A night outside, eating with friends

I admit that when I hear the word “impeachment” I think of fruit, and “censure” makes me think of dentures, which is a sign that I’ve been watching too much news: time for a break. How often can you look at the man with the tattooed pectorals and the horned helmet and what understanding do you gain from it? So you make the screen go dark and do other things. 

The lady and I went to dinner with friends the other night and the four of us spent more than an hour making no reference to the riot at the Capitol, an entirely trumpless hour, which felt like a triumph. We ate outdoors under heat lamps on Broadway, opposite Lincoln Center, which is very very dark, and we didn’t talk about the virus either. 

We talked about a baby named Charlie born in Atlanta a few days before and showed pictures of him, tightly swaddled. His mother is a mathematician married to a landscape architect. The fact that young people still want to bring children into this world is an encouraging sign, a gesture of faith. 

So is Lincoln Center. In the Fifties, they tore down sixteen acres of tenements in Hell’s Kitchen and under the sponsorship of the Rockefeller brothers they built a symphony hall, an opera house, a theater, and a dance theater around a plaza with a fountain. Republicans were behind it and Lincoln’s name is on it and when you attend events here, you brush elbows with a good many moguls and grande dames who probably miss Ronald Reagan keenly and you go in to watch performers, 95 percent of them Democrats, some to the left of Bernie Sanders, but the conflicting views between the stage and the box seats are forgotten in the glory of “Der Rosenkavalier” or Beethoven or “Les Sylphides.” If your heart is open to the gifts of genius, you will walk across the plaza afterward, past the fountain, and feel transformed. 

I once saw Ellie Dehn of my hometown, Anoka, Minnesota, in a lead role in “Don Giovanni” at the Metropolitan Opera, and in that glorious moment, I felt that we are truly one country, one people. Anoka is an old milling town on the Mississippi, a football town, but this fabulous soprano had found her way to Manhattan, and I was there to see it. So I’m provincial — what of it? My wife, also an Anokan, had been taken to see the Met’s touring company perform “Carmen” in Minneapolis, Grace Bumbry in the title role. My wife was twelve and stood through the entire performance and has been enthralled by opera ever since and made a career playing viola in the pit. So many things are possible. Dream on. Practice, practice, practice. 

I first saw the U.S. Capitol in 1962, heading for Baltimore to attend a wedding, got lost, saw a lighted dome and realized I was in Washington. I parked and walked up the steps and in the door, past one policeman sitting on a folding chair in the foyer, and walked in under the great dome and looked at the statues and murals, and saw only a couple of cops relaxing in a hallway, not paying much attention to anybody. 

When I tell people about that night, it feels like ancient history. Those days will never return. Even at the opera, security men wand you as you come through the turnstile. After the Capitol insurrection of January 6, security will be iron-tight forever to come, metal detectors will beep at every steel zipper, uniformed men with assault weapons will watch your every move. Walking into the Capitol of 1962, the openness of it told you that we are a civilized society with a high level of mutual trust. I don’t care to ever visit Washington again and see our government on wartime alert for attacks by our fellow Americans. Too painful. 

I’ve seen what I needed to see of Washington. I sat in the Senate gallery once and watched the proceedings and it was dominated by the sort of self-important people I avoided in high school. I went to a ceremony at the White House once and sat where I could see Barack Obama’s teleprompter and saw how beautifully he improvised something much better than the script. So I’ve seen the good and the not so good. America will never be what it once was but still it is good enough. And if Hawley and Cruz get tossed out on the street, we will be better for it. 

This week on A Prairie Home Companion

This week, we travel all the way back to 1999 for a show where everything old seems new again. This show from the Fitzgerald Theater features Maria Jette and Geoff Muldaur plus a few words on the state of the union and impeachment, words from Murphy’s Plumbing and Rhubarb. Tom Keith gets his own radio show, Maria sings “Prairie Lullaby,” Geoff sings “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.” And, of course, Guy Noir and the latest News from Lake Wobegon.

2 NEW Books: That Time of Year & The Lake Wobegon Virus

During the pandemic, Garrison Keillor was secluded in his New York apartment. And what happens to writers/performers when they cannot go anywhere? They write! Garrison released two new books this past fall, beginning with his subtle satire The Lake Wobegon Virus, which sees some bad cheese cause people to lose all inhibitions and do/say whatever is on the top of their minds. He followed that with his first memoir, That Time of Year, which tracks the real Lake Wobegon stories of his many aunts, uncles, and cousins. He traces the history and provides insight into how A Prairie Home Companion was produced for over 42 years. Both books are great reads according to fans and reviewers.

And now that we are out of the holiday season, the e-books have dropped in price to $9.99 for a short period. Printed books are available wherever you get your books. But remember, we have autographed copies of each in our store. Happy reading! 

The Lake Wobegon Virus
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That Time of Year
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A Note About Production of Our CDs

As sales of vinyl have set records this year with collectors snapping up vinyl versions of their favorite recordings, the streaming business and downloadable books/music have wreaked havoc on sales of CDs. We have been notified by Garrison's CD publisher that they are a downloadable/streaming business and will no longer be supporting CD sales. We have been ordering a lot of stock and taking on inventory in order to facilitate CD sales. But know that going forward, it will be difficult to do so as product goes out of stock on certain titles. We will do our best to locate and acquire CDs and even investigate other duplicating options, but we wanted to give everyone a heads-up. If you love a certain release, get the CD now or you may have to find a way to download it in the future. 

Anniversary Album: The First 5 Years

The Anniversary Album features a roundup of comedy sketches, songs, and stories from the early years of A Prairie Home Companion.

If you showed up on July 6, 1974, at the Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester College in Saint Paul and plunked down your $1 admission (50 cents for kids) to attend the very first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, you were in select company. There were about 12 people in the audience. But those in attendance thought there were worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon, so Garrison Keillor and the APHC team went on with the show for another 42 years. Those early years are remembered fondly among fans from Minnesota. In 1979, the show began national distribution and expanded its broadcast range far beyond the Midwest. Many elements of the show remained but additional comedy elements and a regular News segment were added.

This festive collection is a nostalgic trip through five years of America’s favorite radio show. 

“Commercials” for Powdermilk Biscuits, Jack’s Deep Valley Bed, and more introduce songs and sketches like “The Finn Who Would Not Take a Sauna” and “The Cat Came Back.” Selected from the original live radio broadcasts.

Contents:

“Hello Love,” “Sister Nell and Dirty Reuben,” “Turn Your Radio On,” Powdermilk Biscuit Spot and Theme, “I Know You Rider,” “Rockin’ Alone,” “Powdermilk Biscuit Theme,” “The Finn Who Would Not Take a Sauna,” “Timas Hans Schottis,” “Getting in the Cows,” “Hibernian Reel,” “Joe Trudeau’s Tune,” “Saint Adele’s Reel,” “Minnesota Moon,” Fearmonger’s Spot,” “Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” “I’ll Keep On Loving You,” D&D Hull Tax Service Spot, “Sunday Rag, ” “The Cat Came Back, ” “Ölands Tös,” Jack’s Deep Valley Bed  Spot, “Answer Only with Your Eyes,” “Do Right Woman,” “Suppertime,” “All God’s Children,” “The Ballad of the Maples,” and “Stepstone.”

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The Complete Lake Wobegon Set

Many of us are missing the weekly updates about the “little town that time forgot and decades cannot improve.” We know this to be true, because The Complete Lake Wobegon CD collection is the #1 seller in our online store!

Get in on the action and order yours today at a special sale price. All your favorite stories are included: “Pontoon,” “Homecoming,” “Giant Decoys,” “Gladys Hits a Raccoon,” and much more. The gift set contains every title previously released plus Lake Wobegon monologues from live A Prairie Home Companion performances. Included in this set but not pictured are the two most recent collections: “The Road Home” and “From the Archives: 1981” — 42 CDs total and hours upon hours of classic humor!

Purchase the Complete Lake Wobegon >>>