Saturday, April 18, 2015

Current Events!

Dear Friends,

The warm spring breeze is intoxicating. Here's what's in the air:

Thursday, April 23 at 7:00 pm THE CHICO SCHWALL GANG at Territorial Vineyards, 3rd and Adams Street in Eugene's favorite historical neighborhood. We will dish up our usual merengue of jazz & swing, cafe waltzes, schottisches, bluegrass & klezmer while you imbibe and socialize. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, April 25 at 7:30 A HOUSE CONCERT featuring DICK WEISSMAN in a rare Oregon appearance. Dick Weissman enjoys a varied and colorful career that has involved almost every aspect of music. He traveled and performed widely with the Journeymen (with Scott McKenzie and John Phillips), has composed music for plays and films,  done studio work, taught music at colleges and written a ton of songs. is most recent albums are "Near and Far" and "The Four Directions," all newly composed original music. Since he moved back to Denver his NW appearances are rare. Don't miss this one. Call 541 684-8216 for reservations and directions.

Dick will also present a WORKSHOP on the Business of Music the same day at 1:00 pm at Tsunami Books 2585 Willamette Street. Cost is $10; FREE to Musicians' Union members. For more info, scroll to the bottom.

Thursday, April 30 at 7:30 pm at The Shedd (Broadway and High Streets, www.theshedd.org) "WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED: SONGS OF WORK, LABOR AND PROTESTThis is the next project in the Chico Schwall's American Roots series and a topic near to my heart. On the 100th birthday of the song "Solidarity Forever" and the centenary of the death of Joe Hill let's celebrate songs of solidarity and social change. Be ready to sing with us!

Friday, May 8, 7:00 pm CHICO SCHWALL & FRIENDS at THE FOUNDRY (Sam Bond's Brewing Company at 540 E. 8th Ave.)  Irish Music without a net. 

In other news, The Community Center for the Performing Arts (the W.O.W. Hall) will hold its annual meeting on April 28 at 6:30. New Board of Directors members will be elected and a budget presented for approval. The Hall is at a crossroads. This year an independent group at the U of O did a "SWOT" study (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), interviewing 30 people and collating the results. The lack of administration (no review for enforcement of Hall policy), the work environment, the lack of community involvement and other issues suggest that the Hall is in trouble and may even be in danger of losing its non-profit status unless some changes are made. Will the same forty people, mostly staff and their families and friends show up and elect a compliant Board that will not take responsibility? Or will folks show up and call for change?  Consider this.

And finally, my friend Milton Takei asked that I share a link with you. Milton knows a good deal about the current climate change crisis and about grass roots organizations, so it may be worth checking out. He says:

The Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL) has recently released a two-minute video.  Please send the video to family and friends.  People who register with CCL after seeing the video can expect maybe one e-mail per month from CCL headquarters, and two letters per year via postal mail.

You can view the video on CCL's Web site here.

The following information is from CCL headquarters:
We didn't have $16 million to show the video during the Super Bowl, so we're asking for your help to get it seen by as many people as possible.

E-MAIL: Share the link above with people you know and ask them to
watch the video and share on their social networks. See below for
more on social network sharing.

FACEBOOK: Go to our Facebook post about the video at this link. When you get to the post, click "like" and also share on your timeline by clicking "share."

TWITTER: If you're on Twitter, you can retweet the tweet we sent which you can find on our feed at @citizensclimate.

You can also send out your own tweet. Suggestion:
#Climate solution: Watch the new @citizensclimate video and learn how
you can #SpeakUp4Climate

You can also just retweet the tweet we sent out, which you can
get to at this link.

As you can see, we're using the hashtag #SpeakUp4Climate. If you have room for a second hashtag, use #LivableWorld.

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AFM LOCAL 689 PRESENTS COMPOSER, AUTHOR MUSICIAN AND EDUCATOR DICK WEISSMAN ON THE BUSINESS OF MUSIC.
WHEN:  Saturday, April 25, 2015, 1:00-3:00 pm
WHERE:  Tsunami Books 2585 Willamette Street, Eugene, OR 97405
WHO IT'S FOR: Musicians, composers, songwriters and anyone involved in or interested in a career in music
WHO'S PRESENTING: Dick Weissman has worked in almost every area of music. He has performed, in the Journeymen, as a solo artist and in various collaborations, done recording session work, composed film scores and music for plays, produced album projects, taught music and the Business of Music at the college level and has published over twenty books. He composes, performs and serves on the board of the Musicians' Union in Denver.
COST:  $10 for the general public, FREE to Musicians' Union members!
Topics will include:
. Music publishing and copyright, performing rights- if you are playing your own music in public, you should be getting paid by BMI or ASCAP,
. Placing songs in Tv and film, and how these deals work
. The role of the unions in today’s music business
. Various revenue sources for musicians, including grants and Musicians' Union and other bonus funds
. Music publishing, self-publishing, and co-publishing
. Free internet resources for staying current in today’s confusing music business
. The value and problems of the internet: Spotify, Pandora, social media, etc.
. The role of record companies in today’s business
. Invisible work and developing multi-dimensional careers
. Personal managers 
For more info, call Local 689 at 541 484-0951
or Chico Schwall at 541 337-8614