Category Archives: All News

Final Note: Matthew Lincoln Utal

Former Life Member. Saxophone
7/13/1926 – 9/5/2019

Matt Utal passed away at the age of 93 on September 5, 2019. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 13, 1926 to Eunice Bloom and Louis Wattel. Eunice later moved to California and married Michael Utal, who adopted Matt in 1931. He began to study piano as a little boy. Continue reading

Hooray for Hollywood: 18th Annual Music Fund Golf Tournament

On Monday, Oct. 28, 2019, please join us at the 18th Annual Music Fund Fall Classic Golf Tournament, our biggest fundraising event of the year, for a festive day of golf, fun, and music – all for a good cause!

All funds from the tournament will be used to assist musicians in a serious financial crisis and to sponsor youth music programs throughout Los Angeles. Continue reading

AB5: What it means for musicians

A message from RMALA:

We have been hearing about concern in the community about potential effects of AB5, the recently passed California legislation that is on track for our Governor’s signature.

AB5 was created in Sacramento to implement a California Supreme Court decision from last year, the Dynamex ruling, in which a unanimous court limited the ability to classify some workers as independent contractors. AB5 was essentially created to carve some exemptions out from the ruling, not to add classifications. So, doctors, plumbers, private tutors and some others are being exempted from the court ruling by AB5. Continue reading

Local 47 Board Endorses Medicare For All – Urgent Action Needed

This week the AFM Local 47 Executive Board passed a motion to endorse HR 1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019.

The Los Angeles City Council has introduced a resolution in support of Medicare for All, and we need to make sure it comes up for a vote. If the city passes this resolution, it will be the largest city in the country to make an official endorsement of Medicare for All. That’s huge — but we need your help to get there.

Click Here to Submit Your Comments
Use 19-0002-S157 for the Council File Number

It only takes 2 minutes, and every public comment helps. If enough L.A. residents flood their inbox with public comments demanding a vote, they will listen.

Help us get Los Angeles to join cities like Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and more in passing a resolution to support Medicare for All.

Final Note: Gary LeMel

Life Member. Bass
9/16/1938 – 7/6/2019

Gary LeMel, Former Warner Bros. Music Head & ‘The Bodyguard’ Soundtrack Mastermind, Dies at Age 80

by Billboard

Gary LeMel, the longtime film music executive who was once dubbed the “Godfather of the Modern Soundtrack” for his supervision of blockbuster albums including The Big Chill, Ghostbusters and The Bodyguard, died on July 6, 2019 at age 80. He is survived by his wife Maddy and three children. Continue reading

Musicians, actors & more come together at Labor Day celebration

More than 80 AFM Local 47 musicians marched in solidarity alongside friends from SAG-AFTRA, Actors’ Equity and many other local unions at the 40th annual Labor Day Parade at Banning Park on Monday.

Musicians proudly spent a day of solidarity with 3,000 members of the Southern California labor movement including actors, broadcasters, teachers, longshoremen, firefighters, teamsters, carpenters and more. Attendees of this year’s event, hosted by the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Labor Coalition, also included Congressmembers Nanette Barragan and Gil Cisneros, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who now serves as an L.A. County Supervisor.

We are all stronger together, and musicians appreciate the overwhelming solidarity and support shown by our union sisters and brothers for our #BandTogether campaign. Together, we win! 

View the photo gallery at bandtogetherafm.org

 

September 2019 Overture Online: Labor Day History

Inside This Issue:

    • Labor Day – Celebrating the People Who Build America // Join us Sept. 2 at the Labor Day Parade!
    • #BandTogether – Musicians across the nation are banding together in new media contract campaign
    • Woodstock Turns 50 – A look back at a concert that changed a generation

and more!

Download the FREE App:
  

Overture Online is optimized for reading via smartphone or tablet. For those without access to a smart device, issues may be viewed on a web browser here. Local 47 members may download archived pdf versions from the members section at afm47.org.