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I'd like to respond
to a question from Cynthia. Her question has
disappeared from the active archives, but I believe
she asked me if meeting with M stressed me out --
cause she saw that in my face at DECA.
This is quite long, but please read to the end.
Here's a story:
When M first moved to Miami he lived in rented
digs. Soon a house was purchased which, naturally,
required pretty extensive renovations to be 'the
residence.' I was not involved in the renovations:
Another architect from our design/engineering staff
at DECA was asked to do this.
One night I got a call around midnight from this
guy asking me to come by the house and help him
with a problem. I got there about 1:00. Lots of
work was going on -- around the clock, great
urgency, etc. The work was being done by premies
who worked for an 'outside' company, composed
primarily of premies, who had the dual
responsibility of doing their money-making work and
freebies (service) for M's personal projects.
Some interior plumbing was being moved in a
second floor bathroom. The plumber had cut joists
in order to relocate plumbing fixtures. The other
architect had seen these cut joists and was
concerned that the structure was damaged. He wanted
to consult. Together with the main carpenter, we
worked out a way to strengthen the floor and
install the piping. It required that some things
that had been done be redone, plus some additional
work that would take a few extra hours.
I went to bed thinking 'job well done.'
I woke up and headed to the complex (DECA
facility) early. M came shortly thereafter, earlier
than usual. First thing he asked was: 'Did you go
to the residence last night?' I explained the
situation, what was done and he listened. When I
was finished he said: 'That beam was not going to
break.' [note: this is pretty close to literal
-- it's been over 20 years...]
He was mad and told me never to do that kind of
thing again -- don't get in his way, don't delay
his projects. I was crushed. Based on my experience
-- what I knew about structure -- we had done the
right thing. Was there another set of physics for
perfect masters? I wondered about this, but mainly
I was crushed for being disciplined harshly and
publicly.
Of course, one reaction was envy from some that
I was in HIS spotlight -- no matter how
unpleasant.
Here's another recollection: One night we were
in the 707 on the runway at the Miami airport. I'm
not sure the circumstances. I don't remember what I
had done or not done, but M was yelling at me. He
was very angry. I just stood there and soaked it in
-- not much I could say. Afterwards, I was pretty
numb -- felt like crying. Someone said that if M
had done that to them they would have been dead --
kind of like: How were you able to handle that
knife in the heart?
Not all encounters with M were stressful. I'm
relating these to say to Cynthia that, yes it
wasn't always easy. However, at the time, I was
doing what I wanted to be doing. I was challenged
in all aspects of my life and I thought I had the
best job in the world.
However, to put it in some perspective: I've had
other clients that found reasons to be dissatisfied
with my work. I've had clients that didn't pay me,
tried to cheat me. Of course, none of them were
perfect masters, so they were entitled (grin).
Here's another story: The first big project,
outside of stages, that I did for M was to renovate
portions of the Malibu residence (maybe around
'76). This project I approached as I had been
trained: I treated M like a client, got info about
what he desired, produced ideas, reviewed them with
him and staff, and then supervised the construction
during a period when he was on tour.
When he got back we were all exhausted, but
happy. We had completed a major project in record
time. The family and staff toured the house and
approved of the changes.
In the bedroom there was a stereo system that
controlled speakers in other parts of the house.
This had been installed and integrated into the
existing system by one of the premies who was good
at that sort of thing. I guess he had a different
idea of how these things were to be set up than M
because when M tried to do some things with it, he
couldn't get it to work after he had changed some
settings. It wasn't the way he was used to seeing
it.
The tour and the day turned into a
disappointment because the stereo wasn't working.
It had worked perfectly during testing, but after
changing some switches, M couldn't make it
work.
This and some other minor grievances led M to
change the way that we worked in the future. He
determined that he would be the designer and I
would be his project manager: combination
draftsman, researcher, go-for and construction
supervisor.
I have to admit: He was creative. He had plenty
of ideas. That's one reason the budgets kept
getting blown-out (as Dettmers related). He would
come up with ideas that didn't respect the laws of
man or nature. He didn't have the idea that
something was impossible to do. Based on what I
know about intention, he made a lot of things
happen because he believed, and made others believe
that they would happen. It's either genius or
idiocy, maybe both.
There were a lot of businesses created out of
the company that was DECA. There are aviation
businesses, cabinet shops, contractors, boat
builders, interior designers, graphic designers,
etc. who all got their start there. There's a few
premies now who are millionaires because of their
start at DECA. Looking at it that way, it was a
great (business) opportunity.
I learned a lot about how to treat/work with
clients from my time with M. Larry Bernstein,
designer of the Millenium stage, said that he had
trained at the feet of Frank Lloyd Wright (the
apprentices sat on the floor, Wright and his wife
in the chair -- kind of similar to M, look at
pictures of FLW at Taliesen). Part of my
apprenticeship was at the feet of GMJ [although
I don't think FLW would have said the beam wouldn't
break (g)].
I know there have been horror stories told by
people on this forum about their time at DECA. I
can confirm most of the circumstances. However, I'm
like Erika, in one of her posts about COLL, who
remembered the special moments. My memories of DECA
are filled with positives, also, about the work,
the learning, the special friendships and times
with M. As Donner keeps saying: Something in me
needed something from him at that time in my life.
There are no mistakes.
I'm not making apologies or defending M to you.
I'm just choosing not to blame him for how my life
turned out.
*****
I think during the extensive posts from Erika I got
a good education about the Forum. I've certainly
changed my initial negative opinion from reading
and posting. I appreciate those of you who have
come forward to say hello or to ask me my opinion
on something that happened, or to remind me of
things that I had forgotten -- like salty D says --
senior moments.
However, I do not plan to be a regular, just
because this activity takes too much time. Whoever
said that computers save time missed the boat. I've
never posted to a chat room before and can see why
it's addictive: What will Dettmers reveal next?
Stay tuned for the next episode, etc.
Also, I respect the real work that is going on
in your lives. The processing, the understanding,
the accepting and forward movement. The idealism
(and naivete) that brought us together originally
is still alive in the Forum. Good work, guys.
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