| Dear fellow Local 14 members: It is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the passing of longtime member Richard O’Neil over the weekend. In addition to being a terrific bassist, Richard is the father of Local 14 cellist Andre O’Neil.The family will be planning a memorial service sometime this spring. I’ll keep you informed as I receive information. On a personal note, I was fortunate to play in several ensembles with Richard through the years, and he was always friendly, a terrific player, and always the smartest guy in the room. When I became president, I consulted with Richard on the best way to run meetings, because I was sure he knew Roberts Rules of Order, and had been involved with many meetings throughout the years. He was very encouraging, and supported me to throw “the rules” out the window and be myself. He will be missed. In solidarity, John Van Voris President of our Albany Musicians’ Association Local 14 – American Federation of Musicians 4th VP, Eastern Conference of Musicians |
News
General Membership Mtg Tues., 1/29, 7 PM
| Dear fellow Local 14 members: I just want to remind you that we have a general membership meeting tomorrow, 1/29/19 at 7:00 PM, with a free buffet at 8:00. It will be held at the Zaloga American Legion Post, 4 Everett Road, Albany, NY 12205. We have several important matters to discuss and vote on, so please be there if you can. There is snow in the forecast, so please check your email before heading out. I will send an email no later than 4:00 tomorrow letting you know either way whether the meeting is being held. If you still haven’t paid your dues, please mail them out ASAP, and save me a phone call reminder. Thanks! In solidarity, John Van Voris President of our Albany Musicians’ Association Local 14 – American Federation of Musicians 4th VP, Eastern Conference of Musicians |
Transition: Maurice “Mo” Rancourt on November 25, 2018
Dear fellow Local 14 members,
On Sunday, long time Local 14 member, and good friend to many of us, Maurice “Mo” Rancourt passed away. He was known for his terrific jazz trumpet playing, his spot on impression of Louis Armstrong singing, and his positive demeanor.
The board will be sending flowers to the funeral on behalf of all of us.
Mo’s obituary can be found at:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bennington/obituary.aspx?n=maurice-andre-rancourt&pid=190847509&fhid=4792
In solidarity,
John Van Voris
President of our Albany Musicians’ Association
4th VP, Eastern Conference of Musicians
Winter Membership Mtg Tues Jan 29 @ Zaloga Post
Our next General Membership meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Joseph E. Zaloga Post 1520, 4 Everett Rd. Ext., Albany NY 12205. (Exit 5, I 90)
Business Meeting 7-8; Buffet Dinner 8PM
See you then!
Save the Date: Jan 13, 2019 for Local 14’s “Indoor Picnic”
Fall Membership Meeting Mon, Oct 22 @ Zaloga Post
Dear Fellow Local 14 Members,
We will be having our Fall general membership meeting on Monday, October 22 at the Zaloga Post of the American Legion. The meeting starts at 7:00, and there will be a free buffet with socializing and networking starting at 8:00.
We’re trying the Zaloga Post for our meeting for a few reasons. The cost is less, there is a large parking lot, and it’s on Everett Road, right next to Exit 5 on I-90. You may remember it from our Local 14 anniversary event last November.
We’ll have the same food and beverage, and we think it will be very nice.
I hope you all can be there!
In Solidarity,
John Van Voris
President of our Albany Musicians’ Association
Happy Labor Day!
Our power and strength comes from musicians and other working people joining together. Let’s remember that on #LaborDay2018 & each day!
“Artists deserve a salute”, a writer’s tribute to artists on the 4th of July
Used with permission of the author, Diane Cameron
Artists deserve a salute
“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose”. Those lyrics by Kris Kristofferson were made famous by the great, gravel-voiced Janis Joplin. On the Fourth of July, we might hum along, thinking about freedom and wondering at its costs and how much we could lose.
The fuss over Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” makes the point. Moore’s film title was inspired by the sci-fi classic “Fahrenheit 451” in which Ray Bradbury described a future where art and books were banned and burned by a totalitarian government. Artists in that future responded by memorizing books, literally preserving them in their bodies.
That old novel was far-fetched, as science fiction can be, but it made a point about the role that artists play in protecting our culture and society.
To grasp the real life significance of artists as political agents, we have only to remember Cambodia, Russia, Czechoslovakia, and China. In those countries, as in Latin America, the first citizens sent to the Gulag or the “re-education camp” were the artists.
It’s no coincidence that repressive governments go after poets, painters, and playwrights. The artistic sensibility and the practice of making art create a habit of asking questions and –– when a political structure is fragile –– one question and one artist can bring the whole thing down.
In the United States, we don’t murder artists, but we do have culturally specific weapons for killing their work. We lower their status, minimize their contributions and cut their funding. We also belittle artists by suggesting that their opinions are irrelevant.
It doesn’t make sense. We accord legitimacy to attorneys and professors, and we give business leaders airtime to posit their perspectives on current affairs, but we deny that access and that respect to those who have the most highly developed skill in sorting through rhetoric and images.
Consider: was Picasso irrelevant? Tolstoy? Dostoevsky? Solzhenitsyn? Solzhenitsyn’s criticisms of the Soviet government were taken seriously by the United States –– by the White House –– as we developed our strategy and policy toward the former Soviet Union. That celebrated poet and novelist said in his Nobel lecture that, “Art serves to battle lies and preserve the moral history of a society without the transitory and debasing rhetoric of bureaucrats.”
Art provides contrast to the dominant messages of our culture so that we can clearly see them. We have a wonderful example nearby in the Berkshires. The much-loved American artist Norman Rockwell used his work to comment on civic, social and political issues. His paintings for The Saturday Evening Post and Look magazine covers raised provocative questions about the impact of war, religious intolerance, civil rights and poverty in America.
Art concentrates thought and emotion. Artists see underlying truths and reflect them back to us. Think about the powerful depression-era photographs by James Agee and the more recent images of people living with addiction and AIDS shot by Cindy Sherman.
Artists grab us by the front of our shirts and make us look. Right or wrong, pleasant or disturbing, they make us think. And it is thinking that is at the center of, and the true requirement for, citizenship in a democracy.
Artists ask us to see what it is and to imagine what might be. On this day when we consider those things that preserve our freedom –– the laws and the wars, the courts and the candidates –-we might forget that art, too, is part of the freedom process. So, if for you freedom isn’t just another word for nothing left to lose, then be sure to thank an artist today.
Diane Cameron is a Capital Region writer. DianeOCameron@gmail.com. This column was published by the Times Union on July 4, 2004 and used with permission of the author.
Membership Meeting June 4 @ The Orchard
The next general membership meeting will be on Monday, June 4th at The Orchard Tavern in Albany. The meeting starts at 7:00 PM with a free buffet and socializing/networking at 8:00. See you then!