Black Hole (Remix)

Series
The Other Side
Original Broadcast Date
9/16/2001
Cast
Alan Hunter, Barbara Sohmers, Marilyn Casky, Arthur Miller, Brother Theodore, Mark Hammer, Joseph Palmieri, Clark Gordon, Larry Block, Richard Bauer, Tim Jerome, Joe Frank
Format
54 minutes
Preceded by:	Terminal
Followed by:	At The Border (Remix)
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Images of the city at night. People hurry along with umbrellas.

Black Hole is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series The Other Side. It was originally broadcast on September 16, 2001.

Synopsis

This episode is segments excerpted from A Tour Of The City (Part 1), in different order, for the first 27:40, followed by all of A Tour Of The City (Part 2)

'Images of the city at night…' Joe (using second person) tells about landing in a plane, looking down on the city. Pilots land the plane safely despite engine failure. Joe compares how the city looks on the ground with how it looked from the air.

0:30: Joe describes the tree-folk, the people of the law (who recite laws that sound like parody Leviticus).

1:40: Joe recounts 'wrestling' matches, the first between a caveman with a tree and a baron who weighs 2,695 stone (about 20 tons), the second between a giant beetle and an Irish washerwoman.

5:30: Joe describes a military convoy on its way to the presidential palace. A presidential address follows.

7:20: Eva (Barbara Sohmers) tells Alex he talked in his sleep last night. She wants him to tell her how he feels, he's gone so much.

8:10: Voltgen, founder of Electricist (sp?) religion (Arthur Miller?), one of the many sects that have sprung up in the city, talks to Alex, a novice; he explains Electricism, ruminates on darkness and light.

10:40: Alex tells of walking through the city, wondering where he's going. Voltgen responds, tells him he has to give up on love.

13:20: Voltgen leads a service, which features a large filament, culminates with electrical arcs.

16:00: Olga (Marilyn Casky), Alex's other wife, talks about Alex spending time at Voltgen's temple, says he'll leave it as he's left all the other sects he's joined.

16:40: A fellow (Vorst?) leaves an ominous message on their phone. Olga's scared, Alex says it's nothing. They argue.

19:00: The president tells of driving a few days ago, saw 2 children making earthcakes near their hut, recalls a song from his childhood, hums it for us. We hear a horse, then thunder, then a dog, then a helicopter, then a police siren.

20:20: 'Sometimes I sign out a chopper…' The president looks at girls sunbathing on the roof.

21:10: Eva hears the helicopter, asks Alex what it's doing; it's looking into their window.

23:20: The president calls on citizens to report strangers to the authorities.

24:10: Alex describes physicians treating a woman (Eva?).

25:20: The president talks about burying oneself up to the neck to stay warm during the winter.

26:20: 'Each of us has contemplated suicide…' Guy with German-ish accent (Brother Theodore) talks about suicide, describes different methods.

27:40: 'You're riding in a cab in the rain…' Joe tells the damage the rain does. The cabdriver (a parody East European accent) says that a purification plant cleans the rainwater, takes Joe to the bridge where people commit suicide by jumping into the unpurified water, so acid bodies dissolve immediately. People yell and jump. The line is so long some give up waiting. The crowd applauds good dives.

30:50: The president addresses the nation, recalls when we knew our neighbors, talked to each other.

31:10: Vorst interrogates Alex about his job (an electrical engineer at the main power plant).

31:40: Joe describes the hydroelectric power plant. We can hear the sound of its operation in the background.

32:40: A warning light flashes; pipes and wires break; fires start. Workers frantically attempt repairs.

33:50: Vorst asks Alex if he knows how much breakdowns at the plant harm the city.

35:00: A distant woman's voice, barely audible, questions Alex.

35:50: Alex tells Voltgen that something is missing from his life; Voltgen asks what he's missing as though it is palpable ('animal, vegetable, or mineral… what color?').

38:00: The president recalls how wonderful it was to talk to the people you encountered.

38:30: Vorst asks Alex if he has any siblings (no), then why not. Vorst asks Alex if he would have had more children had he been his parents. Vorst asks Alex why he has no children. Vorst tells Alex that Eva and Olga work for his organization.

39:40: Alex converses with the distant voice of Eva, has a conversation about making love.

40:20: Vorst and Funk talk about what a great dancer Eva is, that they were out with her last night. Alex tells them she can't walk; they disagree.

41:00: Joe tells of a prisoner watching the rain from his cell.

41:30: Vorst tells of flying over the presidential palace.

42:20: The president tells of being poor when he grew up, how his mother made food from nothing: wood pulp omelettes, sparrow soup, baked earthcakes. The children would collect water by squeezing it off ferns in the rain. He calls upon citizens to take strength from adversity, such as the blackout.

43:50: Vorst asks Alex what he enjoyed doing with his father. Alex says fishing. Vorst makes fun of this.

44:30: Alex has a flashback of fishing with his father. Alex wonders when his mother can join them fishing.

46:20: Alex describes the accident that hurt his mother; it happened when he stuck his mother's hat pin into an electrical socket, which caused an explosion. Vorst and Funk laugh at this.

47:30: Sound from the Electricism service sounds faintly, then the washerwoman's bout with the beetle, then the fellow describing suicideurs.

48:10: Joe says the streets have turned into canals; coffins have floated out of the cemetery; a woman jumps from the bridge.

49:20: Alex tells of the funeral parlor in his neighborhood; he walks in. A background voice (Vorst?) asks children's questions, 'Where does the rain come from?… Why do I have to go to my room? If I don't like it, why do I have to eat it? Are we there yet?'. Alex describes the service in the parlor. The minister sounds like he's describing Alex; Alex notices the similarity. Alex goes up to the coffin, sees it's empty, so gets in, lies down; he notices his lips are sewn shut, his face heavily rouged. They close the coffin, carry it out; he hears the sound of children playing in an adjoining lot.

Legacy Synopsis

• Religious orders
• Bizarre boxing match
• A presidential address
• Interrogation of man regarding an explosion
• Dialog with the man's wife
• Lectures on Electrocism and Naturism
• Actor's monologue on suicide techniques
• Taxicab at suicide bridge
• "Something is missing from my life" discussion
• The president talks about eating nothing as a child, reads the children's questions monologue ("if I don't like it, why do I have to eat it?")
• A man attends his own funeral.

Music

This is an incomplete record of the music in this program. If you can add more information, please do.

• "Music For Mallet Instruments, Voices And Organ" - Steve Reich (from Drumming, Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ, Six Pianos, 1974) | YouTube [Intro]
• "Brüder Des Schattens" - Popol Vuh (from Brüder Des Schattens - Söhne Des Lichts, 1978) | YouTube [13:10]
• "Remote Viewing" - Tangerine Dream (from Exit, 1981) | YouTube [17:08]

• "Six Marimbas" - Steve Reich (from Sextet · Six Marimbas, 1986) | YouTube [23:19]
• "Lizard Point" - Brian Eno (from Ambient 4 (On Land), 1982) | YouTube [34:42]

• "Softly, As I Leave You" - Henry Mancini And His Orchestra (from Six Hours Past Sunset, 1969) | YouTube [49:28]
• "More Colours" - Eberhard Weber (from The Colours Of Chloë, 1974) | YouTube [52:55]

Shared material

• Nightride
• A Tour of the City

Additional credits

• Directed by Arthur Miller
• Mixed by Jim Anderson
• Remixed by Ray Guarna

From the broadcast, 'You have been listening to Joe Frank, "The other side". This program was called "Black hole" - directed by Arthur Miller, mixed by Jim Anderson, remixed by Ray Guarna. The performers were Alan Hunter, Marilyn Casky, Barbara Sohmers, Arthur Miller, Brother Theodore, Mark Hammer, Joseph Palmieri, Clark Gordon, Richard Bauer, Tim Jerome; written, produced, and narrated by Joe Frank'