What was so remarkable about Monday

Nobody does royal funerals so beautifully as the Brits and an American watches with awe the long procession toward the chapel at Windsor Castle, the precision left/right stroll of the Grenadiers alongside the hearse, the horsemen behind, the bemedaled notaries and royal descendants and then, having come through narrow arches into the courtyard, the hearse stops, the rear door opens, and the eight uniformed pallbearers do a side-shuffle march to take hold of the coffin and lift it to their shoulders and take it up the steps. No simple task but they do it precisely and a stately silence prevails except on TV where American reporters venture speculation about a woman whose job was to be a mystery and who did it very well.

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Classic A Prairie Home Companion

Every Saturday, a classic broadcast from the archives is featured on our Facebook fan page and on the website for your listening pleasure. The link to the show is posted at 5 p.m. CT but can be accessed anytime. 

Each season of A Prairie Home Companion premiered in the fall, generally running from mid-September to the Fourth of July. Many season openers featured a street dance and a meat loaf supper. So plan to make a meat loaf, sit outside, turn your Bluetooth speaker up, and enjoy this broadcast from Exchange Street in St. Paul, Minnesota! On the show this week is the all-star Austin, Texas, band The High-Flyers, Cajun crooners BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Prudence Johnson, and New York’s own Andy Stein.
 

Some show highlights include a song dedicated to Meryl Streep; little talk about the making of the A Prairie Home Companion movie; a discussion about F. Scott Fitzgerald and what it was like growing up during that era; “She’s Gone, Gone, Gone” by The High-Flyers; “When the Flower Blooms” from BeauSoleil; “Cajun Honey” by Jack Knife and the Sharps; “The Ferris Wheel Waltz” by Andy Stein; plus Guy Noir, a script about going back to school, and the latest News from Lake Wobegon.

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More about this week’s featured guests
In the 40-some years since Michael Doucet changed his mind about graduate school and went into Cajun music instead, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet — with David Doucet, Billy Ware, Tommy Alesi, Al Tharp, and Jimmy Breaux — has recorded dozens of albums. They released their first, The Spirit of Cajun Music, in the late ’70s, and in 1998 won a Grammy for L’Amour ou Folie, and they’ve taken home a boatload of Grammys since. Their latest album is 2013’s From Bamako to Carencro. BeauSoleil has spent decades preserving Cajun music, and blending elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, and more into a tasty musical mix. Citing him as “the single most important figure in the revitalization of Cajun music in the United States,” the National Endowment for the Arts honored Michael Doucet with a 2005 National Heritage Fellowship.

Listen to “Varise” >>>

Jack Knife and the Sharps has been a favorite Minnesota rockabilly band since they formed in 1984. Led by guitarist/vocalist Rick Hollister — and with Elmer Johnston on bass and Johann “Yo-Yo” Swenson on drums-this — trio gets the joint jumpin’ every time they perform. 

Listen to “Crazy Baby” >>>

Violinist and saxophonist Andy Stein was a regular member of Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band on A Prairie Home Companion from 1989 to 2001. He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson. He has appeared on Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman, and has performed with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, and many others.

Listen to “Stringin’ the Blues” >>>

Prudence Johnson’s nearly 50 year career in music has taken her from nightclubs and honky-tonks to Carnegie Hall, from the theater stage to the Silver Screen (Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It), from the Midwest to the Middle East. She was a regularly featured guest on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, tours with Garrison as part of the Keillor & Co. shows, and performs solo shows in and around the Twin Cities. 

Listen to “Lost and Found” >>>

The People We've Met Along the Way

We hope to continue meeting listeners at our upcoming show at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., on October 21st. It’s a great time to join in song ahead of the windup of the election season! Dave and Jackie are from Blaine, Minnesota, and fondly recall joining A Prairie Home Companion for the first cruise — from Boston to Halifax, Cape Breton, and Nova Scotia. They had such a great time that they wish that they could have joined other cruises. They have been listening to the show since the late ’70s, and Dave is usually the only one to laugh at the penguin joke every time he hears it. He is wearing the Lake Wobegon Crest Hat featuring the words “Sumos Quod Sumos” or “we are what we are.”
 

Get tickets to The Anthem in Washington, D.C., on October 21st >>>

The Lake Wobegon Virus

You can return to the “little town that time forgot and decades could not improve” and still find that “all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average” because The Lake Wobegon Virus is now available wherever books are sold!

A great satire about the pandemic where some bad cheese causes people to lose all inhibitions and say or do whatever is on the top of their minds. Chaos and hilarity ensue.

Garrison entered the studio in mid-August of last year to record the audio version of the book. 

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Make America Intelligent Again

We teach our children to cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing, so why not mask up in these trying times with an inspired message? 

These washable, functional face masks feature an elastic ear loop that fits snugly but not too tightly. Order more to receive a lower price per mask.

Get the masks (set of 3) >>>

Friendship Sonnet Cards - Set of 8

Friendships are important so why not send your pals a card!

Four different poems paired with four different photographs. 2 cards of each, 8 envelopes.

Themes: “Walking,” “Summer’s Bounty,” “Quietude,” “Friends — the most valuable acquisition.”

Friends — the most valuable acquisition
We are trying to dispose of excess stuff,
A great estate-sale accumulation,
And achieve what plainly is enough
To maintain daily civilization.
Meanwhile, we think of you, dear friends,
You, our most valuable acquisition,
As we float over rapids and around the bends
On life’s long curious expedition.
We admire your careless elegant style,
Lively or quiet, questioning or devout.
Friends, more than possessions, are ever worthwhile.
Friendship, not stuff, is what it’s all about.
     This is true today, as it always has been.
     Good health. When do we see you again?

Get the Cards (Set #2) >>>