Hello List Members,

Juneís email list letter is coming out a little early to advertise my radio
interview
tomorrow night, and the Wildstringz show next week! It is packed with a lot of
other
interesting and exciting stuff. Itís a classic issue. Enjoy!
--------------------------------------

NO SOAP RADIO!

Tomorrow night, Thursday, May 27th, I will be on the radio for several hours
beginning at
1:30 A.M. (so actually, it will be Friday, early morning). I will be on the Joey
Reynolds
show, along with Joe Deninzon to promote the Wildstringz show, and to have a
great time
playing and talking. Here are the details:

Joey Reynolds Show
Early Friday morning, 1:30 A.M. until...whenever (could be several hours)
WOR, 710 on the AM dial in New York

The show is carried nationally and possibly internationally. Look here for
information:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22joey+reynolds%22
--------------------------------------

WILDSTRINGZ!

The debut of Wildstringz is almost here! Wildstringz is the overall name of
three musical
groups led by electric violist, Martha Mooke, electric violinist, Joe Deninzon
(with
Stratospheerius), and yours truly, electric cellist, Von Cello. We are pulling
out the
stops for this show. It is at a top New York club with a great sound system and
excellent
food. Please come for an evening of sonic amazement and good vibes. Here are the
details:

When: June 2nd, Wednesday

Where: The Cutting Room, 19 W. 24th St., 212-691-1900

Cover: $10 for all 3 shows!

Martha Mooke 8 pm
Von Cello 9 pm
Joe Deninzon and Stratospheerius 10 pm

There may be a jam at the end if time permits.
--------------------------------------

CLASSICAL CORNER

This came in this month from a fine violist (wife of a famous violist):

Yup... know all about you. Actually, my introduction to you was through
a cellist friend who played your American Etudes on her recitals she
performed around the country. I then got the Dalton transcriptions and
played them here and there (I'm a violist). My husband is Danny
Seidenberg, former violist with Turtle Island String Q. We're big fans
of yours.

~Daryl S. www.daryls.com

And this from a fine electric violist:

I discovered your site and read with interest about your work. Please feel
free to check out my electronic press kit about my work on viola at:
http://www.sonicbids.com/rozanna
Congrats on all your great work.
Rozanna

And this from a young rock cellist:

My name is Nick Hoag. I'm a 17 year old cellist from Seattle Washington. I
love rock
music like Audioslave, Metallica, The White Stripes, and many others. I love to
play
their rock music, I'm constantly listening to cd's and picking up the different
lines on
my cello. I was wondering how you got started into rock cello, and what I can
do to
follow in your footsteps. My classical performance is pretty solid, I'm
principal cellist
of the nationally recognized Tacoma Youth Symphony, I have placed in the top 10
at the
Washington State solo contest for the last three years straight, and I love
playing rock
music on my cello, it's so unique. I'm in desperate need of advise on how to
get in with
bands, how to audition and let people know that rock cello, well, rocks. Thanks
for your
time and I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

And this from a rock cellist from Scotland:

my name is peter gregson, and i am a 17 year old cellist. I have just
commisioned an electric cello with MIDI capabilities, and i own a synth
module and some delay stuff etc. my brother is a very good guitarist,
and next september, we are going to start writing/recording a CD we've
been thinking about for a wee while. i was wondering if I could send
you a copy when its done? i'm a big fan of what you do - reading some
things on your site really helped me realise that i needed to look in
new directions!
--------------------------------------

THE MISSING LINK

Von Cello gets some recognition from Manhattan School of Music:
http://www.msmnyc.edu/ouralumni/classnotes/#1980s

Minskyís music listed in a curriculum from Korea:
http://www.abrsm.com.tw/practical_info/viola_info/2001-2002_viola_g8.htm

Suzuki, Popper, Piatti...and Minsky!
http://www.netmusicalinstruments.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Cello_Tutors_an\
d_Studies_32.html

David Johnstone strikes again! (playing Minsky)
http://www.universia.es/portada/actualidad/noticia_actualidad.jsp?noticia=53347

Avner Levy strikes again! (links to Von Cello)
http://www.chutzpahmusic.com/avnerlevy/AvnerLevyLinksText.htm
----------------------------------------

MUSICAL TIP

Last month I posted comments from Joe Deninzon that prompted several people to
respond.
Iíll post some of their comments below. But first, this is some of what Joe
said:

ìthere is nothing wrong with hamming it up for the audience. this means
communication,
whether physical or verbal, wearing something cool and outrageous. in summary,
musicians
need to get hip and reach out to people. get off their high horses and learn to
perform.
we must simply expand people's horizons.î

Arthur Krieck wrote:
Yes I am one of those teachers who tells students not to move a lot when
performing, but
the reason I do it is so that when a performer DOES move or make a gesture, it
actually
has some meaning and communicates something to the audience. Also it forces the
performer
to put the meaning into the voice, the playing, the music! Too much of
contemporary pop
performance in my opinion is marred by meaningless gyrations and gestures (and
excessive
"production values") that have nothing to do with the song or the words, by
performers
wearing "costumes" in performance rather than clothes. Could it be that the
gyrations,
ugly clothes, fireworks etc. the "showbiz", are to distract the audience from
noticing how
poor the quality of the music and performing really is? It certainly looks and
sounds like
that to me a lot of the time! So to me it's not a matter of "getting off your
high horse"
but being specific about what you're doing in front of an audience!

Ira Kaplin wrote:
As a kid I was initially disappointed when I heard that Willie Mays would
deliberately wear his hat loosely so that it would fly off if he ran in
fast to make a catch - just to please the fans. Later I realized that -
since Willie is playing in front of a crowd, not simply as pure sport or
competition - this was in fact just another form of entertainment, and if
this technique increased the entertainment value, that was fine. There are
tradeoffs, I suppose each must decide where to draw the line. When people
started coming to hear Jackie Mason at shul not because he was an
inspirational rabbi but because he was funny, that was a signal to do
comedy instead of religion. When people notice a performer's body more
than the music, the performer is still "succeeding" as an entertainer, but
perhaps not in the form of entertainment that was originally intended.
--------------------------------------

CLUB DATE CORNER

Wow, my post last month about a group of ìRussianî musicians sparked a firestorm
in the
clubdate business. A very heated discussion broke out on my guestbook involving
some of
these musicians. The reverberations have been heard all the way up to the desk
of the
president of Local 802!

For the record, I did not mean to imply that it is only Russians who have been
undercutting the union wage. And I did not mean to imply that all Russians do
this. In
every group of people there are those who see the value in people organizing for
the
benefit of all, and those who are out for themselves.

See the next section for a blow by blow account of the discussion that broke out
on the
guestbook.
------------------------------------

GUESTBOOK GUEST OF THE MONTH! (http://www.voncello.com/asp/guestbook.asp)

There were many posts about the clubdate issue this month on the guestbook. Here
are some
of the highlights!

Lev Zhurbin started it off with this:

In your latest newsletter, in the "CLUB DATE CORNER", you write the following:
"The string
club date business in New York is now getting competition from Russian
immigrants who are
willing to play at parties for a fraction of union scale. If the union does not
start to
take this threat seriously, it may spell the end of musicians being able to make
a living
playing club dates."

I am very disappointed with this statement. It is a borderline racist remark. As
a Russian
immigrant and an American citizen, I resent this fully.

I responded:

Lev, I'm sorry you were offended. I did not know you even did club dates. But
what I am
talking about is a group of players, who happen to be Russian, who are going out
and doing
club dates for as low as 85% below union scale!

Lev said:

Rest assured that I'm not one of those musicians and that the company with whom
I work
most of the time does indeed pay close to union scale (and on occasion
*better*). I am a
very satisfied employee.

Editorís note:

It came out later that Lev does indeed work for the company that I was referring
to,
although according to Levís figures, they pay more like 30 - 60% below union
scale, rather
than 85%. But that still allows them to undercut union musicians and take away
work. Lev
showed no remorse at all for aggressively undercutting the wage set by the
musicians'
union.

Paul Gurevitch (the top clubdate violinist in New York City) replied by email
after
reading Levís comments:

We should not back off or apologize for characterizing them as "Russians". There
is
nothing "racist" about it. I am Russian too, and it doesn't bother me. Secondly,
if this
isn't stopped, the whole union goes down the drain. An effort should be made to
get them
into the union, and their leaders also.

Alex Kharmalov (another of the so called ìRussiansî) boldly stated:

I MAKE THE RULES FOR MY OWN LIFE -- NOT SOME UNION BILLSHIT STUPID ASSHOLES.
Forgive me
for the all-caps. The Union thing really makes me puke, and it has nothing with
being a
Russian, or wanting or not wanting to get paid according to some geometrical
scale for
people who have no brains of their own.

Diane (a top union harpist) said:

The problem Aaron and I see is this: The whole world loves a bargain, but
below-wholesale
can never be the starting price. Retail is essential. Let's call union scale
retail: the
problem is that the clubdate industry is being flooded with wholesalers. As this
is not an
enormous industry, there is a finite point when this deluge will redefine the
market
price.

The point we are making is that it really is possible to earn a fair wage, and
anyone who
never tries to pay his or her employees what the market can bear is not
respecting his or
her employees. The damage, sadly does not end there. And because that damage has
permeated
a market which can support union scale, you better believe we (as in union
musicians or
those who have earned a living wage) are pissed!

Greg Thymius (excellent union woodwind player) said:

One thing I haven't seen in all these non-union discussions: what happens when
your
client, who can't afford union to pay union wages, decides after your job that
he or she
cannot afford to pay the agreed-upon price? To whom do you go?

Zack (soundman extraordinaire on many of our clubdates) summed it this way:

i don't think anyone has a problem with russian string players, i personally
know a
handful of them and i find them very professional. this whole argument is really
about the
people on the top walking away from these high profile events with a few extra
thousands
of dollars in their pockets while the musicians starve. i say the russians
should stand
with other musicians by at least charging what they are worth, and that's union
scale or
above.

The last word, though, has to go to my old friend and bandmate Perry Seigle, who
said:

I bet the dockworkers union can kick the shit out of the musicians union. ;-)
--------------------------------------

THE ENDPIN

(The endpin is the metal piece attached to the bottom of a cello,
so in this final section I will pin some final thoughts.)

Andy Lowe, the bassist who will be playing with Von Cello at the Cutting Room,
related the
following little story that makes a big point about the state of culture in
America today:

Andy was talking to a musician who was a great jazz player. He was also an
expert on jazz
history. He could listen to any jazz recording and know instantly the time
period, and the
part of the country it was from. One day he was talking to Andy about how wrong
it was for
Americans to ignore jazz because jazz is the quintessential American art form.

Andy said, ìWell, you know how it is: Masterpiece Theatre is on TV, but most
people would
rather watch smack-down wrestlingî.

The guy angrily replied, ìWhatís wrong with wrestling?!î

Von Cello
http://www.voncello.com/
http://www.cdstreet.com/artists/voncello
http://musicdish.com/contributors/voncello/index.php3
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/voncello_offtopicgroup/

P.S. Please spread the word! Forward this email to a friend!

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Thank you!)



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