Dolts are dolts: don’t give them too much credit

The pictures of Wednesday stick with you — the mob rushing up the steps when the line of cops broke, the bozo smashing the window with a pole, the gangs of Trumpers running wild in the marble halls and the cops in confusion, the lout lounging in Speaker Pelosi’s chair — it was an assault of a few thousand of the densest people in America, a congregation of barflies and dropouts and people you’d never hire to look after your children, who were so thrilled to triumph over authority they could hardly stand it. That was the whole point of it. To roam around where you weren’t supposed to go, to sit in the Speaker’s office, and to take selfies while they did it. It was the high point of their lives. 

It thrilled them that Congress fled and hid in the basement and they got to parade around and wave their Trump banners and yell and own the place, which is pretty much how their man feels about the White House. He had little interest in policy but he loved the security entourage, the chopper on the lawn, Air Force One, being saluted. He was ill-informed and had the attention span of a housecat but he was Boss and smart people had to kowtow to him. It was glorious. What fool wouldn’t enjoy it.

In those debates during the Republican primaries of 2016, old pols like Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio stared at him in astonishment — the man made no sense but he could feel the audience’s fascination and he fed on it. There had never been a presidential candidate like him. He was the 300-pound man who won the pole vault. He was an auctioneer with nothing to sell but he could talk faster than anybody else. 
 

This week on A Prairie Home Companion

A show from the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, California. Featuring soprano Ellie Dehn, acoustic sister trio Joseph, and Heather Masse.

The host has the latest News from Lake Wobegon, where it’s finally cold enough to drive your car onto the lake for ice fishing, schnapps, and solace.

A Year in Lake Wobegon

As we approach the 47th anniversary of the first A Prairie Home Companion broadcast, we are releasing a host of new products we hope you will love. Over the course of the next month, we will be introducing new items in our newsletters and adding special discounts to existing products, all as a way of saying: Thanks for listening to the show since 1974!

This week, we start with a collection of "above average" Lake Wobegon stories. Our staff and volunteers worked on this collection for about a year, picking the very best newer stories to represent each month. Despite what Keillor often says about its being a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, a lot happens in "the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve."

These 12 stories capture family gatherings and holiday celebrations, both humorous and touching, that happen during one calendar year. Material includes more than 3 hours of monologues culled from live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion that aired between 2014 and 2016. Also included: a poem by Garrison for each month of the calendar year, plus music by Peter Ostroushko. 

Note: Peter provides all the music heard on A Year in Lake Wobegon — he has been with the show since its first year. Recently, he has had access to the show's vast archives and has been tracing his musical life through his appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. The most recent three episodes of his podcast feature many works and compositions first broadcast when he performed alongside Robin & Linda Williams. If you have ever wondered what the very early shows sounded like, this is a podcast for you!

Get the CDs >>>
Read our interview with Peter Ostroushko >>>
 

Note:  Peter provides all the music heard on A Year in Lake Wobegon and has been with the show since it's first year.  Recently, he has had access to the show's vast archives and has been tracing his musical life through his appearances on A Prairie Home Companion.  The most recent 3 episodes feature many works and compositions performing alongside Robin & Linda Williams.  If you have ever wondered what the very early shows sounded like, this is a podcast for you!

Listen to the podcast >>>

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. 

25th Anniversary Writer's Almanac Hat

The Writer's Almanac has returned, and what better way to spread the news than by wearing our 25th Anniversary hat? Every hat you buy goes toward supporting the distribution of the show and the payment of poets.

You can also help by following The Writer's Almanac on Facebook and sharing the daily post, or by signing up for the email newsletter* and forwarding it your friends!
 

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*to sign up for daily emails from The Writer's Almanac, scroll down to the bottom of this email and click "update your preferences." Make sure to put a checkmark next to both boxes: Garrison Keillor and The Writer's Almanac.

The Complete Lake Wobegon Set

Many of us are missing the weekly updates about the "little town that time forgot and decades could not 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 2 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 >>>