Fat Man Down

"Fat Man Down" or "Fat Man Down (remix)" is the name of a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Somewhere Out There.

Synopsis

• A washed-up musician tries to fill time.
• As an old man, he's in a hospital, but imagines he is in a resort.
• As a college student, he steals brownies from Howard Johnson's restaurants.
• In New York he gets a job as a janitor at a church and dates a German waitress.
• Stealing sunglasses, cafe meals.
• Telemarketing for an opera company.
• Subway stations as an underground world.
• His mother tries to kill herself.
• His mother sings The Linden Tree at a restaurant, talks about wanting to become a singer.
• Playing music in a bar.
• Walking in central park and becoming ill.
• Dream of about being lost and leading a child through a strange city, trying to call his mother at the phone company from a booth. Hiring prostitutes.
• A woman whispers in German.

Interesting Facts

• This program shares most of its text with Dreams of The River, but includes hospital scenes in place of the scenes from a boat going downriver, persistent background music, and no sound effects. This is not a remix, but a recording of the same text with small changes. Also contains a third person version of the telephone booth story from Islands.
• Much of the text in this program also appeared in the short story Fat Man, published in The Queen of Puerto Rico.

Music

• "Alone Again So" - Kid Loco (from A Journey Into Ambient Groove 4, 1997) | YouTube

• "Kontakte" - Les Rythmes Digitales (from Liberation, 1996) | YouTube

Commentary

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Shiro

This is classic Joe Frank material. It's one of my favorite programs, and also works as a great introduction piece for those new to Joe's work. The writing is brilliant, the program contains both humor and sadness, and the sound mix is perfect. It is one of the most polished shows you'll find. The entire program follows a single story, and the narrative structure is fairly straightfoward (if bimodal), which makes it a gentle introduction for those used to more traditional media.