Army TV Commercials - possibly sensitive

[Tom Holtz]

Let's try to interpret Title 10. You have a BQ and I have a military BQ for a wedding. You want $750 for the group, but I'll take $500 for the group and undercut you out of a job. I think that's the real spirit of title 10 and that's what the unions are trying to prevent.

The regulations are in place because of a scenario more along these lines: You want $750 for the wedding, and the groom thinks, "I know the bandleader at Ft. Blahblah. I should see if he could get some of his guys to put a group together." Used to happen a lot, I guess, and it wasn't just the civilian musicians who weren't getting paid. Nobody got paid. Abuse of the players and the government equipment used to happen a lot more often back in the olden days.

In the scenario you set, well, some military musicians might try that. Some union musicians might, as well. Symphony musicians might, too. The d-bag factor can show itself anywhere. Sucks, but there it is. Been cut out of many gigs myself.

More to the spirit of it, military personnel already have a gig playing their instrument. I've seen plenty of civilian players not play gigs that they should have because a military player came in and accepted the gig. Tom brought something else to light-military functions trump all civilian gigs no matter what. Why hire a military player when the possibility of them bailing out at the last minute exists? I've been in orchestras where this has happened. No one is ever happy about it, especially the contractor.

Part A: I hear what you're saying. There's a lot of freelancing civilians around here who must beat their heads against the wall regularly. This is a different market than anywhere else in the country, and it's not easy to establish oneself, even if you're a military musician.

Part B: Like I said before, some contractors don't hire military guys anymore. Been burned once too many times, and won't go there again. Some keep hiring the military guys because they like what they get. To each, their own. I don't book gigs, so I can't guesstimate any more than that.

When I was in high school, way back in the early 60s... (snip) Next think I knew, I was on the scab list at the local union. I didn't even know about musicians unions...I was a high school kid, and I'd never been paid to do any music.

Some of the old-timers who were freelancing when I first got to town would talk about the 50's and 60's kind of wistfully, actually. I had one old trumpet player tell me, "Back when the unions were totally corrupt, if a restaurant manager screwed with the band one night, he wouldn't get his food delivered the next day." He may have been exaggerating, but I'm fairly certain that the atmosphere in CA was not too different when you sang that wedding gig. The union guys had a lot of clout back then, weren't afraid to use it, even if it meant reporting a scab just because they were too scared of the consequences if they DIDN'T report it. That may not have been the case with you, the guy who put you on the scab list may have just been a d-bag, but we'll never know. Those were different times, though. Go back to my first too-long post and hit the link for Tom Lee's bio. What he accomplished, considering how the union and the military butted heads back when he was just a piano player, it's really amazing he didn't get his hands broken.

they're just like everybody else (except with funny haircuts, like Holtz's)

If I could find the picture, I'd be beaming it up to TubeNet now, if ya know what I mean...

[Mojo workin']

nevermind.

[CTAYLOR]

Honestly Wade, you should be more careful in how you post sometimes. We're not all wusses out here who look up to you because you have an orchestra job. [/i]?

Just from reading his original post, I agree with you!

[TexTuba]

[sungfw]

I will say that a couple of gigs that I might have had, and should have had were because a military player was already established in the group. He would not have been established if that little regulation was followed.

[sloan]

...They paid me a small amount to sing at their wedding.....I understand the need for the union, but what the heck was that about?

Connect the dots.

[Scott C]

Back to the original post of the Army Strong video.

The comments below only reflect what I have been told concerning the video. The information below may be incomplete or in error. Any decision by Army Leadership is not vetted through me, a tuba player in the band. : ) (although the world would be better place!!!)

The video and music in this topic can be seen here:
http://www.goarmy.com/flindex.jsp?#?channel=&video=

The music was completed by an orchestra in LA with the composer. Why use LA studio musicians? As explained to me: to get the job done on time and quickly they used the LA guys, it was part of the contract. Why not TUSAB you ask? If a mission critical assignment came up, the recording could be postponed or cancelled by TUSAB. It's just easier to have the LA musicians do it out there with the composer. Does this cost more? The composer was contracted to produce the music, not the Army Bands. I suppose they might have saved a couple of nickles, but if I was an LA composer, I would use my guys, in the manner I was comfortable with to get it done. It's a business decision by the composer. Why wasn't a freelance chorus used? After the product was delivered, it was determined that the chorus would be added. This was not part of the contract.

After listening to the music, it was determined that adding chorus would add to the impact. The Field Band Chorus (Soldiers Chorus) was tasked with that project. Why the Field Band? We had no immediate missions ( we were rehearsing for tour and had no immediate performance commitments)

Who pays for this? The video and music was more than likely paid for by Recruiting Command. Just like "Be All You Can Be", they develop slogans and marketing for the Army. The Army, Army National Guard and Amy Reserve recruit approx. 150,000 people a year to enter the service. The total Army is about 650,000.

Often, civilian contractors can do the work cheaper than the government. For instance. The Field Band , when needed, travels by air. We fly commercial. Why? because it's quicker, and more reliable than military. Not to disparage the military fly guys, but if a mission critical assignment came up, we would be bumped and then the concert would be cancelled. We use civilian contractors for many tasks that can be performed quickly, efficiently, better, and on time.

Hope this helps!

Thanks to Roger for posting the original question!

sc

[kingrob76]

they're just like everybody else (except with funny haircuts, like Holtz's)

If I could find the picture, I'd be beaming it up to TubeNet now, if ya know what I mean...

I'm just really glad you don't have any pictures of me - otherwise, next thing I'd know there'd be Christmas Elves dancing with my head superimposed, or me on the cover of "Sousaphone Hero III: Revenge of the Helicon" or me in a Star Trek uniform getting married .... Oh wait. Scratch that last one.

[Roger Lewis]

Scott for clearing this up for me. I appreciate what our military musicians do for us and I now understand that some things have to be this way for scheduling purposes.

Thanks again Scott - I hope all is well with you.

Take care my friend.
Roger