Advertise on podcast: Appaloosa Radio

Lost Trick-o-Treat Brigade A new story and song! This is Wilson Arz and this is a true story from a few years ago. My daughter and her husband always do a “big event” for Halloween. Inviting over family, friends, and neighbors for homemade chili, wood-fired pizza, and smores melted over a campfire. Anyway, on the evening this event occurred, they had about twenty adult guests and a passle of youngins in various costumes. And because they always give away full-size candy bars, they have plenty of “spooky” visitors. Anyway, at about nine o’clock, they were getting ready to close things up when this guy wanders by. He is carrying a small girl on his shoulders, pulling another in a wagon, and is trailed by another five or six older children.  He plaintively asked, “I’m totally lost. Can you give me directions to Kennsington and Manley?” My daughter’s husband, Edward offered to help, showing the guy a Google map. It turns out the guy was almost three miles from where he wanted to be. Edward said, “Looks like you’ve made some wrong turns.” Later, Edward told me that he had counted them up, and the guy had probably made 16 or 17 wrong turns!  Since it was getting late and the kids in his brigade looked tired, Edward offered to drive them all home. But the guy refused, saying that he just needed directions. Now, I don’t know if the lost Trick-or-Treat Brigade ever made it home. This past weekend, I went again to their Halloween extravaganza and remembered the lost guy. Now that Halloween is over, I thought I might write a song about his situation.

Dr Faustus and the Bowl of Candy This is Wilson Arz. This week, I noticed a new commercial on TV. It was an advertisement for a well-known candy brand. In it, we see a very elderly woman and a young man sitting at a round table. Between them is a bowl of the candy. The young man reaches for the candy. Then the old woman says, “I’ll trade you — your youth for it. The young man says, “OK” and begins grabbing hands full of the candy. In the final scene, he has transformed into  a very old man and she has been transformed into a young beauty. Camera focuses on him. Off-sceen announcer asks — was it worth it? They young man grabs another handful of candy and says, “Best day ever!” When I saw it, I was immediately reminded of a class project we did in Dr. Bertanasco’s English Lit class, where we did a very spirited reading of Christopher Marlowe’s classic drama “Doctor Faustus.” I’m sure you remember it. The learned doctor trades his soul for knowledge and power.  As I think about it, I like the classic version better than the contemporary commercial. Same idea, but more stuff to ponder.  So, here’s a professional voice reading the very first soliloquy from the 1602 play, with a little bit of Franz List as background music.

Appaloosa Radio offers A new mystery story The Yellow Sweatshirt A retired municipal recreation supervisor who takes morning walks for his health, stumbles upon a crime scene, and inadvertently gets entangled in something much darker involving a local criminal defense attorney,  a plastic bag, and  murder.

Dancy’s Daughters A truestory --- From Nell Trustmon’s  Broken Tree Tales western magazine Western writer Nell Trustmon was invited to Medicine Bow, Wyoming to tell the life story of the three daughters of Dancy Nevin — Ruth,  Leonore, and Velma When their hotheaded father was bound in iron chains and cast out onto the barren salt flats of 1891, the lives of the three girls changed forever. Adopted into Salt Lake City's elite, the sisters were groomed as proper young ladies—until an ominous arranged marriage threatened threatened to destroy fourteen-year-old Ruth’s future.  Even though Dancy Nevin had been left without a horse and only a week’s worth of supplies, he managed to secretly return to Salt Lake City and, in a harrowing midnight escape, abduct his three daughters. For weeks, the girls and their father fled across rough western trails to avoid the militia, eating only hardtack biscuits and jerky.  Eventually, they arrived in the railroad town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming where they attempted to begin a new life. However, yet again, dire circumstances enveloped the girls, when their father was killed during a lumber war. Now completely destitute and desperate, they found work in the kitchen of a hotel.  When Nell Trustmon interviewed them sixty years later, she found women of extraordinary determination, resilience, and courage who had created an independent life on the western frontier.  A true story told with warmth and humor.

Magnetic Woman A Lies & Detection Episode Jonas interviews Juliet Stuart Poyntz There are people who literally are magnetic, who wherever they go or whatever they do, they draw others to them. My guest for this episode is a genuinely magnetic person. I believe it is because of her personal magnetism, that the Communist Party came to flourish in the United States during the years before World War II. I now believe that without the presence and the work of Juliet Stuart Poyntz, the Communist left in the US would have remained a sorry collection of gripers, complainers, dreamers, and cranks.  She was the co-founder of the American Communist Party.  She brought discipline, focus, organization, and key people to it. Much later when she began her secret career as an active Soviet spy, she proved herself to be the most effective KGB/GRU spy working in the Americas. The Encyclopedia Britannica lists her as: a  ·       Suffragist ·       Feminist ·       trade union organizer ·       socialist ·       politician ·       political activist ·       Communist, and  ·       spy. To that impressive list, I would add that Joseph Stalin called her an enemy of the Soviet State, and personally ordered her execution.

Using selected text from the Lais of Marie de France, episode explores four iterations of medieval-style story-songs generated from the same text prompt.                     FATE HAS SPUN HER WHEEL "Into the deep woods, they had fled Loggi and her Guigeman She had been the second wife of Yonec But no more Now she had pledged herself to the noble knight For a year and nearly a half they had been together in the dark forest Making frequent love To their great delight. But then the preemption came Fate spun her wheel. They were no longer safe. One Lord rises. Another falls. As she lay next to him, the vision came He would die Yonec would have his vengance “I will die as you die. You are my love in life. And you will be my love in death.”

A Complicated Matter An audio story about an unexpected friendship For Appaloosa Radio   When Stacey receives an unexpected phone call from Hawthorne, Nevada, it pulls her back into the shadow of her manipulative ex-husband, Shawn. The caller is Dina—Shawn's most recent wife, and Stacey's former administrative assistant—who has been left bankrupt, facing eviction, and raising two toddlers alone while Shawn serves time in a federal prison.   Putting aside past bitterness, Stacey flies to Nevada. Together, the two women forge an unexpected, fierce sisterhood, turning practical problem-solving, legal strategy, and a cathartic letter-burning into a path toward true independence and survival.   26 minutes

Shoes An original audio story For Appaloosa Radio "Nice kicks," the veteran commented, his voice gravelly from lack of use. De Marcus dribbled the ball between his legs, catching it with a sharp pop against his palm. He grinned, a flash of white teeth under the fluorescent hum. "Loud, right? They do half the work for you. Cost $1800, but worth it. No better ones on the planet.” “On the planet. That’s saying something.” “Like drivin’ a racing machine.” “Mine were custom-made in Argentina, where I played.” “That’s in South America, right?” Big Mike sensed that the dialogue was developing an edge. Maybe time for a showdown. Teeny-bopper against the veteran. The crowd in the bleachers would love it. “You gents up for a little mano-on-mano combat? We’d love to see what you’ve got. If you’ve got it.” De Marcus was cool. “I don’t do nothin’ unless there’s something for me. What’s the offer?” The Anaconda quickly responded, “Shoes. We’ll play for shoes. Yours for mine.” Mike added. “Gym rules. Baskets only. No points. First to fifteen wins.” De Marcus smiled. “Sure. For shoes. Gym rules. I’ll give him first outs.”

Appaloosa Radio offers Dead Man’s Suit A Southern Gothic, Ghost Story . . . 1958 Every time Harlan wore it, he thought it had a strange odor. It had been dry cleaned multiple times and no one else noticed any sort of odor. In fact, his wife, Wilma thought he looked “spiffy” in it and loved to see him in the double-breasted, brown suit with the faintest of gray pinstripes. “He looks like a movie star,” she proudly told her sister Nellie Grace Lynn. Far better in that suit than in the greasy dungaree overalls that he wore most of the time. But truck mechanics don’t wear suits to work in. They work in greasy overalls. The brown suit was for Sunday church and extra special occasions, like when they had gone to the casino and had a steak dinner for their tenth anniversary.

NO HUNNEY BUNNIES HERE This is Wilson Arz. We had been neighbors for years, but after his wife died, he decided that their house was just too big. So, he sold it and moved into an apartment community for seniors. A couple of months after he had moved in, I dropped by for a catch-up visit.  Over instant coffee and stale bagels, he told me he was not happy with his move. The apartment was OK. No problems.  Just, when he had signed the lease, the agent had teased him that this was the perfect place to meet some new  ‘honey bunnies.’ My friend nearly spilled his coffee with his vehement response. “Hell, there ain’t no honey bunnies here! All the women are my age or older!”

Empty Words from an Empty Head ‘This is Wilson Arz. Recently, I felt the need to create a “political” song. Not about any particular politician, but about the greater assemblage of politicians. How about that for a 50-cent word!   I have an even better one.  Superfluidity --- speech that never ends, goes on forever, flowing indefinitely without purpose or reason. Empty words from an empty head. ‘

Appaloosa Radio is pleased to offer the humor and the music of story-teller Wilson Arz.

Jim Mounts-Miller, Creative Director for Appaloosa, welcomes listeners to Season 15.

This is Wilson Arz. When my kids were small, I used to play a bedtime game with them. They would tell me a letter, and I would make up a nonsense song with every word starting with that letter. One that I still remember is -- “Bungling Bearded Burglars from Broadstone Beach” Just a whimsical song with lots of alliteration. We used to sing it as a round with me starting and then they would come in. Here’s my recreation of it.

Stingaree Gulch A Ring-Tailed Roaring Good Time By J. J. Mounts-Miller Fleeing a rigged boxing match and a deadly mob ultimatum, legendary promoter Tex Rickard arrives in the Nevada boomtown of Rawhide to build his ultimate masterpiece: Stingaree Gulch, a sprawling empire of vice. As the silver rolls in, Tex sets his sights on an impossible dream—staging a controversial heavyweight championship for Jack Johnson. But in a town built on illusions, Tex meets his match in Vera Locke, a brilliant "widow" executing a devastating con. Stingaree Gulch is a high-stakes historical thriller of boomtown greed, masterful hustles, and the explosive, championship prize fight that ultimately forced a millionaire into exile.