Another good day to die this week?

The International Executive Board is meeting this week in Los Angeles. The agenda contained some interesting tidbits.

The IEB is going to vote to confirm their fax/email vote to authorize “end-of-quarter temporary borrowing” of $400,000 from the AFM Slush Relocation Fund, to be “repaid with interest as soon as possible.” I wonder what the interest rate is. I wonder if, when $500,000 was borrowed in December 2007 and described as a “temporary bridge loan”, the money was ever repaid. I wonder if the fact that the borrowing is now a routine-sounding “end of quarter” means the AFM’s cash flow is becoming more and more difficult in the failure of the goose that lays the golden dues to deliver a big one since being slapped repeatedly in the beak with a dead mackerel.

Then there’s “Items held over from previous board meetings,” which include the charges against Marc Sazer and Andy Malloy for being.. well, basically for being who they are. And, of course, there’s “Consideration of termination [of] RMA’s player conference status,” which appears to have been brought back to the board by “Lee/Folio.”

Under “Written Staff Reports,” SSD is the only department without the name of the person writing the report listed. It’s been how many months since Laura Brownell left?

I suspect there’s a good chance the IEB is going to de-conference the RMA at this meeting. First of all, there are very likely at least 4 votes to do so. Obviously Tom and Sam have wanted to for some time. And obviously Harold Bradley and Billy Linneman have nothing to lose by voting to punish the folks that they view as having thrown them out of office in Nashville. That only leaves one more vote to find. It won’t be Ray, and I doubt it would be Bob McGrew. Erwin Price would have to be looking over his shoulder and wondering who he’d piss off at Local 47 if he voted in favor. But I’d be surprised if Bill Skolnick didn’t vote for it.

Another reason to suspect that this is in the works is the fact that the RMA has been completely shut out of planning for the upcoming film negotiations. This would make no sense if Tom thought the RMA was still going to be a conference come February. But he’s certainly not going to involve Phil Ayling unless he’s forced to – and, if RMA is not longer a conference, he can’t be forced to.

I wonder what happens then.

Comments

[anotherrecordingmusician]

Whomever controls these comments is apparently a coward who edits comments they don't like, particularly when they mention Ayling and his little dog Marcy.

Pathetic

[anotherrecordingmusician]

BRAVO RICK

[Rick Blanc]

The RMA -- elitist, arrogant, destructive... and shameless. That means no class, no character. The RMA destroys the music business and now the union. How much destruction is enough? And all because you don't like markets. You are a disgrace.

[802fiddler]

From anotherrecordingmusician"

"You should bugger off and become the new scab orchestra in LA, leaving the real work to those working for a REAL union and a REAL federation, ALL for one and one for ALL..."

In my almost 60 years as an AFM member, I have never seen it as a "REAL union and a REAL federation, ALL for one and one for ALL." But if he would like to join us in working for one person=one vote at the convention, I would accept his energy no matter how currently misinformed and misguided.

[Robert Levine]

"ONCE AGAIN FOR THE THINKING IMPAIRED:

The day after the Reno meetings, Fareplay sent out another attack, and the day after the IEB/AFM talks and RMA reception for the IEB where everyone was kissy kissy, Ayling et al filed ANOTHER Lawsuit against the AFM."

There was a lawsuit against the AFM (not filed by Ayling, but by Rishik and two other AFM members) entered into PACER (the US Court computer system) on January 15, well before any IEB members arrived in LA. This lawsuit is about the dues put in place on the special payments funds. If the IEB didn't know about by the time they attended the events cited, that's certainly not Rishik's fault - must less Ayling's.

Probably a good idea to get your facts in order before calling other people names.

[anotherrecordingmusician]

Antony,

once again, change the word from LEE to Alying and it expresses the feeling of the vast majority who see the real enemy of the working musician and the AFM's future, since you and your ilk are willing to see the AFM destroyed for all 80,000 members if you less than 1% selfish greedy little prigs don't get your way.

And I love how paranoid you're all getting, now anyone who speaks up IS Tom Lee? Hilarious! Better regulate those meds a bit better.

And BTB, my last posting disappeared... I wonder why.

ONCE AGAIN FOR THE THINKING IMPAIRED:

The day after the Reno meetings, Fareplay sent out another attack, and the day after the IEB/AFM talks and RMA reception for the IEB where everyone was kissy kissy, Ayling et al filed ANOTHER Lawsuit against the AFM.

Lee shouldn't give them the time of day and should kick their sorry butts out, letting them become the new New Era Scoring.

They deserve nothing more.

It's your boy Ayling and his little dog marc who are bent on not dealing in good faith, or actually negotiating, since for them Negotiating only means getting there own way.

You should bugger off and become the new scab orchestra in LA, leaving the real work to those working for a REAL union and a REAL federation, ALL for one and one for ALL....

written without a hint of anger,... much to tony's (wishing he were mafia) chagrine.

[Antony Cooke]

My my. Someone’s very angry. How incredibly revealing.

Interesting timing - while the IEB meets in LA for a week, downbeat and his alter ego - anotherdownbeat - disappear!

Post IEB meeting, anotherdownbeat comes back first, and forgets to hide his identity with the usual deliberate bad spelling and silly punctuation. This time he writes in downbeat style. And he makes it all so personal as if he were Lee.
Curiously and ever so telling, he knows of a lawsuit having been filed of which only a select few are aware.

A paranoiac downbeat comes back later in the day, harping yet again about the dormant PMG.

PMG was formed in 2007 after recording musicians had had enough of being completely disregarded. Lee and Folio harp on and on about the few occasions that they accept input from RMA. What they don’t tell you is that the input is either completely disregarded, or cleverly reduced to irrelevant - like creating a Video Game contract to counteract a currently working contract, rather than simply eliminate the latter. Very clever, and clearly an aggressive assault against everyone already working under the existing agreement.

The AFM has committed one aggression after another against recording musicians, not the least of which is making permanent an added .85% of Federation work dues on MP work (added at a time to temporarily bail out the Federation) plus a 2% tax on SPF and SMF - all without any input from RMA. Blatant retaliation, this was the equivalent of being mugged.

So what we see here is that Lee/downbeat/another is hopping mad. He assaults, then is surprised that his victims seek protection. His need to continue his pattern of aggression and assault is analogous to his need to breathe. Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace.

Anger, paranoia, retaliation - a dictatorship. The man who browbeats his board into doing everything his way, feeds them bogus one-sided information devoid of actual statistics to work with, and then accuses others of his own behavior like a mirror.

Come to think of it, an actual mirror just might come in real handy here for Tom Lee.

[802fiddler]

From anotherrecordingmusician:

"This may be how he and his fellow kool-aide drinkers feel, but if you replace a couple of words, it perfectly expresses the reality for everyone else who's been paying attention...."

Come on now, do you really profess to know "everyone else"? What delusions of grandeur!

[anotherrecordingmusician]

Irony can be downright delicious. In this case we've got Antony's screed.

This may be how he and his fellow kool-aide drinkers feel, but if you replace a couple of words, it perfectly expresses the reality for everyone else who's been paying attention....

To be more specific:

So that’s the RMA International President. A guy who can convince his board not to truly negotiate with the AFM for reasons based on assumptions - not facts, and uses fear as his primary tool. A guy who wants to pick and choose who represents players based solely on who agrees with him or who will go along with his agenda.

And that’s our RMA, a board that does not have the collective spine to stand up to Ayling for what’s right. Most of them, I believe, know the right thing to do. They’re scared, confused, and they put politics first and representation last. The very idea that they condone his child-like whining about Lee is pathetic in itself.

Ayling's goal is to be destructive to his fellow AFM members, whether or not the entire AFM is destroyed in the process. So many know this to be true, yet nothing is done to change it. Not a leader in the bunch.

Our only hope is that RMA members start to see the true enormity of the danger that Ayling poses to this entire organization, and have the balls to get off their collective butts to do something about it before it’s too late.

That is the reality for the majority.

I also don't blame Lee or anyone else from excluding Ayling. Ayling's definition of negotiation is getting his way, much like the Bush Administration was,... his way or the highway.

And just to prove how untrustworthy and two faced Ayling et al are:

The day after the Reno meetings, Fareplay sent out another attack, and the day after the IEB/AFM talks and RMA reception for the IEB where everyone was kissy kissy, Ayling et al filed ANOTHER Lawsuit against the AFM.

Lee shouldn't give them the time of day and should kick their sorry butts out, letting them become the new New Era Scoring.

They deserve nothing more.

[802fiddler]

Let's see -

Petrillo kept years' worth of media contract raises from going to the musicians doing the work. This led to the Guild formation in the 1950s.

Henry Kaiser "knew better" than the jingle musicians and producers who suggested that he negotiate the first jingle contract with the same provisions that SAG and AFTRA had negotiated because at that time the Ad Agencies hadn't yet realized what they had given away. This led to the far inferior AFM jingle contract continuing to this day.

Marty Emerson, despite advice from his SSD supervisor, ignored the request from Seattle Symphony members to put Local 76 in trusteeship for lack of services even though their dues supplied most of the Local's finances. This led to the "Seattle film scoring situation" some are loudly complaining about now.

And now, Tom Lee - bent on doing things "his way" - seems determined to facilitate the implosion of the AFM on his personal animus for the RMA President and the political theory that the "have-nots" from Podunk will continue to vote him into office.

Ain't this a wonderful union?

[Antony Cooke]

An attempt was made at a continuation of the RMA/IEB negotiation for peace. The IEB at first was amenable to continuing talks that would include Phil Ayling, who waited outside the door. Inside, Tom Lee pressed his Board, perhaps one by one to exclude Phil from any meeting. He eventually got his way and the meeting did not take place.

So that’s our AFM President. A guy who can convince his board not to meet with the President of a Player Conference for reasons based on assumptions - not facts, and uses fear as his primary tool. A guy who wants to pick and choose who represents players based solely on who agrees with him or who will go along with his agenda.

And that’s our IEB, a board that does not have the collective spine to stand up to Lee for what’s right. Most of them, I believe, know the right thing to do. They’re scared, confused, and they put politics first and representation last. The very idea that they condone his child-like whining about Ayling is pathetic in itself.

Lee’s goal is to be destructive to a group of successful musicians, whether or not the entire AFM is destroyed in the process. So many know this to be true, yet nothing is done to change it. Not a leader in the bunch.

Our only hope is that Local officers of the AFM start to see the true enormity of the danger that Lee poses to this entire organization, and have the balls to get off their collective butts to do something about it before it’s too late.

[Sessionman]

So basically the Federation would rather shoot one of their legs off than look the RMA in the eye and have a grown up conversation. Harold bradley has despised the LA Film Musicians ever since they started speaking up. He was always convinced that the Nashville RMA (160 strong), was nothing more than a pawn of Los Angeles, because they too questioned Federation leadership tactics. He was voted out of office, by a large majority of Nashville musicians, because of his pompous condescending attitude towards his own members . The unfortunate deal with Harold is that he forgot where he came from. Many would have hoped that he would have wanted to redeem his legacy after his electoral defeat but it seems like he is hellbent on revenge.Linneman could have done the right thing and looked out for his guys but he got caught up in the big show, most likely looking towards Sam Folio's job. He also owed Tom for getting him out of some potential scalding water.
Skolnik makes a bunch of money as VP from Canada.He prides himself on being a smart guy, but doesn't like it when he is challenged.He'll probably side with Lee and Folio, plus the orchestrated seating of the Montreal delegation got him elected.
The other guys on the outside appear to want to do the right thing but probably don't have the courage to rock the Lee machine. Tom has a long vindictive memory and it would be a political gamble to vote against him.
The sad thing is that this is all about Mr Lee's personal feelings toward Phil Ayling and not what's best for the Federation. At this time there is probably no one more qualified to be involved in the upcoming negotiations than Phil Ayling. It would be logical to allow his participation due to his vast wealth of knowledge concerning both the history and substance of the film agreements. He is respected on both sides of the table and he is also an accomplished musician that understands what really goes on in the workplace. There is no one else from the Federation with that experience.
Unfortunately Mr Lee would rather alienate a large majority of the financial base of this union and possibly hasten the Federations demise than act like a President and get the job done.
Here in nashville some might say that that's downright pitiful.