The good fortune of not finishing first
The fastest man in the world is now Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy who ran the 100-meter dash in Tokyo in 9.80 seconds, and bravo for him, but when you peak at 26 you face a long descent into normality. You run that fast and you miss a lot such as the woman I saw as I strolled in the park the other day who said into her telephone, “I was not put on this earth in order to make him happy,” which made me happy to hear, a woman who’d gotten a clearer sense of mission. You find happiness by slowing down. At my age, you know that...
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This week on A Prairie Home Companion Grab some rhubarb and pack your bags as, this week, we venture to LA — to the Greek Theatre in 2002 — for a show with the legendary Taj Mahal, some fine music from Stephanie Davis, a few impressions from Marni Nixon, plus Peter Ostroushko and Greg Leisz sit in with The Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band … honey, could you ask for more?
Highlights include the full-cast sketches “Living in LA,” words from Catchup and Rhubarb, plus Pat Donohue and the band picking a few surf songs, Taj Mahal taking on the “Queen Bee,” Marni Nixon is “Somewhere,” Stephanie Davis and Garrison crooning “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” plus odes to LA and Michael, and the latest news from Lake Wobegon. The link is posted on Saturdays at 5 p.m. CT each week on our Facebook page. Listen to the Show >>>Like our Facebook page >>>
More about this week’s featured guests
TAJ MAHAL was born in New York City as Henry Saint Clair Fredericks; he was raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. His mother was a schoolteacher who sang gospel and his father was a piano-playing West Indian jazz arranger. His interest in the blues began at the University of Massachusetts in the early ’60s; when he graduated with a BA in Agriculture in 1964, he could play bass, piano, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, harmonica, and assorted flutes. And his study of blues history had led him into R&B, rock, jazz, West African music, Caribbean, and zydeco. He hit the Boston folk circuit. Since then he’s recorded dozens of albums under his own name and guested on dozens of other recordings. He won a Grammy for his Señor Blues album in 1997, another in 2000 for Shoutin’ In Key, and a third in 2018 for TajMo. “Queen Bee” >>>View available music >>>
Born and raised in Montana, STEPHANIE DAVIS had a cattle ranch in the foothills of the Beartooth Mountains, up where the entire island of Manhattan could be hidden away in a box canyon and lie undiscovered for decades; this doesn’t necessarily give a person wisdom, she said, but it does offer a certain perspective. She grew up in Bridger, part of a fourth generation of Montanans, and if you’ve been raised there it draws you back. For many years, she wrote songs in a one-room log cabin on the range built by a Finnish bachelor and reclaimed from years of occupation by Angus steers. She had a successful career singing and touring and writing songs in Nashville — songs that have been recorded by Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, and others.
Several years ago, she relocated to Austin, Texas. Her albums include Western Bling and Western Bliss. “Turning to the Light” >>>View available music >>>
MARNI NIXON was dubbed by Time magazine as the “Ghostess with the Mostest,” a compliment to the famous invisible voice. Actresses who don’t sing are as common in musicals as actors who don’t fight are in action films, and the female singing voice you hear in West Side Story, My Fair Lady, An Affair to Remember, Mulan, and The King and I is Marni Nixon’s voice. She dubbed for Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno; she did a voice in The Secret Garden for child actress Margaret O’Brien, and she did the angel voices heard by Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc. On her own, she released albums that include Marni Nixon Sings Gershwin and Marni Nixon Sings Classic Kern, and she appeared as a musical comedy and cabaret performer, opera diva, stage actress, symphony guest artist in both classical and pops repertoire, recitalist, and recording artist. Interview with Marni Nixon>>> |
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Living with Limericks excerpt A short passage from Garrison’s book Living with Limericks — a nod to President Barack Obama, on his birthday.
I went to the White House for a ceremony at which the president spoke and I stood where I could see his teleprompter. It was impressive. He was improvising like crazy and his improv was funnier than the script. I loved the Obamas. So much weight on their shoulders, being the First A-A President and First Lady, but they were the most natural big shots I ever met in my life, warm, cool, funny, and together they made the country proud. Only a very dedicated redneck living deep in the swamp of Fox News could manage to dislike them.
Our president Barack Obama
Had a black dad and white mama
He is cool, he can bop,
And yet he will stop
And participate in Bowlerama.
And Mrs. Obama’s so cool.
If you’re ever around Michelle, you’ll
Think Nina Simone
And Paula Poundstone
And the dance team at the Juilliard School. Buy Living with Limericks >>> |
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