Originally Posted By Jerryghr
Tony,
All my dealing with the local have been positive also. I met many great musicians and entertainers during my association with the union.

As a keyboard player I had plenty of jobs from the local musicians. If you needed a musician you just looked in the local's directory which was listed by intrument and phone number. Had I not made these contacts my musical career would have ended 50 years ago.

I was paid well. got cartage and mileage for the gigs thanks to local

I made many lifelong friends that I still keep in contact with.

Some of the naysayers probably never went to a meeting, made contacts and or even knew where the local office was. You're not going to get gigs if people don't know you.

Every business has it's people with underhanded ways, but don't paint every local with the same brush.

My 2 cents

Jerryghr


Meetings, directory ??? We were never told about those things. We were young and stupid and it could of been a positive experience but I think the small community of in the know boys wanted to keep it close to the vest.
A friend of mine who played drums with me from time to time did get calls to work at the Garden State Arts Center in NJ for shows that came in. He was a Percussionist and could read so he was in demand. He told me he couldn't commit to me full time because once you said no to the agent you were on the bottom of the list.
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Bill in SC --- Roland BK9 (2) Roland BK7M, Roland PK5 Pedals, Roland FP90, Roland CM30 (2), JBL Eon Ones (2) JBL 610 Monitor, Behringer Sub, EV mics, Apple iPad (2) Behringer DJ mixer