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In 1992, four itinerant gray haired American musicians heading to
Los Angeles are detoured by a pot seeking excursion into Mexico.
Cramped into a single small jail cell they are imprisoned in a
seemingly diabolical scheme, by a makeshift small town Comisario
(Chief of Police) and held for four months without a clue or reason
for their prolonged confinement, without trial or judgment.
Eventually the four musicians learn that the Comisario has plans
for fulfilling a personal aspiration, for creating an American
styled Big Band, comprised of the town's uncommonly musically
gifted young teenagers. The Comisario's, dream band might become a
reality if he was able to coerce or convince the captive quartet
into teaching the kids to play band instruments, and take them on
the road to fame. The four musicians couldn't imagine such a thing
as possible. They flat-out refused the idea and overture... after
which the Comisario sets the captives free. While relishing their
first day of renewed liberty they realized that they are totally
destitute, with no hope for work and not enough money to get them
back to Los Angeles, California. Reluctantly they return to the
impoverished little pueblo of San Pedro, Mexico to give the
Comisario's vision a chance... and to endure life, such as it might
be, in a place where they would at least be sheltered, fed and no
longer held as prisoners. In time... The Comisario's Band was
departing for their first engagement on-the-road. During that prep
time the inherent talents of the kids flourished. Their
enthusiastic personalities are divulged and through flashbacks the
characterizations of the four maestros, the Comisario and their
respective loves and lives are disclosed. Within just a few short
years the perseverance of the Comisario the mastery of the maestros
and the resilience of the young musicians from a rag-tag Mexican
community, participate in and are witness to the making of a
seemingly impossible dream come true.
In 1958, as the "Cold War" between the former Soviet Union and the
United States was escalating, the United States Air Force
contracted eight young female musicians to entertain three thousand
secluded men stationed at the most isolated American military base
in the world, Thule Air Force Base, Greenland. Located inside the
Arctic Circle, Thule Air Force Base lies only nine hundred forty
seven miles from the North Pole. The base was built as a strategic
component of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, composed
of powerful radar systems stretching across Alaska, Canada and
Greenland. The installations were constructed to detect long range
bombers and ballistic missiles launched from the Soviet Union, over
the Arctic region, into the Western hemisphere. Arriving at Thule,
the "Girls" are ordered 'off limits' to all male personnel. Being
constantly guarded by military police and confined to restricted
minimal housing, the young women are demoralized and apprehensive.
When the greatly outnumbered women realize they are not in danger
from the "men" they are expected to entertain, the dissimilar
musicians join forces determined to provide themselves with male
companionship for the two month engagement at Thule. The pursuit
and success of this unusual undertaking and the manner in which the
girls achieve it, under extremely adverse circumstances, is the
spirit of this story.Danger from deadly radiation, an Arctic
blizzard, a Red Alert and other unpredictable challenging episodes
and relationships, teach the young musicians much about themselves,
each other and the men whose lives they share for a few short weeks
in the land of the midnight sun. The story reveals how, with
dedication to a 'meaningful cause', it's possible to overcome
cultural, social and artistic musical differences. Comical episodes
and treacherous Arctic adventures balance out the sum and substance
of this work. "The Thule Girls" is fiction, fabricated from real
life people experiences.
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