Membership Meetings: May - June 2009 Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 @1:00 pm Vol. 69 No. 5 Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 @1:00 pm The Closet Guitarist see page 5 Page 2 Local 10-208 of AFM AFL-CIO CHICAGO FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS OFFICERS – DELEGATES 2008-2011 Gary Matts President Terryl Jares Vice-President Spencer Aloisio Secretary-Treasurer BOARD OF DIRECTORS Robert Bauchens Bob Lizik Gary Matts Rich Daniels Janice MacDonald President Frank Donaldson Leo Murphy B.J. Levy CONTRACT DEPARTMENT Terryl Jares – Vice-President Nancy Van Aacken Grant Park Orchestra Anniversary – ASSISTANTS TO THE PRESIDENT - JURISDICTIONS The 2008 CFM Audit Terryl Jares - Vice-President Supervisor - Entire jurisdiction including theaters Ah, spring is in the air. Trees are leafing out, flowers are bloom- (Cell Phone: 312-310-4100) Dean Rolando ing, the sun is warming the air and summer is fast approaching. Recordings, Transcriptions, This summer marks the 75th anniversary of the Grant Park Documentaries, Etc. (Cell Phone: 708-380-6219) Orchestra. If you have not had the opportunity to see and hear DELEGATES TO CONVENTIONS OF THE this great orchestra perform in the Pritzker Pavilion at ILLINOIS STATE FEDERATION OF LABOR AND CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL Millennium Park you are missing one of the most unique and en- ORGANIZATIONS joyable musical experiences the city has to offer. This season offers Spencer Aloisio Gary Matts an eclectic mix of programs with offerings to suit a wide variety Terryl Jares DELEGATES TO CHICAGO of musical tastes, and the price is right…free. FEDERATION OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL UNION COUNCIL Rich Daniels Gary Matts Speaking of financial considerations, elsewhere in this issue is the Terryl Jares audited financial statement for the CFM. The bottom line DELEGATES TO CONVENTIONS OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS number for 2008 is the CHANGE IN NET ASSETS of Spencer Aloisio Terryl Jares (375, 513). It means that at the end of 2008 the CFM, overall, Rich Daniels Gary Matts Frank Donaldson was down $375,513 from where it was at the beginning of 2008. Alternates: There are two components that comprise this loss: Robert Bauchens Larry Bowen EDITOR, THE INTERMEZZO 1. A loss of $590,366 in the investment fund Terryl Jares PRESIDENT EMERITI 2. An operating revenue gain of $214,853 Nicholas Bliss Ed Ward Harold (Hal) Dessent To put this into plain English, the CFM investment fund lost VICE-PRESIDENT EMERITUS Tom Beranek $590,366 in 2008. The balance in the Fund as of 12-31-08 BOARD OF DIRECTORS EMERITUS was $2,085,866. This represents a loss of 17.7% which is Ruth Marion Tobias not bad considering the S&P Index lost 37.6% in 2008. The operating revenue gain of $214,853 shows that looking Open Daily, except Saturday, Sunday and Holidays at all the items involved in the operation of the CFM other than Office Hours 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. the loss in the investment fund, we made $214,853. Adding the All Phones: 312-782-0063 (24 Hrs.) two together gives a net loss of $375,513. When the economy AFM WEB SITE: www.afm.org improves, and the markets move up, there will again be gains in CFM WEB SITE: www.cfm10208.com Address all e-mail to the the fund as there were for years 2003-2007. Let’s hope this Secretary/Treasurer: happens soon. As this issue goes to press, the total market value [email protected] of assets in the investment fund (at the close of trading on Cover illustration provided by April 20, 2009) was $2,000,803.45. Chris Nolan Creative. May / June 2009 cfm10208.com Intermezzo Page 3 Terryl Jares Chicago Federation of Labor Honors Jares Ruth Marion Tobias, Terry Jares and Ed Ward Musicians Union Vice President Terryl Jares became the 28th woman to receive the Annual Tribute to Trade Union Women awarded by the Chicago Federation of Labor. The CFL award honors the women who have contributed to the advancement of the trade union movement and is a first for the AFM. (By Ruth Marion Tobias) Terry Jares joins CFL Officers and Past Recipients Jerre McPartlin, Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Local 1; Jorge Ramirez, Secretary-Treasurer, Chicago Federation of Labor; Terry Jares; Dennis Gannon, President, Chicago Federation of Labor; Rosetta Daylie, AFSCME and First Vice- President, Chicago Federation of Labor; Katie Jordan, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union and President of Chicago Area Chapter of CLUW; and Elena Marcheschi, Workers United (UNITE Here!). Intermezzo cfm10208.com May / June 2009 Page 4 64th National Conference Chicago June 9 – 12, 2009 GREAT CONTENT for Musicians… Protecting Musicians’ Hearing Hosted by Orchestras and New Music: New Idioms, Instruments, and Ideas Beyond the Chicago Symphony’s “Beyond the Score®” Getting the Most Out of Social Networking DON’T MISS… Chicago Symphony Orchestra MUSICIANS COME FREE Open Rehearsal Meet top Music Publishers and Artist Managers from across the United States Chicago Symphony Orchestra Tune Up Party The League of American Orchestras is dedicated to being a transformative and unifying force for the orchestra field and is proud of its artistic programs and support for America’s orchestral musicians. To register for Conference or for more information about the League, please visit americanorchestras.org. May / June 2009 cfm10208.com Intermezzo Page 5 By Jack Zimmerman A couple of weeks ago I was on an elevator and the dog left a big goober of I spend time each day listening to elevator in my condo building, when dog phlegm on Closet Guitarist’s great recordings – my iPod rivals any a guy gets on carrying a guitar in a gig pants leg. university listening library – this guy bag. I had not seen him before, but I Closet Guitarist got off right after the isn’t passively listening. He’s actually live in a building with several hundred woman apologized, and I was left with taking the time to make music, the units – think Soviet-era architecture several more questions: “What kind of way people did before Edison invented meets Daniel Burnham. The building has music do you play? Did you start when recording. numerous residents I’ve never you were a kid and are now getting back Hard for us modern types to grasp – seen before. to it? Who’s your favorite guitarist? Who prior to the 20th century, if you wanted The guy with the gig bag is nicely do you study with? Were you involved in to hear music, you either went to a live dressed, somewhere in his 40s, sporting a any way with Bernie Madoff?” performance or sat down with a piano, Burberry trench coat and scarf, and a pair harpsichord, virginal, lute, guitar, or of classic cordovan wingtips. In the hand whatever and played something yourself. opposite the one holding the gig bag, he’s Bach didn’t listen to recordings. Neither got one of those pricey Louis Vuitton did Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, or any briefcases. In other words, he was no other musician who lived before 1900. guitar player. They made music themselves, just like I figured him for an investment banker Closet Guitarist, which is why he’s now who survived the recent financial-sector my personal hero. I imagine him coming meltdown. Maybe he was taking home home from work to a lavishly furnished a guitar in the hopes that his kid would condo. His wife, played by Kate Winslet, follow a musical career as opposed to tries to distract him with a gin and tonic money shuffling or whatever financial and sex. “Later,” he says and goes to hi-jinx his old man was up to. his book-lined study, takes out his git- “Is that an acoustic or electric?” I fiddle, and plays through several Bach asked, knowing by the shape it was pieces. After an hour of picking away, an acoustic. “Acoustic,” he whispered Closet Guitarist fires up his Viking stove and then looked down at his wingtips, and knocks out a Charlie Trotter-style probably hoping I’d leave him alone. I supper. Only then does he have his way didn’t. “Do you play professionally?” with Kate. was my next question. I knew he didn’t Okay, it’s a little over the top, but I do but was only trying to draw him into envy Closet Guitarist for purely musical conversation. Of course, I’ll never know the reasons – so much so that I’m seriously “No,” he said. “I don’t play for answers to any of these questions considering buying a guitar and signing anyone but myself. I take a lesson once because in a building of this size, I’ll up for lessons. Yes, I know I’m a total a week and that’s it. I just do this for never run into him again, although that beginner, and it would be a long time myself. Don’t play for anybody but me.” basset hound has slobbered on me every before I’d be able to play anything that Wow, I thought, this guy is a real day this week. even sounded like music. Eventually, loner, like Travis Bickel in “Taxi Driver.” Still, I envy Closet Guitarist. He though, I’d be just like Closet Guitarist. The next thing out of his mouth might derives great enjoyment from his I’d be making music! have been, “You talkin’ to me? You solo musical journey. Music is not But I’d skip the gig bag and go with talkin’ to me?” but a woman with a his livelihood and his ego doesn’t get a hard case. That way I could whack that slobbering basset hound hopped on the involved in his music-making.