6\/17\/17
\nI.\u00a0 ONE MUSICIAN’S STORY
\nII. EVENTS<\/p>\n
…Absolutely guaranteed anonymity – Former Musician’s Union officer<\/p>\n
…The one voice of reason in a sea of insanity – Nashville ‘first call’\u2028scoring musician
\n…Allows us to speak our minds without fear of reprisal – L.A. Symphonic musician<\/p>\n
…Reporting issues the Musicians Union doesn’t dare to mention – National touring musician<\/p>\n
===========================================<\/p>\n
I.\u00a0 ONE MUSICIAN’S STORY<\/p>\n
Robert Matsuda is a violinist who has contributed to film
\nand television scores since 1996, including the feature
\nfilm The Horse Whisperer (1998) and the blockbuster
\ntelevision series Lost (2004\u201310)<\/p>\n
A member of the Union of Professional Musicians, Local 47, in
\nLos Angeles, Robert recalls the heyday of motion picture
\nmusicians and describes the ways in which producers have moved
\nmuch of the work overseas or resorted to licensed pop songs or
\ncomputer-generated music.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:How did you get your start with orchestral soundtracks?
\nYour first film was The Horse Whisperer, correct?<\/p>\n
I did a film before that in which my friend put together the musicians
\nfor a Pauly Shore movie called Bio-Dome (1996)
\n.
\nInterestingly enough, the residuals for Bio-Dome went on, and on,
\nand on. At the back end, it actually paid better than The Horse
\nWhisperer. I\u2019m probably still getting checks for Bio-Dome. It was
\nofficially my first movie project.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: How did you get your foot in the door?<\/p>\n
When I was a teenager studying the violin, I had a teacher, who
\nwas part of the Fox orchestra back in its heyday. You can see
\nhim in the Marilyn Monroe movie How to Marry a Millionaire
\n(1953)
\n.
\nHe would tell me about playing for the movies while I was at
\nmy lessons. It sounded like a really great thing! You\u2019d be playing
\nyour instrument, and it would allow you to make what I assumed
\nwould be a comfortable middle-class living. I knew that was what
\nI wanted to do when I grew up.<\/p>\n
Bio-Dome came out in 1996, and I got that job after about ten
\nyears of going around playing for concertmasters and contractors
\nand trying to get my foot in the door. When people ask, \u201cHow
\ndo you get started?\u201d I have to disabuse them of the notion that
\nthere\u2019s a clear-cut way of getting into this kind of work, at least
\nwhat\u2019s left of it. And it\u2019s different for everybody, because it\u2019s
\nnot like applying for a job at an insurance company.<\/p>\n
I got the Bio-Dome job because I was a friend of the contractor
\nwho got the job because he was a friend of the composer. They
\nboth attended the same high school when they were younger.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: That got you started. What kept your career going?<\/p>\n
I had a good stretch of work after Bio-Dome, until 2006. I got
\nmy position on The Horse Whisperer through a connection
\nwith the composer\u2019s family. I had been working with volunteers
\nfor about ten years at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
\n(LACMA), and the word got around that I was a violinist.<\/p>\n
One of the volunteers was related to the composer for
\nThe Horse Whisperer and she put in a good word for me.
\nI owe that job to her. Then, once I was playing for him, I started
\ngetting hired to play on his other films and things expanded
\nfrom there. It\u2019s critical for instrumentalists to end up on a
\ncontractor\u2019s list. They are responsible for hiring people to
\nplay in the orchestra.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: How do you get on a contractor\u2019s list?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a nebulous process. There are so many ways! You play
\nfor people, like the lead violinist, who is called the concertmaster.<\/p>\n
Of course, those people have an inflated sense of their own power.
\nPeople have to play for them; they\u2019re the gatekeepers who make
\nrecommendations to the contractor. My entr\u00e9e was through a family
\n-work connection. The composer then told the contractor to contact
\nme. And of course people know each other from school, \u201cOh, I went
\nto Juilliard with so and so.\u201d They recommend you to the contractor.
\nPeople even say there\u2019s a casting couch.<\/p>\n
When composers are young and they\u2019re trying to make it, they need
\na reel. They need projects to work on, and they often seek out student
\nfilmmakers at film schools. The composers don\u2019t make much money,
\nwhich means they can\u2019t pay the musicians much, if anything at all.<\/p>\n
Oftentimes they will ask musicians to volunteer: \u201cI don\u2019t have a lot
\nof money, but I\u2019ll buy you pizza. Can you help me score the short
\nfilm I\u2019m working on?\u201d Musicians will agree to do the work in the
\nhope that the composer\u2019s profile in the industry will rise and that
\nthey\u2019ll take you along for the ride. But that doesn\u2019t always work.
\nIn fact, a major beef with my colleagues is that they\u2019ll play for
\nfree! Worst of all, when people you play for become more successful,
\nthey tend to forget that you once did them a favor. Of course, I
\nimagine that if there\u2019s a lot of money on the line and if the young
\ncomposer has a choice between working and not working, they\u2019ll
\nsay to the contractor: \u201cOkay, fine, just take care of it. I\u2019m sorry I
\nhave to leave Robert and his friends behind, but, this is my chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, it\u2019s a complex process. By the way, the same can be said about
\ncontractors. They might use you once\u2014if it is helpful to them\u2014and
\nnever hire you again. So the contractor is a central gatekeeper.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re like Saint Peter, they are so powerful. In fact, there are one
\nor two who are enormously powerful and influential. For a long time
\nduring the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, there was one woman named
\nSandy DeCrescent who controlled access to 90 percent of the work.<\/p>\n
She retired, and one of her assistants, Peter Rotter, took over. Then
\nhe controlled 90 percent of the work. At some point after the transition,
\nSandy and Peter got into an argument over some business or personal
\nmatter. Now she\u2019s back in the game, and they\u2019re mortal enemies! I\u2019ve
\nnever seen them. To me, they\u2019re like the Wizards of Oz. I\u2019m not in the
\n90 percent world. I\u2019m in the 10 percent world. And for a good stretch
\nof time, 10 percent was pretty good. But now, that amount of work
\nis so much smaller that it breaks down to almost nothing.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Do contractors tend to hire the same people? Do orchestras
\nstick together from film to film?<\/p>\n
Contractors put together an orchestra for each film. And there are
\ncontractors who attach themselves to certain composers. So this
\ncreates a degree of expectation: if you played on one composer\u2019s
\nfilm, you will likely play for all of their films.<\/p>\n
Composers like to work with people they know and trust; so do contractors.
\nBut there are no guarantees.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: When contractors reach out to people, are they asking for
\nan audition?<\/p>\n
No, they know you already. They know they want you. It\u2019s more of a
\nconversation about money, time, and availability.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: When you were working consistently, how often were
\nyou working?<\/p>\n
Before I did The Horse Whisperer, I was working at LACMA, so I
\ndidn\u2019t live on my music work. I would do community orchestras,
\nweddings, and any kind of live music work that I could get.
\nEven after The Horse Whisperer I still wasn\u2019t getting
\nenough work to quit the museum, but by that time I had accumulated
\nso many sick days, vacation days, and free days that LACMA wanted
\nme to take days off. That was great because I would get a paid day
\noff and be able to do a movie.<\/p>\n
I met my mentor, Harris Goldman, on The Horse Whisperer.<\/p>\n
I was very fortunate to meet him; he had great relationships with
\nmany different composers and orchestrators. Orchestrators are
\nimportant because they often write the music for a film based on
\nthe composer\u2019s ideas. Orchestrators possess the technical know-
\nhow to translate those ideas into sheet music. Connections to
\ncomposers and orchestrators are helpful\u2014obviously they\u2019re both
\npowerful, and they can make recommendations to the contractors.<\/p>\n
Harris introduced me to Graeme Revell, who has since retired. He
\nalso introduced me to a young composer named Michael Giacchino,
\nwho is huge now. I think I did his first non-video-game project,
\nwhich was the TV series Alias (2001\u20136)
\n.
\nAlias led to Lost.<\/p>\n
For a while, Lost and Alias were on at the same time, and then he
\nstarted doing movies\u2014Pixar movies like
\nThe Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), and others.<\/p>\n
So, right there, I had access to Thomas Newman on some good
\nfilms. I was doing Pixar movies and any other movie that Michael
\nGiacchino was doing, and dur ing a brief period, I was doing both
\nAlias and Lost.<\/p>\n
One week I\u2019d go in and do Alias and the next week I\u2019d do Lost.
\nAnd then Alias went off the air, but I still had Lost.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Can you describe a typical day?<\/p>\n
For episodic television, it\u2019s a short day. An episode of TV for an
\nhour-long show like Alias or Lost, which is called a single,
\nusually requires three hours: typically from ten in the morning
\nto one in the afternoon, with a ten-minute break at the top of each
\nhour. For a motion picture, there\u2019s more footage that needs to be
\nscored, so depending on the nature of the film, it could be one day,
\nknown as a double session. That could mean about six hours with
\na lunch break, or it could mean a whole week.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Do studio musicians need a second income?<\/p>\n
I would say the most successful people have a regular flow of
\nstudio work across film and television. But they also teach and
\nplay in other orchestras, like the opera or the Los Angeles
\nChamber Orchestra. However, they always have studio work
\nat the core of their career.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: How much can you make in a recording session?<\/p>\n
If it is a standard budget, a rank-and-file musician can make
\nabout $80 an hour. That\u2019s not bad, and you get money on the
\nback end as well. There is also low-budget, and now something
\ncalled low-low-budget, which pays considerably less.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: What is the back end?<\/p>\n
Some office in Encino tallies it up, and it\u2019s predicated on things
\nlike video sales, DVD sales, and what happens overseas. They
\ntally all of the projects that you have worked on and your
\npercentage of royalties, and then you get a check in the
\nsummertime. You get one check for film and television, and a
\nsmaller check the next month for any kind of phonograph work
\nyou\u2019ve done. (They still say \u201cphonograph\u201d even though it\u2019s an
\nincredibly outdated term.) It refers to work you\u2019ve done on
\ncommercial music, like albums or singles.<\/p>\n
With your check, you get a long itemized statement, and it
\nbehooves you to look at it closely to see if they missed anything.
\nIt happens. But it\u2019s also really interesting to see the different
\ntrends across the film and television you\u2019ve done. Like
\nI said, I\u2019m still getting money from old projects like Bio-Dome.
\nIt\u2019s maybe $10, but it\u2019s money! Other films have a huge drop off.
\nFor instance, Star Trek (2009) made some good money at first,
\nand then the next year it went down a little, and then
\ndown, down, down, down very quickly. It was a rapid drop.<\/p>\n
Both Lost and Alias made a lot of money in international and
\nancillary markets.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Over the course of time, how much money could
\nyou expect in residuals?<\/p>\n
It was pretty good money. It wasn\u2019t astronomical like it is with
\nsome movies, but it was always a nice check. I don\u2019t recall
\nexact amounts, but the back end on those shows could pay your
\nrent for the month. It\u2019s always surprising what pays well on the
\nback end. Some projects that you think wouldn\u2019t do well end
\nup paying you the most.<\/p>\n
For example, I have a friend who did a sidelining job on the movie
\nI Love You, Man (2009). He was playing in a quartet at the
\nwedding at the end. Sidelining means you appear on camera,
\nalmost as an actor. Usually you\u2019re miming to prerecorded music;
\nyou\u2019re just there as a visual. And nobody wanted to take the job!
\nYou had to go up to Malibu every day and be there really early,
\nand it just didn\u2019t seem like a terribly good job, but because there
\nwas no other scored music\u2014 every other song on the soundtrack
\nwas a pop song\u2014they got this large sum of money! Divided among
\nthe four of them, they got really, really good money on the back end.<\/p>\n
Another friend, a bass player, had an appearance on a Chili\u2019s commercial.
\nHe was playing the bass with a jazz singer. When he first heard about
\nthe job, he wasn\u2019t going to audition for it, but we convinced him. I think
\nwhen everything wrapped up he probably made $10,000 for that, which
\nis excellent for essentially one day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: When you look at the itemized list of residuals, what have
\nbeen some of your biggest surprises, other than Bio-Dome?<\/p>\n
A movie that paid very well was The Incredibles. We knew that it was
\ngoing to make some good money because it was very successful. But
\nit was worth thousands of dollars for me! Everybody was asking about it:
\n\u201cDid you get your check for that?\u201d Because, you know, not everybody
\nis in that top echelon of musicians, where they\u2019re working for everyone
\nall the time.<\/p>\n
A lot of the musicians in Los Angeles are just like me, waiting for that
\nelusive studio call, which has become more and more rare.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: What happened? You said you started to notice a change
\naround 2006 or 2007.<\/p>\n
What happened was just an acceleration of trends that were already in
\nplace. Costs all come out of the producers\u2019 pockets. I only make scale,
\nbut other people in the orchestra, say a section leader, get double scale.
\nAnd if a contractor hires someone we call a doubler\u2014someone who is
\nhired to play more than one instrument\u2014scale pay is automatically higher.
\nPlus, the contractor could be making double or triple scale. So it all starts
\nto add up before you even calculate the back end, which also increases
\ndepending on your scale pay. I think producers began to say, \u201cThis is
\nan unnecessary expense. Let\u2019s go overseas. Let\u2019s go to London.\u201d<\/p>\n
They have nationalized health care so there are no benefit costs for
\nproducers. They don\u2019t pay any residuals. There is no union. The musicians
\njust get paid their hourly rate for their time in the studio.<\/p>\n
George Lucas has all of his films done in London. He has always been
\nvirulently antiunion. On the other hand, Thomas Newman has always
\nbeen committed to scoring his films in L.A. He comes from a film
\nmusic dynasty, so I think he has a strong sense of loyalty to keeping
\nbusiness in the city. He is loyal to musicians here. His father was
\nAlfred Newman, his uncle was Lionel Newman, his cousin is Randy
\nNewman, and his brother is David Newman.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, he got the 007 franchise, and that does not leave England,
\nso now he has to go over there and use their musicians.<\/p>\n
Of course London has a lot of incredibly talented musicians. But if you\u2019re
\nalready in the London Symphony Orchestra, you have that work, so film
\njobs are just extra cash. Even if you\u2019re not in the London Symphony
\nOrchestra, or the four or five other orchestras there, there are lots of
\nopportunities.<\/p>\n
From what I understand, Abbey Road and Air Studios are open night
\nand day, seven days a week. It\u2019s incredibly busy. Freelance musicians
\nare scoring films or video game soundtracks. Video games are a huge
\nmarket now! Some of them have better production values than motion
\npictures. I did some of that ten years ago. I started working on Call of
\nDuty and Medal of Honor. We basically created motion picture
\nsoundtracks, using a big orchestra. But the video game companies have
\nbecome even more tightfisted about residuals and in negotiating with
\nthe unions. They\u2019re basically saying, \u201cWe don\u2019t need to do this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever pugnacious tactics the unions had unfortunately weren\u2019t
\nenough to prevent studios from going either overseas or out of state
\nto find musicians who would accept their terms. I think Seattle was
\nthe first city to break away from the national union.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: How pugnacious was the union when this trend started?<\/p>\n
I think it was mainly verbal. I don\u2019t think there was a lot of punch
\nbehind it, compared to the other [motion picture] unions. The
\nmusicians\u2019 union doesn\u2019t have as much power. When writers
\ngo on strike, you have no content, so things grind to a halt.
\nBut when musicians go on strike, they say, \u201cWell, we\u2019ll just go
\nout of town.\u201d<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Why is it so easy to go out of town? Don\u2019t directors
\nand producers want to be closer to the action when they\u2019re in
\npostproduction, to oversee the development of the soundtrack?<\/p>\n
You would think, but then you have to consider the money, and
\nthat\u2019s all the producers and studios are worried about right now.
\nA studio is just a distribution channel owned by a much larger
\nglobal entity. And because they\u2019re multinational corporations,
\nthey have to answer to the bottom line.<\/p>\n
The executives who run these multinational corporations likely
\nhave no interest in film music or where it is done. They just
\nhave to answer to shareholders. Accountants have much more
\npower than they used to. Can you save money by going to
\nLondon, or the Czech\u00a0 Republic, or Macedonia, or Seattle?
\nIf so, we\u2019ll do it!<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Where do they go? We know about London and
\nSeattle.<\/p>\n
The Czech Republic is very big.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Why the Czech Republic?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an incredibly musical place. Mozart in his time was
\nmore popular in Prague than in his native Austria. The
\ncountry has a rich tradition of symphonic music that includes
\nAntonin Dvo\u0159\u00e1k and other Czech composers. And the cost
\nof living is lower there, so wages are lower, and producers
\ndon\u2019t have to pay into health care.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t have to pay the back end. You just have to pay
\nthe musicians for their time in the studio.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: What other places?<\/p>\n
Well, that\u2019s enough to sink the ship. But London is the biggest,
\nby far. Dreamworks Animation is 100 percent London. Until
\nthe latest Star Wars, George Lucas did his recording in London.<\/p>\n
The new one was done here in L.A., but I don\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Besides the battle over payments, what else is
\nmaking jobs disappear? I think our tastes in music have changed.
\nWhen you turn on the radio now and listen to Selena Gomez or
\nKaty Perry, oftentimes you\u2019re not even hearing real instruments.
\nThose songs are purely electronic productions done by producers.
\nPeople don\u2019t expect strings or real instruments backing up the artist.<\/p>\n
Recorded music also has good sampling. A very good producer or
\nsomebody with a suitable keyboard can get what passes for a good
\nstring sound, and the samples are getting better and better. People
\ndon\u2019t expect to hear a natural, acoustic-sounding backdrop when
\nthey hear popular music these days. Those jobs used to be important
\nsources of money when you weren\u2019t doing film or television work.
\nNow you only expect to see violins or symphonic instruments,
\nas a visual. If Michael Bubl\u00e9 is doing something on PBS, you may
\nsee actual instruments and musicians like me. Or if they\u2019re doing
\na studio session, I might get a call. But when it comes time to do
\nit live, they don\u2019t want to see me. Directors will probably try
\nto get a pretty, willowy, young, white, blond woman to put on the
\nset. Somebody\u2019s getting the work, at least, but it\u2019s not me.<\/p>\n
We had no idea this transition has been afoot. It\u2019s startling,
\nespecially when you consider the significant role that music
\nplays in most Hollywood films.<\/p>\n
Oh, there\u2019s no reason to apologize. Musicians are invisible,
\nso things can happen to the musicians and the general public
\ndoesn\u2019t know. That\u2019s why I\u2019m so eager and willing to go on
\nrecord, or talk to people about changes in our business.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want to be in politics or anything, but I do want to tell
\npeople that musicians do exist, and I want to emphasize that
\nwhen you hear music in a motion picture, it\u2019s played by real
\npeople. Sometimes the music is done so incredibly well,
\nlike with Thomas Newman, that it becomes part of the
\nnarrative. The music is essential for propelling the narrative
\nof the film.<\/p>\n
I think the whole transition has been manipulated in very
\nclever ways, even through union negotiations. Like I said,
\nunions don\u2019t have a ton of power, so when they capitulate,
\nthey often turn around to frame it as a benefit. They\u2019ll say,
\n\u201cWe have this new agreement with the studios where a
\ncertain amount of work has to be done in town.\u201d On the
\nsurface that sounds great! But the studios still determine
\nwhat work stays and what work goes. So they\u2019ll do a bunch
\nof films Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Part VIII in L.A., and
\ntake prestige projects elsewhere. There\u2019s a very tangible
\ndifference for musicians between working on a low-budget
\nfeature versus a big-budget prestige project.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: In another interview, you were quoted as saying
\nthat access to job opportunities is now extremely political.
\nCan you elaborate?<\/p>\n
We had various watering holes in our business. I had my
\nwatering hole with a few other animals. Other animals
\nwere at different watering holes. I was at the Thomas Newman
\n\u2013Michael Giacchino watering hole. It turned out to be a good
\nwatering hole to have, but now these other watering holes,
\nwhich provided a lot of work, have dried up and those animals
\nare coming over to my watering hole, and the more politically
\nand powerfully connected musicians have the ability to push me
\naside, if they want.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: What kind of scoring work is still done in L.A.?<\/p>\n
Luckily for me, two of the composers who still score here are
\nThomas Newman and Michael Giacchino, and there is some
\npop music that needs strings. If you Google my name you\u2019ll
\nsee some of the sound\u2014not soundtrack but phonograph\u2014work
\nI\u2019ve done. I\u2019ll do work for artists like Beck. Beck\u2019s father,
\nDavid Campbell, is an orchestrator. So, right there, Beck has
\nan in-house person to do string arranging for his records. But
\nthat type of work is increasingly rare. Today it\u2019s mostly when a
\nproducer wants some strings to make something more romantic.
\nThey call it sweetening. If a popular artist like Katy Perry does a
\nballad, that\u2019s good for us because we might get the call for that,
\nbut again, that doesn\u2019t happen all that often. It\u2019s just not the
\npredominant sound in popular music. They needed strings more
\noften during the disco era. My god, you listen to a disco album
\nthat was recorded in the mid- to late 1970s and everything has
\nstrings.<\/p>\n
A lot of the work that made for a middle-class living was not
\nparticularly prestigious. It was just work, and there was a lot of it.
\nFor instance making commercial jingles for Safeway, and things
\nlike that. Back then they used real musicians for jingles. The only
\ntime you\u2019ll hear an orchestra on television now is when you watch
\nThe Simpsons (1989\u2013ongoing), Family Guy (1999\u2013ongoing), and
\nmaybe one or two other animated things. Animation seems to require
\nreal musicians.<\/p>\n
Desperate Housewives (2004\u201312) used an orchestra when it was on
\nthe air, but since the demise of Aliasand Lost, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s
\nbeen a lot of orchestra work for non-animated TV.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just not looking good for musicians. People are taking early
\nretirement and taking their pensions. All it requires is that the
\nmusician not accept any work for a year, and then he or she can
\nstart getting pension payments. If work does come in
\nafter that, you can take it, but that means we are essentially
\nbankrupting our pension fund. My royalty check is being taxed
\nat 1 percent, which then contributes to the retirement fund, which
\nis currently in the red. Hopefully the union can rebuild the coffers,
\nbut right now we don\u2019t know if there will be any money left when
\nmy peers and I are ready to retire. I just assume I\u2019m going to
\nsomehow continue working when I\u2019m ninety years old.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s hope I\u2019m able to!<\/p>\n
QUESTION: What are you doing today?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m lucky that a couple of my friends made a financial intervention.
\nThey took me out to lunch and reminded me that I inherited my
\nparents\u2019 house after they both died in 2011. Since then, I had
\nbeen living in their house and slowly going broke.<\/p>\n
They said, \u201cYou live in a great house. You have a swimming pool,
\na view of the city, and you\u2019re in Los Feliz. Fix up the house and rent
\nit.\u201d Even though I was still grief stricken, I said, \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d
\nI got a loan, fixed up the house, and got a realtor. There were a couple
\nof offers that fell through and then somebody I had heard about and
\nliked from the entertainment industry came and loved the house. He
\nwas a novelist for many years prior to becoming a showrunner.
\nOne of his stories got made into a TV show and that totally changed
\nhis life. Now he was working on another show, so he decided to
\nmove to L.A., and he rented my house. I\u2019m not out of the woods,
\nbut at least I\u2019m able to pay for an apartment down the hill from
\nmy house and start paying off my debts. I hope he stays there
\nforever; he\u2019s a great guy.<\/p>\n
So the pressure has eased somewhat. Now I view myself more
\nas a landlord than a musician sometimes. Some musicians say
\nyou have to do things like that, and a couple of players I know
\nbecame real estate agents, but that profession is also subject to
\nthe market\u2019s whims. Some older players have also invested in
\nproperty, so I have this little thing with the house and hopefully
\nthere\u2019ll be a point where I\u2019m no longer paying off the debt. I\u2019m
\ngetting money from whatever is left from my movie, television,
\nand phonograph work. I\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t paint a brighter picture.<\/p>\n
====================================<\/p>\n
II. EVENTS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
DEAN AND RICHARD
\nare now at Culver City Elks the first \u2028Friday of \u2028every month.
\n7:30pm-10:30pm,
\n11160 Washington Pl.
\nCulver City, 90232
\n310-839-8891
\n————————————-
\nLA WINDS JAZZ KATS 584
\nNO COVER, NO MINIMUM.
\nEvery 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at
\nViva Cantina
\n7:30-10:00.
\n900 Riverside Drive, \u2028Burbank.<\/p>\n
Free parking across the street at Pickwick Bowl.
\nCome hear your favorite charts played the way
\nthey \u2028should \u2028be. \u2028\u2028We are in the back room called
\nthe Trailside Room. \u2028\u2028\u2028Come on down.<\/p>\n
Guaranteed to swing.<\/p>\n
—————————————————————————–<\/p>\n
6\/21\/17<\/p>\n
Info about upcoming programs\u00a0through AUGUST 2017
\nat the Free Admission Glendale Noon Concerts series
\n(concerts every first & third Wednesday at 12:10-12:40 pm)
\nare listed at\u00a0http:\/\/www.glendalenoonconcerts.blogspot.com
\nThank you for your support in publicizing the Glendale Noon Concerts!<\/p>\n
Jacqueline Suzuki
\nCurator, GNC
\n818 249 -5108<\/p>\n
On Wednesday\u00a0 June 21, 2017 at 12:10-12:40 pm
\nthe Free Admission Glendale Noon Concerts will feature
\nviolinist Jacqueline Suzuki\u00a0 and pianist Frank Basile performing
\nworks by Ravel, Mozart and Debussy at the Sanctuary of Glendale City Church,
\n610 E. California Ave. (at Isabel St), Glendale, CA 91206.
\nFor more information, email glendalesda@gmail.com
\nor call (818) 244- 7241.<\/p>\n
JUNE 21, 2017 Program:
\nViolinist JACQUELINE SUZUKI
\nPianist FRANK BASILE<\/p>\n
MAURICE RAVEL Violin Sonata No.1 in a\u00a0minor,\u00a0“Posthumous”\u00a0\u2028W.A. MOZART Sonata\u00a0for piano and violin in e minor, K.304\u2028CLAUDE DEBUSSY La\u00a0plus que lente for violin and piano<\/p>\n
JACQUELINE SUZUKI, violin, is a longtime member of the Long Beach and Santa Barbara Symphonies. A native of San Francisco, she began her earliest chamber music studies on scholarship at the San Francisco Conservatory. She has performance degrees from the Mannes College of Music (BM), where she studied with William Kroll, and the California Institute of the Arts (MFA).
\nAs a Los Angeles freelancer, she has performed with many ensembles and in many genres, from rock, jazz, Latin and Arabic, to playing in the pit for the Bolshoi Ballet and onstage with the Three Tenors. She has recorded with diverse artists: Snoop Dogg, Neil Sedaka, Leonard Cohen, Whitney Houston, Bocelli, Lalo Schifrin, McCoy Tyner, Placido Domingo and many others, and appears on recordings by the Long Beach, Santa Barbara and Pacific Symphonies. She has spent summers at the Peter Britt, Oregon Coast, Carmel Bach and Cabrillo Festivals and has performed in a string quartet \u201cin residence\u201d on a raft trip down the Green River in Utah. Tours have taken her many times to Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and throughout the US. She initiated and curates the Free Admission Glendale Noon Concerts http:\/\/glendalenoonconcerts.blogspot.com and also the Edendale Up Close Concerts: http:\/\/edendaleupclose.blogspot.com<\/p>\n
Frank Basile is a harpsichordist, pianist, organist, conductor, musical director, accompanist, singer, church musician, composer, arranger, orchestrator, and teacher. His career has brought him to Los Angeles recording studios, the choir lofts of churches throughout the United States and Europe, any number of theaters in Los Angeles, and the stages of Walt Disney Concert Hall and Carnegie Hall. Versatility has been the hallmark of his work, which has included teaching at USC, Loyola Marymount University, Santa Monica College, and Campbell Hall High School. He is a staff accompanist at Santa Monica College and Loyola Marymount University, an adjunct lecturer in Music at LMU, and director of music at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. He studied at Yale University, Northwestern University, and the University of Southern California.<\/p>\n
——————————————————-<\/p>\n
6\/24\/17<\/p>\n
Song of the Angels Flute Orchestra
\nSaturday, June 24th at 4 p.m. at
\nLa Crescenta Presbyterian church.
\nhttp:\/\/www.lcpc.net\/
\nwith guest arranger conductor Shaul Ben-Meir
\nand guest soloists
\nDavid Shostac and
\nGary Woodward<\/p>\n
Concert is free!
\nDonations are encouraged.<\/p>\n
Shaul will be conducting his arrangements of:
\nFaure Pavane
\nDeFalla Suite,
\nMendelssohn Ruy Blas Overature,
\nNight on Bald Mountain
\nand
\nRadetsky March.<\/p>\n
David Shostac and Gary Woodward will be
\nbringing their musical flute colors to perform
\nSaint Saens –\u00a0 Benedictus
\nand
\nBach Violin Double (1st movement).<\/p>\n
We will also be opening the concert with
\nJohn Williams Fantasy Medley and
\nBasin Street blues arranged and conducted
\nby our own esteemed
\nCharles Fernandez….<\/p>\n
Whew – This concert will be awesome!!!<\/p>\n
——————————-<\/p>\n
6\/25\/17<\/p>\n
Dear Doctor Wu Fans,<\/p>\n
We will be appearing at the\u00a0Santa Monica Summer SOULstice Festival
\non Sunday, June 25th 2017 from 4:30 to 6:30 PM, where we will play
\ntwo sets of your favorite Steely Dan tunes.\u00a0 Please bring your friends
\nalong\u00a0and enjoy a great time with us!<\/p>\n
Edgemar Courtyard
\n2440 Main Street
\nSanta Monica, CA 90405
\n4:30 – 6:30 PM<\/p>\n
We hope to see you there!<\/p>\n
The Doctor Wu Band
\nhttp:\/\/www.doctorwuband.com\/
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/doctorwuband<\/p>\n
—————————————————————————–<\/p>\n
7\/11-14\/17<\/p>\n
SANTA BARBARA JAZZ WORKSHOP<\/p>\n
The LA Jazz Society is proud to partner with Kim Richmond
\nand Kimberly Ford in presenting the Santa Barbara Jazz
\nWorkshop,\u00a0July 11-14, from Tuesday afternoon to Friday night.<\/p>\n
A faculty of Jazz professionals teach instrumental\/vocal master
\nclasses, improvisation, Jazz Listening (How to listen, and who to
\nlisten to.), modern Jazz combo and Big Band playing with concerts
\neach late afternoon (open to the public) where advanced students sit in<\/p>\n
For more information, visit\u00a0www.santabarbarajazzcamp.com.<\/p>\n
Presented by Kim Richmond and Kimberly Ford
\nat the Marjorie Luke Theater and SOHO Jazz Club.<\/p>\n
You can read all previous offerings at:
\nhttp:\/\/www.responsible47.com<\/p>\n
—————————————-
\nUNTIL NEXT TIME,\u2028\u2028THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
6\/17\/17 I.\u00a0 ONE MUSICIAN’S STORY II. EVENTS …Absolutely guaranteed anonymity – Former Musician’s Union officer …The one voice of reason in a sea of insanity – Nashville ‘first call’\u2028scoring musician …Allows us to speak our minds without fear of reprisal – L.A. Symphonic musician …Reporting issues the Musicians Union doesn’t dare to mention – National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-committee-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}