Suddenly it's clear why I wanted to be old
I look at the Great Milky Way
While inhaling the autumn bouquet
At eventide
And am mystified
And simply don’t know what to say.
I love this September chill in the air. I love sweaters. They hide the age wrinkles on my inner upper arms. A stocking cap means I don’t have to comb my hair. Delicate souls are yearning for Florida and maybe catch a temp job as a consumer influence consultant, enough to pay for a condo with a pool, but not me, I’m not into influence and Florida brings out the bad taste in people and nobody wants to see an old man in a thong bikini. So here I am. I like the coffee here. I’ve figured out how the shower works and no longer stand under scalding water because I turned the wrong knob; I don’t want to go to Florida and stay in a motel with a crank for a shower knob and be burned alive while naked. So I’ll stay up North. Here I take a shower, wrap a towel around me, walk into the bedroom and sing, “O my love, my darling, I hunger for your touch.” In Florida, I’d go to the ER.
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A Prairie Home Companion American Revival It’s time to join again in song for two more American Revival performances. We had so much fun in Denver and Nashville that we are bringing the crew together for a few more shows. This time, we are visiting Washington, D.C., and then on to The Town Hall in New York City. These are two great cities for some sightseeing as well as a visit with some old friends.
There’ll be humor, music, no end of fun, and, of course, all the latest News from Lake Wobegon. The Washington, D.C., show at The Anthem will feature two-term U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins, acclaimed soprano Ellie Dehn, vocalist Heather Masse, Broadway conductor and pianist Rob Fisher, Richard Dworsky, and The Friendly String Quartet. As usual, actors Tim Russell and Fred Newman will be on hand, along with guitarist Pat Donohue, and more.
At The Town Hall, featured performers include Tony Award-winning director Walter Bobbie, Broadway conductor Rob Fisher and the Coffee Club Orchestra, vocalists Christine DiGiallonardo and Heather Masse, keyboardist Richard Dworsky, actors Tim Russell and Sue Scott, and sound-effects ace Fred Newman.
THE DETAILS: Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion American Revival
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Friday, October 21, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW, Washington, D.C. 20024
Tickets now on sale, $75, $95, and $125 GET TICKETS >>> NEW YORK: Saturday, November 26, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. (lobby open 6:30; doors open 7:00)
The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036
Tickets now on sale, $59.50–$119.50 GET TICKETS >>>
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Featured A Prairie Home Companion Show: This week is a “can’t miss” episode of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor where we look back to a Fitzgerald Theater broadcast from October 2011. Our special guests are internationally celebrated tenor Raúl Melo; a premier male chorus in the United States, Cantus; and eclectic vocalist Heather Masse (who will be featured on our upcoming slate of American Revival shows). Also the Royal Academy of Radio Actors (Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith); the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, and Garrison’s latest News from Lake Wobegon. Join us this Saturday, where we revisit this wonderful program on our Facebook page. The link will appear at 5 p.m. CT (or, if you simply can’t wait, use the link below).
Highlights include Garrison reading several poems from 77 Love Sonnets, duetting with Heather Masse on “Winding Stream” and “I Wanna Be Loved by You,” Cantus singing “Wanting Memories,” plus the scripts Viva, Radio, Schubert, The Lives of the Cowboys, and Guy Noir. Listen to the show >>>
Follow our Facebook page >>> More information about our featured guests: Based in the Twin Cities, Cantus is recognized as one of America’s finest professional male vocal ensembles. The artist-led group is known for adventurous programming spanning many periods and genres — chant to spirituals, art song to folk song, Bach to the Beatles. The Washington Post described their sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power,” and referred to their music-making as “spontaneous grace.” “How Can I Keep From Singing” >>>
Growing up in rural Maine, Heather Masse sang hymns and folk songs around home with her family. Now this New England Conservatory of Music alum is equally versed in a variety of American song traditions — folk, pop, bluegrass, and more. Many fans know her as one-third of the Juno Award-winning Canadian trio The Wailin’ Jennys.
Listen to “Times a Hoax” >>> Since making his Metropolitan Opera debut during the 2005–2006 season as the Duke in Rigoletto, tenor Raúl Melo has sung principal roles with major opera companies worldwide. Performances include the part of Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) and Cavaradossi (Tosca) with the New York City Opera, the tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem with Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and Alvaro in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino at the Český Krumlov International Music Festival in the Czech Republic. At the piano: John Jensen. Listen to an aria from LA BOHEME >>> |
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Excerpt from Radio script Heather Masse is featured as jazz chanteuse Gloria in the “Radio” script from our featured show — a love song that we wanted to share.
The sky was blue
And high above
The moon was new
And so was love
This eager heart of mine was singing
Lover where can you be —
You came at last
Love had its day
That day is past
You’ve gone away
This aching heart of mine is singing
Lover come back to me —
The sky is blue
The night is cold
The moon is new
But love is old
This heart of mine is singing
Lover come back to me —
You came at last
Love had its day
That day is past
You’ve gone away
This aching heart of mine is singing
Lover come back to me — |
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Make American Great Again Hat Garrison waded into the 2020 presidential election, devising an alternative to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. As we head into the 2022 midterms, let’s keep the slogan going. While America has never NOT been great, it has always been intelligent! Hat is printed on Democrat blue and is adjustable so one size fits most. Purchase the hat >>> |
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Friendship Sonnet Card set Petrarch to Shakespeare, John Milton to John Berryman, Elizabeth Barrett Browning to
Longfellow to Langston Hughes — poets across centuries have found the sonnet to be a compelling form of poetic expression.
Garrison Keillor has too. Now eight of his uplifting sonnets — echoing aspects of friendship or
kindness — are printed on quality card stock, each poem paired with a handsome photographic
illustration.
Make someone’s day.
SET 1 (horizontal format: approximately 5” x 7”) $15
Four different poems paired with four different photographs
2 cards of each, 8 envelopes
Themes: Lost Glasses; Good Workers; Secret of a Good Life; Chairs
Here is the sonnet “Good Workers”
GOOD WORKERS
Here’s to good workers (you know who you are)
Who see the job and do what they can
To stop the leak or fix the car
Or clean house or counsel the troubled man.
Who go at the work straight through
Without complaint and carry the freight,
Who joke around but do what they need to do,
And chaos is cleared and the crooked made straight,
The hygienist polishing our incisors,
Or the guy who does shoe repair,
The ophthalmologist, the financial advisors,
It comforts us to know they are there.
Good workers give us cheerful and peaceable days,
And this is a workmanlike poem in their praise. Get the Notecards Set #1 >>> |
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