Mike Schreibman, WAMA President

On Sunday, February 17, 2008, the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) gave Ron Goad a Wammie award for being the "most supportive of Washington music." That's interesting. Last October, I received a harassing and vulgar e-mail from Mr. Goad which contained the following vulgar statement: "The proper way for you to position your pinky is up your butt." It was certainly not the kind of message one would expect to receive from the recipient of WAMA's congeniality award. That says quite a bit about WAMA. (To learn about Ron Goad's rude and inappropriate behavior, read the following article: SAW president investigated for inciting bomb threat against Veterans group.)

The Wammie awards are Washington, DC's version of the Grammy awards, except few non-musicians have ever heard of Wammies. Nevertheless, it's a big deal in certain music circles in the nation's capitol and surrounding areas. Last February, Wammie awards were handed out at the State Theater in Falls Church, Virginia. In case you don't know, the State Theater is a very big deal. It seats up to 600 people, and books mainly national acts, but also books local bands from time to time. (At least they used to. I know because I played there in 2002 with a band called Blind Date.) Tickets to the awards ceremony were $18.00 for WAMA members and $25.00 for non-members. This means they made approximately $10,000, give or take a few thousand. Not huge money, but enough to rent the State Theater, provide finger food for the paying guests, pay the lighting and sound people for their time, and give WAMA a few grand to put in their bank account after the event. The folks at WAMA claim the February 2008 Wammie Awards was their 22nd ceremony. That seems hard to believe, but perhaps the first ten awards were held at less grandiose venues.

This is all quite impressive except WAMA has suddenly developed a serious credibility problem. They awarded Ron Goad for being the "most supportive of Washington music," but I have proof that he is one of the most obnoxious people around. And he is particularly obnoxious to local musicians.

On October 17, 2007, I received a vulgar and threatening e-mail from Ron Goad stating that I should position my pinky "up your butt." He also called me a "bumpkin redneck." Mr. Goad further warned: "You never know who you might piss off, how stable they are, or how they might react, do you?... It'll be fun for me, and then I can critique your performance and let you know how good you really are so that you may improve." (See e-mail with expanded headers.) Mr. Goad was agitated about the manner in which I was promoting an upcoming performance at the Wheaton VFW. Shortly thereafter, someone sent me an e-mail threatening to blow up the Wheaton VFW building if I did not cancel the upcoming event. (Reference the following article: SAW president investigated for inciting bomb threat against Veterans group.)

To claim that WAMA has a credibility problem is the understatement of the year.

What is WAMA?
WAMA has a website (http://www.wamadc.com) which describes the organization and its mission as follows:
 

In plain English that means WAMA does not have to pay taxes as long as they create the illusion that they are interested in the local music business. The keyword is business, but it is incorrect to insinuate or imply that they have a real interest in Washington, DC music. None of the WAMA officers have much to do with the local music scene. Their backgrounds are musical venues that happen to reside in the Washington, DC area, but showcase national acts. From my observation, WAMA appears to be cut from the same cloth as Outta the Way Café. Both would likely go out of business without the support of local musicians, and both give little back to local musicians.

Mike Schreibman is the president of the WAMA. I have known Mr. Schreibman casually since 1993 when I was promoting a CD, Clinging to the Truth - Tribute to JFK. Although we do not communicate regularly, I have always thought Mr. Schreibman was a pleasant, polite, warm individual. Of course that is only a superficial observation. I have no idea what kind of person he truly is. Shortly after joining WAMA in 1993, I was warned by a relatively well-known male musician in the DC area that Schreibman and WAMA were no good.

"What's wrong with them?" I asked. "Mike Schreibman seems like he knows what he's doing."

"The problem is," the musician advised, "WAMA makes everyone pay dues, but they do absolutely nothing to help musicians get work. I'm a fulltime musician, and that's what I need. I need gigs. I don't get gigs through WAMA."

"But they're a music association," I replied. "They make it easier for local musicians to network with one another."

"Networking?" he laughed. "I don't need to pay Mike Schreibman money in order to network with local musicians. I can do that on my own for free."

I had to admit he had a good point. Since 1993, the Washington, DC music scene has steadily declined to the point where it is essentially non-existent. There are a few clubs scattered around that book local bands, but they mainly allow a small elite bunch of musicians to play there. Any honest musician will tell you that the DC music scene is essentially dead. Of course the elite crowd will deny it, but just look around and judge for yourself. Live local entertainment in Washington, DC is not moving forward at all. Yet WAMA is thriving better than ever. They're having fancy awards ceremonies at the State Theater while the music community is in a shambles. In some respects there appears to be a touch of Marie Antoinette in Mr. Schreibman's view of the music business - "Let them eat cake."

Also, I have reviewed WAMA's IRS most tax returns because being a tax exempt organization, their tax returns are public, and I know how to access them easily. Having stated that, I have not found any anomalies (but I am not an accountant either). Only two things stand out. First, I know all of the WAMA officers, and they are all civilized pleasant people. But none of them are advocates for local musicians. Two of them make a lot of money promoting national acts in upscale clubs in Washington, DC. One of them owns a top-quality recording studio that charges top-dollar, so most local musicians take their business elsewhere. The second thing I noticed was WAMA makes quite a bit of money from membership dues. Like my old musician friend said back in 1993, "WAMA makes everyone pay dues, but they do absolutely nothing to help musicians get work." Little has changed in 15 years. In fact things are much worse, in my opinion.

Wammies & Possible Voter Fraud
I find it difficult to believe that local musicians would vote to give Ron Goad a Wammie award for the person "most supportive of Washington music." (Wammie recipients are theoretically selected by a vote among WAMA members.) Mr. Goad obviously has a short fuse, he can be extremely nasty and vulgar, at least in his e-mails. How could this happen? According to WAMA's website, the other nominees for the award were as follows:

• Damian Einstein

• Mary Cliff

• Richard Harrington

• David Eisner

• Loralyn Coles

• Ronnie Newmeyer

• Wayne Kahn

I have met Damian Einstein and Richard Harrington. I spoke with Mary Cliff by phone once. Frankly, I do not see how Mr. Goad could beat any of them. For one thing, they're all well known in the Washington, DC area because two are radio hosts and one writes for the Washington Post. Ron Goad is more of a behind the scenes person. He hosts several open mics and claims to be friends with a few top local musicians. How can someone like that even compete with local celebrities like Einstein, Cliff and Harrington. Damian Einstein has been a disc jockey for the past 30 years, presently hosts a show on WRNR, 103.1 FM. Prior to that he had a show at WHFS for years. Mary Cliff's Traditions (WAMU 88.5 FM) is reportedly "Washington's longest-running radio show devoted to folk music," according to her website. Richard Harrington has been a senior music writer/critic for the Washington Post for years. In addition, they are very nice people, and they make an effort to help all local musicians with talent, not just their friends.

Given Mr. Goad's offensive personality and his propensity to send smutty threatening e-mails, I suspect there was some tampering with vote counting which resulted in his recent Wammie award for Mr. Congeniality.

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