Pete Vriesenga

I write to you today asking for your vote and support for my candidacy for election to the AFM’s International Executive Board. Most of you know me as president of the Denver Local since 1995. Many also know me as an AFM officer who stands up and speaks up with researched opinions, openly and respectfully.

Historically, the IEB is a rather silent and elusive body. This does not make for healthy democracy. Always in the 11th hour prior to a Convention, the floodgates of pent-up sentiment suddenly break loose in the form of communications by the truckload. My apologies for adding to your pile, but I am committing to you now that I will listen, research, and then report while taking early positions on these critical matters.

Our bad habit of sweeping controversial matters under the rug extends well beyond the IEB. As a member of the former AFM Futures Committee (2003-05) I faced a wall of resistance against my modest proposal for a joint venture recording agreement. AFM orchestras with $100 million budgets were already adopting this model, but extending this same right to Indie musicians and small touring bands didn’t sit well with established interests. My remaining option was to present a Minority Report on the subject at a meeting of the full committee in Las Vegas. Absolute silence followed … not even one question was asked.

Persistence ultimately paid off. My resolution for Joint Venture recording was adopted unanimously at the 2007 Western Conference. Months later, with support of the Conference and multiple Locals, my Resolution #75 passed at the 2007 Convention. This historic passage for Joint Venture recording paved the way for AFM’s Freelance Services Division to now present you with an online distribution system for member recordings.

The AFM is strong and it’s here to stay, and we would be doing our union and membership a disservice to pay too much attention to those who believe otherwise. I don’t buy into the personal attacks or the doomsday view of our future that is so pervasive in AFM politics.

Yes, I do jump when a committee chair or member of one of our major bargaining units calls on me for assistance.  But, I also respond in the same manner when I receive a call from a member who hasn’t played a gig in months. As taught by the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, strong and vibrant unions extend equal respect to their most distinguished and most humble citizens. This directly contrasts much of the chatter and division that we hear about working musicians, small vs. large locals and who pays more dues. This is a core principle that I live by because it translates to strength and unity among all members who are called upon to stand together.

I would be honored to have your vote.

In Solidarity,

Pete Vriesenga
President, Denver Local 20-623

Campaign Brochure

Susan K. Shepherd has received the endorsement of the Denver Area Labor Federation. Ballots must be received by May 4, 2010. If you’re a resident of District 1, please get out and vote!

I am proud to stand up for ALL working families in Denver City Council District 1. I am pleased to be endorsed by the Denver Area Labor Federation and the Teamsters Local 17. Having campaigned for political leaders like Joanna Conti against divisive figures like Tom Tancredo and having championed progressive causes like raising Colorado’s minimum wage, I am ready to serve my community in a meaningful way as the representative of District 1 on Denver’s City Council.

Susan K. Shepherd
Candidate for Denver City Council District 1

Contact information:

Susan Shepherd
2126 Grove St.
Denver, CO 80211
Phone: 303-960-9783
Website: www.shepherdfornorthwestdenver.com
E-mail: skshepherd68@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com Shepherd for Northwest Denver

Like many musicians, I have found teaching to be the butter for the bread of performance. Truthfully, the balance between performing and teaching helps me survive as a working musician. I simply love sharing the music with public and private audiences, and equipping them to participate in the creative process.

Steve Eulberg teaching dulcimer class

When I began my private studio I was teaching unusual instruments (mountain and hammered dulcimers, mandolin, bowed psaltery, Irish Bodhran and African hand percussion) as well as guitar. This has turned out to be a good niche for my interests, skills and experience and led to my establishment of the annual Colorado Dulcimer Festival in Fort Collins, which just completed its 7th year. I am also on the road teaching at festivals across the US about once a month, which I link with performances to, from or near the festival region; in short, the life of a touring (and teaching) solo musician.

HOW I FOUND MY WAY ONTO THE WEB
I’ve been drawn to acoustic folk instruments, and because I am a part-Luddite (resisting new technologies), these proclivities may make my story a bit surprising. The development of my private music studio was concurrent with my development of an internet presence for my music and music lessons.

It began when a computer programmer who heard me play at a local open mike scanned my postcard-schedule and posted it to the internet and then sent me an email to let me know he’d done that (back in 1998.) Because I was busily making these postcards and spending money to mail them out, I immediately saw the potential of having my performance and teaching schedule available on the world-wide-web. So, I developed my first webpage. Over the years I would post photos of my students’ recitals and make my recordings and published books and lesson materials available for sale, had my products included at Amazon.com and cdbaby.com (and then iTunes) and various other avenues for disseminating music.

To further develop my understanding and teaching skills, I earned a Master of Music Education degree from Boston University, where I was in the second graduating class of their on-line program. It was amazing to me that I could study at this level and interact with my professors, facilitators and peers through this internet medium, do it from home, and from such disparate places on the road as urban Berlin, Germany and rural Evart and Oscoda, Michigan. I was better equipped to teach my private students, and this education helped equip me to work at the junior high level in our local school district for three years.

HOW I GOT FOUND ON THE WEB
What I didn’t know is that I was being prepared for the opportunities that were not yet present, and which now occupy a good deal of my time as a music educator. Through an email, I was approached in 2005 by Jeff Booth, a young northern Colorado man with computer programming and internet experience who wanted to offer guitar lessons on the internet. Together with his partners he had formed www.JamPlay.com and they were looking for teachers. After meeting to explore the idea of offering video lessons that would be posted on the internet via their website, I filmed an audition tape and became the first teacher they hired.

We proceeded to film Beginning Guitar lessons in high definition video, first from two camera angles, then three and now four. The finished product is captured, edited (with multiple views), rendered and delivered in Flash technology on the website. An affordable monthly subscription fee opens the door to all the lessons and features available. Other teachers were hired, and I added the following lessons series: Fingerstyle, Celtic, Bluegrass, Kids and Guitar, Singing with Guitar and several songs in the Phase 3 section of the website. In addition, students would write in to ask clarifying questions about lessons, guitars, repair, gear and styles and we would film video answers to those questions.

This work rhythm continued until last year when the site, which had included a chat room for subscribers to write posts to each other in real-time, was expanded to include a real-time audio/video feed from teachers. At first we were recruited to be available with a webcamera for special events, but then the partners decided to offer a regular schedule of on-line chats with the instructors.

Now I am on-line with my webcamera, a microphone and guitar 11-15 hours a week as part of the 18-hour-a-day schedule to offer live answers to questions and teach specific techniques or styles and songs. Because these lessons are offered via the world-wide web, I am often on-line with students from Beijing (China) Adelaide and Brisbane (Australia), Sao Paolo, Brazil, Mexico City, across the US and Canada, Ireland, England, Norway, Sweden, France, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Afghanistan and Iraq, all at the same time! I’ll post a set of lyrics and chords, or a leadsheet and then host a world-wide jam. (This works because the instructor is like the hub of the wheel, with all of the students as spokes. They can see and hear me and themselves as they play along, without the disruption of latency or echoes of other students’ live signals.) I’m currently preparing everyone for a St. Patrick’s Day Ceiligh since I’m scheduled to be on-line that night.

HOW STUDENTS FIND ME ON THE WEB:
Long-Distance Private Lessons
This daily on-line presence has also opened up another avenue of on-line instruction which utilizes Skype software. Skype (www.skype.com) is free downloadable software which allows the user to contact other users and talk with them, using their computer as a telephone, for free! (I am a dual-AFM member, also serving on the Local 1000 Executive Board and we’ve been making good use of Skype conference calls as a way to help us to our work more efficiently and save on our bottom line.)

With the addition of the webcam and microphone (sometimes one or both of these are built into one’s computer) I have been able to offer private, long-distance lessons for students on guitar and my other instruments. Students contact me, we schedule a mutually-agreeable time to do a Skype call to test connections, agree on payment and method (most use Paypal), and then schedule a lesson. I use my normal private lesson rhythms with lesson times, cancellation (24-hour notice), re-scheduling, etc. Because people are in other time zones, I can usually schedule these lessons in slots that I am unable to fill locally. What I haven’t yet figured out is how to have these long-distance students participate in one of my two semi-annual recitals, but I’m haven’t given up on that idea!

What this has meant for me is that I can afford to work from home or on the road, providing quality music education which is tailored to the students’ abilities, needs, instruments and musical genre choices. I can do this with a flexibility that a fixed school schedule does not allow, with pay that is comparable or better that in school and I can continue to tour and perform on the road. I get good bread and good butter!

Of course the City of Lone Tree should support their local orchestra, and by all accounts they heavily support the administration. Past Minutes of the City of Lone Tree Arts Commission show that the LTSO was in line to receive $35,000 in city support for 2010, and $45,000 the previous year. All metro-Denver residents should take a bow for YOUR hefty support through the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). According to SCFD’s 2008 annual report, $76,856 was paid to the Lone Tree Arts Commission that year. The report also shows that LTSO received another $7,000 that year in direct support from SCFD.

Commission Minutes also reveal that “Each member of the LTSO pays annual dues of forty dollars” to play in the orchestra. The Lone Tree Arts Commission should net additional savings by removing costs for professional musicians, but this assumes that LTSO volunteer musicians are willing to take on the additional workload. According to Commission Minutes, the LTSO will be “working toward increasing visibility and the number of performances, while working with schools, various groups and boards and the general community.”

What protections are there for an LTSO volunteer who is injured on the job? Do Lone Tree residents recognize and accept new liabilities that now fall on them? I seriously doubt that City officials ever discussed such matters among themselves, let alone with their constituents.

The coup de grâce of public support is a new $17 million home for the LTSO, which would be the envy of any professional ensemble. Funding for the Lone Tree Cultural Arts Center was narrowly approved by voters in 2008 and is scheduled to open in 2011.

With all of these public funds that are exchanging hands, one would assume that Lone Tree officials and orchestra administrators have at least taken the time to read the conditions of funding that are mandated in SCFD’s Tier III grant application. Apparently they haven’t, because #22 (Assurances) of the Tier III Application states: “The applicant pledges that they will comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act“ Beyond the obligation to Minimum Wage, the FLSA cites clear prohibitions against replacing professional employees with unpaid workers.

Looking for answers, I contacted LTSO board president John Nemcik. John immediately took offense after realizing that I was speaking on behalf of the Musicians’ Union. John said he grew up in Pennsylvania, and proceeded to blame Unions for the loss of jobs in the region. I responded by asking what jobs he’s creating [or taking away] in context of the upcoming LTSO Season? I’m still waiting for his answer.

I asked John if he had any plans, now or in the foreseeable future, to compensate his musicians? His response was an immediate and resounding NO. I asked if he was aware of SCFD’s Fair Labor Standards/Minimum Wage requirements that LTSO must follow in the example of the July 24 concert. Needless to say, John had no understanding of the requirement, nor did he voice any change of mind.

LTSO is just one example of labor abuse that occurs in our community on a daily basis, and we all share responsibility for allowing this to happen. We must continue to pressure SCFD to enforce their own FLSA provision, but I have yet to see that happen and frankly don’t expect to. These self-serving examples of ignorance and abuse will only worsen until musicians and performing artists everywhere take a very simple stand:

Click your heels three times and tell yourself that you will no longer accept your pre-classified status as a “volunteer.” If that happens the LTSO will become a professional orchestra by 5:00 PM on Monday. Then, take a moment to reflect on the hard-won labor rights & protections that many generations before us have fought for.

Mail support forms to:
Denver Musicians Association
1165 Delaware St.
Denver, CO 80204
or FAX to 303-573-1945

The performers sum it up this way: “The best way for working men and women to get ahead is by uniting with our co-workers and forming a union. The Employee Free Choice Act does exactly what it says: It gives workers a choice of how to unionize.

People associate actors with fame and glory. The truth is for a long time my union contract was the reason I could support my family. That’s why I support the Employee Free Choice Act, because each worker, regardless of their field, deserves the freedom to bargain for a contract, for a better life.”
–Actress Amy Brenneman

As the performers say, this is not a red state issue. This is not a blue state issue. It’s a workers’ issue.

It’s time for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s time the economy worked for everyone.

“I’ve belonged to three unions in my life, and every one gave me the freedom to bargain with my co-workers for decent hours, benefits and safe conditions. If all workers don’t have the freedom to form unions, I don’t see how we can fix our economy.”
–Actor and comedian Jerry Stiller

Source: The Stars Align for Employee Free Choice Act.

A special thanks to all the actors, editors, writers and crew members who made this video possible, including members of the following unions:

* Actors’ Equity Association
* American Federation of Musicians
* American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
* Directors Guild of America (DGA)
* International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving
Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United
States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE)
* Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
* Writers Guild of America, East
* Writers Guild of America, West

Click here for a full list of performers and their bios.

Colorado Senator Mark Udall
999 Eighteenth Street
Suite N1525
Denver, CO 80202

Dear Senator Udall,

I strongly encourage you to immediately endorse the Employee Free Choice Act. I fail to understand why you are not taking a firm public stand on the EFCA when you previously have co-sponsored the bill.

Senator Udall, this is unacceptable! The EFCA is not a political issue; it is a small “d” democratic issue that goes to the heart of freedoms guaranteed to all Americans by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. I find it shameful that you use the EFCA as a political tool, and that you are waiting to see who will give you the most money for your upcoming campaign in 2010.

Recently I heard a talk at a Democratic fundraiser by progressive talk show host and author David Sirota. Mr. Sirota challenged us to ask this basic question about any politician, Democrat or Republican: Are you on our side (the American working people) or are you on the side of big business and money. The answer in your case is really neither. I suspect you are waiting to see where your largest campaign contributions are coming from, in which case you are only on your side, and will do whatever you have to do to be re-elected.

Please prove me wrong by immediately endorsing the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s a new era in America, and we are in need of transparent and honest politicians. Step up to the plate and join us, the working people of America.

Sincerely,

Thomas A. Blomster

Denver, CO

303-322-1764

An Open Letter To Senator Michael Bennet

Dear Senator Bennet,

I strongly encourage you to immediately endorse the Employee Free Choice Act. Two weeks ago I attended the town hall meeting held at the IBEW Local 68 offices. Unfortunately, I had to leave for another appointment before your anticipated arrival. I was hoping that by the end of the day there would be news that you had endorsed the EFCA. But upon a careful scan of the Internet, I found no such news, and read a great deal about how you are waffling on this issue.

Senator Bennet, this is unacceptable! The EFCA is not a political issue; it is a small “d” democratic issue that goes to the heart of freedoms guaranteed to all Americans by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. I find it shameful that you use the EFCA as a political tool, and that you are waiting to see who will give you the most money for your upcoming campaign in 2010.

Recently I heard a talk at a Democratic fundraiser by progressive talk show host and author David Sirota. Mr. Sirota challenged us to ask this basic question about any politician, Democrat or Republican: Are you on our side (the American working people) or are you on the side of big business and money. The answer in your case is really neither. You are only on your side, and will do whatever you have to do to be elected (not re-elected, because you were appointed to this position).

Please prove me wrong by immediately endorsing the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s a new era in America, and we are in need of transparent and honest politicians. Step up to the plate and join us, the working people of America.

Sincerely,

Thomas A. Blomster

Denver,
303-322-1764

Ken Davies, composer

In the recent months since the Wall Street melt-down and subsequent bank bailouts, we saw a most surprising and refreshing public response involving the $50 million arts package part of the federal economic stimulus proposal. When the arts money appeared to have been eliminated from the stimulus, 85,000 people responded to the Americans For The Arts call to write to senators and congresspersons. Showing the significance of one aspect of American government, that it actually will respond to noise in great numbers, the arts package was put back into the stimulus.

Yet, a large part of this drama revolved around the wide-spread scapegoating of the arts and the people who make them. There were anti-arts hate statements like one from Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA), “We have real people out of work right now and putting $50 million in the NEA and pretending that’s going to save jobs as opposed to putting $50 million in a road project is disingenuous.” Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) asked “What does $50 million to the National Endowment for the Arts have to do with creating jobs?” In further prejudice against artists by “respected” leaders, we’ve seen lawyer and House Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) steal an Aerosmith song (about a cowboy and a prostitute) to underscore a political video ad to suggest that Republicans were “Back In The Saddle.” Later, on the March night of President Obama’s first major televised press conference, Cantor was in the audience of a Britney Spears show. (I guess no cultural comment is needed on that one.) In his bid for President, John McCain (R-AZ) stole several songs for use in his campaign including Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty.” This resulted in a lawsuit against McCain that the court has refused to dismiss at McCain’s request and is still pending. See the lawyers’ blog at www.kwikablog.com to follow this one.

It is common to hear, from some types, the statement that if one’s art is good enough, it will sell on its own and does not need to be subsidized. Arts educators have a hard enough time working to raise the redneck level above the lowest common denominator without having to argue this stupidity. And it certainly sends a message when our own government officials demean the work of those who did not receive subsidy by just stealing it without a thought or fear of repercussion. A publicized Browne victory against McCain would convey an important message. Removing McCain from the Senate for this act would convey an even more important message. Yet subsidies play a large role in government, not just the laughably tiny amount given to the arts.

All governments subsidize those activities which they want to increase and they reduce or eliminate funding from those activities which they want to diminish. It all comes down to who gets favored and who doesn’t. What government subsidizes (with your tax money) are called “economic social goods and services” which are deemed good for all society. These include schools, fire departments, police departments, militaries, government officials, and - in some European countries - the arts and music. Here are some comparative arts subsidies between various nations’ 2008 budgets: USA (National Endowment for the Arts) $144 million, Israel $114 million, Canada $164 million, Germany $1.4 Billion, France $3.8 Billion. Even “little” Norway budgeted $216 million back in 1989.

As for American subsidies, consider the following:
• 100 senators and 435 congressmen salaries of $175,000 each = $93 million
(and each has an additional staff budget of 1-2 million)
• U.S. national debt of $9.5 trillion = $1.5 billion interest every day mostly to China.
• Bailing out banks and wall street = $700 billion and more
• Pentagon war budget = $711 billion (2009)
• Iraq war = $120 billion year ($10 billion per month)
• USA foreign aid to Israel military = $3 billion
• Babylon, Iraq tourist destination = $700,000 from US Dept of State
• USA Farm subsidy = $286 billion (2008)
• About 2 million farmers and farm entities receive about $16 billion per year in programs designed to help stabilize incomes when prices fall or to help protect sensitive land.
• NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration=$16.2 billion a year
• Education funding - just NCLB (no child left behind) = $14 billion
• Corn ethanol subsidies = $7 billion
• Army Corps of Engineers - $5 billion annually for dams and water projects 
• Abstinence-only sex education = $176 million (2008)
• Anti-drug advertising campaign fund = $130 million (2008)

These subsidies “create jobs” just like the NEA through their state agencies like Mississippi Arts Commission and Colorado Council for the Arts does. If the arts opportunities are to grow, it’s important to find out who the anti-arts legislators in your state and nation are and campaign against them. More noise has to be made to help support the political actions of groups like Americans for the Arts and the American Federation of Musicians. The noise making cannot be left to “political leaders” like Rush Limbaugh and Joe the Plumber.

When you strip away all the talk of left-wing vs right-wing, conservative vs liberal, republican vs democrat, free market capitalist vs socialist, etc., it comes down to this; there are two kinds of politicians: 1) those who support the arts and 2) the other kind.

The ballet company outsourced its orchestra pit during last weekend’s performances of “Canned Cleopatra,” replacing musicians with a recording it made in China. Company artistic staff traveled to Shanghai in June 2008 and paid the Chinese government $30,000.00 for a recording of the Rimsky Korsakov score of Cleopatra. The ballet company cheated its patrons with canned music this season and says it intends to replace musicians indefinitely, including shows planned next season at the new $400 million Dallas Center For the Performing Arts.

“Over three hundred musicians and members of other area unions stood outside Bass Hall last weekend,” said Ray Hair, president of the musicians’ union, and a trustee of the Tarrant County Central Labor Council. “We sent a strong message to the ballet company and the arts community. When you hurt professional musicians, there are consequences.”

A Dallas Morning News/Fort Worth Star-telegram review of Friday’s performance criticized the musical accompaniment as clumsy and hamstrung. “…the progression seemed hurried. Raw, rough-hewn, taped music barged forward, when a more caressing tempo was needed to mirror the emotions…”

Labor Council President T.C. Gillespie predicted dark days ahead for the ballet company. “The protest was a huge success. We had tremendous support from patrons who were saying they wouldn’t return to hear canned music. It’s obvious the company is on its knees from poor attendance and the high number of ticket giveaways. If they crawl over to the Winspear, we’ll take our show on the road and protest fake ballet there, too,” he said.”

Click here for additional information from the Dallas-Fort Worth Professional Musicians Association.