Joe Frank passed this January, he escaped The Holocaust and managed to overcome a number of very serious, longstanding medical conditions, among them: surviving a kidney transplant courtesy of a cousin who then... presented him with the bill! His voice had this singularly mesmerizing quality that he often combined with a rhythmic, minimalist soundtrack which rendered his storytelling into a near hypnotic transience. It simultaneously relaxed and induced a state of intense concentration, probably as close to a drug experience as one could possibly conjure solely through a radio and the spoken word. It's interesting to hear how so many of his fans had the very same reaction (as me) when first stumbling upon his program on the airwaves, mainly- "What the hell is this?" A weird mixture of: humor, pain, confession and... surreal genius.
He had a way of speaking directly to you, and despite you- his narrative was an entity unto itself, encountering, interpreting and reacting to the various stimuli it confronts each and every day, from the miscellaneous to the life altering. Human relationships, particularly those between the sexes were always more intricately and inexorably complicated than they appeared. And Joe would silently revel in all their complexities, large and small, making his wry observations, offering little solution and often making it all the more problematic- only to continue the journey one more time...
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