Casual Corner
A settlement has been reached in "the Delray incident". In pursuit of an equitable settlement, your Local had many discussions with the employer, contractors, and musicians involved. We thank all involved for their efforts in bringing this unfortunate situation to an amicable end.
The employer, Sunset Productions (Joe Ferrer), had no contractual obligation to provide the settlement funds because no contract had been filed with Local 655. In addition, both contractors have written open letters to the musicians involved regarding their roles in this. The musicians involved have been offered the settlement, and all those that responded have received checks as per the agreement.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MUSICIANS THAT JERRY FISCHER CONTRACTED FOR REGARDING THE DEL RAY TAPING INCIDENT:
On March 23, 1997, I received a fax from Joe Ferrer, Producer for Sunset Productions giving me instructions and directions for the concert on March 28, 1997.
There was hand written line with an asterisk that said: *FIRST HALF WILL BE VIDEO RECORDED.
I overlooked that line and in so doing did not inform the men I was responsible for.
I apologize for any wrongdoing and inconvenience that I may have caused.
Fraternally, JERRY FISCHER
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: AN APOLOGY
On Good Friday of 1997 I was involved in a concert at the Delray Beach Tennis Center. My involvement was an afterthought as originally Jerry Fisher’s Big Band was engaged to perform. When the featured name act (Ray Charles) required strings and legit winds I was asked to engage those musicians, thus resulting in two people sharing the contracting needs, myself and Jerry Fisher. To my knowledge my involvement related only to the second half of the concert (Ray Charles). About five days before the engagement I received a fax which stated that the first half of the concert would be taped for promotional purposes. I apologize to everyone for the following:
1.) First and most important that I did not file a Union Contract which would have prevented this problem. I assumed that the original contractor would have, and you know what happens when you ass u me…
2.) That when notified of the recording I did not call the union to notify them of the potential problem.
3.) That when the problem occurred I was unsuccessful in getting something in writing.
4.) In the past on all engagements that I personally booked I have made good with all of the musicians whether or not I was stiffed by the client. I could not do so with this engagement and it has bothered me now for almost 18 months.
There is shared responsibility for what happened on that very messed up engagement. My hat is off to Joe Ferrer who has taken the brunt of the blame for that day which clearly should be shared. You can not blame a client for knowledge he didn’t possess because no one bothered to tell him. In addition, since there was no union contract filed he was under no obligation to make any settlement, I applaud his desire to do so. I have learned several lessons... Always file a Union contract, never get involved in a job with another contractor, and always get it in writing.
Sincerely, Kurt Hagen
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