Dear MFM HV members and guests,
Thank you for attending our ‘In-person’ spring meet-up on Saturday, March 30th.
…A springtime infusion of music-making possibility and enthusiasm expressed by all was much welcomed and after hearing each member introduce I was feeling quite humbled to be in the room (in my living room) Yes… the latent and Creative Energy in our community is not always as obvious to me, but this meeting again justifies and demonstrates the common spirit that musicians share.
The purpose of MFM is to advocate for, and bring musicians of all genres together to support and elevate musicians in the community to professional and recognized status with dignity and fair pay for their work effort.
Those present included MFM MHV members:
Sohrab Saadat Ladjevadi – saxophonist and MFM President
Peter Wetzler – pianist, composer, radio show host, MFM board member,
Ray Blue – saxophonist, band leader, educator, and organizer
Glen Hoagland – drummer and organizer
Henry Lowengard – autoharp and music software inventor.
Peter Einhorn – jazz guitarist, and band leader.
Alexander “Sasha” Bogdanowitsch – pianist and composer
Stephen Johnson -singer Songwriter and guitarist, MFM board member/chapter head.
And non-MFM members:
Lane Gardner- singer-songwriter, educator, and organizer.
Peter Kaiser- multi-instrumentalist, educator, and organizer.
Stuart Leigh – guitarist and Creative Music Studio President (plus CMS guest)
Luke Johnson – guitarist.
Agenda items that were discussed.
1. MwA (Musician with Attitude): this is a powerful distinction that Sohrab has utilized and may take some practice to master essentially because a MwA is not who we think they might be. It implies that you know the business side of “making music,” your rights; and advocate fair payment. As an MFM member, you won’t give your service away for free and compensate fairly anybody assisting you in your musical work, such as your musicians, recording engineers, dancers, etc.
2. Presenting one’s art form:
Ray Blue shared how he relates to the challenge of presenting ‘the project’ and discussing the possibility of a partnership with a presenter. Due diligence and research help to ground the conversation in ‘tangibility’ Case in point: we are in the planning stage for an MFM music and talk event sometime this year which will allow MFM to reach out to the Hudson Valley public, the local media; and especially to the musicians and groups in the Hudson Valley inspiring them to join MFM’s mission.
The venue is at the new music school and performance space in Kingston called Tempo on Wurts Street. Tempo director Tom Kruger is planning a partial opening this spring.
3. Engagement:
MFM’s mission is to organize freelance musicians and all musicians’ rights organizations, such as the AFM, Recording Academy, Music Workers Alliance, etc. On top of that, MFM can lobby toward landmark policy change at the State and Federal levels. Musicians’ rights must be upheld and kept in use by every musician to maintain self-respect as professional music makers.
Updating:
Sohrab requested that all members explore the MFM website and the member portal – with all its referrals, ZOOM webinar videos, invaluable template forms that members can utilize to manage their terms, etc. – and also to update their accounts with two pictures, bio, and social media links. He also would like to see members add a link to MFM under their signature in their emails.
The best way for members to advocate for MFM is by mentioning MFM on and off stage or in any interviews.
Note: MFM does have a wonderful music lawyer Barry Hayman who is accessible to assist members with copyright, rights, and agreements.
Last but certainly not least:
At the end of the meeting, Stuart Leigh from CMS (the Creative Music Studio founded by the late Karl Berger and Sohrab’s mentor Ornette Coleman) who brought a fellow musician from DC participated in our conversation. They shared the planned event for the following day in Kingston at the Shirt Factory studio which Sohrab and I attended.
This event was a memorial of Karl Berger’s recent passing (and his birthday) which was attended by many graduates of CMS including MFM member Sylvain Leroux on the Fula flute. The 26-piece orchestral performed free-wheeling improv sinfonie enjoyed by a 40-person audience in a classic loft Artspace…it was a beautiful NYC Woodstock /Kingston community Memorial event.
Go Play Deep,
Stephen Johnson (Chapter leader)