EVAPORATION

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT

I told him the [longer than average]STORY about me bringing Joe Pruitt back from Philadelphia[the long way around]We had driven his Toyota pick-em-up to Media, PA[home base for SKYCAM], and when we saw the damn thing hovering on the field,...I had to tell the whole story[including the Deborah Devine/Ray Charles-part]Me & Joe practically begged the arrogant son-of-a-bitch, to take our checks[$1000/ea], for enrollment in their in-house training programJoe even volunteered tools & his time[gratis], to do a little 'rigging job' in their brand new warehousethe reason 'proffered' was that only camera-folk need apply; total bullshit-reckoning there!when they set-up, in a stadium[like FULTON CO. STADIUM], they need 6 'operators'2 are classified as 'pilots'they have a 'control terminal,' set-up where both 'flyers' can see the entire playing field/apron, & all the air-space below the four winchesa six-foot folding-table and two folding-chairs is all that is required[if sight-lines are adequate]NFL-games are live-TV, so you need two-way headset comm's[for both technicians] from the 'floor manager'/producer/cue-callerthe two, seated side-by-side, are looking at laptops[different shit displayed there & on the hard-drivesone controls the video-camera, and down south, woud need Local 666-representation to work[in FULTON CO.]that part makes perfectly good sense, even to a non-union cocksucker w/airtight proprietary patentsguy #2 is the PILOT; not an assistant camera-guythe camera-platform is connected by strong, flexible, non-stretchy wire-rope, to each of four winches[roughly describing a square with four equidistant corner-points]; the winches[about 275 pounds each] are military-grade computerized winch-motors, that 'cocksucker' obtained, through US Govt./Pentagon-sanctioned long-term lease agreements[he don't own the shit, or the patents][information that 'cocksucker' would hope to keep any knowedge of 'proprietary,' until a signed contract has been negotiated]setting the motors in place, and getting reliable circuits for powering up both winch-motor & computer-controls, as well as paying out all the 'rope,' and attaching them to the centrally-staged platform, is rigging-work, often performed by facility-employees[especially when liability must be assumed; unless they want UNION fall-guys]Shortly after me & Joe returned from Media/Atlantic City/Okracoke Is., I get a work-call for FULTON CO. STADIUM[hate the facility/hate TeddyTurnstile, that anti-union cocksucker], and it was for four riggers[no mention of high-rigging, but my butt-fuck antennae were shooting sparks; I mean, where in that facility, could you rig a motor??]; I took a pass, and took my chances; Ricky took the work call, and was out there all day, in perfect Spring weather[about 14 hours-worth]; when he got home, his first phone call was to me; he told me, step-by-step, everything he saw at work that day; this was a set-up day, and the next day Rick went to work on "The Slugger's Wife"Local 41 strikes again! ...no mention of film-work[just a fucked-up rigging call]; Rick called me, one day, while they were filming,... told me how to get past Security, & inside where he was working; I paid him a visit, & watched the film-crews at workRick told me[on 1st phone call] how 4 of them drudge-slugged those winch-motors up those narrow isles to the very top; how they selected power circuits for those computers[touchy-fuckers protected by alarmed-isolation transformers, w/guages like the ginny on a film-shoot]; ran cables[they had two-way radios @winch locations; wireless, of course!]; 'rigged' camera-platform; powered-up, & carefully took-tension on the four winches, until the platform 'floats' at eye-level; that's when Ricky's folding chair became necessary-equipment; all he did out there for 3 1/2 days, was ride those chairs, watch them guages & change batteries in their silent radios[and take scheduled breaks, eat Hollywood-style & calculate their overtime!]once the computers[seven in all; 4-winches, 2-pilots & one, interfacing the other 6], had control of the platform, in 3-D virtual-space, the pilots unpack their camera equipment, and set-up on the moveable platform, wire up anything left to last-minute prep & 'rehearse'/burn-in all systems for 6-hours[while Rick catches 40]the run-through is sort of 'hypothetical;' day 2, the rubber meets the road[every fukkin AD, craft-service dick, stadium employee & crowd-extra crack-ho tries to get on a headset someplace, and figure out what planet these dudes are on; there are 4 film-units competing for the Director or DP's attention, while the SKYCAM-crew keeps a low-profile, 'acting tres-professional'the first time the production-schedule calls for SKYCAM 'footage'[pretty sure it's a video-cam; I saw it!], the other camera units get a good snooze, because Direector/DP have landed on Saturn, and need 1/2 day to figure out how to use this alien system; costumed ballplayers are catching hell, and it's hot as fuck in the direct sunshine, running bullshit pass-routes, while all the crew-heads are watching the two pilot-screens get some exercise[Rick has consumed a half-pint of Vodka & burned 2 J's by now]; 90% of what they shot with this flying-rig, in three days of production, on one gimungous 'set,' was totally unusable[rent the flick; it ain't bad, but there ain't much to show in it, for all Rick's hard work]; I was kicking myself in the butt, for turning-down the world's best rigging call, and after me & Joe blew all that CA$H, just to get a peek at this 'system' it hurt twice as bad[I was real proud for Ricky Reagan, though!]Back to the BIG LIE cocksucker told us up in Media; guy #2 is a DOLLY GRIP, and that's Local 80 in all fifty States, and I'm a fucking GRIP![[inside info:REBEL SCHUNKE was Key Grip on "Six Pack"[ ][1982], and we became great pals; in 2000, when I[and 30 other employees] was laid off/Rockettes Show closed, I did some 'research,' and found that Schunke now President of Local 80[heavy West Coast 'hitter']; told 720 assholes & the District Representative[Moshe] that I'd take a Local 80 membership, if they didn't do right, and put the cripple in Federal Prison & eat his fucking German Shephard for dessert!]]