Klarinet Archive - Posting 000470.txt from 2003/03

From: Karona Poindexter <poindka@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] New York Theater Strike
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 02:52:13 -0500

oh. :)

Karona
On Monday, March 10, 2003, at 01:38 PM, Richard Bush wrote:

> What I posted WAS directly from CNN. No, I didn't write it.
>
> On Monday, March 10, 2003, at 09:29 AM, Karona Poindexter wrote:
>
>> Wow Richard,
>>
>> You email looks just like how a news program would sound if they
>> aired the same story. Good email.
>>
>> Karona
>>
>>
>> On Friday, March 7, 2003, at 08:41 PM, Richard Bush wrote:
>>
>>> Here's what CNN wrote:
>>>
>>> The League of American Theatres and Producers said all musical shows
>>> for this weekend had been canceled. "This is a sad night for
>>> Broadway and for New York," said League President Jed Bernstein.
>>>
>>> Theater ticketholders at 17 Broadway musicals were left stranded
>>> after the musicals said they would not make their traditional 8 p.m.
>>> opening curtain.
>>>
>>> Musicians, striking since midnight on Thursday, are in a dispute
>>> with producers over the minimum size of orchestras.
>>>
>>> The League of American Theatres and Producers was prepared to
>>> replace live music with prerecorded, computer-generated "virtual
>>> music" beginning with Friday's shows.
>>>
>>> But the job action by the 652 unionized actors added considerable
>>> weight to the musicians' battle to save their numbers from being >>> cut.
>>>
>>> "Our members have made it clear that they do not wish to perform to
>>> virtual orchestras," said Patrick Quinn, president of the Actors'
>>> Equity Association.
>>>
>>> Unionized stagehands with the International Alliance of Theatrical
>>> Stage Employees told the actors' union they would honor the picket
>>> lines as well, Quinn said.
>>>
>>> Actors, who could lose $1.3 million in weekly salary if shows fail
>>> to open, were set to join musicians' picket lines around the city's
>>> Theater District.
>>>
>>> "Virtual orchestras are not live music -- it's a computer program
>>> that sounds like a roller rink," said Harvey Fierstein, who is
>>> appearing in "Hairspray," at the union's news conference. "A machine
>>> is a dead thing, and that is not why people go to live theater."
>>>
>>> The two sides were still negotiating, they said.
>>>
>>> Broadway producers complained at an earlier news conference that
>>> many shows do not need the 26-musician orchestras required in the
>>> current contract, leaving them with "walkers," or hired musicians
>>> who sit on the sidelines collecting salary.
>>>
>>> "We love live music, but know of no other industry where workers are
>>> paid, but not needed," said League representative Barry Weissler,
>>> producer of the hit musical "Chicago."
>>>
>>> Producers called the current system an "archaic" one that unfairly
>>> limits their creative control.
>>>
>>> Musicians, who currently make a base salary of $1,350 per week, said
>>> the producers' demand is about saving money and would put musicians
>>> out of work.
>>>
>>> "This is my full-time job and a good chunk of my income," said Ray
>>> Kilday, a bassist picketing the Marquis Theater, where he plays in
>>> the orchestra for "Thoroughly Modern Millie."
>>>
>>> Kilday, who has played on Broadway for 22 years, added that "beefed
>>> up synthesizers" will sap performances' human quality.
>>>
>>> Julia Kim, 23, waiting to buy tickets in Times Square, agreed. She
>>> decided to go to a show with live music after hearing about the >
>>> strike.
>>>
>>> "That's the whole point of going to the theater," she said.
>>> "Otherwise you can just listen to this stuff at home."
>>>
>>> But Shirley Aninias, a 27-year-old New Yorker hoping to see the
>>> musical "Mama Mia," had no objection to recorded music. "I can't
>>> tell if they are playing live or not anyway."
>>>
>>> The dispute between the League and the American Federation of
>>> Musicians Local 802 centers on New York's largest theaters, where
>>> owners want to cut orchestras to 14 musicians.
>>>
>>> The producers said the union was unwilling to cut minimum orchestra
>>> sizes by more than six players.
>>>
>>> Local 802 called its last Broadway strike in September 1975 and nine
>>> musicals were shuttered for 25 days.
>>>
>>> Richard Bush
>>> Maker of 'BasSonic' bassoon reeds
>>> 760 Robins Avenue
>>> Ogden, UT 84404
>>> (801) 393-7265
>>> IDRS member
>>> ICA member
>>> rbushidioglot@-----.com
>
>
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