Dreamers

Series
UnFictional
Original Broadcast Date
7/20/2012
Cast
Larry Block, Joe Frank
Format
Narrative Monologue, 27 minutes
Chronology
Preceded by:	Who Knows
Followed by:	Thief
Purchase or  Stream

He lived in a poor Arab village.

Dreamers is a radio program produced by Joe Frank and aired as part of KCRW's UnFictional series. It was originally broadcast July 20, 2012.

Synopsis

All of the content of Dreamers was originally aired in Time's Arrow.

1:00: Joe tells of a young Arab Palestinian recruited by Hamas because of his resentment of his father's loss of his legs in the '67 war. With a bomb attached, he approaches an Israeli settlement. An Israeli soldier challenges him, tells him he will shoot unless he stops. Then the soldier wakes up, realizes he was dreaming it. He sees a young man advancing on the settlement, challenges him, thinks of the brilliant deaf Hasid young man who it could be instead, doesn't shoot.

7:00: A Christian American pastor with his family from Mississippi approaches the same checkpoint. He sees a young man blow himself up, lifting their car off the ground. Then he wakes up. He and his family are about to fly to Israel. He thinks about his family and hometown.

13:00: Larry talks about Doris Day, how he was hot for her when he was a boy. Now she's 'beat up and bloated' and a wealthy old guy is squiring her around. He talks about accepting the 'eternity of death'.

15:30: Joe feels ill. The next day his physician finds nodules on his spine with an MRI. He's terrified and feels removed at the same time.

17:10: Joe and his girlfriend go to a party. He can't get into the spirit of the party. After they come home his girlfriend wants to make love, Joe doesn't. She leaves. Joe wets his bed.

21:00: He returns to his physician's office a week later for the results of his tests.

22:30: Larry comments on how well his father's tombstone has held up.

23:00: Joe talks about his 93-year-old mother and the other old people in the home where she lives, how their bodies and minds are failing.

25:10: Joe talks about different ways to measure time, both astronomically long and personally short.

25:00: Joe talks about his growing old and the inevitability of time.

26:30: Joe comments on a ferry boat disaster.

26:50: Joe comments on religionists fighting each other on the news.

Legacy Synopsis

On this episode, Joe Frank created his first work for KCRW in 10 years. Dreamers is a contemplation of time and mortality. It includes stories about a family's tragic visit to Palestine and a man who attends a dinner party after learning he might be dying.

Music

• "Alone in Kyoto" - Air (from Talkie Walkie, 2003) | YouTube [Intro]
• "Midnight Sun" - David Sylvian (from Dead Bees On A Cake, 1999) | YouTube [15:37]

Additional credits

• Mixed by Ray Guarna

External links

• "Dreamers" streaming audio at KCRW