Darryl Linkow, C.A.S.

Due to this terrible economy, I find myself in need of about 36 hours of work by October 23, to re-qualify for Motion Picture Health Plan this period. If you need a few days off, or know of anything, please send me email. I am interested in fill-in work and/or Second Units, ENG, or EFP. I am a Y-1 mixer, but will do anything (utility, boom pusher, etc.) for a few days to get my hours. I am based in the Los Angeles area, but will travel anywhere, as long as the job pays into the West Coast IATSE Health Plan. Regards, Darryl Linkow, C.A.S. 818-597-8855 mailto:soundmixer@ymail.com

Thanks. I did not realize that they made PATA SSD drives. But I must say that they are quite expensive. Probably would be cheaper to buy the Sound Devices interface and go with SATA SSD drive. Which drive did you buy and how much was it?

Gabi, Did you do it yourself? If so, how difficult was it? Also, seeing how SSD drives are all SATA and the 744T hard drive is PATA/IDE, did you use Sound Devices XL-SATA interface? How difficult and costly was this?

OK. Thanks for the description of the mod. But where are the photos? I do not see them here....

Yes, you are pretty much correct about "hardship" dues not existing anymore. The only way you get a dues reduction is if you are collecting disability. If you are legally disabled, which includes your doctor signing a form, supplied by Local 695, in which he certifies you are disabled, you only have to pay the International "per capita" stamp fee, which is somewhere in the $70.00 range, as I recall. Also, it is a formality, but the local's Executive Board has to vote on and approve your application for the disability dues reduction. I know this from personal experience, as I did get this dues reduction while I was battling throat cancer, not too long ago. And, as already stated, as long as your dues are paid up, you can take an honorable withdrawal from the local. And when you do get a job, you pay your back dues and get reinstated in the local. The ONLY union that I have personal experience with where you don't have to pay your back dues when you are reinstated is IBEW. With IBEW, you can take on honorable withdrawal until you work another IBEW job. When you get the new job, you just have to pay your monthly dues again, but DO NOT have to pay the back dues. Too bad the IATSE isn't that way. But then again, my MPI Health and Pension Plan benefits are much better than the Flexplan that IBEW (and NABET) have for their health and pension benefits!

Richard, I agree with you 100%....Have you ever asked the people at CSATF why we need to fill out an I-9? I have and they tell me that this is what the Federal Government/IRS requires them to do. I have NEVER understood that statement, since I always thought that an I-9 form was only required to be filled out by an employee, and I have never been EMPLOYED by CSATF...I don't think that being on the Roster makes you an employee of CSATF, does it? And yes, it would be great if the original lie that CSATF propagated, about not having to fill out an I-9 again, for any other company that uses the Roster, was true, but we know that it was just that....a lie! The only reason that I have complied with filling out an I-9 for CSATF in recent years, is so that Local 695 gets reimbursed by Contract Services for the training sessions that I attend. And also, I don't get why we have to fill out another I-9 every 3 years at CSATF, since I am STILL a citizen of the USA, just by the fact that I was born in this country....I just don't think it would be possible for me to be unborn and reborn in another country at this time! Maybe the solution to this problem is, dare I say it, to contact your local Congressman and ask that they look into this problem?? Or look further into why the IRS requires Contract Services to have us all fill out I-9 forms?

Manfred was always a good friend and I am very sorry to hear of his passing. I saw Brenda at the K-tek booth at Cinegear last month and she told me about her father's declining health. Having battled cancer myself, I know some of what Manfred went through. And I still fondly remember going to lunch with Mike Denecke and Manfred and how enjoyable it always was. Two great men who have had a very large impact on the motion picture and television sound business.

Simple answer to your question, Peggy. The slime-ball EPK producers are taking advantage of a union member's card. These producers know that since their company is non-union, they could run into a problem on a union show. They figure that if the sound mixer and/or camera operator for the EPK should get "carded", they can show membership cards and the producers get away scott-free and can keep on shooting. I have reported many, many times over the past 30 years to reps of our Local 695, about this situation, and nothing has been done to challenge this. The general statement about this is that the EPK companies are hired by the Publicity Dept. of the various studios, and that they are not governed by an IA contract. I disagree with this, especially seeing how nowadays the Publicists are members of IATSE Local 600!! If you or anyone else is disturbed by this situation, I suggest you contact representatives of your local or maybe your favorite board member and voice a concern and/or a complaint. With the current situation of members being out of work and the upcoming requirement to get 400 hours per period for health benefits, it would greatly benefit members if all the EPK jobs were required to be done by Signatory companies, so that members could get their benefits.

I do a lot of this kind of work. Both of the shows that I work for who shoot "behind the scenes" footage and set interviews are IATSE signatories and we have a sound mixer and a camera operator per camera. That's right...if we do a set visit with our talent, and we have two cameras, we also have two sound people (Local 695 members). But, the problem I have is that the individual shows, even though they are IATSE-crewed shows, hire non-union EPK crews to shoot their EPKs. This bothers me very much and I have expressed my concern to representatives of Local 695 many, many times. At this time, it seems like nothing is being done about this situation and many Local 695 workers are losing jobs because of this. I applaud those production sound mixers and their crews, working on episodic television and features, who have the balls to tell their producers that they will not provide audio feeds to non-IATSE personnel who are working on the EPK or shooting behind the scenes footage for non-IATSE signatory shows. And if you want to go a step further, please consider calling the local anytime a non-IATSE crew shoots on your set.

Yes, it is quirk. Evidently you can't get this price online until 5/2/10.

If you go to the Office Depot website and look at the weekly ad for week 5/2 through 5/8, you will see the monitor/tv on the front page. From that ad, you can order it online for the $39.95 price.

I bought 2 of them and my buddy bought 1. $39.99 each plus $8.00 California recycling fee plus tax. Came to about $102 for the 2 of them.

I don't know of any AA lithium rechargables, but I have been using the Powerex 2700 AA NiMH for about a year now and they are excellent. Be sure to purchase the Maha MH-C9000 for charging these batteries, because it is the very best charger that I am aware of for NiMH AA & AAA batteries. Regards, Darryl Linkow, C.A.S.

I am not a lawyer, but you should check with your local small claims court. I believe that you need to file in the court that has jurisdiction in the community where your work took place. But you might have to file where your employer has his legal address. And when the camera guy said he had been working for them for over two months and hadn't gotten paid, I probably would have thought twice about working for them at all. I see it was just a one day shoot. I hope you didn't get burned for too much money.

In the past, I have used [ftp=ftp://Batteries.com]Batteries.com[/ftp] for SLA batteries that are in my Pelican cases. The prices were good and service was excellent.

Sounds good Jeff. I am still waiting to receive mine. And I totally agree with your comments about Mike Denecke. I am happy to say that he was a friend of mine and he is definitely missed by a lot of people.

Did you download and install the correct LecNet2 Firmware Update for the specific Venue unit that you have?

Paul, anything in 700 Mhz. that has been sold off by the FCC for other uses, can not be used at Radford! Tim Holly will not let anyone break the law on his watch and rightfully so! Did you go to the RF seminar that 695 had a while back where Tim spoke? If so, do you remember what Tim said about the FCC? They are the second biggest income producing agency in the US government, right after the IRS. And with fines in the thousands of dollars, along with a jail sentence, it just isn't worth it to use frequencies that are no longer available to us!

"Jon tells me that the pan option will be available with the upcoming Panel Mixer for the 788t(!)." This caught my eye....Tell us more!!!

In case you have been waiting for the availability of the H1N1 flu shot, please be advised that there are a limited amount of shots available at the MPTV Fund facilities in Woodland Hills and Toluca Lake. You must be a member of one of the unions/guilds that is serviced by the MPTV Fund and be in one of the high risk/priority categories in order to receive the shot. And you must call and make an appointment. For more info, the Fund can be reached at 818-876-1532. When you get the recording, dial "6" to reach the Flu Hotline, which will give you all the info.

From the Sound Devices website: 702, 702T, 722, and 744T Firmware 2.65 Now Available Revision 2.65 firmware is now available immediate download and installation for the 702, 702T, 722, and 744T. This new revision adds several features and minor bug fixes. New features include new behavior for marking circle takes and extension of iXML metadata to add a new classification of a “No Good” take. A complete change list and updated documentation are available on the download page. last update November 16, 2009 Sound Devices 744T firmware revision 2.65 provides the following fixes and features: * new - firmware revision number shows in boot up splash screen. * new - ability to mark a take as 'NG' (No Good). Typically used to identify a take as not the one to be used in post, although there may be sections of it which may be useful. Data stored in the iXML chunk. * new - STOP+LAMP shortcut for quick access to Circling or NG'ing the last recorded take. * new - add ability to change take status of any take from the take list. * new - addition of iXML (v1.52) parameters including <FALSE_START>, <NO_GOOD> * fixed - RF hash/noise no longer causes the recorder to incorrectly stop recording in ExtTC/cont - Auto Record mode. It will only stop when stationary TC code is detected. * change - When daily folders are selected, the daily folder is only created when record is first pressed. This prevents empty daily folders being generated if the 7-series is powered up every day but without recording anything. This also applies to the generation of top level and bottom level folders. * change - Drive "Erase" menus renamed to "Erase / Format".

This one really got to me. I just called my state assemblyperson's office and told them about this. It pisses me off that our state tax dollars that are paying for the California Department of Food & Agriculture are being used against us and that they are allowing commercials to be filmed outside of California.....and outside of the USA is even more outrageous! Please consider doing like I just did and call the office of the state assemblyperson or state senator in your district and express to them your concern and displeasure. Darryl Linkow, C.A.S.

Mark, Thanks for the above comment. Through the years I have told many people exactly what you said about "El Mariachi", but most of them didn't believe me! Darryl

I just tried the link and the clip is still there......

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keeptheMPTFhomeopen The above link is an online petition to stop the closure of the MPTV Fund Acute Care and Long Term Care facilities at the Skirball Health Center/Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills/Calabasas. Please check it out and feel free to email all of your associates and give them the above link. Also, check out my previous post with the link to the YouTube video about this very important issue. Thank you!