tel 323/299-1392
Brice@MartinsMusicStudio.com
Natalie@MartinsMusicStudio.com
www.MartinsMusicStudio.com
4621 West 63rd Street
Los Angeles, Ca - 90043
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UNTIL NEXT TIME,
THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47
Visit us at www.responsible47.com
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