Las Vegas Musicians Still Walk the Beat : 11-Week Strike to Retain Live Music ‘Just Keeps Dragging On’

On the bad days, when it’s so hot he uses his picket sign for shade, Jimmy Monroe likens the Las Vegas musicians’ strike to the worst possible tune--uninspired Muzak, tasteless disco.

Monroe, an 11-year veteran of Las Vegas hotel orchestras, has put down his trumpet and hoisted a picket with about 150 other musicians during an 11-week-old strike, mainly against use of taped music for the floor shows. And every day, it’s the same old song.

“This is like having a terrible score you have to play over and over again, something that stinks from the first note,” he sighs, turning from a desert sun that routinely puts picketers in a 105-degree spotlight. “It just keeps dragging on. You get sick of it, you hate it, but it’s got to be done because we can’t let them do this.”

Five major Strip hotels--Bally’s, Caesars Palace, the Tropicana, the Flamingo Hilton and the Las Vegas Hilton--want to use tape extensively in their production shows, eliminating many musicians in the process. They also want to do away with the 36 work weeks a year guaranteed to musicians in their “celebrity” or “star policy” rooms.

On Thursday the five hotels decided to resume negotiations next week with the Musician’s Union of Las Vegas, Local 369, in order to avoid a walkout of all unionized employees at the Tropicana Hotel before the big Labor Day weekend. Earlier this week, the musicians’ picket line at Caesars Palace swelled to 500 when members of other unions joined the march.

On the picket lines, bolstering limp spirits isn’t always easy, but there are ways. Throughout most evenings, tourists can hear impromptu street concerts--a staccato drum roll, a brief saxophone solo--from the strikers. They wave signs reading “Bring ‘M Back Live” and “Honk If You Love Live Music,” and the horn blasts from appreciative motorists mix in.

“It may sound corny, but sometimes that’s the only thing that encourages us,” says Dave Ringenbach, holding the hand of his picket-carrying son, John, a 4-year-old brought out to help with his father’s current work.

Ringenbach, a 37-year-old percussionist who played with Bally’s popular “Jubilee” show before the strike started, bangs the drums loudly in front of Bally’s every night. “To tell the truth, it’s a way to get my hostility out. It also keeps me jazzed up and able to face all this.”

Following the lead of Atlantic City, which replaced live music in its production shows a few years ago, the five Las Vegas hotels say they want to cut costs, get rid of outdated and expensive work rules, and improve production values by using the latest sound technology.

Tom Bruny, Bally’s publicity coordinator, underscores the need for the new contract by pointing out that full bands in the production rooms just aren’t that necessary. Sometimes the musicians only play briefly, like at the beginning or end of a show, and often aren’t in view of an audience.

For example, “Jubilee,” a razzmatazz show that features 100 singers and dancers, has its orchestra play in an underground area two floors beneath the actual stage, he noted. Bruny added that a taped sound track figured prominently in “Jubilee” even before the walkout.

As for the guaranteed 36 weeks in the headliner rooms, Bruny said the casinos must have more flexibility to reduce that number when stars want to bring in their own musicians. Why, he asks, should the hotels be forced to pay local union musicians if they don’t play?

Sporadic contract negotiations have been slow, with little give on either side. And the hotels’ last substantive offer, guaranteeing jobs for two to four musicians at each hotel, didn’t impress the 600 active members of Musician’s Local 369. Under the old contract, a “full orchestra” with a minimum of 13 musicians was guaranteed.

The union believes the casinos, despite their stated commitment to use some musicians to augment tape, have signaled the end for local musicians. Without these regular jobs, musicians can’t make enough money to stay in Las Vegas, officials say.

“This would do us in,” says Mark Tully Massagli, the union’s president. Where would we go? Where would we play? “The musicians would have to leave and the union would die,”

His office in union headquarters is a short walk from the Tropicana, the first hotel to be struck when 13 members of the “Folies Bergere” orchestra walked out June 3 after the old contract expired June 1.

Unemployed musicians mill around the union’s combination cocktail bar and rehearsal hall off Tropicana Avenue. A small room dubbed “strike central” is an explosion of clutter, mainly picket signs, coffee cups and food wrappers.

In the main hallway, another poster praises Rodney Dangerfield, who on Aug. 3 refused to cross the lines to work a scheduled engagement at Bally’s. The comic who never could get any respect gets some here. The sign blurts: “Rodney Dangerfield Will Not Cross. He Deserves Our Respect!”

Massagli brings up a much-played refrain, that the hotels’ proposal will, in the end, affect consumers the most. Canned music (dubbed “McMusic” by the local press) can’t approach the impact created by spontaneous live performances, he says, adding that the casinos risk losing patrons if they persist.

The casinos dismiss that as self-serving and contend most people don’t even realize the difference. “There was no noticeable changes in (the public’s reaction to the revamped “Folies”) show or the amount of people attending,” said Ira David Steinberg, the Tropicana’s director of publicity.

Recent interviews outside the “Jubilee” and “Folies” showrooms supported that. Most patrons didn’t notice the absence of an orchestra and tended to gush about the productions. But most were first-timers who conceded they had nothing to compare with.

A few, however, did say the changes were not for the better.

Jess Hetherman, a portly Riverside businessman wearing a yellow “I Love Cozumel” T-shirt under a blue blazer, held up a couple of tickets for the Flamingo Hilton’s “City Lights” show Monday night. He and his wife, April, attended “Jubilee” the night before.

“We love the shows, so we see them whenever we come in,” he said. “We were a little disappointed (Sunday night). It’s pretty clear that the musicians do make things more interesting. There’s just not as much ‘oomph’ and you don’t feel quite as involved.”

Tourists may still be attending the production shows, but the hotels have been hurt in the celebrity rooms. Dangerfield, Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach refused to cross pickets lines for their scheduled engagements earlier this month.

Singer Robert Goulet feels the switch to tape presents a threat to the popularity of “name” performers like himself. Goulet, who recently held a press conference along with four other Las Vegas regulars urging an end to the dispute, said he would never perform without the spontaneity of a live orchestra.

“I’ve been working with musicians all my life, and, holy mackerel, you just can’t compare it. A singer like Sinatra needs to have his string sections, he needs to have the beautiful background music and balance.

“Performers such as myself, Tony Bennett and Andy Williams may want to change tempo. We’re not robots, we use our emotions and we just can’t perform to taped music. I will always be augmented by local musicians. If the hotels continue to have star policy, they can’t have taped music.”

Dangerfield isn’t the only comic to protest. “It’s ridiculous. No celebrity who produces music will work with tape,” explained Shecky Greene. “There’s just no spontaneity. If that were to happen they might as well get a mime to go up on stage.”

Mort Viner, Dean Martin’s agent, is a bit more sanguine. “There will never be taped music in the celebrity rooms. It’s just never going to happen,” he said. “If that were to happen, they might as well put a record player on stage and make the record be the show.”

Bruce Banke, director of publicity and special events for the Las Vegas Hilton--the only one of the five hotels that has not been picketed, mainly because its current production, “Elvis, An American Musical,” is a traveling show using union musicians from New York--reiterated that live music will be a mainstay in the celebrity rooms.

“We have live music and will continue to have live music. We have no intention of changing our star policy,” Banke said. “Even when Bill Cosby comes to perform, we have a live orchestra. We can’t present Englebert Humperdick, Barry Manilow or Wayne Newton with taped music.”

Similarly, Caesars Palace will not make a switch in its celebrity rooms, said Debbie Munch, manager of editorial services. “However if an artist wants to use tape in addition to live music, we will give the artist priority.”

When the Tropicana reopened “Folies” with a sound track June 2, it marked the first time the show had not used live music since it opened in 1959. Thirteen musicians and a conducter were eventually fired, saving the hotel a reported $600,000 a year. The Tropicana’s Steinberg said all were offered severance pay.

Massagli pointed out that since then, a total of 45 jobs have been lost at the four struck hotels. “In a nutshell, they’re trying to get rid of house musicians,” said Richard McGee, one of those fired from the Tropicana show.

When not talking about their frustration or anger, the striking musicians often discuss what they’ll do if they have to leave Las Vegas. Ringenbach, the percussionist, said he may start teaching or search for session work in Los Angeles.