Production Coordinator
Celebration Productions, Schaumburg, IL.
1979-82

Midwest liaison to the production personnel associated with major rock talent. Coordinate with the promoters, artists, technicians, and local crews to ensure that requested production needs are promptly managed.

Working with great rock promoters like these guys was pure joy.

Vicki Krone. Bruce Kapp, Jane Heriot, Ray Cassatta, Floyd Dillman, Mike Krone, Jolly Roger, Tim Smith, Sal Dimicelli, David Asher, Marty Butler, Carl and Larry from Flipside Records, and production managing Sam Kinison up in Heaven, Mr. Bobby Sysinski. Peace to the old crew.

Bands: Neil Diamond, Van Halen, Yes, The Who, Ted Nugent, Outlaws, UFO, Deep Purple, REO Speedwagon, Rush, Nazareth, Judas Priest, Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath (with and w/o ozzie), Foghat, Pat Travers, KISS, Molly Hatchet, Loverboy, CheapTrick.


Accomplishments:
  • Placed seventh, out of 250 participants in electronics technology, at the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) state competition.

    Still look back on this as quite an accomplishment, if I do say so for myself. I mean, take a look any of my pictures...

    Who would have thunk it, huh?
  • Assisted in the design, remodeling, rewiring, sound insulation, and installation of broadcast quality equipment for the College of DuPage's industrial television facility.

    Wiring and untangling the wire is like meditation to me. Even today!


Buliding-block gigs when you consider the scheme of things:

Engineering Asst.
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL.

Maintain and repair industrial video cameras, recorders, players, and miscellaneous support equipment. Assist video personnel in all phases of television production, including camera operator, lighting director, audio engineer, and technical director.

Met two of my video career mentors here, David Gorski and Sidney Fryer.

David instilled in me the idea that industrial t.v. is real t.v. and not semi-real. A valuable lesson for a kid who thought rock and roll production was the "real" production.

My first writing mentor, other than my father, is Betsy Sodergren. An amazingly organized individual. She always seemed to know the subtle differences between my thesaurus and the concepts of plagiarism.


Assembler/Tech.
Connor-Winfield Corporation, West Chicago, IL.

Assemble various types of oscillator and timer components into printed circuit boards. Test to ensure specifications and document tolerance to temperature/performance shifts. Troubleshoot defective units. Assemble prototypes from design engineers schematic diagrams.

Had fun here and did a lot of nutty stuff with resistors and capacitors in wall sockets, and stuff. Nuff said!


Motor Drive Tech.
Dreisilker Electric Motors, Glen Ellyn, IL.

Install, repair, and maintain industrial motors and drive control systems. maintain large-scale industrial shop equipment. Knowledge of HVAC systems, hydraulics, and internal motor wiring.

Apprenticed under a wonderfully curmudgeon genius of the electric motor industry, Mr. Jerry Michaels. Always reminding me, with that upturned eyebrow, that if I f--ked up, he'd hang my balls from the rafters.

I did okay.