Tag Archives: NAMM

Joni Mitchell to Receive Les Paul Innovation Award at 35th Annual NAMM TEC Awards

Folk artist and pioneer, and 45-year member of the AFM Joni Mitchell will receive the prestigious Les Paul Innovation Award at the 35th Annual NAMM Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards (NAMM TEC Awards), being held Saturday, January 18, 2020 in Anaheim, California. The award is given on behalf of the Les Paul Foundation to honor individuals that have set the highest standards of excellence in creative application of artistry in the spirit of the famed audio pioneer, inventor and musician, Les Paul.

“We are excited that Joni will be the recipient of the prestigious Les Paul Innovation Award,” says Michael Braunstein, executive director of The Les Paul Foundation. “Like Les, she has been a trailblazer and a true renaissance woman – a songwriter, musician, producer and influencer who made her mark with very influential songs in the 60s. She has pushed the boundaries of what it means to be a female singer-songwriter over the course of her four-decade career, and like Les Paul, she’s never been scared to take creative risks.”

“Thank you for this honor,” said Mitchell, a member of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA). “I’m grateful for being appreciated.”

Mitchell is an accomplished musician, songwriter, poet, and painter. An only child, her artistic talents blossomed early as she began drawing as a young child. Always a lover of music, it wasn’t until high school in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan that Mitchell began performing. She bought a ukulele and soon began playing in the local club, The Louis Riel, in 1962.

Heading to art school in Calgary after graduation, Mitchell auditioned at a coffeehouse called The Depression and immediately landed a regular gig there. Weighing two viable career options—art or music—she decided to focus on the latter. In 1964, Mitchell moved to Toronto and immersed herself in the fledgling Yorkville folk scene—performing in coffeehouses along with other fellow unknowns Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot. It was during this time that Mitchell’s songwriting skills began to emerge.

Moving stateside in 1965, Mitchell worked the coffeehouse circuit for the next three years—playing as many as twenty sets a week. David Crosby caught her performance in a Florida club in 1967, was ‘stunned’ by her talent, and invited her to Los Angeles. Soon thereafter, Mitchell signed with Reprise Records. Her first record, Song to a Seagull, was released in 1968.

Mitchell went on to serve as producer for most of her subsequent albums. She produced and recorded Blue (1971), a unique collection of songs considered by many critics to be one of the best LPs of pop music ever created.

Mitchell’s most commercially successful LP, Court and Spark (1974) was created with the jazz-fusion group The LA Express. The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) steered her away from traditional pop forms into formats of complex lyrics and melodies, accompanied by a variety of jazz musicians. Her album Hejira (1976) shed much of the instrumentation creating a minimalist recording with an expansive ambience achieved with the help of her sound engineer, Henry Lewy, by overdubbing Joni’s electric rhythm guitar. In 1978 one of jazz’s great geniuses, Charles Mingus approached Mitchell to propose a collaboration. The result was Mingus (1979), released shortly after Mingus’s untimely death from ALS.

Dog Eat Dog (1985) featured Mitchell’s exploration of sociopolitical themes set to complex synthesizer arrangements. In the 1990s her acoustic guitar playing came back to the forefront and produced the Grammy winning Turbulent Indigo (1994). She has also recorded an orchestral retrospective, Travelogue (2002), two live recordings, Miles of Aisles (1974) and Shadows and Light (1980), and an orchestrated collection of popular music standards, Both Sides Now (2000).

In 2007, the Alberta Ballet Company staged the ballet “The Fiddle and the Drum,” choreographed to a collection of Mitchell’s recordings. Her last recording of new material was 2007’s Shine.

Three Junos, nine GRAMMYS® (plus their Lifetime Achievement Award), the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a Polar Music Prize are but a few of Joni’s awards and accolades. With this award, Mitchell will join the likes of Peter Frampton, Jackson Browne, Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Don Was, Slash, Todd Rundgren, Pete Townshend, Steve Vai and others, as a Les Paul Innovation Award honoree.

The NAMM TEC Awards, held during the global gathering of music, sound and event technology at The NAMM Show, are bestowed annually in honor of the many individuals, companies and technical innovations used in sound recordings, films, broadcast television and video games. Nominees were announced earlier this year. For more information, visit www.tecawards.org.

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Union Plus Mortgage Company: New Mortgage Option for Union Members

by Jay Blumenthal, AFM International Secretary-Treasurer

There is a new and different mortgage brokerage company available to many AFM members: the Union Plus Mortgage Company (UPMC). What makes it different from other mortgage companies is that it is owned by the AFL-CIO, Union Plus, and a group of affiliated unions (including the AFM). The revenue generated by UPMC belongs to the labor movement—not the big banks or Wall Street. UPMC offers a variety of financing options—Federal Housing Administration loans (FHA), VA loans, 15- and 30-year fixed rate loans, and adjustable rate loans.

Currently, the UPMC is licensed in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. If you are seeking to purchase a property in one of these states, the Union Plus Mortgage Company may be an option you wish to consider. To find out if a state where you wish to purchase a property has been added to the list or to learn more, go to the UPMC website www.unionplusmortgage.com.

One year after obtaining a UMPC mortgage loan, union members can benefit from the Union Plus Mortgage Assistance Program. This program provides hardship mortgage assistance in the event of income loss due to disability, unemployment, or strike/lockout. And a new mortgage customer can expect to receive a $500 Visa gift card after closing!

“As a mortgage broker, UPMC shops the top lenders in the country to find the best mortgage rates and products for its union customers. The UPMC team members have an average of 18 years’ experience in the mortgage industry, and as the company grows, the staff and loan officers’ right to union representation will be supported and encouraged. The program is available to active and retired union members as well as spouses (or domestic partners), parents, and children of those union members.”

Note: The AFL-CIO, Union Privilege and a group of unions own Union Plus Mortgage Company and will benefit if you get your loan through the company. However, you are not required to use Union Plus Mortgage for your loan and are free to shop. For your Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosure Statement please visit www.unionplusmortgage.com.

IM Ad Revenue and NAMM

Last year I attended the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show in Anaheim, California, for the purpose of meeting and thanking our current advertisers and soliciting new advertisers for the International Musician (see “NAMM Show Hits the Mark!” IM March 2017). I’m pleased to report that the leg work at NAMM, done in conjunction with the amazing staff at Bentley-Hall (the company that produces the International Musician) resulted in a 10% increase in IM advertising billing last year, surpassing our 7% goal.

This positive result played heavily in my decision to attend this year’s show, which took place in January. It’s difficult to know whether this year’s attendance will produce the same positive results as last year, but time will tell.

She Rocks Awards Recognize Music Industry Leaders

Among the music industry leaders honored at this year’s She Rocks Awards held in January were three iconic union members: Melissa Etheridge of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) and Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson of Local 802 (New York City). A Grammy and Academy award-winning musician, Etheridge has been tearing up the charts since 1988 when the lead single, “Bring Me Some Water,” from her very first album, was nominated for a Grammy. Pierson and Wilson, original members of The B-52s, known for hits like “Roam” and “Love Shack,” are celebrating that band’s 40th Anniversary.

Held during the January NAMM Show for the sixth consecutive year, the She Rocks Awards paid tribute to women who display leadership and stand out in the music industry. Previous recipients included Local 47 members Colbie Caillat, Sheila E., and The Bangles.

Bob Weir Honored with Music for Life Award

During the January 2018 NAMM Show NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond presented Local 6 (San Francisco, CA) member Bob Weir with the organization’s Music for Life Award. Photo: Jesse Grant/Getty Images.

AFM Local 6 (San Francisco, CA) member Bob Weir was honored at the opening of the 2018 National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in Anaheim, California. NAMM’s highest honor, the Music for Life Award honors Weir’s five-decade career and pioneering spirit, influencing musical styles, sound design, and the music business.

NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond presented the award saying, “The Grateful Dead inspired a movement by taking incredible risks musically, culturally and in terms of how they approached the music business. They did so out of a passion for music making and, as a result, continue to inspire musicians to this day. We’re honored to present Bob Weir with the Music for Life Award for this his unabashed passion for music making, support for music education and so many more achievements in his long career.”

Weir offered a bit of creative wisdom for the audience of music professionals. “If you’re always going for it, the muse is always leading you in some direction. If you have faith in your muse, you’re going to get somewhere-if you put shoulder to the wheel. Every artist of any stripe is a storyteller, and the way you weave it together represents what makes life worth living.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of famer and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is currently a member of Dead & Company, which features Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, all members of Local 6, along with singer-songwriter John Mayer of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) and Jeff Chimenti of Local 6. Weir will tour this spring with fellow Grateful Dead member Phil Lesh, also a member of Local 6.

Past recipients of the Music for Life Award have included business leaders, public officials and musicians, including Stevie Wonder of Local 5 (Detroit, MI) and Henry Mancini. It is awarded each January during the global music products gathering, The NAMM Show.

NAMM Show Hits the Mark!

I’ve been hearing about the January National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show for years. Many of the NAMM Show exhibitors advertise in our monthly International Musician (IM) so this year’s show seemed the perfect opportunity to thank our advertisers in-person and talk to other vendors who could become potential IM advertisers. Since the IM is received by all of our 80,000 AFM members in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, vendors who advertise in our official monthly journal are able to reach a very special segment of the market—working musicians who make their living making music. Continue reading

Local 257 All Stars a Hit at Nashville Summer NAMM

The National Association of Music Manufacturers (NAMM) held its summer trade show at Nashville’s Music City Center in July. NAMM, comprised of 9,200 member companies from 99 countries, is no small venue, and there were almost 500 exhibitors, 1,600 brands of instruments and accessories, and talent beyond belief. This year more than 13,000 people attended, including more than 500 Nashville Musicians Association Local 257 (Nashville, TN) members. Saturday July 11, NAMM opened its doors to musicians, songwriters, and sound and recording professionals during its Music Industry Day.

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Local 257 NAMM booth with Danny Gottlieb, Local 257 President Dave Pomeroy, Membership Coordinator Rachel Mowl, International Musician Managing Editor Antoinette Follett, Bob Popyk, and Beth Gottlieb.

One of the highlights of the show was hearing the “Local 257 All-Stars,” a group AFM Executive Board Member and Local 257 President Dave Pomeroy put together for the NAMM Top 100 Dealers Awards program. The group consisted of Pomeroy on bass, super drummer Steve Turner, cool sax man Denis Solee, funky keyboardist Will Barrow, and versatile guitar and harmonica stylist Pat Bergeson, who was invited to Nashville many years ago by Chet Atkins to play in his band. Pomeroy is a kick-ass player himself and the group  rocked. The special guest star was Local 257 member Duane Eddy, who had a string of hits in the late ’50s (“Rebel Rouser,” “Movin’ n’ Groovin’,” “Peter Gunn”), and still plays great to this day. The dealers loved it, and the Local 257 All Stars received as much applause and recognition as the dealers that were acknowledged.

The Nashville Musicians Association booth on the show floor drew a lot of attention. This was the perfect venue to educate people about the union. Pomeroy’s staff and volunteers answered many questions about the AFM and Local 257 and created a lot of buzz and interest in our union. AFM members did their part to make the AFM’s presence known and create some real musical excitement. NAMM CEO Joe Lamond said he was delighted to work with Pomeroy and Local 257, and looks forward to working with them again at next year’s summer show.

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Local 257 All Stars, the house band at the Summer NAMM Top 100 Dealer Awards, consisted of (L to R) Denis Solee on saxophone, Will Barrow on keyboard, Steve Turner on drums, Dave Pomeroy on bass, and Pat Bergeson on guitar and harmonica.

 

 

Nathan East

Nathan East Will Be Inducted into NAMM TEC Awards Hall of Fame

Bassist Nathan East will be inducted into the NAMM TEC Awards Hall of Fame by the NAMM Foundation. The induction will occur during the 30th Annual NAMM Technical Excellence & Creativity Award show on January 24th in Anaheim, California.

East has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry including: Daft Punk, Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Beyoncé. and many more. He has over 2,000 recordings making him one of the most recorded bassists of all time. He worked with Clapton on the multi-Grammy award winning Unplugged Album, and played bass on Daft Punk’s Grammy winning album “Random Access Memories.”

You can read our cover story on Nathan East and get a deeper look at the extraordinary bassist.

For more information and tickets visit www.nammfoundation.org