<![CDATA[Trilaterus, llc - Roncito\'s Blog]]>Mon, 15 Jan 2024 01:53:07 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Statement about good things at NYC Ballet]]>Fri, 01 Mar 2019 19:41:03 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/statement-about-good-things-at-nyc-balletNOTE: This was written last year, and then revised days before the announcement of the new Artistic Directors.

If you only read the New York Times, the New Yorker, or other mainstream media-of-record, you might think the New York City Ballet these days is an incurable misogynistic den of iniquity, and an artistically dysfunctional one at that.  I certainly understand the fascination with scandal, but it’s annoying when the same few instances get rehashed repeatedly as example of the culture of the institution. In the real world, several hundred of my fellow artists and staff have nothing to do with any untoward texting, sexting, shaming, blaming, or naming. In fact, let me put your mind at rest: most of us, when we aren’t playing our instruments, conducting, set building, sewing costumes, or dancing, are merely quotidian, and decidedly un-buzzworthy, but we are pretty excellent at what we do.

Rather than beat a practically dead horse, as the New Yorker did recently, or sensationalize a former director’s bullying and retributive pettiness, as the New York Times did the other day, I’d like to remind everyone of a few of the unique and trendsetting occurrences that have been taking place at #NYCB consistently, for seventy-one years.  Some of these may actually be new to hear, even to those long-time fans who are in-the-know.

1. When, to great fanfare in 1966, musician Orin O’Brien historically became the FIRST woman in the New York Philharmonic, she had, for almost a decade previously, been one of SEVERAL women members of the #NYCB orchestra, including a then concertmaster. This feminist trendsetting has never faltered, even embracing a female music director, Andrea Quinn, 2000-2006, and a current executive director.

2. For thousands of performances over many decades, the #NYCB has performed to music provided by live musicians, utilizing recordings only for electronica and a few other unavoidable situations.  Very few other dance companies in the world can claim a similar track record

3. The #NYCB could hire any dancers in the world, but has chosen to develop its own artists, the majority of the stars being women.

4. People of color have always been included, starting with the recently deceased great principal dancer Arthur Mitchell, who’s legacy still towers over almost all other artists of our time.

5. Unlike the lion’s share of other classical arts organizations in the United States, #NYCB hasn’t relied exclusively on European warhorses for lifeblood, but has developed its own American repertoire, except Nutcracker, which Europe has mostly ceded to America anyway.

6. It has commissioned more music than most symphony orchestras, and more dance than anywhere.

7. As an institution, it has LONG outlasted its genius founder George Balanchine, something that precious few arts organizations even attempt.  

8. Speaking of Balanchine, the greatest choreographer of his time realized the company he was building needed an associate, and he chose the SECOND greatest choreographer of his time, Jerome Robbins. Any lesser artist than Balanchine might have been too jealous, petty, or ego-protective to bring in such a collaborator.  This one serendipitous happenstance is what still makes #NYCB the greatest company in the world.

9. The #NYCB recognizes that we are in the 21st century, and encourages its artists to post and tweet because it understands that brand building is what sells tickets. It also disseminates eye catching and creative social media because it recognizes that if it didn’t, the classical arts would be otherwise invisible in the general media landscape. This recognition of societal reorganization is something that other major arts organizations, especially some of our sister Lincoln Center institutions should emulate, but don’t at the same level.

Are there flaws as there are everywhere? Yes. Could we utilize more women choreographers and composers? Of course, who couldn’t, and I would welcome that? Should mistakes be forgiven? Smarter people than me need to answer that particular question.  Instead of dwelling on the mostly-atoned-for past, let’s look forward to future projects that a new artistic director, perhaps a woman, will bring.

EDIT: Wendy Whelan was appointed Associate Artistic Director on February 28, in conjunction with Jonathan Stafford being appointed Artistic director.

Ron Wasserman, a native and lifetime New Yorker, has been principal bassist in the New York City Ballet Orchestra since 1988.  He also conducts, composes, and arranges music for other dance companies.]]><![CDATA[Union politics post #4. A heinous political stunt leads to sleeplessness, but my best ever late night rant.]]>Mon, 05 Nov 2018 22:46:17 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/union-politics-post-4-a-heinous-political-stunt-leads-to-sleeplessness-but-my-best-ever-late-night-rant The latest political stunt by the Members Party has left me more disgusted, sleepless, and disheartened than at any time since one of their operatives publicly insulted my dear late father a month ago.

Not to belabor the petty details, but It seems that there was a pledge to NOT make political fodder of the fact that some of the opposing candidates played a performance at Carnegie Hall that didn’t have a union contract in place.  These candidates offered to drop the gig, but the officers decided to utilize them for a tried and true labor organizing tactic called salting, which is where you let union members work with non-members, both to gather intelligence, and to perhaps have a positive influence over them as enticement to draw them into becoming members.

Well, the promised no-political-retribution pledge was ignored, and in the ugly back and forth aftermath, even the accusers have been accused of  doing the same thing they are accusing others of doing.  The hypocrisy is blinding. It has all become a sorry day in the history of our beloved local 802.

At 3:00 AM, I decided to air about 35 years of grievances against the Members Party:

Knowing that it is indeed true that a non-political pledge was made, it is EXTREMELY distressing to me (and perhaps many others) that not only WAS it politicized, but it was piled on by MANY candidates and supporters of the Members Party, some going so far as to call the musicians scabs.  There were no scabs there by the narrow definition: those who replace striking workers, because there was no strike. The broad definition of scab: those who occasionally work on non-union terms, include us all, which makes the definition meaningless. (see below.)

Maybe it's impossible to control the political discourse on Facebook of all rank and file members, even those who are recently appointed to leadership positions by allies of those running for office, but the implication is that a pledge from one of the three leaders of a political party filters down to the other candidates on a slate.  Some commenters even called for their opponents to drop out of the race.  That would mean everyone already elected or appointed who did a non-union engagement before they were elected should now resign. (Or, for that matter, SINCE they have been elected. Yes, we all know it is true that most if not all of our board members have done so. C’mon, it would be disingenuous to deny it.)   Of course, then we would have ZERO officers or board members from any party, and no possibility of any.  Where do we draw the demarcation of when someone should tow that ever hazier line, especially when these days more and more of the available work is non-union.

I was glad to see that some of the accusers are backtracking a bit, recognizing that there perhaps are strategic pro-union advantages to salting, but there has been no real apology.

Here’s where I come from: There are good, wonderful people who are incredible musicians I SO respect on both sides, who have gone public with heartfelt endorsements, sticking their necks WAY OUT, putting friendships at risk, based on the IMPORTANT ISSUES we all face, not on parsing who said what about political pledges, statements, or most ridiculously, parsing reasons those in charge have little to no responsibility for our failing pension plans. It’s infuriating. Those pension trustees should all resign in disgrace.

As one who has stuck their neck out for the challengers, I take this gross bit of ugly politics personally, and friendships of mine have unfortunately indeed been damaged, although I hope to repair them some day.  

I have been watching the Members Party since its beginning, as an 802 member and before that as the son of a member who founded the group the Members Party patterned themselves after (except for the ugly politics part) and this is just more of the same bit of hubris I have seen from the start: Shall I list?  

1. Openly insulting my dead father and his union credentials, (a father, I might add, who once wouldn't cross a picket line to take dissapointed 11 year old me into Nathans on Central Avenue in Westchester, because there was a hot dog workers strike in about 1972.)

2. Publicly calling me a puppy dog (or was it attack dog) beholden to the commands of those I support.  Those who know me personally know I bow (pun intended) to few commands, especially those from conductors who have poor rhythm.

3. Openly shaming friends of mine who happen to be non-union musicians for taking any work they can hustle up, (presumably because it puts the union members jobs at risk--Here's a secret: It doesn't in the short to medium run. What does is not understanding how the non-union world thinks. And besides, they have to make a living too.) I have seen this shameful shaming about three times now in the last month, and don’t get me started about the last 20 years.

4, This year's first political salvo charging their challengers, the 802 Musicians For Change were litigating to undermine a fair and democratic union election.  Then it turns out that the Members Party broke their own election rule of no slogans on the ballot with the subterfuge of pretending their slogan was part of their party name, necessitating, guess what, litigation. If so much wasn’t at stake that would be kind of funny/pathetic.  

5. Thinking our union-musician’s living is somehow more important or more worthy than the professional non-union musician’s living.

6. I have to go way back to the political trick they used to get elected in 1982 by driving part-time musician members out of the union, derisively calling them things like “once a year Elks club dance players,” and mandating an in-person vote, rather than an automatic mail ballot.

7. Taking UNDUE CREDIT for Lincoln Center negotiation strategies and gains I personally (with my committee of course) spent MONTHS birthing into existence, spending energy trying to keep union officers and union lawyers who show up only for days or hours focused on the task we worked hard for, else their lack of attention to detail and imprudence function more like obstacles to a good contract. We AAAAALLLLL know who I am talking about.  C'mon!  Sorry.  It pains me to bring it up, except I am compelled to because of the the tremendous falsehood they are claiming in that their union officers are THE BEST negotiators. THE ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCED, negotiators.  NO ONE ELSE can do what they do.  To me it’s a very Trumpian hollow claim.

8. Maybe worst: NOT accepting responsibility for failures:

   A. the inability or powerlessness to stand up to the AFM and their antiquated media rules which quash SO MANY projects, or rather, drive them non-union.

   B. Inability to organize much new work that isn't handed them on a golden platter; and standing idly by as most work, again, goes non-union.

   C. Did I mention the pension and how they screwed it up, and how the Members Party nominated a pension trustee as their presidential candidate?  This boggles my mind, and disqualifies them.

9. The Members Party has been in power now for almost all of the last 35 years, so even leaving every issue alone, the interior health of our organization might demand a change.  During the sole three years since 1982 the Members Party was voted out of power (because one of their officers used the union credit card for personal expenses) the Mary Landolfi administration managed to actually do several things the MP claims they are powerless to achieve, one being standing up to the AFM and bending, for a minute, those blasted AFM media rules, which, counter-intuitively, has been to our great benefit.  Another being improving the health plan that at the time was faced with limitations on medication reimbursements, something I personally took as a great positive.

It was at this point that my late night rant stopped.

Of all the things I speak about above, the one thing that keeps getting pushed in my face again and again over the decades, and that I can't wrap my head around, is the subtle elitist attitude some of their leaders have.  Years ago, I went to ask their first president John Glasel for help with a Broadway subbing issue. As I quietly was ushered into his big office,  I got the feeling that he was viewing me as "just a kid" with a tiresome problem that needed to be swept under the rug, more annoying than important.  A minute later, I became a principal player at the NYC Ballet, and their attitude towards me changed super quick. Maybe he didn't even remember my earlier issue. I certainly did, and still do.

To paraphrase a Facebook friend, who I am sure would like to be anonymous, its like the 1% of musicians want to keep the rules and contracts full of the wiggle room that only helps the top tier retain as many of the high paying jobs as they can cram into their schedules, keeping other players in their place, beholden to them for recommendations.  This is not just a subtle class warfare that a union shouldn't engage in, it's OVERTLY stated. I read an AFM officer's column once, where it was stated that the young players should accept their small position and kowtow to the stars, lest they be blacklisted out of the "good" work. To be fair, it wasn't someone from the Members Party writing this, but the attitude is similar.

Maybe we ALL want as many gigs as we can handle,  and the ego boost they offer, but there has to come a time when we realize that we owe responsibility and serious recognition to those that substitute for us who are not as established, but stand with us during labor actions. I've been in the position of being asked to stand for fellow members for reasons I may not agree with, but I do.  You can't do all the asking of, and little of the standing for.

Maybe I myself overly enjoy the privileges of being one of the entitled few, but that also comes with some guilt. I know that the luck I had in my tenuous fifteen-minute audition for the NYC Ballet thirty years ago could have easily led to a vastly different outcome for my career and life.  So many of our colleagues who don’t have tenured jobs are just as good or better players than those that do. In the long run, it's self-defeating to deny this fact. The true super-talents are few and far between, we all know who they are, and they are folks who don't need the union for anything.

All this has led me to make several changes in my professional philosophy. For instance, I now never charge for lessons.  My studio is always open to any student or professional who wants me to listen to them for an honest assessment of their playing, or for career advice.  Also, for the last several years, I have been spending $10,000-20,000 of my own money every year hiring musicians, mostly younger ones, for my New York Jazzharmonic orchestra. It is very gratifying to me to see they are happy being asked onto what I hope would be interesting projects for them.  Perhaps I do these things to alleviate my stated guilt, or perhaps this is just the way I do my own kind of self ego boosting. In either case, I hope to approach the ending act of my career with the profession of musician on an upswing, not on the current slow decline towards avocation it is in right now.  

The Members Party, feeling their backs against the wall because of their first real political challenge in years, has been eager to challenge the challengers to a debate. This is ironic, because it is usually the challengers who push debates against the incumbents to gain a needed edge. Maybe after this latest political travesty, their eagerness to debate the issues has waned a bit. They don't want to have to defend this political stunt, because it is defenseless on all levels, especially morally.

In 2018, the way to go is to vote for the 802musiciansforchange.com slate to finally bring ourselves into the 21st century.  It’s about time.
]]><![CDATA[If we want more union members, we need more union work. Here are some ideas. It all might even help the pension.]]>Mon, 22 Oct 2018 19:54:51 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/real-world-practical-solutions-to-reverse-the-decline-in-union-membership-and-increase-contractsMusician's Union politics post #3.
In the race for leadership of local 802, declining membership, and lack of organizing vision has become an issue,   I’ve been talking about this for quite some time, so it’s somewhat gratifying that I am no longer a lone voice in this most important topic
 
We all know that there is strength in numbers, and in case you haven’t noticed, our union music business has shrunken, which means our power to protect ourselves decreases, especially in the current national political climate where labor is devalued and commoditized to the lowest price-point sustainable.   While we stagnate and argue amongst ourselves, the music world at large grows and grows and grows, mostly in a non-union way. 
 
Not only do professional musicians outside of the union see no value in joining (unless they are required to because they are offered one of the few union gigs remaining) they actually view the union as something to be actively avoided because it has a hindering affect on their careers. How can that be, you may say? Aren’t the union jobs the best, highest paying ones?  Yes, but many professional players don’t expect as a matter of course to be engaged in any and the union has had precious little affect on the jobs they do have.

We must reverse this trend. Not only for our own self-interest, and also to protect the honorable profession of musician.
 
Full disclosures:
1. Besides being a long-time union musician, I also act as management of my own non-profit New York Jazzharmonic orchestra. I hire musicians and dancers, (and commission composers, and choreographers) to the tune of 50-90k annually, of which I have been personally donating 10-20k per year for the last 4 or 5 years. I was  trying to negotiate an acceptable union contract for my players. I approached the union myself because morally I feel it is the way to go.  The negotiations are currently at an impasse because of the AFM media rules, (see below)  a happenstance that causes me consternation and pain.
 
2.  I am NOT supporting the current local 802 leadership, the Members Party, for re-election, primarily because the MP has been completely ineffective in stopping this decline I write about here, and in actuality, would prefer not even to notice that this is a problem.   Their opponents, who I do support, while not having all the answers, have taken the first important steps in recognizing the problem, and in stating that they are willing to look at all possible solutions, no matter how un-intuitive.  (I also support them for pension issues, but that is for another column.)  

3. The 802 Musicians For Change have NOT endorsed this paper nor have they had any input. I suspect that they will appreciate some of the ideas here. I do not expect any political party to endorse all of these.
 
I now present several solutions to reverse the trend of declining membership, in two types, those having to do with removing antiquated obstacles, and others that are new offerings we can make to entice people in.
 
I will also conjecture about objections to these solutions, that the current administration might raise, and also ones they have personally told me. I will then present counterarguments to their objections.
 
OBSTACLES TO BE AMENDED/REMOVED
1. AFM MEDIA RULES
The antiquated, 20th century AFM media rules have to change, drastically.
Let’s distinguish between media that is commercial in nature, and that which is for promotional and fundraising purposes. I am talking about the latter, but the AFM makes little distinction, at least in a philosophical sense.  Every artist in the world will tell you that these days you cannot promote yourself, or your band, or your film, or your dance company, unless you can utilize streaming audio and video on social media. This is just how exposure, bookings, and ticket sales are done. Let’s face it, without those three things; whatever you are doing is practically pointless, because you won’t have an audience.
 
Because of unrealistic and excessive fees and limitations, the current AFM rules stifle and discourage SO many projects, which either never come to fruition, or more likely, go non-union.  Currently, there are two ways to stream musicians under union contracts. (remember I am talking about non-commercial promotional use.) The first is to pay $197.20 per-hour per-musician for outright use.  This is patently ridiculous and unaffordable for non-profit organizations producing small projects. Not even mainstream commercial interests will pay these fees.  The second way is with a contract that the AMF labels as for promotional use.  It mandates that for a payment of about 10%, an employer can capture about thirty minutes and utilize up to three minutes and keep it posted for up to a year.  If you need more than three minutes, or you want to keep your video up for more than a year (which would be the case 100% of the time) you are bumped to the $197.20 per-hour threshold.  There is no flexibility, except to go non-union.  The choice becomes easy, especially faced with the one-year limitation.   Things stay up on the internet forever. Having to take down a youtube video that has amassed a million-plus views is brand suicide. The more views you have, the more clout you have in booking your band because it shows venues that you have a following. I personally have no problem paying for use though, but I don’t want to be limited to the arbitrary three minutes.
 
I actually offered a 6% fee on top of wages for a more flexible streaming use with few arbitrary limitations. This was rejected by the AMF without counteroffer, which lead to the impasse. We had agreed on everything else: wages, working conditions, pension, but just because I need more than three minutes and the AFM shortsightedness, the pension payments don’t get made, even though my gig goes on.  
 
Here’s a very important point: The  current administration will tell you that they have no power to change the rules that the AFM makes, and that their hands are tied, because the few musicians left who work full-time in commercial media don’t want any changes made that will hurt their living. Even though they (local 802) get the distinction between commercial and promotional, they can’t make it happen.
 
As counterargument, I ask how this is so, even though our president is on the International Executive Board and has a direct voice. Surely he will point out to his colleagues that by holding on to these short-sighted, counter-productive rules, it will fail in their desire to protect “area standards,” because it leads to non-union projects. But our current president does not do this.
 
My other counterargument is that a former 802 president, Mary Landolfi, who WASN’T on the National AFM Board DID get them to bend, for my own New York City Ballet Orchestra. We (the players) recognized the value in more flexible promotional streaming, and have been living with the happy effect for over a decade now. The Ballet Company has made excellent use of our product, and it sells a lot of tickets, which of course is in our direct interest.  Is our current president, who touts himself as the most experienced candidate really SO ineffective? Sadly, yes in this instance.
 
2. 1099 vs. W2.
The union has produced countless articles proclaiming that W2 work is better for labor. I happen to agree, however, having to pay musicians this way can be an obstacle to organizing. Something big has changed in the national tax law that the congress recently passed. Now, legitimate employee expenses, such as for instrument purchase and repair, union dues, and the like, are NO LONGER DEDUCTIBLE against W2 income. They ARE STILL deductible against 1099 income. Any paltry savings I might get from the “tax cut” are negatively offset by the loss of this deduction to me.
 
The current union officials will tell you that there is a NYS law that mandates pay be W2. This may be true, but my counterargument is that now that the tax situation has changed, we all must carefully re-evalute (with the help of our accountants and financial advisors) these long held “truths.” Should the union lobby Albany for a change? Perhaps.   Also, the reality is that the non-union music world operates mostly with 1099s. The W2 demand (especially for small employers) is an organizing obstacle that we ignore re-examining at our own peril.
 
3. ANNUAL DUES.
There is NO reason for a young, underpaid musician to join the union if they don’t have a union gig they have been engaged for, ESPECIALLY faced with a $200+ annual bill for nothing.  This is real money for someone struggling to pay rent in NYC, even with multiple roommates.
 
I propose that the annual dues be drastically reduced (to as low as $20?) or put into a sliding scale for players doing just a bit of union work, or even eliminated. Perhaps it can  be folded into work dues (one pays as you get more union jobs) or SOMETHING. Having as many people as possible be members, (even if they currently have no contracted work) is a basic step in rebuilding.  When I was a young player just out of school, the dues were $90, and I couldn’t afford it.
 
The Members Party, or for that matter, everyone, will stare at me blankly when I suggest such a thing, maybe saying, “But this is how it has always been done.” Well, when faced with the possible decline of the union into obscurity, everything must be re-examined.

ENTICEMENTS THE UNION CAN MAKE:
4. HEALTH INSURANCE
A health plan that you can buy up into (on top of employee contributions) to make plan, or take out employee contributions as a credit to shop elsewhere is a no-brainer. Too many of our members don’t make the plan, even though they have substantial employee contributions.
 
The Members Party might come up with a zillion reasons why this is untenable. I say, let’s overcome all those reasons and make it happen.
 
5. PENSION
Stabilizing the pension plan is perhaps the most important issue we face.  The current trustees have screwed it up with their disinterest.  All those who were trustees when the plan went into crisis should resign in disgrace! I say this without hesitation, at risk of ruining friendships.  That the Members Party will nominate one of these trustees to be their candidate for president of our local is DEFENSELESS, and one of the primary reasons I am supporting their opponent, Adam Krauthamer, who was the first person to put real political pressure on the trustees to start taking responsibility to the membership for their abject-failures.
 
If (once) the pension is stabilized, and made fair, the union must start using it as an enticement for new contracts. 12% demands can’t be put on small employers such as myself. Even 5% is a stretch, but I’ll pay, because it’s better than nothing. Had my recent gig been contracted, it would have paid more than $600 into the pension. This wouldn’t singlehandedly bring it out of crisis, but multiply it by the dozens of similar gigs that happen in NYC every day, and you will start to see some real inflow.  Personally I get promotional emails about NYC Jazz events on the order of 5-10 per DAY. Most are small scale, but if they were all unionized, the numbers would start to add up to many thousands of dollars a year into the pension, both towards stabilizing it, and towards young musician’s future. We only have to collectively decide that all music in NY must be union, like they were in the old days, whatever the obstacles.
 
The Members Party will say that contracts that are “below area standards” put downward pressure on our own work. I counter, saying that right now there are union contracts that pay all kinds of different rates. Adding a few more at the lower end is NOT going to affect the higher ones. Those things exist NOW non-union.  Our members play them, even though the polite fiction says they are off-limits.  Having them contracted is not going to change this dynamic in a negative way, and might actually help.
 
The Members Party will go even further and actually overtly try to SHUN and SHAME young players who play for rates they deem unacceptable. A recent Facebook post had an important Members Party political operative actually do that.  He is the one that should be shamed!  To entice membership, this is about as counter-productive as you can get.  Long-time career-musicians who have been lucky enough to always be under contract really have forgotten the realities of the young career, and they have absolutely no idea how hard the 21st century has made it.
 
6. LEGAL REPRESENTATION.
This is going to sound as counterintuitive as you can imagine, but the union should explore offering legal protection for EMPLOYERS. Lest you pass out in shock, realize that I am talking about small employers who have trouble getting paid by venues, who need liability insurance, those who want to sue, or those who are being sued for, or have intellectual copyright issues. Of course, don’t panic. I understand that if there is a true contractual dispute between player and employer, the union must revert to the more traditional role.

The Member’s Party will argue that I just don’t understand what a union is, and that I am naïve. To that I counter that I do indeed understand what I am proposing. I have been thinking about this literally since I was three years old, and my parents put a placard on my little self at a demonstration, demanding that the union listen to their demands. This was back when the totality of NY musical work was under contract.  On the contrary, I propose these radical changes because I fear that if we don’t adapt, we will shrink to the point that even the long-standing contracts (such as what I have made my living in) will be pressured into meaninglessness. 
 
 
RANDOM THOUGHTS.
 
All of the above are difficult; some might ultimately turn out to be untenable, but must not be dismissed out of hand as the Members Party does.
 
The Union must approach small employers in as cooperative a way as possible.  Very few contracts are going to come in because young players organize themselves and demand representation against a hostile management.  They are too scared for their own livlihoods these days.  
 
I propose a roundtable event/discussion of employers who are interested in the protections the union can offer be convened as soon as possible.
 
Please vote against candidates who propose the status quo. Vote for Change.  We have no choice. 

576,000 hours of video get uploaded to youtube every DAY. Yes. Much of it music. I propose that we need more of it to be union musicians. Otherwise we are invisible. 

Picture
Me, in about 1964.
]]><![CDATA[Musician's Union Politics post #2. How the Members Party helped drive most musicians away from the union, and why it is now time for new leadership.]]>Thu, 11 Oct 2018 04:00:00 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/musicians-union-politics-post-2-how-the-members-party-drove-most-musicians-away-from-the-union-and-why-it-is-now-time-for-new-leadershipThe members party was founded in about 1980 to oust the previous long-term local 802 Max Arons regime, who were viewed as not responsive to the needs of active professional musicians.  For political expediency, they got elected by creating a rift between these full-time commercial players and others, mainly part-timers, semi-pros, and perhaps public school music teachers, who made up a majority of the local membership at the time.  It was figured that if the part-timers were discouraged from voting or pushed to resign, the previous regime could be defeated.

First they tried having the annual dues raised. Then they instigated a by-law mandating an in-person election.  Previously everyone had been sent a mail-in ballot by default, not by request.  The Member’s party guessed correctly that only the full-timers would come to Manhattan to vote, and there was a clean sweep in about 1982.

My dad Herbie Wasserman and others, even though they agreed with some of the policy goals of the reformers, warned the original founders of the Member’s Party that separating full- and part-timers in this way, while electorally advantageous, would lead to a drastic downsizing of membership which could only weaken the long-term political strength of the union.

Unfortunately the early member's party took their electoral strategy to heart, and started to govern pretty much mostly with the interest of the full-timers. The part-timers did start to feel disenfranchised and began to resign and tear up their union cards, and the rift the Member’s party created has continued to grow, Make no doubt about it though, those part-timers were dues paying members, proud to be affiliated with their full-time fellow brother and sister member musicians.

The intervening decades have illustrated this very clearly. While, of course, there are larger societal issues at play, dear old dad has posthumously been proven absolutely correct. Our membership has shrunken from over 30,000 to under 10,000. There is a truism in politics, that there is strength in numbers. As we move towards fewer people, of course our strength decreases. 

While the Member’s Party has taken pretty good care of the core Lincoln Center and Broadway contracts, (with the exception of the disastrous 1999 NYC Ballet strike/lockout that I will write about soon) they have run out of ideas to heal the union vs. non-union rift they put into play. Actually I don’t even think they recognize it as a pressing problem.

The great irony is that now, most musicians in New York are not 802 members. And they aren’t just amateurs. Many of them are highly skilled full-time pros, and their part of the business is growing while ours shrinks. Moreover, they feel that the Union, and it’s arcane media, payroll, and other rules are actually an obstacle to their careers.  

It’s easy to figure out what happens if we continue to shrink and they continue to grow.  They win, and we disappear into insignificance. This is not just a threat to our jobs, but to our beloved profession of musician!  We must be creative and find ways to join the forces of ALL musicians in New York.  In my opinion, the Member's Party is out of ideas.

I have endorsed 802 MUSICIANS FOR CHANGE, because they are determined to find solutions to this declining membership.  Actually, the mission statement of the first page of their web site points to it: www.802musiciansforchange.com.

I quote:
“Declining membership, less and less union work under contract, a younger generation of musicians who see no value in joining our union, a pension plan in crisis, and a leadership that has not stepped up to the challenges we face. Together, these troubling trends represent an existential threat to our union. If this does not change, eventually there won’t be any union at all. That is a future we refuse to accept."

After more than three decades in power (ironically longer than the regime they ousted as reformers)  the Member’s party’s attitude has, sadly, changed little. Lest you think they have moved on from the 20th century, just the other day I had an unpleasant Facebook exchange with one of their long-term political operatives, who helped engineer the original victory.

He referred to the lost membership as (paraphrasing) “Once a year Elks Club dance players. Mostly doctors and lawyers.”  The implication being that we were well rid of them, and still are.  He also was still harboring resentment against my dad for questioning their motives oh so many years ago, and he openly insulted him, but that’s another story.

The Member’s Party has halfheartedly tried various programs to bring people back in the fold, but for the most part they have been abject failures.  In my secondary field of jazz, they don’t even understand that the players aren’t pitted against big employers, but that many are self-financing, their own projects as leaders, perhaps with grants, and don’t need the union to fight battles, but might want it for a touch of pension, or health insurance, or perhaps some legal protection against the venues they contract with.  The 802 Musicians for Change are eager to explore how we can incorporate these musicians trying out these new business models. (More on this in another post.)

By the way, as a bit of history: That previous Max Arons regime had been at the helm for most of the previous 20 years. (1960s-1970s). This was a heyday for union musicians.  As now, there were power centers at Lincoln Center and the rest of classical music. Broadway was reliable.  The commercial jingle business was continually active, and while that sphere didn't employ as many musicians as who wanted in, those who worked regularly could make an excellent living just from it. The famous legend had the then concertmaster of the NY Philharmonic David Nadien resigning his position to record commercially full time.

But perhaps the biggest power base of union musicians were those that worked so-called club-dates. They were employed by the big wedding offices like Lester Lanin, Steven Scott, and others that were huge and fully union, but now largely forgotten.  My father Herbie worked in that field. This is where the beginnings of the union democracy movement started and he was always an activist. Nowadays people are still having weddings, but if they don’t use a DJ, it is a non-union band. Back then though, the attitude was if you were a musician, the union was the place to be. It was easy to file a contract for whatever job you were booking.

To be fair, the Member’s Party did achieve one their reform goals, mainly empowering bargaining unit committees, and it is now understood that this is the only way to go into a contract negotiation. This will never change, no matter who is in charge at local 802, but we can only hope in the future we have contracts to bargain over.  At the rate we are declining, who knows.

NEXT: I don’t know why the Member’s Party re-nominated a pension trustee as their presidential candidate.  Haven’t they already screwed it up enough?
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Here I am with Dear Old Dad Herbie Wasserman playing at a wedding in about 1988. That was 30 years ago. The Members Party had ALREADY been in power for 5 years when this picture was taken. They are still in power, (except for 3 years about 2006-9 when they were voted out because their presidential candidate at the time had been using his union credit card for personal expenses.) A change is long overdue.
]]><![CDATA[An election "attack?" If that's all they have, its a bit paltry.]]>Thu, 04 Oct 2018 14:47:59 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/an-election-attack-if-thats-all-they-have-its-a-bit-paltryI’m really not sure what the Members Party was talking about in their recent missive about the 2018 Musician’s Union election. 

Ostensibly it was an attack on their opponent for president, Adam Krauthamer. The members party says he’s running a second, somewhat secret and shadowy campaign. It’s hard to read between the lines of innuendo, but it appears they think Adam is attempting to influence the union in some nefarious way by threatening to expose that executive board members are doing political activities on union time. . . I think. 

In actuality, to paraphrase Luke Skywalker, “Everything they said was wrong."

Adam is running just one campaign for President, and even the Members party admits that he is doing it well, especially with the endorsements that are rolling in (including one from this writer) and his successful rally last week. 

Not only are the other activities he engages in not secret or shadowy, they are in the cause of openness and democratic fairness.  We all know about Adam’s undertakings because they started in the interest of saving the pension, and there are thousands of musicians across the country who are grateful that he has devoted so much of his time towards this purpose.  If he, at one point, had an attorney investigate whether executive board members were engaging in political activities, I support him and I would, if asked, help to make the case. 

Our current president is the one with two incompatible roles, and it is his lesser known one, that of pension trustee that has gotten him in serious trouble. Our pension is in abject crisis, and yet we heard nothing but rose colored talk from him until it was too late. After Adam and his colleagues set out to make some noise, and actual substantive recommendations as to how to stem the bleeding, we finally heard from our president/trustee, but all he had to say was:
  1. inevitable, 
  2. not my fault, 
  3. nothing to be done except wait to see if the pension completely dies.
Of course, everyone of these too is wrong.
Then he appointed a committee of executive board members who basically started flooding facebook with various different iterations of the same 3 points.  Is this, as they say, part of normal dissemination of information to the rank and file?  I don’t think so.  It feels all too political to me.

Adam is running for president for many reasons, but most importantly to put an end to this dereliction of duty and hold our pension trustees accountable. A president of local 802, the biggest local in the country,  should, if he or she is willing, be able to put considerable pressure on the trustees to stop this counterproductive circling of the wagons, and start to make changes.

Next Post: The Members Party came to power in the 20th century. While they have done much good, they still haven't recognize that we entered the 21st almost 2 decades ago. Now it is time for them to go.
]]><![CDATA[Flow Chart of Life, Simplified.]]>Sun, 11 Mar 2018 04:33:38 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/flow-chart-of-life-simplifiedJust a little meme I put together this Saturday evening.
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]]><![CDATA[1,000 Nuts and I haven't Cracked Up Yet!]]>Fri, 01 Dec 2017 19:17:50 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/1000-nuts-and-i-havent-cracked-up-yetPicture
On Sunday December 17, 2017 at 1pm, I will play my 1,000th performance of “The Nutcracker” with the NYC Ballet Orchestra. When I joined the company almost thirty years ago, they took one glance and correctly grasped that I did not belong in the dance corps, especially holding my giant bass fiddle.  Turns out I had gotten off the elevator on the wrong floor. I was quickly dispatched down to the orchestra pit, and the ensuing decades have proven that this most fantastical of fairy ballets is the best gig a New York musician could hope for.
 
COMPOSER:
Tchaikovsky has given the world a unique gift.  Yes, it’s one of the finest scores ever composed, but it’s also a job-creating rocket engine.  There is NO other piece of high art music that can equal it’s mass appeal; no opera, no symphony, no concerto, period.  Those of us who recognize this greatness cherish it carefully and never fail to send our prayers of thanks to Mr. T for letting us be a part of it all. Being granted membership in the rarified 1,000 Times Club is an even higher honor, although unlike SNL, we don’t get smoking jackets and a clubhouse.) I presume my creditors and similarly interested parties also send regular monthly appreciations when my checks clear. So do the many thousands of other dancers and musicians and THEIR extended dynasties. Precious few composers in history can lay claim to a larger legacy, and if that’s not fairy magic, I don’t know what is. Our dearly bearded Peter Ilyich was a sensitive and emotionally fragile sort, and I often imagine him looking down at us, happy and thrilled knowing he continues to be “The greatest jobs composer that God ever created!”
 
CHOREOGRAPHER:
Speaking of great gifts to the world, it is was the balanced perfection and nuanced creativity of George Balanchine, the most renowned ballet choreographer of the 20th century, that has brought us the quintessential 1954 staging of the deceptively simple E.T.A Hoffman fable.  The Great-American-Nutcracker tradition actually started at San Francisco Ballet in 1944, but they have altered their productions several times over the decades.  Balanchine’s, in contrast, has remained almost exactly the same for a matchless run of sixty-something years. My wife Kathleen was thrilled to discover that the pink and green costumes are just as she remembered when her grandmother took her here as a small child. Like almost everyone, she was even more enchanted with the dancing snowflakes and the magnificent Christmas tree, which grows even taller than it did before the NYC Ballet moved from City Center to Lincoln Center in 1964. Incidentally, before it rises, the tree rests compressed and folded on a platform under the stage, right near where we store our bass trunks.
 
DANCERS:
The Choreography is supreme and constant, but the dancing is newly poetic every performance. Observing 1,000 interpretations has proven this to me.  You may ask, what I am doing watching the stage when I should be watching the conductor?  Let’s be brutally honest here, the dancers are much better looking.
 
Each one brings their own personality and strengths to the various roles. There is also the adventure of the debuts, which happen frequently.  Occasionally there is an artistic triumph for the ages and the audience knows it.  Watch closely to see if that happens when you come this year! Twenty years from now you can brag to your friends you were there, and I’ll vouch for you. You are coming this year aren’t you?
 
Some of my favorites from years past were Darcy Kistler, Damian Woetzel, Albert Evans, Heather Watts, Jock Soto, Lourdes Lopez, and my all-time favorite, the extraordinary Wendy Whelan. I saw her dance the Sugarplum Fairy dozens of times, and was continually amazed that she just never ever missed a single step, and every one was seemingly perfect! Let me tell you, that level of artistry is not humanly possible amongst us regular mortals.
 
The current casts are also a big thrill and I’ve been around long enough to see them transition from young hopefuls into superstars. Tiler Peck has unbounded joy. The ethereal Sara Mearns floats the audience right up onstage to dance beside her. My current favorite, the inimitable virtuoso Ashley Bouder does the inverse, practically leaping offstage into the aisle right in front of you. A couple of years ago, she danced when she was pregnant, and gleefully dared you to be shocked at the thought of an expectant fairy.
 
CHILDREN:
There are fifty roles for the super-talented children in the cast, another of Balanchine’s strokes of brilliance.  They start rehearsing in September or October.  I know this, because my son Craig was one of them some years back. I chauffeured him to the School of American Ballet from our Rockland County suburbs every single day.  To these dance-mad kids, getting chosen for Nutcracker is akin to inheriting Wonka’s proverbial chocolate factory. It follows that children’s ballet mistress Miss Abergel, who does the picking, exists as something of a godlike figure to them.
 
As much as we could wish, us bassists will never develop into deities, unless you count the mythological kind, crossing the river Styx, conveyed in an antediluvian boat, with a prow shaped like a filigreed conductor’s podium, rowed by ancient Maestro Charon punting and beating at the waves (and us) with his gnarled white staff.  Imprisoned in the Underworld, we toil in the dark, enrobed in our boiling hot black layers, the bright heavenly stage unreachable above our heads.  Down here, we interminably saw and pluck out our deep rumbling timbres, much like Sisyphus thrusting at his boulder, with the snarling teeth and sinister growls of three-headed dog Cerberus guarding the exit, until Heracles’ impossible twelfth labor where he seizes the mongrel, just in time for intermission and my nightly escape to the vending machines for Pop Tarts.  Hope those Nutcracker kids left me some artificially flavored blueberry ones.
 
MUSICIANS:
In New York, a city overflowing with fine musicians, my dear colleagues are among the very very finest, and are an endless source of inspiration to me. All these years together and we really function as a clan.  All feuds are eventually resolved.  Retirements only occur once or twice a year, and are bittersweet farewells. Quickly followed by a replacement audition, the winner is anticipated with great excitement. Is it one of our regular subs? Is it a member’s student like I was? For new players, the Nutcracker catharsis goes something like this:
 
Before first show: I’ve heard it on all those commercials. Is it kind of Broadway?  Is it kind of pops stuff? What is it really? I played it at Radio City. Kinda hokey. Does it get boring?
After first show: Oh my gosh! It’s amazing and I love it!  The music between the familiar tunes is so beautiful and wonderful. I had no idea!  It goes by so quickly too. And we’re done by 9pm?  Wow!
 
As 1,000 of these two-hour manifestations zip along, I blink, and it all blends seamlessly into a thirty-year tenure of my life.  It dumfounds me that the personnel of the band has changed by almost 75% since my rookie season, so I’ve seen the above catharsis a lot. By now, it’s a wonder my middle-aged brain can remember everyone’s name!  I finally empathize with my dear old musician dad Herbie, who, before he died, had a habit of reminiscing about gigs that occurred, “the other day,” but in actuality happened mid-1950s.  The dancers and musicians age and retire, but like an evening primrose, the timeless Nutcracker is reborn afresh every tender twilight . . . and twice on matinee days.
 
Some of my original colleagues traced their orchestral careers back to the great Toscanini, including my first stand-partner, the inimitable David Walter, who had been my teacher at Juilliard.  Our recently retired timpanist, the legendary Arnold Goldberg, who was with the ballet company starting at its creation in 1948, well, no one will ever equal his performance numbers, probably over 2,000 Nuts, and 10,000 overall.  As that might lead you to imagine, us veterans probably can play Nutcracker in our sleep, and I sheepishly admit that I did that occasionally when my children were colicky infants.  Even nowadays, during hyper-busy weeks of composing, fundraising for my own jazz orchestra, home renovating, bill paying, and commuting in heinous traffic over the George Washington Bridge, I can arrive at my music stand, sit on my wonderfully comfortable and infinitely adjustable German made bass stool, revel in it all, and realize that it is the most relaxing and rejuvenating moment of my day.
 
CONDUCTORS
Maestro Andrew Litton is my fifth music director. All have been so different musically. Among other good things, he likes perfect intonation and unified, logical phrasing.  Andrea Quinn liked driving, pulsating tempos.  Faycal Karoui preferred to bring counter-melodies up in the mix, making the music sound surprisingly different. Gordon Boelzner was satisfied enough that everyone showed up on time night after night.  Robert Irving dreamed of what libations awaited him at O’Neills afterwards. You do remember O’Neills don’t you?
 
We have our staff conductors who become great friends over the years, and we often have guests. They are almost always excellent, or at least professional. They instinctively comprehend that we know the score better than they do, so Maestro-splaining is unheard of. It would certainly backfire.
 
ANOMALIES AND ILLNESSES; THE SHOW MUST GO ON
The great Christmas tree never fails to grow, but confetti snow often blows into the pit, and the music stand lights once went completely dark. Another time the “Waltz of the Snowflakes” keyboardist didn’t show up. I could practically reach the synthesizer from my bass seat to “play” the voices, but I couldn’t remember which patch button to press and I lost my moment to be the hero.  Actually, maybe I was smart, because had I pressed the wrong button, the boy’s-choir might have come out sounding like the steam calliope from the Carousel ballet. Such are the quirks of electronica. If Tchaikovsky had known of such possibilities, this would be a wholly different show.
 
One year we played a week of Nutcracker during our summer season at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. . . during a heat wave.  It was a peculiar dichotomy to see the blustery blizzard swirling onstage with happy audience oblivious to the sticky sweatiness of it all, at least for a few magical minutes. 
 
There are also illnesses that have our ace personnel manager David Titcomb scrambling for replacements, often until the very minute before curtain. Playing with terrific subs is fantastic, and forces me to keep my own game sharp, lest they outshine me. Actually, most of them can. Here’s some advice: If you want to substitute in our band, it helps if your apartment is in the West 50s or 60s, and you are a good runner.  Just make sure your tuxedo is clean. Better yet, just put it on, mill around the stage door about 6:00pm looking eager and hungry.  Hey, you never know! Arnie Goldberg, who was also the manager before David, once said he wanted to keep a fake violin under his desk, and he fantasized about calling upon his non-musician wife to just sit there and hold it if he really got stuck, which he never did.
 
Once, the late, great Hugo Fiorato (then in his 80s) conducted an entire week of eight shows because the younger members of the music staff were all out sick with man-colds or other various maladies. Hugo was a remarkable person. If you don’t know what a man-cold is, ask your husband.
 
Now-retired conductor Maurice Kaplow once took ill at intermission, and his cover had already left the building, thinking the evening safe. This was before the cell phone era, so panic ensued. The cover was hunted down at the last minute, but one of our musicians could easily have led the band from the podium, and perhaps even the dance department might have stepped in to save the show if need be. We are a multi-gifted bunch.
 
COMPARISONS
Having a ballet dancer son means that for the last fifteen years worth of Decembers, at least once a year, on my day off, I attend a performance of, you guessed it, The Nutcracker: Long Island Nutcracker, The Knickerbocker Suite, et al, culminating a few seasons ago in his professional performances with Pennsylvania Ballet as seasoned pro.  They do the Balanchine version in Philadelphia, and some days I can sit in the audience there to see him dance a matinee, then myself sit in the pit and play the evening show back in NYC. To traverse this confusing space-time continuum, I utilize a special transporter with advanced technology called the New Jersey Starship, I mean Transit.
 
Besides following my son’s career, the most gratification I get these days is watching his ballet schoolmates come in to their own artistic maturity.  Many of the little kids I watched grow up are now tested members of the NYCB, and are making their debuts in the delightful roles the Nutcracker offers.  Will some make the jump to stardom? It’s happily inevitable. I’ll be accompanying them with my bass, and rooting for them well into my second millennium. I hope you join me here often. Come down and say hello.
 
Ron Wasserman has been the principal bassist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra since 1988. He is also the conductor of his own orchestra, the New York Jazzharmonic, which earlier this year co-produced an evening of dance with the Ashley Bouder Project.  He can be reached at www.nyjazzharmonic.org.
]]><![CDATA[On the NY Terrorist act]]>Thu, 02 Nov 2017 04:36:46 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/on-the-ny-terrorist-actUsing violence to promote or defend your radical religious ideology is reprehensible and beyond hypocritical, as it winds up utilizing metaphysical doctrine as a grab for personal and/or oligarchical power. Many religions have tried this concept over the centuries. ISIS is the current candidate for most nefarious power-mad faux-prophets, however there are other, less violent attempts occuring here and there.
I hope for the day the when all religion is kept solely personal, and completely out of the civic and political spheres. The American concept of freedom of religion is based on the ability for me to be able to practice my spiritual life free from the social or legal obligations of yours and vice-versa, no matter who is in the majority. The founding fathers attempted to give us this freedom.
Any legally binding imposition of your tenets upon myself wounds me. All civic laws should be based on principals of human morality and carefully weighed evidence, not on religious dogma, or ancient scripture taken at face value. There is occasional crossover, and the most important example which illustrates this is known as the golden rule, "Do to others what you would have them do to you," or maybe better put: "Do not do to me, what you do not wish me to do to you." Note: No religion can claim total copyright of this concept. It was probably Buddhist before it was Christian, which means that if society accepts this bit, we don't have to accept the rest of a particular canon.
Concurrently, there should be no breaking of civic laws under the guise of religious freedom. We are blessed (pun intended) to live in this country with these ingrained ideals. We all must be vigilant that they are never lost as they are constantly under attack from without and within. God help us and bless us.

]]><![CDATA[The college music educational industry.]]>Tue, 01 Aug 2017 13:32:36 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/the-college-music-educational-industryJust wondering out loud about the bass and the music business, and the college educational system that feeds it.

Nationally, there are at LEAST 10 conservatories that graduate a minimum of 5 high caliber professional level bassists EVERY year. (Guessing at these numbers, but probably higher.) That's 50 or more cats ready to do business.

There are probably about 5 full time orchestra jobs that open up each year to audition for, and don't forget, international players are also invited.

To me this means that over the last 40 years, while the legacy music business is shrinking, the college system has seen steady and continued growth.

Some of my questions are,

1. why is specifically orchestral bass playing, and auditioning still such a large part of the music student's curriculum?

2. What can be substituted? My suggestion is music entrepreneurship.

3. Colleges are now amazingly adept at attracting the philanthropic support necessary to keep the educational system well oiled. Should some of that money be redistributed towards the non-profit performing arts which are always struggling to maintain themselves, let alone avoid shrinking.

]]><![CDATA[Some thoughts about college teaching.]]>Thu, 27 Jul 2017 05:42:31 GMThttp://trilaterus.com/roncitos-blog/july-27th-2017If ever I were ever appointed as faculty to a music conservatory (although I don't expect to be, nor am I looking to be), I would wish the press release state my bio as reading something like this:
RW is a highly experienced musician, the specifics of which are unimportant. He will teach music and musicianship and how to apply such musicianship to life going forward after college, whether or not it becomes a career, and if it should.
More importantly, insofar as is possible, RW will attempt to separate out what is beneficial for the teaching institution and his own teaching career and ego, from what is beneficial for the student's development and potential entry into the real-world music business as it exists now, (rather than how it existed when RW himself was a student decades ago--or even RW's teacher's even way further back) and endeavor to place much greater importance on the latter.
Most importantly, he will point out the most valuable but not always most obvious thing, that a careful study of music teaches one how to teach oneself anything in the world.
He will also insist that his college students never put a space before a comma, and always put one after.
But of course, most of this explains why I would never be selected in the first place.


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