The stuttering just happened for the first time on AC power, so I was able to get a serial cable attached.

VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for player...
VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for player...
VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for player...
VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for player...
VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for kswapd...

Guess it's time to go digging into the FAQ about tunings for freeing up physical memory.

--Nathan