[joe-frank-list] 'A tour of the city' act 1

[russellbell at gmail.com]

	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.

	2:50: Guy with German-ish accent (Tim Jerome?) talks about
suicide.  'Each of us has contemplated suicide...'

	4:20: Joe describes walking along Vladek (sp?) avenue.  A guy
(Larry Block?) begs change; a woman invites his attention; squatters
live in vacant lots; chickens and goats graze.

	6:20: A fellow with a German-ish accent (sounds like a
different guy) remembers winter in Erfurt.  A woman broke her leg
skiing.

	7:20: A woman recalls dinner, seeing an acrobat with no arms
and legs in San Nemo; she was engaged to John.

	8:10: A man remembers the summer they (apparently he and a
woman) went to the sea.

	9:00: Joe tells about the star worshippers, their equipment,
their gowns, dancing to drums.

	9:20: 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.
 
	12:00: Joe tells of Voltgen ushering Alex into a worship
service.  Voltgen leads a service, which features a large filament,
culminates with electrical arcs.

	14:40: Alex arrives home; his wife Eva (Barbara Sohmers)
greets him.  They have a drink.

	17:30: Someone (German-ish accent) tells about Glemp (sp?) who
had a camera, took pictures of everything.  At the end of the season
he took his film to the lab, which destroyed them, leaving only
memories.

	18:30: Joe tells of the rain falling on everyone in the
streets.

	19:00: Eva tells what she did during the day to Alex.  He
bathes her.  (Accompanied by 'Peace piece' (Bill Evans)).

	20:20: Joe tells of a fellow walking on a mountain path, who
sees a speck rising above the desert.  It turns into a giant wave that
forms the shape of giant white horses, then a giant man.

	21:50: Having prepared Eva's bath, Alex puts her in the water.
(She can't walk.)  She wonders why they haven't made love in months,
wonders if he still wants her.

	24:40: The first fellow with a German-ish accent recalls the
soldier who attacked the enemy armed with only a can opener, suggests
he may have been suicidal, not heroic.

	25:30: Alex recalls returning to the same hotel by the sea
years later.

	26:20: Joe tells of a helicopter flying overhead, a man in a
phone booth.

	27:10: Joe describes images of the city at night, the
tree-folk, the people of the law (who recite laws that sound like
parody Leviticus).

	28:40: Joe tells of '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.

	32:20: Joe tells of a convoy of army trucks outside; a
presidential address follows.

	34:10: Eva tells Alex he talked in his sleep last night.  She
wants him to tell her how he feels, he's gone so much.

	35:10: Joe describes the picaresque, cites classical examples,
wonders where modern heroes travel.

	36:00: Alex tells of walking through the city, wondering where
he's going.  Voltgen responds, tells him he has to give up on love.

	38:40: Voltgen gives Alex a hooded gown, leads Alex into the
temple, leads a service, accompanied by choral chanting, inducts Alex
into Electricism.

	42:00: 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.

	43:00: A fellow leaves an ominous message on their phone.
Olga's scared, Alex says it's nothing.  They argue.
	
	45:00: Vorst 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.

	46:20: 'Sometimes I sign out a chopper...' Vorst looks at
girls sunbathing on the roof.

	47:10: Eva hears the helicopter, asks Alex what it's doing;
it's looking into their window.

	49:30: Vorst calls on citizens to report strangers to the
authorities.

	50:10: Alex tells of physicians treating some woman.

	51:20: Vorst talks about burying oneself up to the neck to
stay warm during the winter.

	Year: 1984

	Cast: Alan Hunter, Marilyn Casky, Barbara Sohmers, Arthur
Miller, Brother Theodore, Mark Hammer, Joseph Palmieri, Clark Gordon,
Larry Block, Sharon Dennis-Wyeth, Richard Bauer, Tim Jerome, and Joe
Frank

	Music: 'Brothers of darkness - sons of light' (Popul Vuh),
'Flowered knife shadows' (Harold Budd), 'On land' (Brian Eno), 'Remote
viewing' (Tangerine Dream), 'Six marimbas' (Steve Reich), 'Peace
piece' (Bill Evans), 'Music for mallet instruments, voices and organ'
(Steve Reich)

russell bell