I’ve given the FolkBlog another new look. I hope you like it – if you’re reading via RSS, please come check it out. I’m proud of the new template. I’ve added another half-dozen rotating header images, most of which were taken by either me or my wife at Franklin Park Conservatory here in Columbus.
Hey crimestoppers – I looked at my logs and it seems that the URL www.folk-blog.com is now working to get to the front page of the blog (but not the individual posts).
Also, I have added the Live365 widget to the sidebar for the blog and removed the previous playlist thingie. The widget is way more cool. If you have a blog or a facebook profile, you too could feature the Festival Radio widget. Click on the widget to get the code.
Another report from the ongoing saga of the devolution of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. As I’ve noted in previous posts, I have sung in the Columbus Symphony Chorus for over 15 years.
The Columbus Symphony Orchestra announced last week that Music Director Junichi Hirokami has been terminated. Hirokami also sent a letter to the musicians announcing the decision.
Hirokami’s release was certainly not based on the quality of his on-stage performance. It seems to be based clearly on spite/revenge/inability to take criticism/irreconcilable differences (you pick one). Hirokami very publicly sided with musicians in their recent labor dispute with the Board, criticizing the quality of management in an article in the New York Times, most likely leading to this dismissal after the lockout ended in late September.
Hirokami was very clearly adored and respected by the musicians. As a casual observer, my observations were that he brought a discipline to their playing that previous conductors had generally been unable to draw out of them and they loved playing for him. In the performances where he conducted the Symphony Chorus, he was respectful, professional, and very clear about not only what he expected of us, but also very clear on leading us in that direction. He earned our respect by treating us with respect and encouragement. The bottom line – under Hirokami, the CSO was making world class music. Great hope had been placed on enhancing the CSO’s reputation with a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony Number 5, recorded live at two concerts last year in the midst of blizzard conditions before a sparse audience. Those I know who were at those concerts said it was magnificent, and early reports of the final recording have indicated the same thing.
The disk will be released tomorrow. In Japan only. Featuring a picture of Hirokami on the cover. There is no word yet on an American release date, or if it will be made available through the CSO. So, if anything, this will enhance Hirokami’s reputation as a budding star on the international conducting circuit.
So, to sum up the situation at the Columbus Symphony Orchestra:
- The musicians have taken a drastic pay cut after being locked out.
- Several key musicians bolted for greener pastures during the lockout.
- More key musicians are expected to bolt over the summer.
- The Music Director whom they respected and adored and drew out their best musical performances has now been fired by the board for siding with the musicians
- During a time when the morale will be lowest ever, there will be no Music Director and extreme animosity between the musicians and the Board as we begin another search, a search that will be conducted with minimal musician involvement, as the new contract they signed after the lockout takes away their veto power over the hiring of the Music Director, a clear effort by the Board to make the next maestro beholden to the Board, not the musicians.
- Given the state of the orchestra, and the expected attrition and lower pay, the chances of filling open musician positions with top talent is slim because word has gotten around about the condition of the orchestra in musician circles.
- With an anticipated lower quality of replacement musicians, not to mention the strained relation of the Board and musicians, the chances of hiring a truly gifted Music Director who can take the CSO to the next level are pretty slim. What up and coming maestro would want to come to Columbus and potentially derail his/her entire career from having stepped in this mess?
- Oh yeah – and in the midst of all this mess, they need to convince the public to come out and buy tickets. And the donors to step up their giving in the midst of recession. And establish an endowment as the only credible way forward to fiscal stability.
One drink-
- Every time Ty hugs someone
- Any time someone says any of the following words
- Hero
- Inspirational
- Special project
- Any time you hear the following phrases:
- “Let’s do some demo!”
- “Bus driver, move that bus!”
- “Hello, _______ family!”
- “Let’s move some furniture!”
- “That’s why we’re here this week.”
- “Let’s go see the rest of the house.”
- “We can make a difference.”
- Any time you see a corporate logo (Sears, Diamond Coach, etc.)
- One of the designers makes a trip to visit a celebrity
- One of the designers visits a local group connected with the family being helped
- Interview with volunteer connected with the family being helped
- The handover of the keys
Two drinks-
- Paige appears on camera without wearing something pink
- Celebrity musician visits for a very special performance
- Family sent to see favorite musician while on vacation
- Ty’s special project is something other than the master bedroom
After the family sees the house, gauge the reaction:
- One drink – speechlessness and weeping
- Two drinks – jumping up and down and screaming
- Finish your drink – total uncontrolled manic behavior
Finish your drink
- A major company pays the mortgage
- A major company pays the medical bills
- A major company donates food for the family
- “This has all been made possible by [insert company name].”
- “There’s only one thing left to say. Welcome home, ________ family, welcome home.”
Typically, this blog covers issues related to folk music, but I will ask your indulgence on a topic near to my heart – the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. I have sung in the Columbus Symphony Chorus for over 15 years, and the fact that the lockout is over is both good news and bad news.
A little history – the labor talks between the CSO musicians and management have historically been, shall I say diplomatically, contentious. This year’s talks appear to have been doubly so. The Orchestra has been over budget for the last several years and the Board has found it increasingly difficult to go to the same large donors over again to ask for more money.Â
The Board’s negotiating position coming in was that, despite the musicians taking a pay cut in the previous contract, this time they were going to have to take draconian pay cuts and the number of full-time musicians was to be reduced to 33 from 51 and the season drastically reduced in length. The musicians flatly refused, and commissioned a report from an outside auditor that indicated that most of the reason the Symphony was in the red was because of administrative and production and marketing cost overruns, not musician-related expenses.
Meanwhile, negotiations broke down and the Board terminated the musicians’ contract in early summer, before it was scheduled to end (which is why I feel justified in calling this a lockout).  Summer Picnic with the Pops performances covered by the contract were canceled. The musicians then rented out a local hall (Veterans Memorial Auditorium) and conducted several concerts to help the musicians earn some money to pay for expenses. They were helped by sympathetic musicians from other orchestras and several sympathetic conductors, as well as borrowed music (the Symphony locked them out of their music library).
During this period, the Musical Director of the CSO, Junichi Hirokami, came out very strongly in support of the musicians rather than management in a prominent article in the New York Times, a stance which may have put his job at risk.Â
So, now a settlement has been reached. Here are some of the salient details:
Cuts the weeks in the symphony season from 46 to 38
Keeps at 53 the number of full-time musicians
Reduces by 24 percent the average annual base salary for musicians (including reductions in the weekly base as well as the number of weeks paid). Base salary in the first year of the contract will be reduced to $42,180 from $55,200, though principal players can earn substantially more. The base rises to $44,610 in the final year of the contract.
Adjusts the health-care plan to save about 20 percent in insurance premiums
In addition to the pay cut, musicians will receive fewer pension contributions and a new health plan with reduced premiums but higher deductibles.
The bottom line on this deal is that it most likely marks the beginning of a slow artistic death for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Under Hirokami, the orchestra was making world class music, and there had been great hope that he would be able to take the orchestra to the next level. Now, there is some question as to whether Hirokami will fulfill the rest of his contract. Even if he fulfills the rest of his contract, it is possible that his support of the musicians has created such a split with management that he will not be signed to another contract and the orchestra will go on another search for a Musical Director, alienating the community, which has embraced Hirokami, and putting the orchestra in musical limbo, likely for another 2 years.
The other key issue is that the 25% pay cut will likely take its toll on the musicians. Already, it has been reported that several musicians have left Columbus for teaching or playing jobs in other orchestras. Given the reduced salaries under the new contract, it is possible that top-rank musicians may not be as willing to try out for the CSO, thus lowering the quality of the orchestra. In addition, many of the better players, having seen their salaries and benefits reduced so drastically, will likely bolt for orchestras elsewhere who compensate their orchestra more appropriately.
I sincerely hope that I am wrong and that the CSO can turn it around; however, all the actions of this Board leading up to and during the lockout, have left me with little belief that the current administration is capable of doing the job.  The Board has not only continually alienated the musicians and its Music Director, but also longtime contributors and the classical music community in Central Ohio.
Power was restored yesterday evening at Chez Woodsmeister. The station playlist will be updated this evening.
My wife and I got back late Sunday from attending the Philadelphia Folk Festival, as well as spending some quality time with my wife’s aunt, who lives in Philly and attended with us on Saturday. Among the highlights:
- Attending a workshop session where Pete Kennedy and Jake Shimabukuro went at the ukelele. I’ve heard Pete Kennedy many times, and it’s always a pleasure, and I’m pretty much slackjawed every time I see him. However, watching and hearing him jam with another master instrumentalist was fantastic. I was not familiar with Shimabukuro coming in, and I was just as amazed at his instrumental prowess.
- Finally seeing The Strangelings live. They are phenomenal, the new folk/rock supergroup for this generation. Their version of “Matty Groves” brought the house down.  Those of you in the northeast who have not heard them yet should make the effort, especially if you dig Fairport Convention-style folk/rock (with three-part female harmony!).
- Finally seeing Red Molly. I have been very impressed with their albums and they are just as talented and engaging live as they sound on their records.Â
- The fest was truly a mecca for those who enjoy three-part female harmony, and I enjoyed seeing The Refugees as well. They are also another folk supergroup, consisting of singer/songwriters Wendy Waldman (of Bryndle), Cindy Bullens and Deborah Holland. They provided an entertaining show performing many of the hits they had written for other singers (“Fishing in the Dark”, “Saving the Best for Last”) as well as some tunes they had written together.Â
- Seeing a workshop featuring Kathy Mattea, Jean Ritchie and Bill Vanaver trading coal songs. It was fascinating to hear from Kathy Mattea just how much she was in awe of Jean Ritchie, and it was great hearing them all trade great old songs.  My grandmother is one of the lucky ones who got out of West Virginia coal country, escaping a hard-scrabble tobacco farm near the Kanawha River to Akron, Ohio, where she worked as a domestic during the Depression before marrying my grandfather. My uncle drove a coal truck in eastern Ohio for many years. The subject of coal mining and its consequences and effects resonates with me. If this is a subject that resonates with you, do yourself a favor and pick up Mattea’s new album, Coal, because it is truly outstanding. Mattea played several songs from it during the workshop with her guitarist and with the fullband onstage durking the Saturday evening concert.
- Steve Earle and Allison Moorer. Really, what else needs said about that?
- The Saturday evening concert was pretty uneven. Tom Paxton and Janis Ian put on the kind of professional performances one would expect them to turn in. Ian’s voice still sounds as good as it did at “Seventeen.” Kathy Mattea seemed pretty humbled at her acceptance by the folk music community she’s received from doing the Coal album, and did an excellent full band show featuring tracks from her new album as well as the obligatory hits, “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” and “Love at the Five and Dime.” The Felice Brothers were energetic and fun, whirling about the stage liked crazed maniacs. I’d never heard or seen them before, and I will definitely be tracking down some of their music for the station. Craig Bickhardt played several of the maudlin country hits he’d written for other artists. Espers was awful. It was like they were trying to be Pentangle without the same level of instrumental skill but with the added bonus of long droning harmonica notes and extra high levels of fuzz. I can’t believe they were booked as the lead in to Judy Collins. We’d had a long day, and couldn’t imagine sitting through enough of Espers to get to Judy Collins, so we left before seeing Judy Collins. I’m sure seeing Judy Collins would have redeemed the whole thing, but we’d hit the wall.
- Tempest was excellent as always on Sunday afternoon, getting the whold crowd up to do a circle dance during their energetic set. I love seeing Tempest – they’ve got folk cred and rock and roll stage moves.
- I saw part of a workshop on Sunday afternoon featuring Pete Kennedy, Anthony da Costa, Samuel James, and Oscar Lopez. Oscar Lopez was phenomenal, and with Pete Kennedy strumming along – sublime. I was not familiar with Samuel James, but you will be hearing him on the station very soon as well.
- We were too exhausted from getting up at 4 am to catch our plane to Philly, and we wanted some time to visit with my wife’s aunt, so we missed the Friday night show, and our plane departure time prevented us from seeing the Sunday evening show. It would have been nice to see Al Stewart, Compadres (James Keelaghan and Oscar Lopez), Michael Doucet avec Beausoleil and Great Big Sea, as well as Jake Shimabukuro’s main stage set.  I did catch a little bit of Alan Doyle from GBS with James Keelaghan with Oscar Lopez doing a workshop on Sunday afternoon before we had to leave.
All in all, we heard some great music, got a lot of sun, and enjoyed visiting with relatives.
I just found out that my friend from college, Chris Clapp, was the production designer for a movie, The Horseman. The trailer is up now at http://www.horsemanthefilm.com and it looks like it could be cool – a very dark period piece.
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