[Dixielandjazz] Unions - Musicians - Cabaret Card

[Steve Barbone]

Mike asked about who killed the unions? And whether in my 802 days you had
to have a Cabaret Card to work in NYC. Here are my opinions.

First the Cabaret Card. Yes, you had to have a Cabaret Card. It was issued
by the NYC Police Department and necessary because "musicians" were scum and
needed to be readily identified as possible perps when drug and sex crimes
occurred in public Dance Halls and Cabarets. Especially jazz musicians. It
contained your passport type photo and your thumb print. along with the
usual ID information. That was the first time I was ever fingerprinted.
Damn, where was the ACLU. :-) VBG (Remember, in those days "seduction" was a
crime and even Frank Sinatra was wrongly charged with it)

You could not work in a club in NYC if you did not have this card. And the
police could arbitrarily take it from you upon "suspicion" of a crime or
immoral act. No conviction necessary.

When I got my first one, (good only for 2 years at a time), I was a young
teen, and will never forget the smirking cops taking my photo and prints and
making comments about how, as a "jazz musician" (occupation listed on the
card) I was probably a drug addict scumbag, or thief. I still have the last
one issued to me, Mar 1, 1961, expired Mar 1, 1963. I keep it in my clarinet
case as a reminder of how musicians were once treated by the police in NYC.

The unions? Well, their demise is very complicated. Lots of reasons
including the general "musician" population. Some reasons below:

1) Greed and Corruption of the union leaders. They were in power too long
   and power corrupts. (Just ask the Republicans in the Government today)

2) Greed of the Club Owners. They want the bands as entertainment and could
   care less about QUALITY. So they went for the cheapest price out there.
   Artie Shaw learned this in the 1930s with his first band when he talked
   about how he hired the best musicians in NYC. The club owner said:
   (paraphrasing here) "I don't give a Goddam about how good your band is.
   If the customers come in here to see you drop your pants and take a crap
   on stage, then I'll pay you to do just that, every night, as long as they
   come here to see you do it."

3) Changing live music scene. Its all about entertainment. Nowadays there
   are many more competitors for the entertainment dollar and many venues
   discovered that live music didn't make a difference. Somewhat helped by
   those bands which act as if the music is enough and look bored.

4) Amateur bands who give the music away. With the exception of those on
   this chat list, most fans haven't got the vaguest idea what good music
   is. They hear Joe Schlump and his Dixiecats as being as good as Condon
   Groups, Turk Murphy, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong et al. So when Joe
   Schlump plays free, or for beer money, or pays his own transportation to
   play in Europe or Asia for beer money, or plays a jazz cruise for no
   money, the venue is delighted. No union can exist if the competitors give
   it away. And face it, by and large, the public, even some who attend OKOM
   Jazz Festivals, does not notice the difference in the music.

5) Too many musicians in each market competing for too few paying gigs.
   Local 802 in NYC gets $35 for parking + scale in many venues, but those
   venues that thumb there nose at the union, pay $40 a night and the
   musicians flock to perform there.

6) The passage of "Right to Work" laws.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone