Amanda Palmer, in her blog post today, has reversed her position and is now PAYING all of her participating musicians. Additionally, musicians who have already performed will be paid retroactively. Here’s a small sample of what Ms. Palmer wrote:

“the fact that we all have access to each other and CAN discuss this stuff in realtime is what has MADE my success possible, even if it means i’m tied to the stake every once in a while. i’ll take it.

for better or for worse, this whole kerfuffle has meant i’ve spent the past week thinking hard about this, listening to what everyone was saying and discussing. i hear you. i see your points. me and my band have discussed it at length. and we have decided we should pay all of our guest musicians. we have the power to do it, and we’re going to do it. (in fact, we started doing it three shows ago.)”

Thank you Ms. Palmer!

By Rod Taylor

A year or so ago I was one of the casualties of our current economic crisis. Since industry today looks like a deserted mine field, I decided to see if there was a job I could do that wasn’t subject to old age or being shipped offshore! My first thought was my first love, music and entertaining.

It’s no secret that club work has, for many years, been sparse to say the least, so I decided to take a look at what was happening in the local retirement communities. That was an eye opener to say the least. My preliminary investigation showed me that in Colorado, the retirement industry is one of the fastest growing industries we have, and that across the United States, 10,000 people per day are retiring!
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Scott martin has performed professionally in a wide variety of musical styles and roles. As a studio musician in New York City with Carly Simon, he sang background vocals and played synthesizers on the hit, Coming Around Again, which was also the theme song to the movie Heartburn, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. He worked with Mariah Carey on her first recording session and her first album, as well as with singers Philip Bailey of Earth Wind and Fire and Robert Lamm of Chicago. He wrote and produced the title track to the album, Magnetic, by the jazz group Steps Ahead, featuring vocalist Dianne Reeves and saxophonist Michael Brecker. He has worked as a jazz pianist in Washington D.C., Boston, Paris, and the Caribbean. In Colorado, he has been the house pianist at Denver’s El Chapultepec, Mel’s Bar and Grill, and the Stanley Hotel, performed at Jazz Aspen and played with local artists ranging from Hazel Miller to the Hot Tomatoes Swing Orchestra to the salsa band Conjunto Colores. He currently leads the jazz band, Sundays at Vic’s, whose debut DVD/CD 2 disc set was a finalist in the 2008 Independent Music Awards.
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The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) and the major recording companies struck a new three-year labor deal just before midnight on October 27, 2011. The new agreement, which becomes effective upon ratification, calls for scale wage increases across the board, as well as other economic improvements, in contrast to the current climate of deep concessionary bargaining in many industries.
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Terri L. Fisher, President
5 Star Talent and Entertainment

Hard economic times provide the best reason for a company or organization to celebrate employees and volunteers who have worked hard all year under trying circumstances. Their efforts need to be recognized and rewarded.

Bands, small jazz ensembles, guitar players, comedians, jugglers, cultural talent, celebrity impersonators, living statues, handwriting analysts, caricaturists–even cooking demonstrations can be brought to you.
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