Holotapes!

Therapy Holo-Tape Exercise

Conducted By: Dr. Martin Lewis

Patient: Spencer Evans (henceforth known as “S.E”)

Date: May 27th- June 5th

TRANSCRIPTS

Tape 1:

[For the first 3 (THREE) minutes of the tape, little is heard save for muffled unidentifiable noises. Presumed to be the patient fumbling with holo-tape recording device]

S.E: [muttered]…Is this on…? Pre-war… piece of shit…
[1 (ONE) minute of silence passes]

S.E: [muttered] The red light has to mean something, right…?

S.E: Uh… well, I guess I should get things started. Martin told me to pick up one of these things and just talk to it. I’m not sure why, but he did say it had to do with… how did he put it… “my inability to forgive myself for a certain event three years ago that I had no involvement in”. Yeah, something like that.

[After a beat, footsteps are heard walking away from the tape. After 2 (TWO) minutes, a turntable needle can be heard dropping on a vinyl record. Brook Benton’s “Hotel Happiness” begins playing. After a moment, liquid is poured into a glass, followed by ice1]

S.E [after returning to tape recorder] He said I could just talk about my day, so I guess I’ll just start with that. [long pause] Well, can’t think of anything interesting, but that doesn’t matter much.



S.E: Uh… I woke up and had breakfast. Eggs and toast with a glass of water. Pretty good, I guess. Then I headed down to the casino floors, hung out around there for a while. Talked to a few pals. Had lunch in the restaurant, then I headed back up here. I did some work, made some calls, and then I spent a while playing guitar.

[The patient chuckles]

S.E:Never thought I’d be at a loss for words. Something about this is just kinda strange. [pause] Then I headed down to the fort, had my session with Martin, and he told me to pick up one of these things. So I headed to Mick and Ralph’s and picked up a carton of Luckies, a little pre-war pamphlet that has some recipes for mocktails, so that was nice. Oh, and obviously I picked up this hunk of metal. And, now I’m here.
[long pause]

S.E: …this is fucking stupid… How do I turn this thing off…?

[After 2 (TWO) minutes of fiddling, there is a pause]

S.E: It’s… off?

[There is a pause and footsteps are heard walking away from the tape. The music stops. Footsteps are heard passed the tape once again. A door is opened and closed. There is silence for 6 (SIX) hours. A door is opened and footsteps are heard passed the tape. A radio is turned on and can be heard faintly. After 2 (TWO) hours of paper rustling, typewriter keys, matches being lit and what is presumably the patient smoking, a light switch can be heard switching off. Muffled tossing and turning can be heard for aprox. 3 (THREE) hours of tossing and turning before the patient presumably falls asleep. After another 4 (FOUR) hours, the patient presumably gets out of bed. A shower is heard for 10 (TEN) minutes, followed by a sink running off and on for 25 (TWENTY-FIVE) minutes. A stove is heard and something is fried. The patient is heard eating for 22 (TWENTY-TWO) minutes. The patient leaves the room and there is silence for 3 (THREE) hours. When the patient returns, he can be heard dialing a rotary telephone]

S.E: Is this Cliff? Could you get him on the line? Yeah, I can hold. [pause] Save the formalities, Cliff. [pause] That doesn’t matter. I just got word from Rickey down in the kitchen that our suppliers are still raising their prices. What happened to that whole “I’ll take care of it” thing? [pause] Don’t give me that bullshit, Cliff. [pause] I don’t give a shit what the Omertas have to say! The Omertas can go fuck themselves! What matters here is that you get this mess taken care of. [pause] If you were in Canada I would still tell you to go back there. [pause] You’re gonna bring gifts, too. Just pick up a carton of cigarettes for each of them. [pause] What brand do they smoke- what do you mean what brand do they smoke?! You should notice these kinds of things if you want to survive in this business! Jesus Christ, do I need to do everything? Okay, Pete smokes Chesterfield. [pause] Christ, you can’t remember this? Okay, go get a pen. [pause] Good. Like I said, Pete smokes Chesterfield, Joel smokes Old Gold. Ray smokes Lucky Strike. [pause] Yes, Lucky Strike. Just like me. Last one, okay? Teddy smokes L&M. That’s L as in Lucy, ampersand M as in Mary. Oh, if you want a chance with the secretary, she smokes Pall Mall. Tell her that I sent you. She’ll remember me. Okay, is that everything? [pause] Good. You take care of this, okay? Goodbye.

[The phone is slammed down on the receiver before the patient dials another number]

S.E: [after a pause] Dennis! Great to hear from you. [pause] Oh, I’m great, how about you? [pause] Glad to hear it. And listen, just to get down to brass tax, we ran into some trouble with two of your soldiers today. [pause] Don’t worry, we won’t judge the whole NCR for it, we know you kids are normally pretty good about this [laugh]. Anyway, two privates tried to sneak out some very expensive Pre-War scotch from our bar. [pause] No, they won’t be coming back here for a while. You should see them pretty soon, thought. They’ll be escorted by some of our guys. [pause] Good to hear they’ll be getting some punishment, we can’t have stuff like that happening. [pause] Okay, talk to you soon. Goodbye.

[The patient once again hangs up the phone. Pen on paper, rustling and typewriter keys are heard for the next 3 (THREE) hours. After that, the patient is heard tuning a guitar and playing several songs, listed at the bottom of the page. Attached are Holo-Tapes of each. After he finishes playing, he can be heard leaving the room and silence is heard for 13 (THIRTEEN) hours. When he returns, he is accompanied by a young woman]

Woman: Wow, this is your place? I've never seen anything like it!
S.E: Baby, you’re gonna see a lot more tonight. Now what do you say we get started?

[The woman giggles and footsteps are heard past the tape before one of them stops]

S.E: Come on, Doll-Face, the bedroom is this way.

Woman: It’s just that… [long pause]

S.E: Just like what, baby?

Woman: It’s just that your Holo-Tape recorder is on?

S.E: Christ, is it?

Woman: Yeah, see that light? That means it’s on.

S.E: Well, what are you gonna do? Now, let’s get back to business, shall we?

Woman: First turn off that thing. Just press the button right here.

S.E: All right, Pussy-Cat. Just press th-

[END OF TAPE ONE]

(To be continued)




MUSICAL REFERENCES:

Records heard during sessions:

Brook Benton- Hotel Happiness


Acoustic songs heard during session:

Etta Baker-Carolina Breakdown

Skip James- Hard Time Killing Floor Blues


Phil Ochs- That’s what I want to Hear


Rice Brothers Gang- You Are My Sunshine


The Ink Spots- I’ll Get By as Long as I Have You


Bob Dylan- One Too Many Mornings