[jja-announce] DC reception cancelled, NYC membership meeting still on

[Jazzmandel at aol.com]

Dear JJA friends, 

I regret to inform you that the previously announced VIP reception sponsored 
by the Jazz Journalists Association with support from Pfizer pharmaceuticals 
to honor Rep. John Conyers, Jr., during the Congressional Black Caucus 
convention on Sept. 25 has been cancelled. The Congressman's office called the JJA 
last week to tell us that "no room has been allocated at the Convention center 
for this event," and that Conyers' office was at the mercy of the CBC's 
bureaucracy in this regard. 

The JJA, in the person of VP Willard Jenkins, will still give the 
Discretionary Award for Services To and Beyond Jazz to Congressman Conyers, who has been 
a constant supporter of jazz in Congress, responsible for HR 57 which declared 
jazz a national art form and also current bills aiming to provide financial 
backing for the Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra. The Congressman will still 
moderate a panel discussion on Thursday, Sept. 25 which is open to the general 
public, on the issue of health insurance and health care for jazz musicians 
(and - we hope by extension -- other independent contractors such as jazz 
journalists). Willard Jenkins will sit on that panel, along with A.B. Spellman of 
the Nat'l Endowment of the Arts, Elvin and Hank Jones, and perhaps Dr. Cathy 
Fontenot, from the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. The panel will take off from the 
NEA's study "Changing the Beat," a needs assessment regarding jazz musicians 
in New York, Detroit, New Orleans and San Francisco (written by Joan Jeffri of 
Columbia University Teachers College, and promised in printed form from the 
NEA this coming November -- write the NEA for your free copy). This panel takes 
place at 7 p.m., and following it, Elvin and Hank Jones will perform in 
concert, which is also open to the public. 

Sorry for an inconvenience caused by the cancellation of our reception. The 
JJA officers are quite disappointed by this turn of events -- the reception had 
previously been confirmed by the Congressman's office in several e-mails and 
press releases, but according to his staff, the problem of where to have the 
reception proved unsolvable. 

The New York JJA's membership meeting remains scheduled for Wed., Sept. 24, 
from 6 to 8 p.m., at the New School Jazz and Contemporary Art 5th floor 
performance space, 55 W. 13th St., NYC.