[Dixielandjazz] Dixieland Band Woes hit Mariachis

[Stephen G Barbone]

Seems that Mariachis in the Los Angeles have the same pricing problems  
as OKOM musicians. <grin>

Seems Mariachi Plaza is a version of local 802 AFM hiring hall  
(Roseland Ballroom)  in NYC where musicians, jazz and otherwise,  
gathered once a week around noon to connect with contractors and  
bookers.

Same stuff, different day. <grin>

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

Mariachi Bands Hit Hard Times, Leading to Rifts Over Their Fees

NY TIMES - By JENNIFER MEDINA - July 26,2011

LOS ANGELES — Alejandro Cisneros calls the newer arrivals “pirates.”  
They simply put on a costume and trick customers into thinking they  
are mariachi musicians, he says, but they know nothing of the history  
of Mexican music.
Juan Ariso calls the old-timers “the businessmen.” They are too  
focused on charging more money and pushing out those who they believe  
are taking gigs they do not deserve, playing at weddings and  
quinceañeras and the occasional backyard cookout.

The two groups cannot agree on many things, but the most important is  
this: How much should a mariachi charge?

“This is our profession, our job, our passion,” Mr. Cisneros said. “We  
don’t want to have it ruined by these people who do not know what they  
are doing.”

For Mr. Ariso, it is a simple business calculation: “I charge what  
they are willing to pay. That changes all the time.”

For generations, musicians have gathered each day in a corner of the  
Boyle Heights neighborhood, just east of downtown. The sprawling  
square has been called Mariachi Plaza for as long as anyone can  
remember and has served as a central band-gathering spot since the  
1940s.

The players come with their violins and trumpets and guitars, like  
roaming minstrels offering to play their traditional ballads for  
anyone interested, and especially for those looking to hire a band. A  
few dress in traditional charro outfits, elaborate dark suits accented  
with chains and embroidery, topped with ornate sombreros.

Mariachi Plaza is a sort of day-labor center for musicians, and the  
mariachis will quickly gather around passers-by, a horde of them  
jostling to get their business card into the hand of the would-be  
customer. The leaders encourage the customer to hire the full band,  
typically six musicians, and will belt out a tune or two as an  
enticement.

The going rate here has been about $50 an hour per musician for more  
than a decade, but when business began to dry up and newer musicians  
moved in a few years ago, competition became far more intense. Some  
were willing to drop their price to $30 an hour, and shouting matches  
over who would get the infrequent jobs would occasionally turn into  
fistfights.

Now, roughly 200 mariachis have joined the United Mariachi  
Organization of Los Angeles, a group that formed to set a minimum  
price in the plaza. To join, musicians must pay $10 a month and pledge  
not to charge less than $50 an hour. In return, they receive a gold- 
colored picture identification card, which leaders hope customers will  
recognize as a badge of authenticity.

Customers have come back to the plaza to complain about mediocre bands  
or musicians who did not show up on time, said Arturo Ramirez, the  
president of the organization and the leader of Mariachi Los Dorados  
De Villa.

“We want to have a standard,” Mr. Ramirez said. “There are good and  
there are bad, and it is difficult to tell who is who when you just  
hear them play one song. If you buy a pair of pants for $20 and  
another for $80, it’s not the same quality. The same is true for  
music. For this to work, we need people to understand the difference.”

Mr. Ramirez, who has worked out of the plaza for more than 25 years,  
said he had always charged for travel and setup time, something  
unquestioned by customers until recently, when the lower-price groups  
began undercutting by charging only for the time they played.

Jose Luis Avenas said he began coming to the plaza about five years  
ago, first on the weekend to supplement his income as a contractor.  
Then as that work began to dry up, he came more often.

“This was good work, easy work and honest work,” Mr. Avenas said. “I  
get it myself, and nobody should be able to take it away from me  
because of the rules. This is America, where there is freedom and a  
free market.”

Rimmed with cafes serving strong coffee and Mexican food, the plaza  
serves as a social gathering area as much as an employment center. The  
Mexican state of Jalisco, also known as the birthplace of mariachi,  
donated a concrete bandstand and iron benches several years ago. A  
community development group is now renovating a crumbling hotel that  
has housed musicians for years, many who traveled back and forth to  
their Mexican hometowns with their earnings.

While the murals have faded and begun to peel, a new subway station at  
the plaza has revived the area, which now features a farmers’ market  
on Friday afternoons. Many of the mariachis worry about being pushed  
out of the square as the area has begun to gentrify with hip  
coffeehouses and wine bars. But for now, the shops selling the  
traditional instruments and outfits are still doing brisk business.

“This is ours, and we have to keep it ours, not let others tell us  
what to do,” said Martin Gonzales, who has been in the plaza for more  
than 20 years.

For now, Mr. Gonzales is ambivalent about the new organization. He  
wants to keep prices fair, but he is distrustful of new rules that do  
not promise to give him all that much in return.

“Do we need this?” he asked. “I don’t know. What we really need is  
more work.”

It was the second day in a row that Mr. Gonzales had stood for hours  
without getting a job. By 5 p.m., he gathered his bandmates in the van  
and took off. Like others, they had scrawled the band’s name and phone  
number on the window, in case potential customers might see them on  
their way home
.