{"id":111424,"date":"2017-06-01T13:25:16","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T17:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=111424"},"modified":"2017-06-01T14:49:11","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T18:49:11","slug":"brechtman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/01\/brechtman\/","title":{"rendered":"Brechtman"},"content":{"rendered":"

I grew up a latchkey kid in a rough, working-class California suburb. My mom worked long hours in the city, so I usually found myself alone in the apartment on weekday evenings, with an antenna TV that picked up three or four fuzzy stations and a radio receiver with seventies-era wood-panel speakers.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t remember how old I was when I first heard Joe Frank<\/a>\u2019s voice on the radio. It has a low, gravelly tone. It bears resemblance to a traditional broadcasting voice, but it\u2019s more hushed, as if the announcer has finished reading the news, turned off the microphone, poured himself a drink, and begun to confess to a stranger in the production booth<\/p>\n

Frank\u2019s shows often begin with gentle, pulsing music, followed by a monologue in which he pretends to be anyone from a third-world dictator to a preening narcissist to a regular person trapped in a nightmare. He enlists voice actors to participate in disturbing dramas in which ex-lovers leave desperate phone messages, argue with strangers, or laugh mechanically for uncomfortable lengths of time.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no way to do his programs justice by describing them here. You have to hear them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One thing Joe Frank pioneered with his shows is the use of background noises to achieve a documentary effect\u2014something that\u2019s now become almost ubiquitous in nonfiction radio. Frank\u2019s programs turned radio into literature.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Frank has been writing brief vignettes meant to be read, rather than performed. Having grown up memorizing his unforgettable voice, it\u2019s impossible for me to read what he writes without hearing him. I\u2019m taken back to my childhood apartment, lying face up on the shag carpet, the lights out, and the whispering anticipation and fear that came in the first moments of his shows.<\/p>\n

Being a cartoonist, albeit a rather colicky one, I thought perhaps I might be able to grab onto some of the mood of what his program does without the advantage of sound. So with Joe Frank\u2019s blessing, I\u2019ve turned one of his written vignettes into a cartoon.<\/p>\n

\u2014Jason Novak<\/em><\/p>\n

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Jason Novak is a cartoonist in Oakland, California.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Radio\u2019s Joe Frank has been writing brief vignettes. Wanting to capture the mood of Frank\u2019s program, Jason Novak turned one of the vignettes into a cartoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2384],"tags":[134,14258,131,12976,10311,29022,14140,339,10438],"class_list":["post-111424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look","tag-cartoons","tag-collaboration","tag-comics","tag-drawings","tag-joe-frank","tag-kcrw","tag-narrative","tag-radio","tag-storytelling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBrechtman: A Comic by Joe Frank and Jason Novak<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Radio\u2019s Joe Frank has been writing brief vignettes. 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