Into the tunnel, thinking in the dark

 Spending some time at Mayo, much of it ordinary, waiting, listening, doing as told, but some of it primal, such as the CAT scan in which I lay on a narrow platform, hands over my head, and was conveyed into a narrow tunnel in the dark and lay there, which made me imagine the vaginal tunnel that I descended from. Two siblings preceded me, three followed, and this descent bound us to our mother — we came out of her body — whereas our father, though contributing his fluid, was an onlooker. One could grow closer to him over time (I did not) but Mother was Mother. I hear about fabulous fathers in the two generations following mine and I believe what I hear, but Mother retains that physical sensation of us. In that tunnel, we experienced the trauma of leaving the uterus and thereafter found the delight of independence. I watched my mother closely and when I saw her delight reading Cedric Adams’s column in the evening Star, I set out on a course I’m still following seventy-some years later.

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Garrison Keillor hits the road!

Exciting news!!! The full cast of A Prairie Home Companion (Garrison, the actors, sound-effects pro Fred Newman, the house band, and singer Heather Masse) will be reuniting for two upcoming shows: at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., and at The Town Hall in New York City. 

Keillor & Company — featuring Prudence Johnson and Dan Chouinard in an evening of song and stories — will return to the road with stops in Bellefontaine, OH; Champaign, IL; Palm Desert, CA; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Maryville, TN; and Frankfort, KY.

And Garrison is flying solo at shows in Mount Tabor, NJ; Peekskill, NY; West Bend, WI; and Torrance, CA, where you will find lots of stories, a few songs or sing-alongs, and a conversation about “Why You Should Go On Getting Older.”

Dates and ticket information for all these events can be found on our website.

VIEW Tour Schedule >>>

All about this week's classic show!

This week, we travel back to 2011 with a show that contains many deep-fried surprises. The show completed the first leg of the Summer Love tour and was performed live to the aroma of deep-fried cheese curds and pork chops on a stick from the grandstand at the Minnesota State Fair. The show features musical guests the Jayhawks and Sara Watkins. Also with us — fresh from the rides of the Mighty Midway — the Royal Academy of Radio Actors, featuring Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman. And as ever, our high-flying Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band led by Richard Dworsky and the latest news from Lake Wobegon. 

Highlights include Pat Donohue’s “State Fair Blues,” Garrison and Sara’s duet on “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” a fiddle medley featuring Sara Watkins and Richard Kriehn, “Blue” from the Jayhawks, plus The Lives of the Cowboys, Guy Noir, Hamlet, talk with some carny barkers and of course the Lake Wobegon update. The link posts to the Garrison Keillor Facebook page at 5 p.m. CT. But if you simply cannot wait until then, use the link below.

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In 1985, a standout band appeared on the Twin Cities’ music scene. With their rootsy sound — not quite rock, not quite country — the Jayhawks soon developed a large following in Minnesota and beyond. And while the group members went their separate ways in 2004, they have reunited for a number of performances over the years, including appearances at the Minnesota State Fair. 

Listen to “Waiting for the Sun” >>>

Singer, songwriter, fiddle player Sara Watkins was only eight when she, her brother Sean, and Chris Thile started the genre-bending, Grammy-winning trio Nickel Creek. Two decades later — with Nickel Creek on indefinite hiatus — she struck out on her own. Her latest album is a collection of highlights from her decade-plus residency at the Largo with her brother on Watkins Family Hour Vol. 2.

Listen to “All This Time” >>>

Erica Rhodes was just 10 years old for her first A Prairie Home Companion appearance. A lot has happened since: She starred in the 2008 indie horror film Plague Town, which was shown in festivals and theaters nationwide, and she had roles in Go West, Javatown, and Blindsided —and also guest starred on Modern Family and New Girl. She’s funny too: audiences coast to coast have flocked to her stand-up comedy gigs.

Read our guest interview >>>

GK once said “The State Fair is not a way of life; it’s a reward for making it through summer. Sort of like ice cream is a reward for eating your broccoli.”

Here is a sonnet he wrote for the Fair plus one of our favorite lyrics from a song about the Fair. 

I’ve been to this State Fair about every year
Since I was a kid and watched the walleyes
In the tank, bought a Veg-O-Matic, felt the sheer
drop of the Ferris wheel, ate the deep fries,
the corn dogs, rode the Skyride, the Old Mill,
the boats in a dark tunnel in the cold water
and it’s so much the same that time stands still,
especially when I come here with my daughter.
When I walk the Midway with her again
And smell the sawdust and french fries, I remember
How right, how delicious it was to be ten
And smell the crisp damp air of September.
Hold my hand, darling. Your old man is terrified,
Standing here at the top of the enormous Giant Slide.

And from the song “Doxology”:

O Lord protect this festival
The riders as they rise and fall.
The jams and pickles and the pies
Competing for the First Grand Prize.
...
O Lord we thank thee for this food,
When we are in a cheese curd mood.
For Pronto Pups and onion rings
Doughnuts and other deep-fried things.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise him for fair and rodeo.
Praise him for sugar and for grease,
And may he grant our stomachs peace.

Remembering Butch Thompson

Butch Thompson passed away this month. The pianist and clarinetist was known worldwide as a master of ragtime, stride, and classic jazz. Born and raised in Marine-on-St. Croix, Minnesota, Butch was already playing Christmas carols on his mother’s upright piano by age three, and he led his first professional jazz group as a teenager. For 12 years, he was A Prairie Home Companion’s house pianist, dating back to the show’s second broadcast, in July 1974. We cannot express how much Butch meant to the staff and how much his music contributed to the success of the show itself. Here is a tribute page that we have put together featuring some of his music.

Butch Thompson Remembered >>>

Old Sweet Songs from A Prairie Home Companion

This multi-CD collection from the early years (1974–1976) of A Prairie Home Companion features selections from Butch Thompson, Bill Hinkley & Judy Larson, Dakota Dave Hull, Peter Ostroushko, Vern Sutton, and many more.

Get the CD set >>>
Listen to a sample >>>

Summer Love

In the summer of 2010, Garrison Keillor, Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins, the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, and sound-effects artist Fred Newman went on a whirlwind tour of 25 cities in less than two months. The theme was everlasting love; the shows were jam-packed with tender duets and ballads, poetry, and stories of passion and marriage, all done Prairie Home Companion-style.

Now the best performances from that tour are available on this Summer Love collection. Never broadcast and therefore available for the first time on this collection, selections include favorite Prairie Home Companion elements: Guy Noir, “show sponsor” commercials, and the News from Lake Wobegon.

Get the CD >>>
Listen to a sample >>>