The Mellotron Group

Back in the 70's you had to be in the union to play any of the major clubs
in Miami. Even rock bands. 

 

  _____  

From: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bernie
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 4:48 PM
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Re: My Mellotron Obsession

 



--- In newmellotrongroup@ <mailto:newmellotrongroup%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com, "David Jacques" <djacques@...>
wrote:
>
A few days later I was
> called onto the carpet from my union, The American Federation of
Musicians.
> Uh oh.
>
>
>
> It was pretty funny going before a "jury" of old Miami Beach musicians
> lecturing this long-haired hack keyboardist that my playing a
Mellotron was
> putting musicians out of work. So they fined me $100 and I continued
> playing.

Has anyone else had union problems regarding Mellotron usage? The
Hartford local, a group of small-time Mafia gentlemen, harassed my band
because we dared to use a Mellotron to "replace other union members".
They even sent some of their officers to spy on us in the hopes of
finding some incriminating evidence, but they were too ignorant to
recognize our Tron for what it was. I called the president of the
Hartford local and told him to keep his fat nose out of my band's
business (literally). For some reason, he took offense to this and
threatened to bring me up on charges (whatever that means). Fortunately,
I was also a member of the competing Allied Musicians Union in NYC at
the time and they offered to send down a lawyer on the next plane to
defend me. When the Hartford local found out about it, they backed off.
A very strange, but entertaining situation.

As an aside, of what value is the union to musicians? They don't seem to
benefit musicians in any way.

Bernie