STAGEHAND’S REAL JOB IS OUT OF SIGHT

SAN DIEGO — Before the summer is over, attend a concert at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater and you’ll see a half-dozen or so stagehands waiting in the wings.

Occasionally, one of them might dart onto stage to adjust the lead singer’s microphone, or bring the drummer a new set of drum sticks, or fetch the guitarist a glass of water.

But for most of the show, they’re just standing around on the sidelines, enjoying the music with everyone else.

If you think that sounds like a glamorous occupation, think again. For more than four years, Rich McKee has worked his way through college as a stagehand, independently contracting to work at the Open Air Theater and other concert facilities in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles.

Catch him on one of his infrequent days off and he’ll gladly tell you that the job of stagehand is a lot more difficult and time-consuming than it might appear.

“The actual concert, which is the only time the public sees us, is the smallest part of our work day,” said McKee, 24. “The day of a show, I get to work around 8 a.m. and don’t go home until midnight or later.

“During those 16 hours, I’m basically a jack-of-all-trades. I load and unload equipment, I set up and break down the stage and lights, and I do carpentry, welding, and electrical work.

“The concert is usually when I’m least busy, so what I do might seem glamorous. But behind that glamour is a lot of hard work--and most of that work gets done before and after the show, when nobody’s around but us.”

The day of the Hank Williams Jr. concert, McKee and about 20 other stagehands arrived at the Open Air Theater promptly at 8 a.m., a full 12 hours before show time.

They spent the next hour installing six spotlights along the amphitheater’s mid-section and upper edge, and covering the stage with a plastic tarp to shield against possible rainfall.

Then, at 9, they started unloading Williams’ three semitrailers of equipment and setting up the stage for the night’s performance.

“Our stage is completely bare,” McKee said. “The bands provide everything, from sounds and lights to staging and gear-instruments, amplifiers, speakers, monitors, and microphones.

“Hank also brought along a lot of staging, in the way of several ramps and elevated platforms, or risers, for the drums and keyboards.”

At places like the San Diego Sports Arena, McKee said, unloading is a simple chore because equipment trucks can pull right into the backstage area.

“But at the Open Air Theater, we have one of the worst load-ins in the country,” he said. “Since the stage is located far below ground level, we have to push everything into an elevator and take it down four flights.

“If some of the equipment is too big to fit inside the elevator, we have to carry it by hand down a steep embankment, on a dirt path we call the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

“At the Hank Williams show, two 20-foot lighting trestles didn’t fit, and since they weighed about 700 or 800 pounds apiece, it took all 20 of us to shoulder it down the hill.

“That was a real drag.”

At 1 p.m., McKee and the other stagehands took a half-hour lunch break. By then, all the equipment had been unloaded, and the cumbersome lighting trestles had been erected and wired above the stage.

Less than four hours later, the stage had been set up as well, and when Williams and his band arrived for a pre-show “sound check,” or dress rehearsal, at 5 p.m., McKee went home for a quick shower and nap.

At 7 p.m., an hour before show time, he was back at the Open Air Theater. Upon his arrival, the stage manager told him that instead of standing around on stage during the concert, he would be running one of the spotlights.

“Lately, I’ve been doing that a lot,” McKee said. “The pay is better, and because I have seniority over most of the other stagehands, I get put on spots whenever the opportunity arises.”

After the concert, as soon as the house lights came on, McKee rejoined the stage crew in breaking down the stage and lights and loading Williams’ equipment back into the performers’ trucks.

“Usually, I stick around three or four hours until the job is done,” he said. “But tonight, I have to leave early, before midnight, because I have to be at Anaheim Stadium at 3 a.m. to begin setting up for tomorrow’s concert by Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead.

“I get off around 11 a.m., and after driving back home, I’ll finally get some sleep. But the money’s good--I’m earning about $300 for both shows--so I really don’t mind one bit.”

McKee, a senior majoring in business at San Diego State University, became a stagehand four years ago at the urging of a fraternity brother at Theta Chi, who had been working at the Open Air Theater for several summers.

That fraternity brother, McKee said, has since parlayed his experience as a stagehand into a well-paying job as stage manager for pop-jazz saxophonist Kenny G.

“I’d like to see a similar thing happen to me,” said McKee, who works an average of 10 concerts a month. “Some day, I’d like to open my own production company and produce concerts, and maybe movies, myself.

“For the time being, however, I’m quite content with finishing my education while making a good living learning everything I can about this business.

“I’m going after my degree for general business knowledge, but this kind of experience you just can’t get in the classroom.”