I have a question from long, long ago...

[MineralMan]

Back when I was in high school, at about 16 years of age, I was a choir member and occasional vocal soloist at the church I attended. A few times, people from that church asked me to sing at their weddings. I did, and received a token payment for my efforts. It didn't happen often, and I just did it as a favor to people I knew in that church.

So, a friend of my fathers, who was a professional musician of sorts, told my father that I should stop singing at weddings and that my name was on the "Do not hire" list. I assume the local Musicians Union had a list of musicians they deemed to be scabs. My father, I'm sure told the guy to mind his own business, in some words or other.

Well, I wasn't a professional musician. People who knew me from that church had asked me to sing at their weddings. I was a kid. I doubt I would have qualified for union membership in the first place. I was an amateur.

Was this listing necessary? Was it useful in any way? None of the people who asked me to sing would ever see such a list, and I wasn't out looking for gigs in the first place.

I wasn't bothered by this at the time, and still am not. I've never belonged to a union, because I've always been self-employed. I'm just wondering what the reason for this was at the time. Any ideas?

[SheilaT]

1. There's something that doesn't feel completely

right about your name being on a "Do not hire" list if you were only 16 and just doing the occasional wedding. Was there a musician's union that totally controlled all music-for-hire in your community? I doubt if you know for sure, and I doubt even more if that could have been the case -- a local musician's union which totally controlled all local music for hire in your community.

If the local musician's union was unhappy with your free-lancing, I wonder why they didn't just contact you to discuss it with you. Of course, you might not have been receptive to such a conversation, but to simply blackball you like that, if such a blackball could even have been effective, seems a bit strange.

Not that I'm a musician of any kind. I have been a union member, but only through the workplace. Hopefully someone else can shed more light on this.

[MineralMan]

4. I don't know much about that local union.

It was in Ventura County in California, but this was 1962, so I don't think it's possible to know the answer at this point. I doubt they had a lock on music for hire at the time. Especially in the little farm town I lived in. I kept on singing at the occasional wedding for my voluntary $10 fees, though, until I graduated and moved away. Haven't done any wedding singing since.

[Omaha Steve]

2. Doesn't sound like it is a right to work state?

Hard to say without knowing more. Age could have been a factor. This union person may have even been misleading and your name wasn't really on the list. If I were you I'd call the local musicians union and ask the requirements of joining, even though you have no desire to join.

[MineralMan]

3. Ah...I was 16 at the time. I'm 65 now. You can do the math.

I didn't care at the time. I had no interest in performing professionally, so I didn't ask the union anything. Nobody from the union contacted me. What was interesting is that local guy who told my father that I shouldn't be singing at weddings. My dad didn't suffer fools gladly.

I don't live anywhere near that area any longer, and the local union, at the time, was in a city half an hour away from my little town.

It seemed silly at the time. It seems silly now. Blacklisting a 16-year-old church choir singer? I was hoping someone could give me an idea of how and why such a thing might have happened. It didn't matter then, and it doesn't really matter now. I'm just curious.

[jdlh8894]

5. If you were getting paid

whether it be just a token,you are no longer an amateur. In the mid-60's this happened to me,also. We were 13 - 16 years old. Played @ community centers and local gatherings. Maybe make $80 total. The union came after us as kids.

[MineralMan]

6. So, is there an age requirement to join an AFM local?

[jdlh8894]

8. Back then - No

Today,I have no knowledge of that. I just remember that I got pretty upset when they wanted $5 of my $20!

[MineralMan]

7. Seems counter-productive to me.

I just went to the AFM site. They have a program that waives the initiation fees for musicians under 21, if all members of a musical group join at the same time. I don't know if such a thing was in place in 1962. I sort of doubt it, but there's no way to tell. I'm sure I never made enough money in total to have been able to pay the dues.

It was ridiculous. Now, had I opted for a career as a musician, I'd have joined the union, no doubt. It was an option I passed on, and I went in other directions. But, at 16, joining the Musicians Union was not something that I'd have ever done.