Exile in Geeksville

hey there blog buddies -

Thank you thank you thank you for all your support again,  so many of you have given me so much in the ways that you all could, and I am eternally grateful.

But that doesn’t make up for the lack of COUNTDOWNS. So….

RETURNS!

So  lets quick catch up, I am temping and I hate it, but I knew I would when I started.  So I sally forth.

Things are slowly coming together for me on the homefront, as I catch up after 8 months of touring.   I am looknig into the possiblity of getting a roommate,  now since I have a 1 bedroom, that means I may need to move, unless I become very close to a single female anytime soon (no don’t have one in particular in mind). That being said, I have shared my place short term with friends before,  folks who needed a place to stay while they were in town for a week a month ever a couple of days, and I will continue that offer as long as folks need it.  (think of it as staying at Dave’s Bronx B&B)

I know many of you have expressed concern about my mother.  She is still in chemo, but responding as well as we could have hoped.  Her spirits are strong, and positive, and she is looking forward to the family vacation she had planned before she became ill, in August, when she will go with my sisters and their families to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week.

GEEKSVILLE -  its coming back don’t you worry, I have 2 reviews sitting on my desk that need proofing,  A comic and that second half of the Doctor Who finale.

LOST LOVE -  Well I said in the last one, I think I am done with that now,  I have been looking to my past to figure out what I had been doing wrong there, and It has served me well -  I do have a new series planned to follow up on it.  I think if you like to read the MISSED CONNECTIONS on craigslist.org  yo may like this. LOL

JOB HUNT -  That is the next project,  I am temping yes, I have no intentions of staying in the place forever tho, so expect to hear about what it takes to re-invent yourself in today’s job market.

Ok  much peace to you all -

The Countdown continues…..

Some of you have begun to ask me -  what happened?  Where have you been David, I have missed my weekly Geek love and midlife crisis updates

Well the last few weeks have been quite a handful for me.  My tour life was taking a bit of a toll on my body, as I fought off a cold, so late feb and early march I began to slack off a bit

Then I was hit with a bit of a personal bomb,  My mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, a non operable 3cm tumor had developd at the tip of her pancreas and had begun to matasize into her liver.

If you happen to see the recent news about Patrick Swayze, then you may know how serious this cancer is.

My attention of late has been, understandbly on my mother, and my family.

I will return to this blog - I want to -  I need to have something regular to focus back on.

Thanks to my friends who have offered their emotional support

Ok ok OK! I get it, David where is Crisis! We want more Crisis! David are you actually having your midlife crisis and can’t handle writing about it

Work and life just got in the way, I have been rehearsing my latest show which opens on tour next week, and commuting and forth to NJ to help my mother, who just had her hip replaced last month, and still needs a hand around the house from time to time. So I haven’t had much time to sit in front of the computer to type up a blog. But….

I did get sometime on the bus, (when I didn’t need to nap) to get a lot of thoughts and outlines and even some partial essays written for future blogs - Look forward to my upcoming thoughts on - Movie Blockbusters, the Fall TV season (and the impending end of new episodes due to the writers strike), riding the subway, and of course, women.

But today I am finally going to discuss the IATSE Local 1 Stagehand Strike that has closed down most of Broadway.

A lot of people I know have asked me what is going on with the strike, and how does it affect me. The “how it affects me?” part is really easy - Not in the least, At least for now. Since I am not a member of that union (much to many of your surprise) and I am not working on broadway show produced by a League of American Theatres and Producers (sadly). But here are my thoughts about it.

As most of you know, I am pro-union, pro-labor, and fairly left of center politically, so I do support the stagehands and their right to strike, but I do not sympathize with them emotionally, like i did for the musicians back when AFM 802 had their Broadway Strike a few years ago. Stagehands are very well paid, and have a great support structure, all to the union’s benefit and hard work, something they have been able to do without ever having to go on strike before.

The union is doing what it supposed to do - protecting their members and their jobs. As I understand it, and (if someone else knows more, please tell me) the key issue appear to be the number of stagehands needed to perform a show, and the inflexablity of the union to change a work call on a show once it starts, that meaning, if a show goes into production and during technical rehearsals or previews an effect, or a scene with gets cut, and you hired a crew member to work specifically on that scene or effect, the person still has a job, even though their reason for being there is no longer in the show. And they are required to pay this person for as the show runs (so a stage hand on a show like Cats, or Phantom, whose job got cut early on, would have remained on the payroll for the entire run of the show) Is that truely fair? Certainly an actor who was cast in any scene that got cut does not get to keep collecting a paycheck if they no longer have a part in the show.

Also this is the height of the broadway tourist season - hundreds of thousands of visitors come to NYC this time of year to shop, see the tree at Rockafeller Plaza, and see Broadway Theatre. Producers stand to lose millions, and the tourists who spent their money on tickets, and travel/hotel costs will be out that money. Those tourist who were able to cancel their plans now cost the city money in lost hotel and resturant revenue. I hear that a few airlines have cancelled a flight a day to NYC due to a drop off in demand.

My biggest concern is for the actors and stage managers of the closed shows (since I am a member of that union, and some of those folks are my personal friends) There are some shows that may not survive the strike, costing many actors and stage managers their jobs (which they are not getting paid for - and now have to live of 1/3rd or less of their salaries on unemployment)

- Week 46 to follow almost immediately after lunch so come back soon LOL