[Dixielandjazz] Pay Scales

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

> As a long time Union member I know what has been going on for a number of 
> years.

LW .  Me Too

I do want to remind you that the Union is YOU, not the building or the 
people that work there.  If you don't come to meetings, get rid of sorry 
officers, come up with effective by-laws and generally get involved, then 
you get what has happened to the AFM.

LW. --- I think I said that but it seems that you turn out one group of 
officers just to get another sorry lot.  I'm sure that's not true everywhere 
but it seems so here.  Having said that I like the new bunch more than the 
old bunch.

Networking is very important and instrument insurance is easily available 
and the pension fund has over 1.7 billion dollars in it, and pays out a 
staggering amount monthly to retirees that have been vested after just 5 
years.

LW.  These are very strong points and as I pointed out Networking is 
probably the most important if it happens.
>
> I'm a professional musician and never thought twice about whether or not I 
> need to remain a member.

LW -- I have remained a member for a lot of years but I often think twice or 
more about it.

There are a lot of horror stories and I think we have all heard them.

LW- I have been personally involved in a few.

I know I will raise the ire of some on this list, but I continue as an 
active member and host a weekly session here in Atlanta every Tuesday 
evening and have 94 people on my mailing list.

LW.  Sounds like other locals could take a lesson from you.  Some years ago 
our local hosted a jam session.  The Idea was good.  Various leaders would 
bring in their books and the membership could come sit in and we could all 
network, smooze, politic, keep up their chops and generally enjoy the 
evening.

It was a semi disaster.  Most of the guys who showed up couldn't play and 
often there were six tenor players.  The worst alto player in the city 
decided to learn bass and showed up with his bass,  worse still some times 
he wanted to play drums.  Some of the guys wanted to jam while others wanted 
to do charts.  Almost never did the whole group actually do something 
together that sounded good.  The better musicians were off at a club that 
had negotiated a $15 (now $20 but still not much) pay for the evening.  The 
leader organized it and called musicians to play.  That worked and is as far 
as I know still going.  The band was an 18 pc big band.  I went to the hall 
three or four times and then just didn't go back.

It's open to non-union as well to members, and is a community outreach 
program that has been going on for seven years.

LW.  This is a good approach but most guys here are really gun shy of the 
local.  It would take a lot of outreach.   I don't personally know a single 
Dixie player that is in the local although there is a guy that has a band 
that I only know second hand.  He slurps up all the union aided gigs.  There 
may be others but everyone, for example, in the St. Louis Stompers is no 
longer in the Local and they are a pretty tough group.  I don't know about 
Cornet Chop Suey.

Many players have been hired for gig's from this effort and we don't give a 
whit whether they are members or not.

LW - actually that's smart and also the law in this state which doesn't do a 
thing for Unions.

I really hesitate to use the Union website or the booking agency because not 
a single person in my band is in the union except me.  I just don't think 
it's fair to use something that others pay for.  The last job I got through 
the union I used one non member and two members (Myself included) who were 
union members.  Since then the other member has dropped out.  I have no 
objection to union members and I would prefer it but I can't stay in 
business that way.

I don't think they even have a picnic anymore.

It's kind of topsey turkey.  The employer (Me the contractor) is in the 
union and the workers aren't.  If you think of it that's really silly.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Hanson" <jazzdude39 at comcast.net>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "DJML" <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Pay Scales


> As a long time Union member I know what has been going on for a number of 
> years. I do want to remind you that the Union is YOU, not the building or 
> the people that work there.  If you don't come to meetings, get rid of 
> sorry officers, come up with effective by-laws and generally get involved, 
> then you get what has happened to the AFM. Networking is very important 
> and instrument insurance is easily available and the pension fund has over 
> 1.7 billion dollars in it, and pays out a staggering amount monthly to 
> retirees that have been vested after just 5 years.
>
> I'm a professional musician and never thought twice about whether or not I 
> need to remain a member. There are a lot ot of horror stories and I think 
> we have all heard them. I know I will raise the ire of some on this list, 
> but I continue as an active member and host a weekly session here in 
> Atlanta every Tuesday evening and have 94 people on my mailing list. It's 
> open to non-union as well to members, and is a community outreach program 
> that has been going on for seven years. Many players have been hired for 
> gig's from this effort and we don't give a whit whether they are members 
> or not.
>
> Just my two cents worth.
>
> Dave Hanson
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: Russ Guarino
>  To: Dave Hanson
>  Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
>  Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 11:50 AM
>  Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Pay Scales

>