Open Letter to Mayor de Blasio - The Lack of Opportunities For Musicians To Make A Living in NYC

Here is a letter I sent recently to our new Mayor about the state of the Arts in NYC and the oppressive practices towards musicians:

Dear Mayor de Blasio, 

Musicians and musically creative people in the "musical capital of the world", NYC, need your HELP.  For many years, the musically talented community in America has been ignored by politicians mainly because they are considered to be extremely intelligent, culturally educated and tolerant, nice people who tend to vote liberal or progressive.  The result has been the lack of opportunities for musical performers and music artists to make a living all over the country.  This is especially true in NYC, which, was once known as the musical capital of the world.  Anyone who ever dreamed of making it big came here with their talents and they STILL flock here with the distant promise of success in its great concert halls with a long legacy and history of making or breaking an artist. 

Sadly, talented musicians and bands cannot find decent opportunities to perform today in NYC and it is getting WORSE and OPPRESSIVE.  Many are relegated to busking in the subways or the park or endlessly searching for a venue that would actually be interested in their music and performance and many have to leave the music world or find themselves homeless with no way to support themselves or their families from being a musician.  The reality of the harsh economy of the past few years (and a bit of ignorance from politicians) has forced Venue owners (ie. bars, nightclubs, restaurants, etc.) to refuse to pay musicians more than the cost of a taxi ride to the venue and strike deals with the artists where the artist/band would have to bring in 25 paying people for which the artist/band would get paid only after the first 20 paying people who arrive.  Many great venues have also gone the cheaper route and have become Sports Bars instead of Live Music Venues totally killing the culture of the Arts in NYC just to sell a few more beers.  As a long time resident of NYC (Brooklyn born and bred in the 1960s and 70s), I miss the days when I could see and hear live music EVERYWHERE in New York City and I must admit that I get jealous when I read all about the culture and support of the Arts in communities like NASHVILLE and AUSTIN. 

SUGGESTION: Find some way to give INCENTIVES to venue owners like bars, nightclubs and restaurants (perhaps with tax rewards and/or less restrictions on getting live music (caberet) licenses) and have a campaign to encourage a culture of supporting live music in New York to bring it back to at least what it was in its hay day.  It’s a win for the struggling venues, a win for musicians if enforced properly (with punishment for venues that take advantage of musicians), a win for the music community in New York and a win for all New Yorkers.  Imagine an educated, culturally gifted, artistic, intelligent and creative community thriving once again in the Big Apple and the benefits to NYC it could create. 

Make a commitment to bringing the Arts back to NYC as you are currently promising to do in the public schools, and allow the artistic and musically talented community to flourish once again. Thank you Mayor.  Keep up the good work and thank you for your dedication to making this city a great place to live for ALL once again!  

RACISM, INTOLERANCE, and PREJUDICE (a Glimpse of My Life Experiences)

- by Laurence G. 

I am so lucky to have the best Facebook friends who, despite their differences in political beliefs and favorite sports teams, all believe in the struggle to rid the world of ignorance and hatred. For you "youngins" out there reading this, no, racism, intolerance, and prejudice was NOT just a movement in the 1960s that doesn’t relate to anything you have to live with today. With headlines coming out every day on forms of police brutality, economic inequality and the conflict in the Middle East everywhere you go today, it's easy to think the hopes and dreams of the enlightened and brilliant activists of the 1960's were all in vain. 

If you're young and feel you have an understanding of hatred in America and the world, then see if you can answer any of these questions: Have you ever been the only kid of a different color on a crowded bus on the way home from your middle school day with other children from school who called you a “white boy” and started beating on you for no reason and punching you in your face and tossing you from one end of the bus to other until you finally were able to get the driver to stop to let you out and then ran as fast as you could four blocks home? I DID. 

Ever been the only white kid on a scared, crowded bus of Black middle school children coming home from school, and waiting at the next bus stop were about 10 - 15 teenage white kids from a nearby catholic high school with chains and baseball bats, hurling rocks at your bus calling for all the ‘N….as’ on the bus to get off as the kids on the begged and cried for the bus driver to keep driving and skip that stop? I DID. 

Ever experience walking to your once a week afterschool religious school with a prayer book and suddenly get confronted and harassed by kids in the neighborhood from another religion demanding to see your prayer book and proceeding to hit you over the head with it repeatedly while shouting prejudice slurs and asking the question “why did your people kill Jesus?” at you? I DID. 

Ever been called “gay” and f.ggot” in a derogatory way by a school bully and his supporters because you refused to fight him when he and his entourage followed you home every day from school? I WAS. 

Ever had to sit on the benches during gym period, excluded from playing basketball for two and half years of middle school without the gym teacher caring or saying anything because you were the only kid of your color and the other kids of a different race than you refused to pick you to be on their team because they assumed you couldn’t play? I DID. 

Ever been on a bus on the way home from high school, riding through a predominantly Italian neighborhood and witness a mob of Italian kids sneak on the back of the bus to beat up a group of Irish kids coming home from school, shouting at them as they hit them with fists and sticks, “what are you doing on our turf you f*cking Micks!” (short for Mc's)? I WAS. 

Ever been to Israel in peaceful times and witness an Israeli soldier intensely arguing with a Palestinian gas station worker to the point where he’s got a gun to the gas station worker’s head about to shoot him in front of you? I WAS. 

Ever experienced being verbally and physically harassed because of the color of your skin DAILY during passing from class to class for 3 consecutive years in junior high school? I WAS. 

Ever work with children on the streets and in the park in underprivileged neighborhoods only 15 - 20 minutes from your middle class neighborhood who walked around with holes in their sneakers and their toes sticking out? I DID. 

Ever have a teacher who would be the ONLY teacher who would show any compassion and caring for what you were going through being bullied daily because of the color of your skin (as not even your parents would have any clue of what you were going through) be a woman of a different color skin than yours? I DID (and I will never forget her for that).

I saw a lot of sh*t growing up in Brooklyn, NY in the 1970’s and 80’s and experienced a lot of things that made trusting people, making friends and feeling socially accepted quite difficult but it molded and challenged me to understand what hatred and inequality must’ve felt like and created a strong desire within me to want a better, more compassionate world for myself and the next generations.