"Boomerang...Sort of!"

Hi folks! Will here. It seems that I am always having to explain my tongue-in-cheek titles right as I start off. This one is going to take a little time to become evident. (Hope it's worth your wait!)

Just as I left off, Alan and I were uprooting ourselves from Santa Fe to make a new home for ourselves (and our growing bird family) in the southern Arizona city of Tucson for purposes of Alan's job relocation. Truth be told, his job was in Tucson but our lovely home was in a suburb called Oro Valley.

Our expanding bird family!

 

Santa Fe to Tucson.

Our trip down from Santa Fe was by car and van...the latter to accommodate the birds, their cages and a few cherished items that we didn't want to chance with the movers. I wish it was a bigger van because we would have been able to fit my second Conn 651 theatre organ and its model 580 counterpart, the Theatrette. We left that to the movers and they bollixed the pedalboard contacts in the move down to Tucson! This was an organ that I had purchased while in N.M. and really should have sold before trying to make the interstate move. That was not the case. So, one of the first things I had to do upon arrival was to find an organ repair service.

Tucson is senior/retirement territory...so organs, their sales and repairs were readily available. Finding a tech wasn't a challenge. Next was a job hunt...for me. Musical instrument sales was a very logical venue, given the Tuscon area environment. Having had a good history in this field from back in N.J. made it easy to land that job. The company I applied to was one of the largest in the country with many stores in both Florida and Arizona...once again, senior territory!

The showroom was located in the biggest mall in town. I got the feeling that my old organ store chain had patterned themselves after this company. The layout of the instruments was pretty much the same...cheapest in the front to the most expensive in the rear of the studio. And, like its Jersey counterpart, we all had to take turns "pumping the front!" A very small single keyboard organ sans pedals was placed at the very front of the showroom, aimed outwards into the mall, where the sales crew played familiar tunes and showed off how easy it was to make music. I hated that part of the job, as I grew up on console organs with their multiple keyboards and pedalboards! Nonetheless, we all had our turns luring the unsuspecting public into the store and then using high pressure tactics to try and land a sale. My method was to play, smile and not say anything at first...but then ask what their favorite tune was. It worked pretty well. Then, it was their turn. I would turn the tables by asking them to sit on the little bench while I pointed out which keys to play for their first song! (I know...very Pied Piper! LOL.)

My Conn 651 and Conn 580, mother and daughter theatre organs.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the job. I was hired by the regional manager. But then...there was the store manager. I really felt he didn't like me. Maybe I was a threat. He was prone to outbursts and yelling at the staff...that didn't work for me. After one such shouting match, I calmly turned to him and told him to shut up. From that point on, I was not invited to participate in any of the promotional parties or regular Saturday morning store meetings. In only three months, the handwriting was on the wall. It was time for me to reach into my bag of tricks and pull out another resume!

Another redux for me was to go back to furniture sales at the same company as my Alan. That worked! Very quickly, I fit into the fabric of that sales team and did pretty well dollar-wise, to boot! After all, women made up the greater portion of our furniture buying clientele and they seemed to feel safe in the hands of a good looking gay salesman! LOL.

Meanwhile, Alan was reveling in his new position as Visual Director for the state of Arizona. Unfortunately, the times and politics of the early 2000s caused economic instability. That showed up in a drastic drop in new home sales...and, guess what is directly tied to new home sales? You guessed it...furniture sales! Within the first few months of 2004, all of the new stores opened in Arizona were forced to shut...one by one. Towards the end of that year, with literally no stores to oversee, Alan's position evaporated and he was asked to return to N.M. The change that resulted turned out to be a great one!

Although a bit shell-shocked by all of these changes, Alan was still high on the company ladder...albeit a smaller company. Albuquerque was his new outpost, and with it was the whole state of New Mexico. I was thrilled to go back for take two in N.M. And, this time in its biggest city! So, after some brief hunting, we found a charming house to rent pro tem. Then, falling in love with the community, we finally built a house for ourselves a little over a year later. This 2009 purchase became the anchor that we were both dreaming about. Who knew that "Home Sweet Home" was at the end of a boomerang! Please stay tuned to see how we landed!

Many happy returns!

Addendum: Although not related to the blog above, I did do want to commemorate the 50th anniversary of my October 1976 "landing" in San Francisco. My life was forever changed and enriched. I will always consider San Francisco to be my other home! .

Bio of Will Seagers:

Will Seagers (also credited as Matt Harper), within his multifaceted careers and participation in numerous gay communities across the country in the '70s and '80s and beyond, worked as a print model, film performer, and DJ, just to name a few. He made iconic appearances in releases from Falcon, Hand in Hand, Joe Gage, Target (Bullet), J. Brian, Steve Scott, and more, including in lead roles in major classics like Gage's L.A. Tool & Die (1979) and Scott's Wanted (1980). He brought strong screen presence and exceptional acting to his roles and was scene partners with many fellow legends of classic porn.

Will Seagers, present day

You can read Will Seagers' previous blogs for Bijou here:

Welcome Matt/Will | What's For Dessert? | On and Off the Set of L.A. Tool & Die | Wanted, Weekend Lockup and Weekends in Hermosa Beach | Honeymoon in the Palms | Birds of a Feather | The Stereo Maven of Castro Street | The Pass Around Boy | The Ecstasy and the Agony | Fitness and Fantasy | Chasing the Boys and Chasing the Sun | Becoming Invisible | The Reverse Story of Dorian Gray | Pin Money | One Organ Leads to Another! | The Wheels of Steel | Feast and Famine | An Alphabet Soup of Powders and Pills | Merry Christmas (and Getting Re-Organized) | Now and Then | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: The Badlands | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: Moby Dick Bar | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: "Just Another Stroll Down the Castro!" | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Hamburger Mary's | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Long Live the Stud! | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Club Life..."Hit me with your Rhythm Stick!” | A "Split Ticket": SoMa/Folsom and The Haight! | Staying Vanilla in a Flavorful Culture | A Little Secret | Recollections of the 1977 S.F. Gay Pride Parade | Life's a Beach | Flora & Fauna | Once Is Just Not Enough! | A Love of Cultures – A Knack for Languages! | For the Birds | It's About Time! | The Perfect Storm | Hello Chicago/Adieu Fire Island Pines! | Sex in the Woods! | My Life at the Gym | The Last Picture Show | Cumming Attractions! | The Peter Pan Syndrome | Valentine's Day Reflections | The “Idus Martias” and a Peacock! | Taxing I.M.H.O. | Nope...This Sure Ain't Kansas! | The French Connection | Water Baby | Pride: You Wear It Well! | Life Goes On... | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 1 | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 2 | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 3 | A Christmas Haiku | It's My Party & I'll BLOG If I Want To! | "Werk!" | Heart Throbs from the Past! | Homage to the Stars & Studios of My Era | Traveling the Arc | Music Is My Way of Life, Part 1 | Music Is My Way of Life, Part 2 | Music Is My Way of Life, Part 3 | Music Is My Way of Life, Part 4 | "Brick Wall" | A Gap! | Life in South Beach | Club Memories of South Beach | Finding Love on a Dance Floor? | My First Week Back in the Big Apple | A Long Honeymoon! | "Go West Young Man!" | "The Other San Francisco" | Star Gazer! | Further South...Further West!