I. WELCOME BACK SBCGLOBAL / SOUTHBELL / ATT SUBSCRIBERS!
II. ANOTHER LARGE LOCAL FALLS TO RMA SYMPATHIZERS
III. HAPPY HOLIDAYS - SECRETARY TAKES MORE WORK FROM LOCAL 47 BASSOONISTS
IV. ANOTHER VIEW OF A COMPOSERS’ UNION
V. COMMENTS
VI. EVENTS

=================

I. WELCOME BACK SBCGLOBAL / BELLSOUTH / ATT SUBSCRIBERS!

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN? We’ve been here the whole time, sending
out our mailings on a weekly basis. Unfortunately SBCGlobal,
ATT and Bellsouth has been blocking our mailings to you for
almost a year and you’ve missed A LOT!

It could have been from their software but more than likely the
usual suspects have been filing complaints that got SBCGlobal,
etc. to block you from information the powers that be might
not want you to know!

Please remember that every mailing includes a remove link at
the bottom of the mailing, so if you do not want to receive our
offerings simple click the link and you’ll be removed. We do
ask that you not try to prevent others from reading our material
by lodging complaints, just use the remove link if you don’t
wish to be in the loop.

Also, if you want to catch up on what you’ve missed, our website
at www.responsible47.com has all of our mailings for your perusal.
The site is word searchable too!

With the AFM convention and our own elections coming up next year
it will be especially vital that every member is well versed in the
important subjects affecting our Local and the AFM and not just the
info the Local wants you to know about.

Again, WELCOME BACK! We’ve missed you!

THE COMMITTEE

=================

II. ANOTHER LARGE LOCAL FALLS TO RMA SYMPATHIZERS

Members being apathetic about their locals and the future of the federation has
handed the NEW YORK LOCAL over to RMA sympathizers. According to a vocal
anti-AFM Website, the winner of the recent 802 election, Tino Gagliardi, “represents a
faction of those unhappy with Tom’s presidency, and in particular his dealings with
recording musicians.”

Now the three largest locals in the federation are controlled by those sympathetic
to the RMA and their well-financed agenda. Last time it was the Nashville Local,
now it’s New York. The Los Angeles Local has been in the RMA’s pocket for years.

We’ve tried to warn the membership to stay alert and vote, or prepare for the gutting
of the federation by this very well-financed small minority of disgruntled recording
musicians who don’t mind if the Federation burns, as long as they’re the last one’s
fiddling. After all, if this small group had it’s way, the AFM would be reduced to a
small back office serving only the needs of who they consider to be the “REAL”
working (As in full time recording) musicians. How ironic that many of those elite
musicians can no longer make a living solely from recording, because of their very
own business practices, as well as technology to a smaller degree.

If the purpose of the well financed RMA INTERNATIONAL Officers recent obsession
with the NY RMA and trying to woo the orchestral organizations wasn’t clear before
it is now. They intend to destroy or takeover the federation at any cost, as long
as someone else is paying.

The puzzling thing here is that the RMA can offer nothing other than empty
promises, since the elitists themselves don’t have enough work. Have the
voting musicians in these locals really looked at the people their getting into
bed with without their beer goggles on?

Why are these locals, where there is not a significant amount of recording
work (Songs in Nashville, some scoring and Broadway cast albums in New
York), assuming the position and buying the RMA bait hook, line and sinker?
What’s in it for them? What promises have been made that we have yet to
discover? When has the RMALA or the RMA INTERNATIONAL ever shown a
willingness to share recording work with anyone else, other than the time
they told the RMA San Francisco (Before the the SF-RMA woke up) that they
should concentrate on sidelining and leave the recording to LA.

Some years ago there was an election commercial that showed a despondent
man watching his TV in the dark. He says, “How could that candidate have won?”
The man in the commercial was so sure of the outcome he had not voted, and
so, the election had gone to the wrong person.

If the membership continues to dismiss or ignore the severe danger the RMA
and their well-financed agenda represent for our federation, they will find
themselves that man in the commercial and our federation destroyed.

Stay asleep at all of our peril.

=================

III. HAPPY HOLIDAYS - LOCAL 47 SECRETARY-TREASURER LESLIE LASHINSKY
TAKES YET MORE WORK FROM LOCAL 47 BASSOONISTS

In this downturn, with freelance work harder and harder to find,
orchestras canceling concerts and/or seasons, and churches going
with fewer or no instrumentalists because of money concerns, the
Local 47 full time Secretary-Treasurer Leslie Lashinsky once again
puts coal in another Local 47 bassoonist’s stocking, taking more
work from those who help pay her salary. ($75,000 plus benefits)
Quite a spirit of giving.

Grinch? or Scrooge? You decide.

In this case, it was a concert with the Jewish Symphony, which she
describes as an “educational” concert.

Read the details on page 27 column 4 of the December Overture.

Who enabled the taking of rank and file work this time?

FOR: DON MUGGERIDGE, JUDY CHILNICK, GREG HUCKINS,
PAM GATES, BONNIE JANOFSKY

Against: Paul Castillo, Gary Lasley, Lesa Terry

Abstain: Roy D’Antonio. (He does this quite often)

Except for the rare cases where the board has done the right thing
and refused to allow the Secretary to work within the jurisdiction,
which our bylaws forbid unless board approval is granted, these
votes are usually decided by one vote. Interesting. Remember,
she can work in ANY jurisdiction, except LOCAL 47s, since she
makes her salary off our backs and the backs of the bassoonists
whose work she is taking.

To Paul Castillo, Gary Lasley, and Lesa Terry, thank you for not
helping to enable the theft of rank and file work.

If you know any of those board members who voted for the work
to be taken, we urge you to ask them what they’re thinking and
how they would feel if they were professional bassoonists short
of work.

As for Secretary Lashinsky, we’ve seldom seen such rank,
shameless greed or such a sense of entitlement in one of
our officers.

The only question left is, why does the rank and file stand for it?
Only YOU can answer that one.

THE COMMITTEE

=================

IV. ANOTHER VIEW OF A COMPOSERS’ UNION - From Film Music Magazine

Ghostwriting and The Composers Union
By Mark Northam - December 1, 2009

As we all look to the possibility of a composers union, it’s interesting
to consider what affect the implementation of uniform union rules
and guidelines might have on the composing business, especially
when it comes to the abusive practice of ghostwriting.

Let’s define ghostwriting very specifically: it’s the practice of a “name”
composer hiring a secondary composer to write original music for a
project and refusing to allow the secondary composer to claim proportional
authorship on the cue sheet for his or her original music. Being a
ghostwriter also usually comes with a demand of silence about your
work. Being a ghostwriter has nothing to do with screen credit, but
does have to do with cue sheet credit, which is widely recognized as
the official record of authorship for a musical composition and can
and often is the basis of years or decades of royalty earnings.

In many cases, being a ghostwriter is a bit like being a musical mistress.
You’re paid well for your services, but if you talk about it or dare publicly
take credit for your “work”, it can have career-damaging consequences
for you and your “employer”. And if a ghostwriter is not working under
a written agreement with the hiring composer or the production, the
ghostwriter may actually have a claim for copyright - something that
the production company hiring the “name” composer might find distressing
to say the least - especially if the use of the ghostwriter was kept secret,
as it usually is the case, from the production company.

We can contrast this to the far more ethical practice of hiring additional
composers for a project, where the additional composers are hired, paid,
and are listed on cue sheets as the authors for the music they wrote. If they
co-wrote with the hiring composer, then both are listed according to the
amount of original creative material from each composer contained in a cue.
They often appear as “Additional Music By” or “Orchestrators” in the screen
credits, but most importantly they are able to claim official authorship or
co-authorship of the music they write. I have absolutely no problem with the
practice of hiring additional composers, which I consider to be the fair and
correct way to handle things when a composer is forced by time constraints
or other reasons to hire additional composers for a project.

More often than not, it’s composers in their early years that are targeted by
other composers to work as ghostwriters, and in some cases it is an educational
process where the ghostwriter learns the craft “on the job” and the hiring
composer serves as a mentor. But in far too many cases, this process opens the
door for a myriad of abusive practices often involving executives, “hummers”,
and other non-composers masquerading as composers and claiming partial or
total authorship for music they did not write. If even the authorship of music
becomes a negotiating item, what do we have left as composers?

It’s always interesting to see so many so-called (and self-proclaimed) “leaders”
in our community get very quiet when this issue comes up, probably hoping
that the skeletons in their closets in this area will stay well hidden. The silence
of our leaders and organizations on this issue is deafening, with even the
ASCAP Board reportedly refusing to approve a proposal some years ago by
board member Doug Wood for ASCAP to take a stand against what amounts
to cue sheet fraud. Thanks for the support, guys - keep up the good work!
If you’re not even going to stand up for the principal of authorship, I wonder
what your job exactly is,… It’s a shocking and offensive abandonment of the
most basic responsibility of any organization that represents music and
authors when any crooked executive can “claim” authorship and the
organization happily pays out big bucks, quarter after quarter, to people
the organization knows full well are not the authors of the music they claim
authorship for. It is the ultimate corruption of authorship, and those who manage
the system, make the payment and registration rules and write the checks have
the ultimate responsibility for allowing it to continue and grow. Their fear of
getting involved in the integrity of authorship of their own catalogs only serves
as a big green light to the cue sheet fraudsters who prey on composers hungry
for any work at any price.

The new composers union may be a unique opportunity to introduce some ethics,
responsibility and accountability into the composing process in this area if the
union contracts require that cue sheets list who actually wrote the music in the
production. Likewise, the lack of direction in this area by the union could open
the door to any number of opportunistic executives, non-composers, music
supervisors, and other hungry middlemen to demand a portion of composer’s
writers royalties - essentially becoming a co-writer - as part of a production
deal.

I’ll never forget the words of a young composer I met at one of our events in
Los Angeles. He landed an in-house gig at a large LA music library right out
of Berklee and at the event, with some hesitation, asked me if it was “standard”
that he be required to list the library owner as co-writer on music he writes for
his own clients such as indie filmmakers, on his own gear, while at home when
he’s not working for the library. I asked him how the music library president
justified this demand, and the young composer said the library president told
him that since it was income from his library gig that allowed him to purchase
his gear at home, that the library president must be listed as a co-writer on
any music created with that gear. He was certainly shocked when I informed
him that he was being massively taken advantage of, and I recommended he
run, not walk, from that library.

For some time now, our industry has been like a town with no traffic signal.
People have been left on their own to decide what’s right and what’s not, and
some have acted responsibly while others have acted unethically and selfishly.
The new composers union could be likened to that first traffic light - finally
establishing some order to an industry where abuses are far too frequent and
the price paid by new and up and coming composers in terms of credit,
compensation and integrity of authorship far too high.

Maybe, if we’re lucky, the new composers union will be the first composer
organization in LA to actually have the backbone to adopt as a simple,
fundamental rule something that common sense, not to mention artistic
integrity, ought to make obvious…
The only names on the cue sheet should be the person(s) who actually
wrote the music.
What a concept! I suppose for those who like to weasel their way onto cue
sheets and take credit for the creations of others, that must be a pretty
scary concept, but for the rest of us, proper authorship and fair payment
for our work is the least we deserve.

One thing is for sure: if we do not take charge of our industry and start
working aggressively to improve things, nobody else is going to do it for
us. The attitude of “anything goes, just get the gig” that has produced
rampant fee undercutting and fuels abusive practices such as ghostwriting
must end if we are to survive as an industry. Today, more and more people
have their hand out for a piece of copyright or writers royalties. It’s up to
us to create a process and a framework where those kind of payoffs are a
thing of the past and we can proudly claim authorship to the music we write.

==========================

V. 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.

————————–

The “victory” of the [Film and Television] contract is an empty
achievement in light of the dearth of recording work. I, like
hundreds of you, will be ineligible for the Local 47 health plan in
2010 because of insufficient contributions. The failure of local
47 to keep recording work in L.A. and the inability of the local
to create a scale for teaching so that we can contribute by
filing contracts is indicative of the impotence of our union.
I’d love to quit. I could use my dues to pay for my health
insurance premiums.

————————–

The meeting at the Local to explain the new AFM motion picture
contract was attended by less than 60 people. This shows either
extreme apathy or a complete lack of interest in the contract.

After a long and complicated explanation there was a confusing
series of statements and questions from two attendees, one of
whom used to work on a lot of recording jobs until replaced by
other musicians, the other who has never done much work under
this contract. They wanted to talk about “bringing the jobs back”.

I guess that means they want all film composers to be American
(OOPS, bad news for Alexander Desplat, Gabriel Yared, John
Powell, Rachel Portman, Harry Gregson Williams, Hans Zimmer,
George Fenton and others).

or perhaps they have found a way around the many government
post production tax credits in other countries or other states.

Maybe they can get Hollywood to get creative in using music
and start doing scores like they did in the “good old days”.

Even Mr. [Charles] Fernandez goes to the UK to record. His
latest CD, promoted here, was recorded with a symphony
orchestra in London.

=========================

VI. CONCERTS AND EVENTS

12/5/09

A show of small oil paintings at the Segil Gallery in historic
Old Town Monrovia. Many artists are featured in this show
including Chris Zambon (Mrs. Kim Richmond)

This starts at 5 PM. The show will be up for a month.

Segil Fine Art
110 West Lime Avenue
Old Town Monrovia CA 91016
(626) 358-5563

Chris’ webstie address is:
httpp://www.chriszambon.com

——————————–

12/7/09

2nd Annual Handel’s ‘Messiah’
Sing-Along & Play-Along
Vicki Fuggi, Soprano
Darryl Taylor, Countertenor
Alvin Brightbill, Tenor
John Huntington, Bass

Jung-A Lee, Organ

Monday, December 7, 2009
7:00 P.M.
Geneva Presbyterian Church
24301 El Toro Road
Laguna Hills, CA 92637
Instrumentalists must reserve a seat by e-mail: valeriegeller@cox.net

Score and Parts can be downloaded at: http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page

*Free Will Offering*
Members of the Saddleback College Emeritus Institute

AND

Laguna Woods Village Symphony
Valerie Geller, Conductor
WINTER CONCERT

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
7:30 P.M
Clubhouse Three Auditorium
23822 Avenida Sevilla, Laguna Woods, CA 92637
(949) 597-4289

Guest Solo Artists
Limor Toren-Immerman, Violin
Ruslan Biryukov, Cello
Pepron Pilibossian, Piano

Admission $5.00 ~ Free Parking

——————————–

12/13/09

PRESS RELEASE:
Bill Cunliffe’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” Holiday Jazz Concert,
Reception and Movie Screening: Sunday, December 13, 2009

Grammy nominated pianist/composer Bill Cunliffe will put on
his “It’s a Wonderful Life” Holiday Jazz Show on Sunday,
December 13 , 2009 in the Chapel at the First Baptist Church of
Glendale located at 209 N. Louise St. ( at Wilson) Glendale CA 91206.

The jazz concert will be from 4:00pm to 5:30 pm
followed by a Holiday Reception, photographs and snacks.

At 7:00 pm there will be a free screening of Frank Capra’s 1946
film classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring James Stewart.

Tickets for the 4:00pm jazz concert can be purchased
at the Brown Paper Tickets website:

$20 Adults
$5 Children under 12
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/90348

For event information call 818 -632-4868.

———————————-

12/13/09

ASMAC/LA JAZZ SOCIETY HOLIDAY PARTY AND BRUNCH!

Happy Holidays!

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MUSIC ARRANGERS & COMPOSERS

wishes everyone the happiest of holidays and extends our best
wishes for a New Year filled with prosperity, joy and music.
Please join us for our 2009 Holiday Brunch to celebrate the
season with the American Society of Music Arrangers & Composers
and the Los Angeles Jazz Society.

Share a toast with old and new friends; pick out a special holiday
gift at our Silent Auction; enjoy a fabulous Holiday Brunch and
cap it off with the amazing music of the John Clayton Holiday
Quartet.

2009 Holiday Brunch
Sunday, December 13, 2009

12:00pm - No-host Cocktails/Silent Auction
12:45pm - Bountiful Buffet Brunch
1:45pm - Entertainment

JOHN CLAYTON HOLIDAY QUARTET

John Clayton, Bass
Chris Dawson, Piano
Graham Dechter, Guitar
Kevin Kanner, Drums

CATALINA BAR & GRILL
6725 West Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028
Parking $6 - behind building - enter on McCadden

LAJS and ASMAC members $40 (limit 2)
Non members and guests $50

Entertainment Only: Please Check-In after 1:30pm
includes Emtertainment, Dessert & No-Host cocktails $20

Please reserve by Thursday, December 10th, by sending
payment to:
ASMAC, 5903 Noble Avenue, Van Nuys, CA 91411
or by calling with credit card info to (818) 994-4661

———————————-

12/13/09

LOS ANGELES JAZZ INSTITUTE BENEFIT PARTY
11:00am-11:00pm
Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel
5855 W. Century Blvd.

The Los Angeles Jazz Institute is moving to a new location and
throwing a big day long jazz party to help raise the needed funds.
The Institute is an important organization with the centerpiece
being a huge jazz archive that includes 130,000 records,
thousands of CDs, books, tapes, magazines, music, films and
numerous musician collections. Moving all of this is a huge
undertaking and will cost thousands of dollars.

SIXTEEN BANDS WILL BE PERFORMING continuously on two stages!
-Bill Holman Band
-Terry Gibbs
-Carl Saunders Be Bop Big Band
-The Cannonball/Coltrane Project
-Tall and Small-Pete Christlieb/Linda Small
-Steve Huffsteter Big Band
-Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra featuring Bill Watrous
-Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra
-Med Flory Big Band featuring Supersax
-Fred Selden plays Art Pepper + 11
-Ron King Big Band
-Dave Pell
-Florescope- Chuck Flores Octet
-Gerry Gibbs Quartet
-Pinky Winters
-Dewey Erney/Ron Eschete
-Kurt Reichenbach
-Frank Capp, Bob Summers, Ron Stout, Scott Whitfield and more!!

There are two specific donation levels to attend this special event:
The $150 Platinum level includes priority seating
The $75 Gold Circle level provides open seating.

Both ticket levels provide full access to all venues.
The L.A. Jazz Institute is a non-profit organization and your donation is
tax deductible.

To reserve your seats or make a donation please call (562)985-7065
For more details lajazzinstitute.org

———————————-

12/13/09

STRING PROJECT|LOS ANGELES
“One of the top 10 reasons to study music in Los Angeles”
-STRINGS MAGAZINE
Presents:
An evening of rock, jazz, reggae, and metal string playing

ALTERNATIVE STRING GROUPS | Winter Concert
Sunday, December 13, 2009|4:00pm
Actors’ Gang Theater
9070 Venice Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232-2305
(310) 838-4264
With special musical guest
drummer CHRISTOPHER GARCIA

Performances by SPLA students
and faculty

RECEPTION to FOLLOW

FREE ADMISSION

STRING PROJECT|LOS ANGELES

12804 W Washington Blvd|Culver City, CA|90066 310.822.SPLA|
www.stringprojectla.com

—————————————-

12/15/09

CHAMBER MUSIC PALISAIDES
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2009
8 p.m.
$25 per person
Free for students with ID

ST. MATTHEW’S PARISH
1031 Bienveneda Ave.
Pacific Palisades, Ca. 90272
310-463-4388

Copland- Duo for flute and piano

Subotnick - now, then and forever for violin, clarinet and piano
[CALIFORNIA PREMIERE]

Stravinsky
L’Histoire du Soldat for narrator and 7 instruments
Ida Levin - violin
Joshua Ranz - clarinet
Carolyn Beck - bassoon
Alex Iles - trombone
Jon Lewis - trumpet
Edward Atkatz - percussion
Nico Abondolo - bass
Susan Greenberg - flute
Delores Stevens - piano
Brian Torfeh - narrator
Alan Chapman - commentary

———————————————-

12/17/09

Fundraiser for ‘Safety Harbor Kids’/ Release Party for ‘Safety Harbor
Kids Holiday CD Collection.’ Music Industry Greats Rally to Support
Local Charity

Date: Thursday, December 17
Location: East West Studios, formally Ocean Way, 6000 Sunset Bl
Hollywood, CA 90028
Time: 7PM-Midnight
Event: Artists performing will include Latin crooner Andy Vargas of
Santana, GRAMMY Nominees Bird York, Lisa Haley, Valerie Davis
and Bryan Senatore, with attendees including many of the artists
performing on the CD. Awards ceremony: featuring Jackson Browne,
honoring community leaders in the industry that have gone above
and beyond in helping disadvantaged children in Los Angeles.
Tickets & Info: 800-277-0497
www.safetyharborkids.org

The “Safety Harbor Kids Holiday Collection” CD features a host
of GRAMMY award winners and several platinum album sellers
including:
Shelia E., Jackson Browne & Inara George, Billy Idol, Jimmy Webb,
Peabo Bryson & Paige O’Hare, Andy Vargas and a host of others.

This eclectic arrangement of holiday favorites has something for
every musical taste from a jazzy “Rudolf”, sung by Conga queen,
Sheila E. to an intriguing version of “Silver and Gold” sung by
Jackson Browne and Inara George. A mix of holiday classics and
originals with well known greats like guitarists Fred Tackett and
Paul Barrere and keyboardist Billy Payne of Little Feat, the
compilation is a holiday must for any self respecting music aficionado.

We would like to extend to the Musicians Union the “Safety Harbor
Kids Holiday Collection” CD at a discount of $7.50.
In addition, we offer Musicians Union Members 50% of the Child
Sponsor price to attend this exclusive PARTY AND MUSCIAL EVENT.

Thank you for all you help in spreading the word and helping the children.
Sincerely,
Petrie Alexandra Williams
President, Safety Harbor Kids
(800) 277-0497

———————————-

12/19/09

CLASSICAL MUSIC COMES TO MAR VISTA

The Los Angeles Clarinet Institute presents a
Neighborhood Holiday Concert

Featuring the works of
Franz Krommer
Victor Ewald
Dan Newmark
John Philip Sousa
Gabriel Pierne
Christmas Carols!
Richard Wagner
Aaron Copland
. . . and more!

Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.
3725 May Street, Mar Vista

The Los Angeles Clarinet Choir will perform music
the old fashioned way….. The way they played wind
band music in the 1820’s…. Informal and outside.
Bring a chair or a blanket to sit on and join us for
an afternoon of 19th century-style fun.

www.LAclarinet.com

————————————-

“Lisa Haley upcoming shows,”

12/24/09

50th Annual MUSIC CENTER HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
- THURS 12/24/09: LOS ANGELES, CA - DORTHY CHANDLER PAVILION
PLUS LIVE BROADCAST! ON KCET, KOCE, KLCS, KVCR-TV
Show is 3-9PM - Lisa Haley & the Zydekats performance time TBA
http://www.holidaycelebration.org

—

12/31/09

ANAHEIM, CA - DISNEYLAND NEW YEARS CELEBRATION! - 8PM
WE COUNT THE PARK DOWN TO MIDNIGHT ON THE RIVER OF THE
AMERICAS!
http://www.disneyland.com/

==================

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47
Visit us at www.responsible47.com

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