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January 11th - February 9th
INITIAL WEEK HERE:
Okay, so when I got here, I had this big plan of how to attack the whole scene, you know, how to get a job, get an agent, get in a band, win friends and influence people. I broke it all down like I was still at Eolas as a Project Manager. I spent six days walking around, dropping off resumes, putting together mailings and talking my way onto the stages of various music clubs and after six days I had a total of NO prospects.
Add to that the fact that a lot of the friends that I already had here must've misunderstood me when I said, "Hey, I finally moved here and I'd REALLY love to hear a familiar voice, gimme a call". My guess is they thought I said, "Hey, I finally moved here and I don't know why I called since I don't want you to call me back, under any circumstances, EVER!"
So, there I was, at a restaurant on the Upper West Side, by myself, with an ever-dwindling (and inaccessible - thank you very much for that fucking five business day hold on Out-of-State checks!!!) bank account, thinking, "huh...this is not gonna work the way I thought it would, I probably should've stayed in Chicago...OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE!?". I stopped the hyperventilation and began the short walk back to my brother's apartment on 70th Street.
It was a clear and beautiful night, about 35 degrees, and I was wearing
a light coat. I heard footsteps behind me and suddenly a young woman's
voice says to me "Aren't you freezing?"
"No", I responded, "I just moved from Chicago and this
feels pretty damned balmy to me".
"I just moved, too!", she exclaimed.
"Where from?", I asked.
"73rd Street!"
Without missing a beat I responded, "I imagine there isn't that much
of a temperate change, then".
"No. Not really". At that moment we were in front of Howie's
and I started for the door and she said, "This is you?"
"Well, my brother lives here, yeah".
"Oh". And then she leaned up and gave me a very nice kiss and
said "New Yorkers are very friendly. Welcome!" and continued
on her way.
Okay, ignoring the fact that for the first time in my life I didn't have a comeback and as my brother put it, "How could you not get her phone number?...I don't understand". I must say, the oddness of the moment could not have come at a better time. I was very much feeling the Alien Blues, but never having been one to ignore signs (however much I rationalize them), I immediately realized that in spite of my inertia, everything would work out just fine. And to just be a tad more patient.
That night I went out with one of my oldest and dearest friends who was in town for a short visit and she reintroduced me to an old friend and, well, everything started to turn around quickly.
MONEY GIGS:
So, the first restaurant I ate at in my Brooklyn neighborhood was a place I picked out of the Zagat guide...
(BTW, noone here, and I mean NOONE, goes out to eat without looking at a current Zagat - the conversation invariably goes like this, "Where do you wanna eat?" "How about Zulios'?" "Yeah?" "Yeah. They have a 20." "Huh, sounds good. I'll meet you there at 8.")
...I walked in to this small restaurant and Howie and I are the first one's there. Because I talk to everyone I meet, I immediately tell the host that its the first restaurant I've been to in my new 'hood. Long story short, he's the owner and he's very close with the owners of Danny's Diner in Wicker Park and as a result is good friends with Pam from Soul Kitchen and as you Chicagoans know, I'm a freaking Evangelist for the place. He gives me his card.
After a couple recommendations from other people (and after filling out several hundred applications and dropping off millions of "Restaurant" resumes- don't leave home without one in NYC) I call this fine young man up and he says I should try a couple places he used to work, but he can't recommend me since he doesn't really know me...blah blah blah, I get a tryout at one of them.
In New York, you don't get hired. They interview you a couple times and if they like you, you get to come in and train fro free for a couple shifts to see if it's a good fit. If it is, THEN you train for a couple more days and they actually pay you minimum wage. If that goes well, then you get to start making money...SO...it was a good fit and now I work at Savoy in SoHo at Prince and Crosby (a 23!!!). The money looks to be good and it's not corporate so, I got a job! Thank jesus! (sorry, I thought I was Kurt Warner for a second - fucking scab!)
VOICE-OVER GIGS and ACTING:
So I sent out 50 VO demos to all the VO agents in NYC with a quirky little note honestly thinking, hell, I made a pretty penny in Chicago in the VO field. Piece of cake!!!
uh...that mailing was followed by the pleasant sounds of crickets & tumbleweeds. Certainly NOT the happy buzz of my pager.
Luckily, the friend of the friend who said he'd make some calls on my behalf actually DID (proving that NYC and LA are two COMPLETELY different places) and I got a call from an agent who wanted to see me immediately. We met and the next day I had auditions. Oh...this initial call was on the same day I got the restaurant job. The next day (almost a week and a half after I sent the CD's), I got calls from three more agents wanting to meet me including a fairly big one, alright, a really big one, the client list includes Dick Cavett - how cool would that be (you youngsters are gonna have to ask your folks about him)!?
It was a good couple days.