I. RMA-SF see the light about the RMA International (RMALA)
II. WORKSHOPS/SCHOLARSHIPS
III. BUDDY CHILDERS PASSES AWAY
Greetings Local 47 Colleagues,
We’ve just been forwarded these two letters from the RMASF. Every
Local 47 member should read these. We have had known for
quite some time that the RMALA’s business practices have hurt
the country as well as destroyed much of the recording work here,
but now we have proof that their practices have affected jobs far
outside our geographic area. And Hal has let them exist
unrestrained in their actions to the detriment of us all.
Here’s a short quote from the letters below:
“RMALA appears to be dedicated to keeping this work away
from RMA musicians in other chapters, and, in fact, other
musicians within their own Local.”
That says it all, doesn’t it? And this is from a former RMA chapter
in San Francisco, not the Committee! The distain for the RMA
nationwide is looking more and more well deserved.
There are also some very interesting seminars, workshops and
scholarship opportunities available.
THE COMMITTEE
I. RMASF see the light about the RMA International (RMALA)
May 29, 2007
Things fall apart
May 25, 2007
Phil Ayling, President RMA International
817 North Vine St., Ste4 209
Hollywood, CA 90038
Dear Phil:
This letter shall serve as official notification to RMA International
that on May 21, 2007 the membership of RMASF voted to relinquish
its charter and dissolve the chapter. We regret the necessity of
this decision but the membership and board of directors believe
that this official affiliation between the recording musicians of the
Sari Francisco Bay Area and RMA International has not only failed
to promote their careers and professional needs, but in fact has
worked to their detriment.
We look forward to a better working relationship in the future
towards our mutual goals of improving the work and security of
all AFM recording musicians.
Fraternally,
The Board of RMASF
##############
May 25, 2007
Dear Members of the International Executive Board of the American
Federation of Musicians:
We are writing to inform you that on May 2 l, the membership of
the San Francisco Chapter of Recording Musicians Association
unanimously voted to dissolve RMASF. The RMASF Board of Directors
would like the IEB to understand why this unfortunate decision
was necessary.
As you are well aware, the commercial recording industry is in a
tremendous state of flux. The increase in outsourcing of recording
work to non-Union venues, both domestic and international, has
created a situation where the former paradigms of compensation
for such work are no longer inevitable. Our goal has been to
recapture that work for local players, with a Union contract that
works for both producers and musicians.
The mission of RMASF has always been:
• to unite and organize professional recording musicians in the
San Francisco Bay Area
• to promote and develop recording opportunities in the San
Francisco Bay Area
• to communicate, exchange information and address issues of
mutual concern with other RMA chapters
We have increasingly found this mission impossible to fulfill
under the existing conditions within the RMA Players Conference.
Especially with regard to motion picture, television and videogame
recording work, RMA International seems to exclusively serve the
interests of a small group of musicians in its Los Angeles Chapter.
In turn, RMALA appears to be dedicated to keeping this work away
from RMA musicians in other chapters, and, in fact, other musicians
within their own Local. One particularly offensive example of RMA
International’s attitude toward RMASF was its attempt to raise the
qualification levels for contract ratification, which would have
rendered almost all of our members ineligible to vote. We were
pleased that the IEB saw fit to maintain these levels, and hope it
will continue to do so in the best interests of all recording musicians.
RMA International has been consistently unresponsive to our concerns
about the state of the recording industry, and it has deliberately
and actively blocked our initiatives. Each time we have formulated
a proposal, whether for video games or motion pictures, we found
the support we needed from AFM Local 6, and accordingly submitted
our proposals through our Local.
Our experiences with RMA International have been exceedingly
frustrating and unproductive. In pursuing our primary goat of
increasing the quantity of high-quality recording work nationally
and in the San Francisco Bay Area, two significant proposals were
offered by RMASF: A theatrical motion picture proposal was made
in 2005 that effectively addressed the outsourcing issues plaguing
the motion picture industry, and most recently, a video game
promulgated agreement proposal was put forward that would
recapture recording in an industry that has seen only 2.5% of its
games recorded on AIM contracts over the past five years. Both
RMASF proposals were dismissed by RMA within hours of their
submission, and as a result had to be presented by AFM Local 6.
The Board and membership of RMASF feel that it is impossible to
continue to pursue our objectives through the RMA Players Conference,
and that by maintaining an RMA chapter in San Francisco our members
are unwittingly undermining their own recording opportunities.
The best service we can do our members, our colleagues and the
Union is to withdraw from RMA, state these issues publicly for
the record, and urge the IEB to:
1) Restore integrity to the AFM’s MPTV recording contract negotiations
and the process by which promulgated agreements are created.
We hope you will investigate, confront and sanction those individuals
who have recently misused their positions for their own personal gain
and at the expense of their fellow Union members.
2) Pursue recording opportunities that are currently being outsourced
to non-Union environments. We fully support your negotiating
contracts based on the mutual interests of all recording musicians.
These contracts and the interests that guide their negotiations
should be responsive to the hard facts of globalization operating
within the commercial recording industry.
Our motion picture and videogame recording industry is in crisis.
On behalf of the Union recording musicians in the San Francisco
Bay Area we urge you to consider our withdrawal from RMA as a
symptom of the inequities and abuses within our industry that
require your ongoing scrutiny and stewardship.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions.
Fraternally and in solidarity,
Board of Directors, RMASF
————
II. WORKSHOPS/SCHOLARSHIPS
ASMAC PRESENTS:
Master Class with PAUL RISER
Date: Saturday, June 2, 2007
Time: 11 AM – 3 PM
Venue: Valley College, Music Building, Small Music Room
5800 Fulton Ave, Valley Glen, CA 91401
On Saturday, June 2, 2007, the American Society of Music Arrangers
and Compsers will host another of our landmark Master Class
series at LA Valley College with lessons and anecdotes from the
legendary, Grammy Award-winner, Paul Riser, the most prolific
arranger from Motown’s golden years.
From the movie, “Standing In The Shadows of Motown”: “By the
end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians
had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the
Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined – which makes
them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music.
They called themselves the Funk Brothers.” The arranger for this
phenomenal, unheralded group and the marvelous strings and
horns that accompanied them was Paul Riser, probably the most
prolific arranger of hit songs of all time.
As we all know, the “hit single” is one of the most elusive targets
in music and most people never have even one. Amazingly, Paul
Riser has consistently generated hit after hit for decades, with far
too many to count. For the baby-boom generation, Motown provided
the soundtrack of their lives and one of the chief architects was
Paul Riser. The Motown Sound has influenced music worldwide as
much or more than Big Band or any other major genre of music
in the 20th century. Ask any Beatle or Rolling Stone you happen
to meet. Studies show that the Motown logo is as well-known
around the world as that of Coca-Cola and Paul Riser was one of
the originators and chief designers of the Motown Sound.
Among Riser’s biggest hits as an arranger are, “My Girl” (The
Temptations), “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” (The Temptations), for
which he won a Grammy Award, both versions of “I Heard It
Through The Grapevine” (Marvin Gaye)(Gladys Knight & The Pips),
“My Cherie Amour,” (Stevie Wonder), both versions of “Ain’t No
Mountain High Enough” (Diana Ross) (Marvin Gaye & Tammy
Terrell), “If I Were Your Woman” (Gladys Knight & The Pips) and
“Tears of A Clown” (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles). He is also
composer of “What Becomes of The Brokenhearted” (Jimmy Ruffin).
Away from Motown, his hits include, “Never Too Much” (Luther
Vandross), “Two Hearts” (Phil Collins) and “I Believe I Can Fly” (R.
Kelly). His arrangements have graced recordings for The
Carpenters, Carly Simon, Quincy Jones, The Doobie Brothers,
Tom Jones, Natalie Cole, Pharoah Sanders, Kiki Dee, Johnny
Mathis, Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills, Anita Baker, Roberta Flack,
Michael McDonald, Aretha Franklin and a host of others.
Paul Riser’s work in film and television include, “Mad About You,”
“Car Wash,” “Bamboozled,” “Space Jam,” “Standing In The Shadows
Of Motown,”” Four Brothers,” “Which Way Is Up” and “Mother,
Jugs and Speed.”
Saturday, June 2, 2007, at Valley College
Music Building, Small Music Room
5800 Fulton Ave,
Valley Glen, CA 91401
Cost: ASMAC Members & Students $25. • Non-members/Guests $30.
Parking: Free • The parking lot is located on the east side of Fulton
Avenue, about 50 yards south of Oxnard and the music building
is directly south of the parking lot.
Please make reservations by Friday morning, June 1, 2007 @
818/ 994-4661 or by email to [email protected] to insure that your music DVD will be available.
Check out our website — www.asmac.org
Contact:
SYD LEVY
American Society of Music Arrangers & Composers
ADMINISTRATION OFFICE
818-994-4661 • FAX 818-994-6181
————–
FULL SCHOLARSHIPS FOR SINGERS TO HOLLYWOOD POP ACADEMY!
OPEN AUDITIONS IN HOLLYWOOD FOR SINGERS AGES 7-25
Stevie Wonder To Give Winners $150,000 in Scholarships To
Hollywood Pop Academy
American Idol Finalist to Perform
Scholarship Winners will receive:
* Enrollment in Hollywood Pop Academy Unlimited
* 3 outdoor live concerts in Hollywood
* Non-Exclusive Management Representation
* One Original Demo
* One-on-One training with Director of Education, Steven Memel
* Record Label Executive Showcase Performance at the Kodak Theatre
CALL 1-877-SING-POP
OR Email:
[email protected]
TO ENTER:
YOU MUST register in person between 8 AM – 9 AM on Sunday,
June 10th to audition. I recommend getting there EARLY, as this
will be first come first served, and we are limiting the auditions to
the first 300 people.
– You must be between the ages of 7-25
– Registration Fee: $15 for INFOLIST (normally $20)
– Prepare a one minute song, to be performed a cappella
(i.e., without accompaniment)
– Register for confirmation number: 8:00 AM – Sunday,
June 10, 2007
Auditions will be held at:
The Hollywood Pop Academy
6801 Hollywood Blvd.
Suite 223
(inside the Kodak Theater complex at Hollywood & Highland)
Hollywood, CA 90028
Schedule on Sunday, June 10th
8:00am ˆ 9:00am Registration
9:00am ˆ 3:00pm Auditions
3:00pm – 3:30pm Post Final 40
3:30pm ˆ 4:30pm Final 40 – Final Audition for Scholarships
5:00pm ˆ 6:00pm Stevie Wonder Scholarship Award Presentation/Door Prizes
Each contestant will receive a certificate for one free class at
Hollywood Pop Academy.
Only 300 contestants will be allowed to enter, on a first come,
first served basis.
For more information, please visit:
www.hollywoodpopacademy.com
Hollywood Pop Academy (HPA), is Hollywood’s #1 professional
training facility for aspiring singers ages 7-25. HPA is the #1
forum for young talent to get exposure to the music industry’s
leading decision makers. In the renowned Kodak Theatre complex,
HPA has groomed three American Idol Top-Ten Finalists and led
six students to sign with major record labels. HPA boasts state-
of-the art recording & production facilities and prime performance
venues.
HPA’s professional celebrity instructors list a “Who’s Who”
among their current and former client rosters: Christina Aguilera,
Jessica Simpson, JoJo, Adam Levine, Brian Mcknight, Janet Jackson,
the cast of High School Musical and many more.
HPA classes include: vocal technique, stage performance, dance,
and their signature ‘artist development.’ Hollywood Pop Academy
is a division of Los Angeles’ Campus Hollywood, the parent
company of Musician’s Institute, Theatre of Arts, & Elegance
Makeup. Hollywood Pop Academy is producing the most driven,
talented, and desired up-and-coming artists of this generation.
Hollywood Pop Academy. Who’s Next in Pop?
III. BUDDY CHILDERS PASSES AWAY
The Jazz world recently lost a true legend.
Buddy Childers passed away on May 25th, 2007, at the age of 81.
We send our thoughts and prayers to his Family.
Marion “Buddy” Childers was born February 12 1926, became
famous in 1942, when Stan Kenton hired him at the tender age
of 16 to be the lead trumpet in his band. As Buddy himself later
told the story to Steve Voce: “At the rehearsal he sat me down in
the first trumpet chair, had the first trumpet player sit out. I
played about eight or nine things in a row and the adrenalin was
really flying that day. I was 16 I probably looked about 13, but I
played considerably more maturely than that. ‘Well, what do you
want to do?’ he said after that was over. ‘I want to join your band.’
‘But you’re so young.’ ‘I gotta join your band,’ I said. I had this
thing in my mind that I had to join a name band at 16 or I’d never
be able to make it as a musician. I was thinking of Harry James so
young with Ben Pollack and then with Benny Goodman, and Corky
Corcoran who joined Sonny Dunham when he was 16 and then
became Harry James’s leading soloist the next year. So I made it
by three weeks. I only had a couple of months before I graduated
but I wasn’t interested in that, I was only interested in playing.”
Buddy worked with Kenton for years, played with Tommy Dorsey,
Woody Herman, Les Brown, Charlie Barnet[1] and others. He
worked on TV and films, and put together a big band that
recorded for Candid Records in the ’80s and ’90s.
——————-
Colleagues,
You might find it amazing to read some of the letters Mr. Espinosa
is sending in his bid to become AFM President. Next time we’ll
share some of his (Well, his writers) attacks, and some of what
Tom Lee has said in response.
UNTIL NEXT TIME,
THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47