Spring: we're going where we need to go

It is springtime in Minnesota and viva sweet spring, the tulips are opening and people are thinking about setting their tomato plants outside though of course we’re aware that it’s Minnesota and we’ve gotten snow as late as early June. But everyone we know is immunized so we’ve gone to people’s houses for dinner who aren’t in our bubble. We go outdoors without masks and can recognize other people even if we don’t know for sure what pronouns they use. I’ve been to two ball games. We visited relatives and did an exciting reenactment of a fairy tale with a five-year-old girl as Cinderella, her grandpa as the prince, and her grandma and my wife as the evil sisters. It’s a start. 

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A reminder about Garrison Keillor and Friends

The column and Post to the Hosts have moved over to Garrison's new digital platform on Substack called Garrison Keillor and Friends.   You have been automatically enrolled so you don't need to do anything.   This will be used for writing and direct communication with you (you can comment right on the post).   If you don't see emails in your Inbox, please check your Promotions or Spam folder and be patient as we work some of the bugs out.    The Free subscribers will receive the column, Post to the Host and another writing or two each week.   When we start posting in The Back Room (in June), the paid subscribers will receive new works, previously unpublished works, interviews, videos and a few surprises.   

This week on A Prairie Home Companion

This week, we travel back to May 2010 for a show from Town Hall. With special guest Dick Hyman, a legendary pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. Also with us, vocalist Andra Suchy and the Royal Academy of Radio Actors (Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Fred Newman, and Erica Rhodes). Vince Giordano, Randy Sandke, and Andy Stein are sitting in with the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, and of course, we’ll have the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Other highlights include Garrison and Andra dueting on a few tunes for your mom, Dick Hyman tackles “My Mother’s Eyes,” a script about motherhood, Mom and Duane, and more. The link is posted on Saturdays at 5 p.m. CT each week on our Facebook page.

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Video Teasers from this week's guests
For every show, we will start on Tuesday of each week to promote Saturday’s classic broadcast. But as a primer, we will publish links to teasers and videos of the week’s musical guests to whet your appetite to tune in for the show. And who knows, we may even pop in for some live commentary and profiles via the Facebook page.   

“Whispering” by Dick Hyman >>>
“Amazing Grace” by Andra Suchy and Garrison Keillor>>>
 

Guest Interview: Andra Suchy
Andra Suchy spent her childhood on a farm near Mandan, North Dakota, the daughter of two talented singers. By the time she was in grade school, she was traveling around, doing concerts and festivals with her family. These days, she performs with several groups in the Twin Cities area. She also works as a backup singer and as a jingle singer on commercials for White Castle, Target, and more.

On her favorite PHC moment:
I remember walking through the stage door for rehearsal on one of my first Prairie Home shows and there was Garrison on the stage going over songs with none other than EMMYLOU HARRIS! My mind couldn’t believe my eyes … couldn’t process the information. Then Garrison saw me and brought me over to meet her and to sing with her. She gave me a kiss on the cheek. That was beyond my comprehension factor at that moment, but some survival or emergency-light instinct took over, and I just opened my mouth and sang. It was incredible, and I will never forget it.

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Chris Monroe

Chris Monroe is an author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She is the creator of the long-running weekly comic strip “Violet Days,” which can be seen in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Duluth News Tribune, and monthly in the Funny Times. She has a collection of her comic strips, “Ultra Violet, Ten Years of Violet Days,” available through Amazon.

Ms. Monroe is also the author of the award-winning children’s book series Monkey with a Tool Belt.

She is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and her illustration work has graced T-shirts as well as the covers of magazines, CDs, and catalogs. She has shown her artwork in galleries and museums internationally.

She put together this quirky strip on how PHC is put together each week. 

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Motherhood: A Radio Collection

“She brought you forth out of the cloud of genetics and fed and clothed you and taught you to wipe yourself and say Please and Thank you and never expected you to pay her back, only that you behave appropriately and try to make something of yourself and not land in prison but if you had, she’d still love you because after all she’s your Mother.”

A Prairie Home Companion celebrates that one person who manages to make you feel that you’re special and that you aren’t living up to your potential — all in the same sentence. Sketches, songs, and stories from Garrison and the regular cast cover the gamut of all that goes into and comes out of motherhood. Over 2 Hours on 2 CDs.

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Nothing You Do For Children mug (set of 2)

This gem of wisdom from Leaving Home, Garrison Keillor’s best-selling book of Lake Wobegon stories, is for every parent, grandparent, and teacher — anyone, really, who cares deeply about children. Without a doubt, the eight simple words are a big reason all children in Lake Wobegon are “above average.” Quotation is printed on the C handled mug.

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