Frantic Searching

As mentioned in my previous posting, my last day at F/X was April 30th. From then until the end of June life was all about packing and moving and unpacking and setting up for a life in Massachusetts.

I went to Dedham to put in an application at Mystic Scenic Studios, a company I'd heard about because they opened a satellite shop in Central Florida for a short run a few years back. I knew they did good stuff, and I'd heard they paid well. But July is not the best time to go job hunting in show business. This was not a productive trip.

I took the MBCR, the Commuter Rail part of the MBTA, and far superior to the rest of it - just ask them - to Dedham, walked many miles in the blistering heat (this was the worst heat wave in Massachusetts memory) and found the address listed on their website. It was an abandoned
building, up for lease, with a sign on the door directing me to 293 Lenox Street in Norwood. I recognized the address of Mystic Millwork, a division of Mystic Scenic Studios. Did this mean that the scenery shop was out of business? And where in Norwood was Lenox Street? I made a mental list of three things I needed asap: a phone, a map and a restroom.

There was an office building very near the train platform. I was walking by the back door, glanced inside and saw a rest room right next to a stack of phone books for Dedham, Westwood and Norwood. Two of my three problems were solved. The phone book had a map section in the front. I found Lenox Street - it ran right along the Commuter Rail tracks. A nearby hotel had pay phones, so I called the number for the Studios, still listed in Dedham. A person answered, and she assured me that the studios were still very much alive. I asked if they were accepting applications. They were. Back to the Commuter Rail platform I went.


Of course, Norwood has two stops. Norwood Depot is on the north end and Norwood Central is a couple miles south. Where was 293 Lenox Street? No telling. Until, that is, I got off the train at Norwood Depot. That fact should tell you that I walked Lenox Street, which dead-ended into buildings and required a lot of extra walking to get there from here, past Norwood Central Station about a quarter mile. I arrived sweaty and exhausted, and the offices were being remodeled so the air conditioning didn't work. The application I turned in was not my best work, so it didn't surprise me that I heard nothing from them. The fact that much of the crew was busy remodeling told me that the dead slows of summer were in full force.

My next try was Local 11, the IATSE Stagehands Union in Boston. This was on a pouring-down-rain kind of day. Using a combination of my growing knowledge of the MBTA, my excellent Rand McNally map and my never-say-die attitude, I braved unmarked streets, unnumbered buildings and a sign on the outside wall written in Chinese characters, and found the office despite their best efforts to throw me off the scent. Once there, they treated me very well, even though Local 11 has never transferred a membership from another local and they weren't about to start with me. They took my information and put me on the overflow list - if a job comes along that requires more people than their membership, they'll call from the overflow list. I was at the bottom of a long list. Then, in say twenty or thirty years, they might make me a member. The business manager counseled me: "You know, if what you want to do is build scenery, you ought to go to work for Mystic Scenic Studios down in Dedham. They're not Union, but they treat their people well. Some of our guys free-lance down there when things are slow." They sent me to a drug testing facility in Government Center, Boston, which is required when you work at the Fleet Center, now known as the TD Banknorth Garden.

Then I tried Local 481 Studio Mechanics in Woburn. They gladly took my information, my application fee, my First Month's Dues and whatever other fees I had to pay up front. They told me I had to cajole two members in good standing into sponsoring me for membership, and then I might be voted in at the September meeting. The Business Agent counseled me: "You know, if what you want to do is build scenery, you ought to go to work for Mystic Scenic Studios down in Dedham. Some of our guys work down there when things are slow."

I went to the August meeting of 481 and talked to a couple of the guys, showed them my portfolio and gave them copies of my resume. They were impressed. They told me I ought to go to work for Mystic Scenic Studios in Dedham - they did when things were slow (which they often were.) When I got home, I emailed my resume to Andrew Shiels, the hiring guy at Mystic. I also sent one to Party By Design, als recommended by the 481 guys.

And I put in an application at The Home Depot in Watertown.

Local 11 called me to do a load out of a Kenny Chesney show at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. I worked from 10:00pm to about 4:00am and netted about a hundred fifty bucks. That was the last union gig I ever did until last summer in Albuquerque.

The Home Depot called me for an interview. I went in and talked to the manager. He sent me to a drug testing place in Brookline and set me up for an orientation class the following Tuesday, provided the drug test results were in. Well, the test results were not in for any of us scheduled for that class. I went to Watertown and was sent back home. The training was rescheduled for Saturday. I was pretty bummed out.

Then Wednesday, Party By Design called me to come interview, which I did. They were happy with me and thought they could hire me, they'd let me know in a couple of days.

Then Thursday Mystic called me in for an interview. They were happy with me and thought they could hire me, and I should call back on Friday afternoon. Suddenly, on Friday, August 19th, I was faced with telling two of my definite prospects that I was not available.

On Monday, August 22nd, I hauled my tools to Norwood for my first day at Mystic Scenic Studios, a happy union that lasted almost four years.