[Dixielandjazz] Playing on the streets

Sun Apr 9 18:08:31 PDT 2006

Hi Dave and all:

Again let me state that I have no intentions in my posts at any 
specific UNION  BASHING, and Dave knows I am certain by now that I 
respect him and his position and how well his local union apparently 
works for him.   That being said I am speaking of how things are on the 
West Coast with two Major City locals and a number of smaller locals in 
the Rural areas of California.

I honestly can't remember the last time I heard any musician in these 
parts even mention the Union, it is as if it does not exist in this 
part of the country.

And yes :))  Mr. Patrillo was a bit of a scoundrel just like Jimmy Hofa 
was and a lot more of that ilk.

And to be further honest the last time I worked as a member of the 
Union it was a MPF job which was pathetic at best and for less money 
than I had ever worked for, and was not even worth going to the gig.  I 
moved over to the Orchestra Leaders of America organization shortly 
after that situation and simply never gave the AFofM another look in 
the rear view mirror.

Since I ALWAYS paid my men more than Union Scale anyway we had nothing 
further to discuss and they had little or nothing to offer me, like the 
big deal they offered at the time,  a $2,000.  death benefit was not to 
impressive to a 20 something year old with the bull  by the horns and 
the thought of playing gigs at that level of pay for 50 years or more 
to retire was unthinkable, then and still is today.

It works fine for Symphony players on big time salaries and long term 
contracts, which is primarily what the Union catered to and all the 
guys on the street level and bars and restaurants were simply in a dog 
eat dog world and pretty much on their own.   If there were any gigs 
that came into the union hall in those days, they were quickly grabbed 
up by the good ole boys and board and staff members and rarely did any 
musician outside the circle get a call for a gig.   Had a bunch of old 
guys hanging out at the hall everyday and one band in particular I 
remember well,  Curly Gold and his Texas Tunetwisters, they got any 
call for Country and he often also got gigs that the band was totally 
incapable of playing because he was in the in crowd,  Wow were they a 
lame band. :))

We also had a BLACK UNION here in those days as well which was the only 
way any Black guys could get a union gig, except for two Black guys 
that worked in the union office with the good old boys so they could 
score some gigs.   Nice guys and I am still friends with one of them 
although I never hired him for a gig, the other guy died without 
working with any of my bands either.  Both called all the time looking 
for gigs but never once did they have a gig for any of my guys from the 
Union hall.  They were always a bit jealous because my guys made more 
money than they did.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Hanson <jazzdude39 at comcast.net>
To: tcashwigg at aol.com; dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Sun, 9 Apr 2006 15:31:29 -0400
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Playing on the streets

      Mr. Wiggins has not been a member of the Union in years, so hasn't 
a clue what membership is now
  like. It's true that in earlier years the Locals were managed by many 
officers that abused their offices, and James Patrillo was no angel 
either.

  Times are much different now, at least here in Atlanta. Mall jobs can 
be played through the MPF as long as the venue is open to the public 
and it's not a political event. The sponsor, or "Mall" in this case 
pays 40% and the Union the balance of scale. For the last six years we 
have sponsored "sessions" at our recently renovated Hall for members 
and non-members alike to help
  them keep up their chops, enlarge their circle of musical friends and 
simply have fun playing jazz.

  Our local also sponsors a scholarship fund of $5000.00 annually for 
seniors going on to music schools, and we have been involved in the 
Katrina relief fund buy helping our Gulf musicians with re-locating 
costs and instrument replacement. 

  We offer seminars that include marketing techniques plus have a 
website both locally and nationally where Union members can post a 
digital press kit, with streaming audio, allowing world wide access to 
potential buyers.

  Mr. Wiggins means well, but his long ago experiences with the Musician 
Union simply does not represent what is actually happening today. I can 
honestly say that most locals have similar programs in their 
jurisdictions. The last Union Rep. we had making the rounds was in 
1978. 

 Regards,

 Dave Hanson
 Vice President
 Atlanta Federation of Musicians
 Local 148-462
  ----- Original Message -----
 From: tcashwigg at aol.com
 To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
 Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 2:26 PM
 Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Playing on the streets

That's not what I said at all Bert:

What I said was, that if the Union had done this kind of marketing and
promotion for its members years ago many of it's members would still be
working today and or know how to go get a gig in the first place.  
When was the last time you had a UNION REP do anything for you that
made you any money ?   Just who are they Representing  you to?   They
lost 90% of their influence decades ago in most markets.   I can recall
watching the Union shut down music in clubs as fast as musicians could
get one opened, and then watched for years as the Local in San
Francisco had a 96% unemployment rate of it's membership.

Did it stop live music, no but it shifted the market far from anything
close to union representation, and much of it for the better for really
GOOD acts who demanded and made far more than Union Scale anyway as
they made a name and reputation for themselves as Better Bands and
professional entertainers and musicians.     Entertainers make a good
living in this business, and  many musicians simply starve to death
sitting around wishing they could be paid what Entertainers make and
yes even mediocre Entertainers at that.

The Local here used to send us out to "AUDITION" for gigs  for Free
usually to non union clubs in the hopes that we would score a gig there
and pay them work dues on it and allow them to say they created another
UNION GIG.

I clearly stated that you should negotiate with the Mall manager to try
and get a Paid gig first, but if that does not work at first do not be
afraid to take a shot at promoting yourself and playing there and
selling Cds and showing them that indeed it is a good idea for
everybody's business.    In fact if an act did that a couple of times
and proved they were good and would attract business to the mall, the
act could then ask for a reasonable fee for coming back and if the Mall
did not agree they could go to a competing Mall and start it again.   
If any band does not have a following or any name value at all then
they are not going to  be able to prove to anybody that they are worth
much.

Having some talent and being able to play an instrument does not
entitle anybody to make a living with it.   You would think that most
musos who have been sitting around waiting for that to happen for the
past forty odd years would have figured it out by now.   Competition is
tough boys and girls, you gotta go promote yourself shamelessly and
expose your self to audiences in large enough numbers to create more
interest in your band which should be a BUSINESS.    An individual
musician on the other hand who is not a business person or running a
band as a Business is technically on the same par as a guy walking into
McDonalds looking for gig as a Burger Flipper.   Or a Waitress looking
for a job in a Bar.   Ya gotta decide if you are going to be a Business
or a hired hand.

There are still 365 days in a year and every day that you don't have a
gig is a day you have no income as a musician, therefore what I am
advocating is that on those days that you don't have a solid gig, get
off you butts and go make one if you really want one.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: clarberth73 <clarberth73 at sympatico.ca>
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Sun, 9 Apr 2006 10:19:43 -0400
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Playing on the streets

    > afraid of the flak from the Union can simply respectfully request
that
> the Union Get you a Better GIG and Pay you. The Union should be doing
>  the same thing, and would be stronger and a lot more useful if they
>had
> thought of these things many years ago to actually HELP their
> membership GET & KEEP jobs.

Let me see if I've got this straight. You're saying that I go to the
mall
folks and tell them I'll play for free and then when a union rep shows
up I
tell him/her to respectfully go to the mall people (or better venues)
and
tell them the union can get them the same band (that's willing to play
for
free) at cost to them? But it's the union's fault?

Please do explain.

Bert

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