Allegro

Currently Browsing: May, 2006

Midori Teachers Win New Contract
Summer Smith
Midori teaching artists hold a copy of their new contract. Sometimes you have to fight to win. After 10 months of negotiations and an eight-week strike, teaching artists at the Midori and Friends Foundation have finally ratified their second contract.

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Looking Ahead
David Lennon
BROADWAY Preparations for the 2007 Broadway negotiations are well underway. Recently, the Local 802 Executive Board approved a Broadway Community Initiative proposed by the Broadway Theatre Committee. The initiative will provide a training program for the Broadway delegates, which will

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802 Settles New Contract for Jewish Wedding Bands
Ari Green’s BaRock Orchestra is one of the signatories to the Jewish Club Date agreement. Musicians working in the Jewish wedding field recently won a new four-year contract. The contract, which is effective immediately, boosts wages $30 over the life

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If you’ve fallen off your health insurance and need help paying your COBRA premiums, you may be in luck. In 2004, after years of lobbying, a coalition of entertainment unions — including Local 802 — succeeded in getting a COBRA

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Views from the Board
Mary Whitaker
On April 25, I submitted my letter of resignation as a member of the Executive Board, effective immediately. I write this article as a reflection on my short term serving in that position. Three years ago I saw an opportunity

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LIABILITY INSURANCE IS BACK After the union recently stopped offering liability coverage for members on a job-to-job basis, we received many phone calls asking us to reconsider. Our reason for canceling was that the AFM offers a year-round policy for

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Guest Commentary
Esther Cohen
Why we need culture is obvious to members of the musicians’ union. Without songs, and without music, we would be bereft. The score to all our lives would be missing, and that loss would be irreparable. The same is true,

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The following bylaw proposals have been submitted for the June 13 membership meeting. PROPOSAL: “TICKET” VOTING WHEREAS for many years, candidates for Local 802’s elected offices were afforded the option of being listed as a ticket in a separate column

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Music Tells Stories that Textbooks Ignore
Dave Elsila
Woodie Guthrie. Photo credit: Robin Carson/The Woody Guthrie Archives. Take a trip with me in 1913 To Calumet, Michigan, in the Copper Country. I’ll take you to a place called Italian Hall Where the miners are having their big Christmas

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Musicians' Assistance Program
Dr. Vicki Silver, Au.D
It begins slowly. The first thing you may notice is the ringing in your ears and a feeling like they’re full. When you get into your car, the radio needs to be adjusted because it sounds lower than it did

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802 Legal Corner
Harvey Mars, Esq.
If you are a Broadway musician and your show closes, can you apply for unemployment? Yes. While you are collecting unemployment, can you sub on other Broadway shows, teach lessons, and play other freelance gigs? Yes, but your unemployment check

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The Musicians’ Voice is an open forum for discussion about the state of union affairs. The views expressed here do not express the views of Local 802. Letters must be 300 words or less. Send them to Allegro, c/o Local

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Heather Beaudoin
MADE IN NEW YORK Legislation passed by the New York State Legislature extending the New York film tax credit to the year 2011 has been vetoed by Gov. Pataki. The program would have given tax credits for films and TV

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Stamford Symphony. Stamford musicians overwhelmingly ratified a new collective bargaining agreement as they continue with their 2005-2006 season in Stamford, Connecticut. For all self-produced events, Stamford will pay the terms and conditions of 802’s Single Engagement Classical Wage Scales. Events

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All reviews by Bill Crow. “Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond,” by Doug Ramsey (Parkside Publications, 2005). Since Paul Desmond’s death in 1977 at the age of 52, his reputation as an impeccable and lyrical jazz

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Breaktime is a new feature in Allegro. E-mail your comments to Allegro editor Mikael Elsila at melsila@local802afm.org. Links to puzzle answers and sight-sing answer found at the bottom of this page. CROSSWORD PUZZLE Click picture to download .pdf version of

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Reminiscences
Kazue Asawa McGregor
For 11 years I worked side by side with a legend — someone who had worked closely with conductor Arturo Toscanini, someone whose twin children and wife were embraced by conductor Erich Leinsdorf as family, someone whose past employers included

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Georges C. Andre – Bass Barry Brenton – Piano Roberta Como – Piano/Arranger/Copyist Marion J. Davis – Saxophone Donald L. Foster – Piano Elwyn Fraser – Saxophone/Arranger/Copyist Danny Harrison – Percussion Milt Hisler – Saxophone James Johnson – Saxophone John

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January 31, 2006 — February 7, 2006 TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2006 Meeting called to order at 11:15 a.m. Present: President Lennon, Recording Vice President Dennison, Financial Vice President Blumenthal, Executive Board members Gagliardi, Gale, Giannini, Landolfi, Schaffner, Shankin, Whitaker, Weiss,

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Bill Crow
This story has been hopping around the Internet lately: While Si Zentner’s band was doing one-nighters in the 1960’s, they played a rural bar in southern Virginia made from an old Quonset hut. It was a real rathole, but many

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