{"id":3170,"date":"2025-09-09T12:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=3170"},"modified":"2025-09-09T12:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:19:25","slug":"trucks-and-tanks-short-story-too-timely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2025\/09\/trucks-and-tanks-short-story-too-timely.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Trucks and Tanks&#8221; short story, too timely"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p> My just-published story <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jerryjazzmusician.com\/trucks-and-tanks-a-short-story-by-howard-mandel\/\">Trucks and Tanks<\/a>, runner-up in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jerryjazzmusician.com\">JerryJazzMusician.com<\/a>&#8216;s 69th short fiction contest and written three months ago, is all too timely in Chicago, DC, Boston today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-wp-embed is-provider-jerry-jazz-musician wp-block-embed-jerry-jazz-musician\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"6SstYX7pYU\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jerryjazzmusician.com\/trucks-and-tanks-a-short-story-by-howard-mandel\/\">&#8220;Trucks and Tanks&#8221; &#8211; a short story by Howard Mandel<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;&#8220;Trucks and Tanks&#8221; &#8211; a short story by Howard Mandel&#8221; &#8212; Jerry Jazz Musician\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jerryjazzmusician.com\/trucks-and-tanks-a-short-story-by-howard-mandel\/embed\/#?secret=P4pFRuULw1#?secret=6SstYX7pYU\" data-secret=\"6SstYX7pYU\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Trucks and tanks rolled down our leafy-treed, bungalow-lined street at dawn. I was already up, as usual, in my robe, t-shirt, sweaty sweats and slippers, mug of coffee in hand, and had a view standing at our picture window. The armored vehicles shook the pavement. I wondered how many neighbors were awakened by the rumblings. . . . <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jerryjazzmusician.com\/trucks-and-tanks-a-short-story-by-howard-mandel\/\"><em>read more at JerryJazzMusician<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My just-published story Trucks and Tanks, runner-up in JerryJazzMusician.com&#8216;s 69th short fiction contest and written three months ago, is all too timely in Chicago, DC, Boston today. Trucks and tanks rolled down our leafy-treed, bungalow-lined street at dawn. I was already up, as usual, in my robe, t-shirt, sweaty sweats and slippers, mug of coffee [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-P8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":886,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/04\/intl-jazz-day-as-it-happens-unesco-concerts-live-streamed.html","url_meta":{"origin":3170,"position":0},"title":"Int&#8217;l Jazz Day as it happens: UNESCO concerts live-streamed","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A sunrise concert \u00c2\u00a0in New Orleans' Congo Square, from which jazz arose,\u00c2\u00a0in celebration of UNESCO's International Jazz Day (spearheaded by Herbie Hancock), is being streamed as I write (Dr. Michael White took the last solo, over the Dirty Dozen Brass Band) at Jazzday.com\u00c2\u00a0and at the Thelonious Monk Institute website. Those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/INTLjazzdayBlogathon240x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1000,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/08\/music-people-and-context-at-newport-jazz-fest-2012.html","url_meta":{"origin":3170,"position":1},"title":"Music, people and context at Newport Jazz Fest 2012","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"My new CityArts-New York column covers some of what went down at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival. With three stages running staggered but near-simultaneous performances, there was much too much happening to hear it all (I've been listening to some of what I missed, like Bill Frisell's modern string band\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/yScheinmanandBillFrisellphotocreditLaNitaAdamsIMG_4893-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":298,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/02\/what_if_bb_king_and_buddy_guy.html","url_meta":{"origin":3170,"position":2},"title":"What if B.B. King and Buddy Guy played NYC and nobody came?","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"February 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"B.B. King, 84 yr old #1 living blues icon of the world, and Buddy Guy, 73 yr old 1st runner-up, concertized in New York City last weekend, but there's been a near-total news blackout. Here's a review from the Financial Times of London. Meanwhile, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, British\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"at_home.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/at_home.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":377,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/02\/tragedy_of_bike-riding_cabaret.html","url_meta":{"origin":3170,"position":3},"title":"Tragedy of bike-riding cabaret activist Mary Cleere Haran","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"February 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Cabaret is a forum for the classic American pop song -- and the death of singer Mary Cleere Haran, hit by a car coming out of a driveway while she was riding her bike in Deerfield Beach, Fla., robs the world of an activist who interpreted, updated and preserved those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"mary cleere haran.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/mary%20cleere%20haran.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":140,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/11\/guitar_heroes_virtual_and_actu.html","url_meta":{"origin":3170,"position":4},"title":"Guitar heroes, virtual and actual","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The phenomenon of Guitar Hero\u00c2\u00a0is unaccountable to most musicians. Why would anyone spend hours miming moves with a fake instrument when given similar time investment you could make music yourself, live, and with friends? Nonetheless, the game is the Christmas season's most highly anticipated music item. As for\u00c2\u00a0disappointing early sales\u00c2\u00a0reports\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1324,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/04\/jazz-video-canon-for-nyu-tisch-students-jazzapril-week-3.html","url_meta":{"origin":3170,"position":5},"title":"Jazz videos for troubled times, JazzApril week 3","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Is it hard to sustain four weeks of Jazz Appreciation Month? 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