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05/26/2025

Freelance Musicians Guild's Solidarity Jam at AFM Local 99

By MICHAEL SHOEHORN CONLEY // The first Solidarity Jam was Tuesday, February 25th from 7pm-10pm at the Local 99 Hall, billed as a casual place to grow solidarity, brainstorm ways to enforce workers’ rights, socialize, and of course, make music together.

The Freelance Musicians Guild is a dedicated group of professional and semi-professional musicians, some members of Local 99 and some not. They seek to build community, organize, and strengthen workers’ rights in the club and casual music scene.

The first Solidarity Jam was Tuesday, February 25th from 7pm-10pm at the Local 99 Hall, billed as a casual place to grow solidarity, brainstorm ways to enforce workers’ rights, socialize, and of course, make music together.

With no specific stylistic or aesthetic guidelines, the debut jam at the AFM Local 99 Union Hall was the first in a planned series of regular events utilizing the meeting space tucked behind the offices of the international organization.

The Freelance Musicians Guild was an idea that was workshopped a couple of decades ago at the local but never got off the ground. It was recently revived by the new Local 99 organizer Hunter Buen and long time Portland musician and activist Dan Kaufman.

The jam was a very social affair and most of the people who showed up simply wanted to get together with others and play music. Only a few of us were members of AFM.

One local musician supporting the event was Nayibe Rojas, who has a day job with the AFSCME union. Rojas sings and leads a band and brings a supportive vibe wherever she goes. Her vocal turns were highlights of the music-making.

The jam was loose but enthusiastic, and I played a few tunes myself. There weren't a lot of speeches, but a couple of us made some remarks including Kaufman and Buen. Hunter Buen is the youngest of us, and had some relevant points about professionalism and the notion that musicians deserve respectful conditions and compensation.

For my part I was happy to see the somewhat drab space transformed into a cozy venue by simply stringing some inexpensive lights, hanging some fabric over the pegboard walls, and putting a colorful rug over the grey carpet that's been covering the small stage riser for many years.

There are plenty of tables and chairs available, men's and women's bathrooms, some cozy armchairs in the corner, and a little kitchen space for light catering. I've been to many rehearsals and union meetings in the space and always thought it could be utilized more, so seeing new faces making music in our meeting hall was encouraging.

Anyone who's interested should stop by the hall and look at some of the materials available touting the organization. As I told the gathering, the dues are a reasonable price to pay if only for the solidarity one gains by being part of a union, not to mention opportunities the local provides such as Music Performance Trust Fund gigs, rehearsal space, a local gig hotline, plus online resources such as instrument sales, job announcements, and other offerings related to the musician's life.

With all the nonsense buzzwords and stupid catch phrases dominating the media environment these days, gathering in solidarity is exactly what we need to be doing– getting together as communities to support each other. Music of course is an art form people turn to in times like this to take the edge off the harsh realities facing our society.

There's an old saying that all politics is local, and standing together with like-minded individuals is more important now than ever. We can control what's around us in our immediate environment, in our neighborhoods, in our city, in our state– and we should. We should be counted, we should be listened to, and we should be able to make a living. It gives me a small measure of hope to see people come together with this attitude.

I might have been the oldest musician there, (not uncommon for me these days), but it was also fun for me to participate in support of the other players of various ages and experience levels. This is slated to turn into a monthly thing on the last Tuesday of each month, so sign up for the notifications or follow the FMG on Instagram or whatever, and come on out. There's no cover and it's also alcohol-free.

From Hunter Buen, Local 99 organizer:
The Freelance Musicians Guild is a dedicated group of musicians in the club and casual scene that fight for the advancement of workers rights and solidarity in our line of work. Freelance music is often rife with exploitation and free labor, among other pernicious issues. Without the legal right to collectively bargain a union contract, freelancers must unify through building community, educating one another on our rights, and banding together to build collective power the old fashioned way: one musician at a time.

If you'd like to join our movement to bring gigging musicians together to improve our working lives, email us at fmguildpdx@gmail.com or attend one of our monthly SOLIDARITY JAMS, last Tuesdays of each month, 7-10pm hosted by the Musicians Union!

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