A Jerusalem Journal (continued)

By Michael Lewyn

Visited Yad Vashem- only real disappointment of trip. Thought we would see full museum; instead just listened to boring speech by Israeli ambassador to Poland, and had brief service in Hall of Remembrance (dark room with names of death camps on it). Walked briefly through the sculpture garden. Then we had lunch at Jerusalem Mall (not real interesting - had wretched attempt at Pad Thai), went straight to rally.

Rally was in Jewish Quarter of Old City, mostly settled in Middle Ages. Totally fascinating. Rally had about 250 paying customers, plus Israelis just hanging around. In Hurva Square, main square of Jewish Quarter. Misc. people spoke briefly. Star of show (in terms of substance) was Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Orthodox rabbi whose email list I am on and who emigrated from NYC to Israel. Riskin said (according to my notes) that “one of the most immoral sentences ever written was turn the other cheek. And one of the most moral sentences ever written was if a man comes to kill you, kill him first.” Other speakers included mother of bombing victim, Natan Sharansky (Soviet refusenik turned Israeli pol), Sen. Torricell of NJ- none of them said anything I considered memorable.

Looked through papers online the next day. Major Israeli papers had small stories on Rally; no international coverage though. Maybe next year they will do better.

Before rally, learned that Israel has own conspiracy theorists: some guy was selling table full of books with titles like “Who Killed Yitzchak Rabin?” (His conclusion: Shimon Peres did it, or more specifically got his former bodyguard, who later become Rabin’s bodyguard, to fire fatal shots).

Then walked through Jewish Quarter- fascinating! No obvious space for cars, though I saw one or two. Most could barely accommodate one car, and streets are maze not grid or cul de sac. Typically street pattern: each street flanked by numerous courtyards containing apts. Most residents (except richer ones) live in walkups. A few had apt entrances directly accessible from street; looked to me like latter group richer, had more space. (Not like USA where due to security concerns apt. dwellers want common entrances etc. to protect them from street crime). Lots of mini shuls, most interesting looking were Karaite synagogue (which I suspect was usually closed- Karaism is obscure Jewish sect that rejected Talmud and favored literal interpretation of Bible - very popular in early Middle Ages, dwindled when people realized that literalism led to some not-very-fun rules, like freezing in dark on Sabbath). And Ramban synagogues (founded by great Jewish Bible commentator Ramban, aka Nachmanides). Bought some souveniers here too of course.

So by 5:30 I remembered I had dinner date w/cousin-no vehicles inside Jewish Quarter, instead one goes to gates. So I bailed out of group, went to gate. Was tempted to take cab, but saw bus and pounced. Now you might ask “isn’t it dangerous to take buses”? Tis true that terrorists do like to bomb them. But odds really pretty minimal if you are talking about just a ride or two. 1 million people board Israeli buses each day, and maybe 50 a year get blown up (100 over two years, in fact). So even if I was doing this every day my odds would be one in 20,000. But I wasn’t. Real odds are 1 in 20,000 divided by 365 (about 1 in 7 million), which is very low indeed. I figured odds would be equally high of cab driver being terrorist, kidnapping me and killing me (i.e. almost zero).

I also wanted to take the bus for a couple of political reasons. First of all, I figured the bus company needed my solidarity and my money just as much as the souvenir sellers, maybe more so since it had gotten worse press. Second, as a transit activist at home I felt a special desire to support buses. (I wasn’t only American riding bus either). Fare was 5.2 shekels, or about 1.25 in American dollars, cheaper than in most big American cities (Atlanta is 1.75, Buffalo 1.45, NYC 1.50)

Then I walked to Dov’s apt., about a 40 minute walk. Went through relatively lush area called Talbiya, lots of street trees, cute little shops, presidential house nearby. Got sense this was upper class area. Housing stock still not that much different from rest of Jerusalem– small apartment houses, probably 3 or 4 stories. President’s house surrounded by walls and bushes, totally invisible from street unlike US White House. Not sure whether this improves security. At any rate, had dinner w/Dov and family and had nice time-noticed apt. a bit small, and that bathroom in separate room from shower/tub, which struck me as kind of a nuisance. Dov & his wife don’t drive, but his son had car, dropped me off at hotel. I noticed that Jerusalem at night looks better than in day, in sense that lighting of signs conceals monotony of architecture (i.e. that everything brown). Noticed place named “Caf? Hillel”-amused me, because I realized that if Hillel alive today could sue for misappropriation of name.

After getting home, went to supermarket to get soda, extra gifts. Prices higher than in US for most but not all items. Among things I’ve seen in kosher shops in America, prices in US comparable to prices in Israel, instead of being higher due to import costs- I guess this means exchange rates don’t favor tourists.
Again, I was happy to be supporting the non-souvenir parts of the Israeli economy - I figure most American tourists pretty much limit their spending to hotels and Judaica, hardly my idea of the perfect foundations for a viable economy. (On the other hand, I’m not sure supermarkets are any more critical).

Noticed no pay phones- there were street phones but they only accept (1) phone cards or (2) collect phones. What a pain! (I almost made a collect call to Dov when I could not find his apt within the building address he had given me- but then I remembered I had address book which had better directions)

Wednesday - August 14: Began with faux pas. We (Rally visitors) mostly ate breakfast together at hotel, since it was included in price. Someone asked me what it was like to be Jew in Arkansas. Told him I had no anti-Semitism issue, but that I was slightly put off when I went to public events and heard the Jesus’ name mentioned at end of prayer. I later learned that the fellow I was speaking to was a Jew for Jesus (Messianic Jews, I believe they call themselves today). Oops!

Thought about blowing off rest of group, taking bus to Yad Vashem and seeing whole place. Instead I decided to go with group; BIG mistake.

First place group went was Shaarey Zedek hospital. Incredibly nauseating and depressing; I listened to nurse talk about her experiences with suicide bombings, how some hospital staffers had had relatives die (she even brought out victim who survived one, talked about what it was like - feeling body bursting into flame, thinking this was last moment of life, praying, then being rescued),

Listening to nurse was emotional low point of trips - not just because of specific stuff she said, more the tone - I could tell she couldn’t numb herself, her emotional nerve endings were totally raw. It seems to me that if you can’t be desensitized to horrors of war,s you are probably not going to be able to win it - especially since Israelis, to a greater extent than their enemies, can always bail out and lead more comfortable lives in America. Unless there is peace soon, I feel confident in saying that that nurse will, by 2005, be either in America or in a mental hospital (assuming of course that she doesn’t get blown up).

One or two things she said did grab me, and made me feel very depressed about Israel’s chance of survival. She yammered about how every human life is precious; it struck me that if Americans had had that attitude in WW 2 (when, as I recall, we dispatched 100,000 each in Hiroshima and Dresden) Americans would now be speaking German and Japanese. She said war had been going on for TWO WHOLE YEARS! In Afghanistan, and probably in other places, war has gone on for 30 years and people deal with it (albeit not happily, I am sure). My spin: Israelis (and maybe even affluent societies generally) have a limited ability to handle this sort of horror; their comfort makes them soft. All in all, I began to wonder if Israel had much of a chance to survive.

Then we went on tour of hospital - we saw bomb shelters (now used for storage of stuff usable for chemical attacks) and parking lot (which can be used for chemical decontamination). Doctor who took us there seemed a bit less messed up than nurse, mentioned that there were occasional bombings in 70s.

While all this was going on I was getting dehydrated, starting to feel lightheaded-even though hospital inside, air conditioning was not in every corridor. I guess climate like this does not agree with me.

After all this, went to Ir David (City of David)- archaelogical site technically outside Old City, but really (according to tour guides) where Jerusalem started. Not sure whether this is supported by real archaeological evidence; guides said they identified this place based on calculations from Bible, which troubles me because relevant portions of Bible (Kings and Chronicles) probably written more for theological purposes than for historical purposes. At any rate, this area is supposedly where David built Jerusalem and made it his capitol. Every IDF soldier, after enlisting, is brought here, as if to show them: “This is why we’re fighting - to preserve the Jewish state that began here.” (Not sure if non-Jewish IDF soldiers brought here). Ir David a serious disappointment- everything we saw was reconstructed, kind of like Colonial Williamsburg. I liked the Ramat Rachel site better, it was more real, or at least looked more real-I thought I was seeing things that actually were 2800 years old (not that I really know a darn thing about it).

Then went to Hebrew University, site of last big suicide bombing. We had little service where various people (most notably embassies of Korea, Japan, USA) had sent condolence wreaths. Service was in courtyard where victims brought immediately after bombing. Rabbi gave brief speech, lit memorial candle. On the way back to tour bus I noticed Hebrew University law school, which was of course unscathed. (This fact begs for tasteless lawyer joke, I suppose - but I’m not going to be person to create it, at least not here, not now).

Interesting fact (according to tour guide, whose veracity may be iffy): 25% of slots at Hebrew Univ. reserved for Arabs.

After HU, we listened to one of Sharon’s assistants yammer; man spoke very well but was totally self-contradictory. On one hand, he vowed to bring terrorists to justice. On the other, he said that if Israel just “isolated” Arafat, maybe he’d go away (and presumably be replaced by someone nicer, ha ha ha). I was filled with contempt for Israeli politicians after listening to him - thought they had no idea what they were doing. But to be fair they may be in impossible situation; they might be afraid of wrath of USA if they played by USA type rules (i.e. bombing the hell out of Arabs till their cities are total rubble a la Dresden or Hiroshima). He said Israel “presenting a model of a fighting democracy”, “democracy has a future”, urged us to move to Israel. Unfortunately, none of these comments made me more hopeful.

Wed. night was more uplifting by far. Forgot about politics, went to wedding of distant cousin (who lived in Hebron, I think) south of city with cousin Dov- first Orthodox wedding I had ever been to (actually only 4th wedding I had been to in life, unless there are weddings I have been to as kid and forgot about). Took bus to wedding- that seemed to be what Dov wanted, and I sure wasn’t going to more of a wuss than my 70 something cousin (plus as a foreigner, I figured I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to exercise my own judgment if I had a native to defer to). Very different in a variety of ways from what I was used to:

*Almost nobody wearing a tie. I saw no tuxes, 2 men wearing dark suits (one from St. Louis, one was groom’s father), 3 or 4 others (myself included) in sport coats and ties. Groom wore open white shirt and white robe (called a kittel) over it. Most people didn’t even tuck in shirt; dominant uniform untucked white shirt.

*So many guests with long hair and beards (more likely Hasids than Hippies) that I thought I was at a Jesus impersonators convention. (In fact, I thought bride’s father looked roughly like Jesus would look like if he had lived to be 50 and was balding and wearing glasses).

*Groom walked down steps, accompanied by men playing music. Rabbi (also no tie) said something in Hebrew (I think reciting marriage contract terms), various other people said other stuff in Hebrew (I think prayers). Then we sat down and ate.

*No coed dancing- men dance with men in long circle, women with women. I participated. (Dov later explained that this was customary in Orthodox weddings, but it was not “ultra-Orthodox”-at ultra-Orthodox weddings, men and women don’t just dance in separate rooms, they eat in separate rooms).

Met numerous distant relatives, whom I liked in varying degrees.

Thursday - August 15: Began day with intense weirdness. Sat at hotel breakfast table with various missionaries, Jews for Jesus, etc. (they were only people in hotel restaurant at time). They were all anoiting each other with olive oil; I accepted this not to be rude, but wiped it off as soon as I went to the buffet table since I suspected that even though I wasn’t enough of a Talmud scholar to KNOW it wasn’t appropriate, I guessed that I was on the wrong side of a line here. Then they started debating whether they wanted Third Temple to come or not; one said yes because it was necessary for Christ to come again, another said no because she did not like animal sacrifices and because Antichrist might come. Rather than presenting the Jewish perspective, I thought this would be an excellent time to declare self finished.

Read Israeli papers (or English language edition of same) in morning: saw poll that 50% of Palestinians Arabs optimistic about future, only 30% pessimistic. (By contrast, Israelis less optimistic- obviously Arabs think they are winning). Same poll showed when asked who was winning, Israelis split evenly about “us”, “the Arabs”, and “no one.” My interpretation: Arabs think that if they randomly murder enough Jews without fear of collective retaliation, Jews will get demoralized and move. Nothing convinced me that they are wrong.

Then walked to Yehid Moshe, first Jewish area outside Old City (built in 1840s by British philanthropist). Red roofs, so only hint of non-brown color in Jerusalem housing. Very comfortable looking area- lots of small gardens outside apts. (not as good as Buffalo gardens to be sure, but climate not great for gardening I guess). Still apartments rather than detached houses. Housing in courtyards; people had cars but they were all in parking lot far from apts. - city very much a walking city, as you can guess (though lots of jerks park on sidewalk).

Saw Old City from Yehid Moshe- walked up, discovered Armenian Quarter. I walked about a block, was set upon by would-be tour guides in search of my money. Decided that since I had to leave for airport in a couple of hours and was running out of shekels, I had neither the time nor the $ for this sort of thing, so I quickly bailed out. Based on my guidebook, Armenian Quarter wasn’t all that interesting anyhow- general urban design seemed pretty much same as Jewish Quarter.

Then walked towards hotel, tried to think of something interesting I could see in last hour or two. Went to Skirball Museum (tiny archaeological museum near Reform rabbinical seminary) and saw a few artifacts from Biblical times. Most interesting- a “victory stele” by some local pagan king talking about how he defeated and killed king of Israel (northern kingdom of Isreal) and of “house of David.” (presumably southern kingdom, covered southern half of what is now Israel) Bible says, by contrast, same two kings were killed by palace coup. Wonder who’s lying? I suspect pagan- he might have defeated them in battle, claimed to have killed them just to brag. But I guess we will never know. At any rate, this stele does corroborate that these kingdoms existed.

Also saw idols from territory of Jewish tribe Dan. Concrete evidence of idolatry, or just evidence that pagans lived nearby? I guess we will never know.

Then went to airport- much less security on way back than on way to Israel. El Al equally careful re checking checked bags, but didn’t make us take off sport coats or even empty pockets (by contrast, at LaGuardia you have to empty ALL pockets and take off shoes twice). Sat next to American turned Israeli on flight; my sense was that war had pretty much gotten to her hard-bolstered my lack of confidence in Israel’s fighting spirit. Got home to NYC Thursday night, spent night w/friend, came home Friday night.

Overall, glad I went - but probably a little more pessimistic than when I came.

Tits Equals Hits

It seems like the impact of The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is just now starting to be felt. The legislation ended 62 years of reasonable regulation by the federal government’s communications arm, the FCC, and was originally intended to increase competition on the airwaves, among other things. All you have to do is turn on the radio to find out that not only is there not more competition, there is a full-on monopoly by the beast with an insatiable appetite–Clear Channel Communications.
One of the major acts of deregulation was to allow companies to gobble up as many markets as they could–no more cap on how many radio stations they could own. Y’know–to inspire competition. As of this summer, Clear Channel now owns about 1200 radio stations. I think they put it best, “Clear Channel is radio.”

One glimpse of hope may be LPFM– Low Power FM Service. The FCC, pre-Bush was very supportive of this initiative which would allow what used to be known as “pirate” radio stations to operate. Basically anyone could operate one, as long as it was not more powerful than 100 watts. This would be an invaluable tool for church groups, Hispanic advocacy groups, so-called Patriot movements, etc. But rumor has it that new FCC chief, Michael Powell, ain’t down with the LPFM. But its not just the Right that is unhappy with normal folks having a voice on the airwaves. NPR hasn’t exactly been supportive of this, teaming up with Clear Channel in claiming that there would be interferance with their stations.

I have been itching to do a piece about the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Clear Channel, and LPFM. But I haven’t had the time or stamina to to do a decent job with this. Instead, I have chosen to rip off someone else’s work! I found this on ProRec.com, a site for recording professionals. Bill Park, an editor at the site wrote the following commentary on Clear Channel. From what I understand, this is an “open document” and its cool to reprint.
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GREED AND POWER

by Bill Park

Outside of the I. C. Light Amphitheater, a multipurpose venue on the banks of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, a small group of stagehands is walking in little circles.

Right now.

I just came from there, where I was walking in little circles in support of these stagehands. Carrying a sign. Shouting slogans. Giving the ‘Power To The People? fist in appreciation to all the passersby who demonstrated their support.

I believe in and support organized labor. The only chance that the average worker has of getting a fair shake from management and owners is ensconced in the power that a united work force brings to the table. This situation is one that hopefully will resolve itself to be a ?Case-In-Point?.

The Tattoo Crew

We call the I. C. Light stagehands ?The Tattoo Crew?. They are the same guys and gals who work many of the smaller venues in Pittsburgh, unloading trucks and humping ever-increasing amounts of band gear, PA, and lighting rigs. At this particular amphitheater they work under a huge tent in 90+-degree heat, often in 90+% humidity. Years ago I worked the same venue as a monitor engineer. In 105-degree heat I watched the sweat evaporate on my arms as soon as it poured out, leaving the salt from my body spread like glitter over my skin. Yep, it gets hot in that tent.

These workers unload trucks, climb scaffolding, haul up one-ton chain hoist motors, crawl around the lighting truss focusing instruments, and stacking speaker cabinets that weigh hundreds of pounds. Food breaks are caught on the fly, and usually consist of deli trays or cold pizza. The typical day starts at 8AM when the first trucks arrive and lasts until 2 or 3AM when the last truck leaves the loading dock. So what does each member of ?The Tatto Crew? get for his or her 18-hour backbreaking day?

$95.

No pension. No health care. No future.

They have tried negotiating on their own with the employer, and got nowhere.

Last year these employees requested that the local stagehands union, IATSE Local #3, represent them in bargaining with their employer. IATSE Local #3 has been representing theatrical employees in the Pittsburgh area since 1887. An election was held, and the National Labor Relations Board recognized IATSE Local #3 as the legal bargaining agent. IATSE Local #3 has been representing these workers at the bargaining table. Talks broke down just before the beginning of the 2001 concert season. Main Event Services is the straw boss on the other side of the negotiation table, but everyone knows who is really pulling the strings.

Maintaining Radio Silence

Union strikes usually make national news, but you’ve never heard of this one. Why?

Remember my column called ?Radio, Radio?? I spoke with some dismay about the possible future of the radio and music industries under corporate control? It is far worse than I imagined.

Last year Clear Channel bought AMFM and it’s 460 radio stations for 24 billion dollars. Clear Channel now owns about 1200 radio stations in the US. That would include 60% of the rock stations; including local Pittsburgh rock giant WDVE (102.5), as well as stations WWSW (94.5), WKST (96.1), WJJJ (104.7), and WXDX (105.9). Clear Channel owns 18 television stations, and has equity interests in 240 radio stations internationally. And they own 750,000 outdoor advertising displays, like billboards, transit panels, and advertising benches. They bill 20% of the total ad revenues in the radio industry. Clear Channel broadcasts to over 110 million listeners across the country, in 47 of the Top 50 markets, and in all ten of the Top Ten markets, and in all 50 states. They own radio trade magazines, an airplay monitoring system, syndicated programming, and a host of industry related businesses and services, including SFX. Clear Channel gobbled up concert production giant SFX like it was a nickel candy bar, at a price of 4.4 billion dollars.

SFX is the largest producer of live entertainment in the world. Now a subsidiary of Clear Channel, SFX owns concert production companies, including the local concert producer that handles the I. C. Light Amphitheater. They own 130 venues, including the I. C. Light Amphitheater, the Post Gazette Pavilion, and probably the big shed in your town. They own Broadway and touring Broadway shows, and sports and motor sports shows. SFX supplies strategic marketing sales and consulting services to pro and college teams, leagues, and venues. They own a talent management company that represents athletes and broadcasters.

Do you begin to see a pattern here?

It appears to me as though Clear Channel is taking over the entertainment industry. Once they gain total control, what kind of entertainment do you expect to see? Does Clear Channel have artistic and cultural growth in mind, or are they money-grubbing bottom-feeders, intent on profit grabbing at all levels, in spite of the long-term damage that might occur from such short-sighted actions?

The Results Speak for Themselves

Clear Channel uses its size as a power lever against artists and record labels. The threat is clear, because it has been carried out. No one wants to talk about it, because they are afraid. 1200 stations equal a lot of listeners. If an artist chooses to go with a promoter other than one owned by SFX, he runs the risk of having his recordings pulled from all Clear Channel stations. It’s hard to sell recordings when your music isn’t being played on the radio. Piss off Clear Channel and 110 million people won’t be hearing your music.

Clear Channel dumped their Arbitron contracts in 130 markets. Arbitron is the national service company that tells radio stations how they are doing in their market and how they stack up against their competition. Since Clear Channel owns the major stations in their markets, Clear Channel will tell you what to listen to, and you have no choice. They obviously don’t care what you have to tell Arbitron, or what Arbitron could tell them.

Clear Channel has sliced budgets and cut employees system-wide. On-air personalities have been dropped. Clear Channel has replaced them with taped broadcasts of DJs from other markets. It is a lot cheaper to pay a $6/hr board op than it is to keep a live on-air staff. The kicker? They pay little or no extra money to the DJs whose work is being re-broadcast. Imagine the possibilities: Pay a guy to broadcast in one market, tape and broadcast him in six, or twelve, or more markets, and pocket the difference. Local jocks are going away and without them at the microphones, local issues and community involvement diminish and disappear from the airwaves.

High-profile jocks like Jack Cole and John London tell horror stories of trying to collect their severance packages and owed salaries after being fired by Clear Channel.

WDVE in Pittsburgh has been the major sponsor for the city’s 4th of July fireworks event for many years. Clear Channel took over WDVE. WDVE cut its sponsorship for this event by 50%.

WNUA in Chicago sponsored the WNUA Cares For Kids Foundation, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity. Clear Channel took over, and shut it down.

The Indianapolis Indiana Clear Channel stations pulled out of a fundraising dinner for the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund.

For more than 20 years WHAS in Louisville Kentucky exclusively aired the Great Balloon Race, a part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. They paid a rights fee for this exclusivity. Now Clear Channel wants to be paid to air the event.

Last year the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Florida fined Clear Channel $80,000 for deceptive trade practices.

Alabama broadcasters have asked their state attorney general to investigate Clear Channel for deceptive practices.

“Tits Equal Hits”

A bay area Clear Channel station broadcast live oral sex. The same station regularly harasses a retarded man on their morning show, and subjected him to sexual humiliation at a private party sponsored by the station. When protesters gathered outside of the station to express concern over the behavior of the on air staff, two of those staff members came out and tried to provoke a violent confrontation, pushing and threatening to punch the demonstrators and verbally abusing them. The same crew placed a crank call pretending to be from a hospital, telling a woman that her daughter had been taken to the hospital, and accusing the woman of causing the daughters’ injuries. The woman filed suit.

There are no women in power at Clear Channel.

According to one employee, ?Tits equals hits? was the advice given by a Clear Channel manager about the design of station web sites.

Clear Channel employees Bev Tilden and April Yerger have sexual harassment suits underway.

Liz Richards sued Randy Michaels, the Clear Channel executive who now runs the radio arm of the mega-corporation, for sexual harassment. This became a major story in 1992 that aired on ABC’s 20/20, prior to Michaels being hired by Clear Channel. The suit was settled out of court, so the truth of the accusations may never be known. But the statements made by the accusers on the ABC broadcast are disturbing at best. Statements that have Mr. Michaels roaming the halls with a dildo, accosting female employees are disgusting, and should not be considered to be acceptable behavior in the lowest employee on the corporate ladder. It’s totally abhorrent coming from a major executive. One wonders how this level of crudity could be rewarded, first by hiring and later by promotion.

How Low Can You Go?

WXTB morning jock Todd Clem (Bubba the Love Sponge) broadcast the killing of a boar from the station’s parking lot. Pictures of the event were posted on the WXTB web site. This was the fourth time in a year that an animal was killed or tortured on the air at a Clear Channel station. KEGL fed a rabbit to a snake on the air. Mike Gallagher of WWVA killed a steer on the air. Stephen Meade of KBPI killed a hen on the air.

Does any of this disturb you? It certainly bothers me. I understood that the FCC held the airwaves in sacred trust for the public, and that broadcasters had to meet certain standards and be responsible to the community. It appears to me that the airwaves have been sold to the highest bidder, and that bidder has the lowest sense of taste and style, an apparent arrested development complex when it comes to the opposite sex, a total distain for the communities that it purportedly serves, and the attitude that they are so big that there is nothing that anyone can do to stop them.

Apparently some of you feel the same as I do. In that critical 12 to 24 year old market, radio listening has dropped 15 per cent in the last seven years. That is an interesting number, because it has been almost six years since the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which opened the way for the corporate takeover of America’s airwaves. Is anyone getting the message? What is happening is not good for radio, however profitable it might be for Clear Channel.

Clear Channel is circling the wagons, and cutting off business dealings with outside vendors. They own as much of their supply chain as they can buy up, and dictate the terms to vendors whom they support but to whom they want no legal ‘ties’, like labor contractors. They are eyeing the recording industry, and I’m sure that it won’t be long before they have their own labels and their own artists, to whom they will pay salaries instead of concert fees and recording sales residuals. Again, Clear Channel will pocket the difference. I’m sure that the whole procedure will be handled with the same care and taste that Clear Channel has shown in their takeover and subsequent operation of their radio arm and their concert production arm.

Remember the Stagehands?

The stagehands are negotiating with a front organization representing this giant behemoth, Clear Channel. This organization cannot make a move without the okay of Clear Channel, so it is obvious to me that the stagehands are de facto Clear Channel employees, no matter who generates the paycheck. Clear Channel basically has all of the money in the world, and operates in an industry that produces billions of dollars each year. So why don’t they want to pay their workers a living wage? I don’t have the answer.

One thing is clear though. Vendors are afraid to honor the picket lines because of the power of Clear Channel. I saw trucks pull up, drivers and crews see the picket lines and abandon the trucks and join the picket line. Later, management personnel pulled the trucks into the venue and scab laborers unloaded and set up the gear.

These vendors are stuck in the middle, since they have contracts with the venue, but they work with the stagehands often and in many other venues. Do they honor the picket line and lose their contracts with the venue, or do they cross the picket line, keep their contracts, then have to deal with the stagehands at other venues and in this venue after the dispute is settled? The vendors’ crews may not be too sure of where their best interests lie, but there is no question about what a management-level vendor employee has to do. It is his job to supply the client with the required and contracted service. If he is not willing to do that, he can be fired and replaced, and there is no protection for him that I am aware of under current labor law.

I asked one of the vendors for his unbiased view of the situation. He expressed dismay at what is happening, and hope that the dispute can be settled quickly and amicably.

Most of the local bands that play this venue know most of the stagehands personally. They’ve all been working together for years. But the bands are in a similar position to the vendors. They have contracts to honor, and a very real chance of never being able to step on a Clear Channel stage again should they honor the picket line. It was interesting when members of one of the local bands cared enough about the stagehands to wear an ?On Strike? T-shirt on stage, and spoke in support of the stagehands from the stage during the show. I hope that they don’t end up regretting that action. I applaud their choice to take a position and vocalize it.

It’s All About Money?

Lowry Mays paid himself 3.5 million in 1998, and exercised stock options worth an additional $23.2 million. But then, he’s the Chairman, CEO, and Director of Clear Channel. Since the company has posted earnings of almost a billion dollars more for the first quarter of 2001 over the same period in 2000, I doubt that Mr. Mays is still making a paltry $26.7 million. Just for fun I applied that out-dated income figure to the working time of a stagehand, based upon 40 shows a season with an 18 hour day per show, and it figures out to $37,083 an hour, or $667,500 a day. Which is a far cry from the $95 per day that the stagehand makes. (By the way, in 1998, the stagehands only made $75 a day.)

In standard workingman’s terms, a 40-hour week/year comes in at 2000 hours. On that basis Mr. Mays makes $13,350 per hour, or $106,800 for each 8-hour day. I’m sure that Mr. Mays works very hard for his money, and perhaps he deserves every penny. But if he gave up 16 hours, or $213,600 of income, to pay the stagehands, there wouldn’t be a strike. Ten stagehands could make $29.66 an hour for 18-hour days over 40 shows for that much money. (The typical show does not employ ten stagehands, and a typical stagehand does not make $29.66 an hour.) Ten people gainfully employed, while the CEO takes a short but much-needed break from the stress of corporate life. Maybe play with his grandchildren or go fishing.

Do I really want Mr. Mays to give up two days of his income? Not really. I’m just trying to make a point. There should be some balance here. A corporation that can pay its officers millions of dollars each year can find the money to pay its workers. Any CEO who has a College and Graduate School of Business named after him at Texas A&M should be able to figure it out.

Maybe the stagehands could get a grant from the Mays Family Foundation, the charity owned by the Mays family that has the majority of it’s assets in.. you guessed it? Clear Channel.

The Clear Channel First Quarter Report for 2001 shows income of 1.63 billion (that’s with a B, folks?) dollars, up from 782 million in the first quarter of last year. And that does not even cover concert season. It’s hard to see why they can’t find the money to pay their workers. But imagining NO income from concerts and flat earnings over the following three quarters, the number still comes to over six billion dollars of cash generated this year alone. Six Billion. In real life, we have the summer concert season and the fall/winter Christmas advertising blitz still to come, all of which will provide much better earnings per quarter than one sees in the first quarter of any year.

So, how does this affect you, the concert-goer? It doesn’t. Tickets aren’t any cheaper where the stagehands only make $95 a day. Clear Channel just pockets the difference between that and what they normally pay for labor. Does this affect Clear Channel? Not significantly. Yes, it would cost them a little more for labor than it does now. It would be the same amount that they normally pay for labor in other venues.

But Clear Channel would gain a work force that receives training in stagecraft. As part of the IATSE Local #3 Hiring Hall, their stagehands would work in all of the venues in the jurisdiction of the Local, and they would learn from the most experienced stage technicians in the city. Their stagehands would become a more valuable asset to Clear Channel. Where’s the down side?

Six billion dollars a year. This is a staggering figure. It is hard to imagine what mean, power-hungry individual would begrudge the hard-working bottom-of-the-ladder worker a decent living when the corporation generates so much money.

More on Clear Channel:

Tough Company

More on LPFM:

The Microradio Wars 2001

I think I’m a square

Five-year-old Lotte Pickard loves her pink fishnet stockings her strappy sandals, which she says, are sexy. “I like to look sexy,” the little girl explains.

Disturbed yet?

Recently reports have been turning up about frustrated parents, who are trying to buy clothes for their pre-teens. But they are having a tough time because it seems clothing makers are cranking out provacative clothes aimed at the children. But Roberta Caploe, editor, of teen magazine, Tiger Beat, doesn’t see any problem, “I don’t think it’s about trying to look older, I just think they are just trying to dress like stars they think are fantastic.”

One of the best documentaries that I’ve ever seen is The Merchants of Cool. This PBS Frontline special demonstrates how life imitates art and shows how a phemonenon such as 5-year-old girls wearing fishnet stockings and saying, “I like to look sexy” happens.

This trend kind of reminds me of the study Philip Morris conducted that sought to convince the government of the Czech Republic that smoking has positive economic benefits for the country: the more smokers who croak mean government savings in public health care costs. These are two perfect examples of total flagrant disregard for people and basic human values. So how should we respond to this kind of corporate behavior?

Read more about this new trend in pre-teen fashion:

ABC News

CNN