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Day 3

The day got started with the Jazz Outreach Initiative Jazz Orchestra playing before the opening ceremonies. This unbelievable group is made up of the best players in Vegas. Of course, I was overly impressed with the drumming of Johnny Friday. I'll try to get a video clip of what he was playing on ballads. It’s really simple but so effective! I'd never heard anyone else play it before: one and three on the bass drum , two and 4 on the snare , and after beats on the high hat. It gave the ballad a push that was intriguing. 

The band included a violin player who was featured on a jazzy version of the French love song "La Vie en Rose." It was killer! We'll try to include that on the "Live Performances" page as well.

  The band stuck around to play the National Anthems of the USA and Canada. That’s always impressive. Today was especially nice because Dena was seated just a few feet from the Canadian Delegates, and they sang along with such pride. We’ll try to include some of that moving performance on the live performances website.

  

The morning was filled with speeches from various outside affiliated organizations:

  •  Dan Beck – Trustee, Music performance Trust Fund
  •  Rob Depaola- Sound Recording Special Payments Fund
  •  Dencan Crabtree-Ireland- Director of SAG-AFTRA
  •  Jeffrey Freund- Director of Office of Labor Management Standards
  •  Kim Toberts Hedgpeth Executive Director of the Film Musicians Secondary Market Fund
  •  Michael Huppe President and CEO of Sound Exchange
  •  John F. Smith -General Secretary of the International Federation of Musicians
  •  Kate Shindle -President of Actors Equity Association
  •  And of course -- AFM president Ray Hair

Our entertainment during lunch break was the Joey Singer Quintet. During the break I was able to talk to tech-expert, Devin Gannaway, from the Music Performance Trust Fund. Devin provides tech support for live event streaming. I am currently experimenting and researching ways to live stream our members’ events. I'm using a laptop with OBS Software and 2 Logitech webcams. I was asking him how I could update that equipment to get better quality live streams. It may be possible to write a Freelance Code-Funding Grant to the Federation for money for such a project. I’ll add that to my to-do list. 

  

During the afternoon session, the committee assignments were made. I was assigned to the Good and Welfare committee. We had two recommendations to consider: Minimum New Member Orientations and When Presidents May Vote. 


We had three resolutions:

  •  Emeritus office status for Ray Hair, Bruce Fife, and Jay Blumenthal
  •  Medicare for All
  • DJ, Hip Hop, and EDM artists as AFM Members    

Best news of the day!

Dena suggested that I had “buried the lead” in this article. The best news of the day is that Local 674 will have no dues increases this year. We currently pay the federation $66 per member per year as a per capita payment. 


That payment will remain the same therefore we will not have to raise our dues.