Clearwater Festival Logo

Mark Lattanzi has “a bunch of Clearwater Festival tix” for sale at a great discounted price (30% off!) on the website below.  Clearwater is a FAIR FOLK Venue.

http://www.valleygeneralstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=531

Announcing a very special auction to benefit Local 1000’s Organizing Efforts and Emergency Relief Fund.

Pete Seeger signing the banjo head

All Local 1000 members, Tom Chapin and John McCutcheon visit with Pete Seeger while he signs the banjo May, 2010.

Video of Pete playing and Signing the Banjo!

Pete Signs Banjo for Local 1000 Auction VIDEO

With the generous help of the Deering Banjo Company, Local 1000 will be auctioning off aPete Seeger-style long-neck Vega banjo that Pete has signed and played.

On or about June 14th the banjo will be put up on eBay and the auction will run for approximately 10 days.

We will send out a notice to all Local 1000 members via mail alerting them to the beginning of the auction.

Pete playing the banjo

All the proceeds from the auction will benefit Local 1000’s Emergency Relief Fund, which provides assistance to musicians who fall onto hard times due to illness, natural disaster, and economic problems. It will also help fund the Local’s organizing efforts to bring union benefits (such as health care and pensions) to working musicians throughout the acoustic music world.

Close-up of Pete's signature

In addition to bidding, one way you can help your brother and sister musicians is to help publicize this auction to your email lists, by calling attention to it in on-line discussion groups about instruments, banjos, folk and old-time music.

You can send them here (to our website) where the information about the auction will be kept current.

NEW! Watch the video of Pete signing and playing the banjo for the first time here.

On behalf of the membership of American Federation of Musicians Local 1000, I want to extend our condolences to the families of the miners lost in the disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia. The twenty-five miners who lost their lives, the four still missing, their families, and their entire community are in our prayers and in our thoughts.

But condolences are not nearly enough of a response to this preventable tragedy. Men and women working in twenty-first century America should not have to worry that there is no recourse for their concerns about workplace safety. For years the Upper Big Branch Mine and its owner, Massey Energy Company, have been cited for numerous violations, especially for high levels of methane and coal dust, the frequent cause of the kinds of explosions that occurred this Monday at UBB.

Even in news reports today surviving UBB miners asked for anonymity when relating past safety concerns for fear of losing their jobs. Non-union miners have no protection in such matters. And non-union mines have no leverage for pressing for the safety of those who mine our coal. To put this into perspective, the miners who died at the Sago, WV mine in January 2006 were working in a non-union mine on a federal holiday. There wasn’t a union miner in America working that day until they reported for the rescue team at Sago.

Nor are words or outrage a sufficient response to West Virginia’s latest sorrow. We at Local 1000 pledge our membership in support of organizing drives in our nation’s coalfields. We will be there both in spirit and in person to walk the lines, to play at the rallies, and to support our sisters and brothers in their efforts to save their families, save their jobs, and, as has been proven to be literally the case, save their lives.

We call on all our brothers and sisters in the American Federation of Musicians, all union members across this great nation, and all people of good will to pledge the same. We can help prevent future disasters by helping workers organize and win the kind of protection only unions can give working people. It’s been proven that the companies won’t do it. It’s been proven the government can’t do it. And history has proven that we can do it.

Solidarity Forever!

John McCutcheon
President, AFM Local 1000

Local 1000’s Office Computers are old and tired and need to retire and collect their pensions!

We are looking for the donation of 2 desktop computers that can efficiently access the internet and do book-keeping and word-processing functions.  Check around your office and see if you have just what we need!

Contact Amanda in the office at (212)-843-8726.

The Local 1000 Executive Board passed the first balanced budget in recent history at its February meeting in Memphis!

In other actions, the board received a membership report (450 members), thanked retiring board member Dave Hawkins for his service, affirmed the website transition and updates, received the Member calling report, set forth on plans for an event in May 2011 at the Highlander Center in Tennessee, and affirmed plans for fun-and-fund-raising events this spring to support the Local 1000 Emergency Relief Fund and our work on behalf of musicians.

The Board noted the value of the regular Skype meetings over the past year to keep in contact and on top of our jobs and responsibilities.

The board is also preparing a resolution to take to the AFM Triennial Convention this June in Las Vegas (President John McCutcheon, Secretary John O’Connor and elected representative, Tret Fure will attended to represent the local.)

The date for the Fall Board Retreat was set for Nov 11th, 2010 in the New York City area.

Amanda Gookin, is serving as the Interim Office Manager during Amy Fix’s maternity leave through March 15, 2010.
Amanda, a life-long cellist, is a member of Local 802.

Local 1000 is teaming up with Sound Health Care to provide an additional option for health care for our membership.

Find out more here: http://ahcpsales.com/SoundHealthcare/AFM1000.html

The health insurance plan offered by Local 802 in New York is still available for people in the New York area.

The Local 1000 Executive Board will meet in conjunction with the Folk Alliance at the Downtown Marriott in Memphis, TN Fri-Sat, Feb 19-20.

The Spring annual Membership Meeting will be held at 4 pm on Saturday, Feb 20, at the Downtown Marriott in Memphis.

Local 1000 will also host a Showcase Free Zone with Song Circles on Friday and Saturday nights. The schedule will be posted here.

Local 1000 members can get a significant discount on registration. Contact Membership Committee Chair, Steve Eulberg (seulberg at steveeulberg.com) for details. The deadline to get your name in the program book has been extended through Tuesday, January 19th, 2010.

Office manager Amy Fix and Tim and Roxy welcome Zachary Blue, born Dec 30, 2009, 8lbs 6oz.

Amy will be home with him on maternity leave until March 15, 2010. Congratulations!

(Amanda is our Interim Office Manager and is availabe during regular office hours.)

John O’Connor, Local 1000’s Secretary-Treasurer and New Deal editor, was elected to the Vice Presidency of the AFM’s largest local, 802 in their December 2009 election.

“You should have seen the looks on the faces of the musicians who realized that they had regained control of their union!” O’Connor noted, remembering the evening when the vote tallies were announced. “This marks a new era.”

O’Connor will continue to serve as Secretary-Treasurer of Local 1000 through the rest of his term.