Hot Line

"Tell me about this big thrill."

Hot Line[1]

Series
In The Dark
Original Broadcast Date
1995
Cast
Davis Black
Format
Found Tape, Telephone, 28 minutes
Preceded by:	Raymond
Followed by:	In A Lonely Place

Hot Line is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series In The Dark. It was originally broadcast in 1995.

Synopsis

'Tell me about this big thrill…' says a man, a tarot card reader, to a woman caller who longs for a relationship with a man but won't start talking to any of them. She sees them in stores, on the street; she imagines that they're fascinated with her; she imagines that a state trooper sneaks into her apartment, rearranges her stuff as a message to her. In addition to reading tarot the guy gives common-sense advice, such as that she should strike up conversations with men she likes, go out more often.

17:40: A guy calls the tarot reader, wondering if this other man loves him.

20:10: A woman calls him as a wrong number; he insists on reading her cards.

23:20: (Not on the tarot hotline) A guy remembers his father, how much he misses him (he's dead), how he could always rely on him, talk to him about anything. The father commandeered a street-sweeper in Georgia, drove it into a cemetery. He misses his friends too, dead and alive. He talks about a picture in his room looking at him, over-hearing pay phone conversations.

Legacy Synopsis

• Recordings of a telephone psychic and tarot card reader.

• A woman with seemingly delusional love interests calls: a stranger on an elevator makes her happy. Looking young because of pain and suffering. Angels. A man repeatedly calls her on the phone, never says a word. While she's in the hospital, a state trooper sneaks into her house and re-arranges objects in symbolic ways which please her. Her relationship with a stranger who repeatedly drives past her house. The psychic advises her to get out more.

• The psychic talks to someone else who asks, "does he love me?"

• An insurance company representative calls with a wrong number, and he keeps her talking for several minutes.

• A man talks about missing his father. His father commandeered a street sweeper and drove into a cemetery, stripped his apartment before dying. Waking up next to it and discovering that you are its it. People avoid the lonely.

Music

• "Insomnie Nemurenai (Instrumental)" - United Future Organization (from Insomnie Nemurenai, 1992) | YouTube

Additional credits

• Produced by Joe Frank.
• Mixed by Theo Mondle.
• Music editing by Bob Carlson.
• Special thanks to Farley Ziegler, Jennifer Ferro, Shaun Levin, and Jerry Summers

Miscellanea

Joe re-used Hot Line as the second half of Phone Therapy, the first half of which is When I'm Calling You.

Commentary

Richard Looney (and his heirs, including WFMU) puts Davis Black in the cast of this show. joefrank.com puts him in the cast of 'Men of the cloth' and 'Prayer remix'. jfwiki puts him in the cast of 'Hotline', 'Phone therapy', and 'Prayer (remix)'. 'Prayer (remix)' is 'God' followed by 'Prayer' - Black can't be in the first without being in one of the last two. I don't hear the tarot card reader of the first 3 segments in 'God' or 'Prayer'. I don't recognize the voice of the guy in the fourth segment. I can't find any evidence of a likely Davis Black on the Internet. There are tarot card hotlines.