Some news, as we know, is realer than others

Uvalde stays in the mind despite all distractions, a pleasant day at a little summer house in Connecticut and Scrabble on the porch and the drive back to Manhattan on the Merritt Parkway with its arched stone bridges dating back to the days when families went for a “drive” for pleasure — it stays because it is so real. I don’t understand economics, Ukraine is far away, climate change is an abstraction, but the terrified parents across the street from their kids’ school hearing gunshots, they are real, and I have a great-niece who is the same age as the kids in room 112 and I imagine her as the girl who lay on the floor among dead classmates and called 911 and said, “Send the police now, please.” That is my niece, a lively independent spirited girl who loves reading and bonds with her grandma and eats like a trucker but is thin as a rail thanks to the intensity of her life. That girl has a name, like the kids in Texas.. . .

Continue reading on Garrison Keillor and Friends Substack Newsletter >>>

THANK YOU FOR TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF            THE WRITER'S ALMANAC

After producing twenty-nine years of The Writer's Almanac as a public radio program and since 2018 as a podcast, we are ceasing production. We want to thank all of the poets, producers, writers, researchers, and especially our passionate fans. Just imagine, we featured 10,735 poems during this time.

For those folks that currently subscribe to The Writer's Almanac newsletter, we have automatically transferred your subscription to our new platform on Substack. If you are interested in receiving a daily anniversary edition of The Writer's Almanac, you can subscribe by clicking the link below.

The Writer's Almanac Substack newsletter >>>

All you need to know about this week's Prairie Home episode

Originally broadcast from the Fort Tuthill County Park in Flagstaff, Arizona, it’s a high-altitude performance of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. With special guests, country renaissance man Jimmie Dale Gilmore and The Wronglers, and brilliant writer and humorist Ian Frazier. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, Rich Dworsky and The Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, and vocalist Andra Suchy. Plus, the latest news from Lake Wobegon.

Highlights include Garrison, with Andra, singing a tune about Flagstaff: “Blue Shadows on the Trail.” Plus “I Like it Like That” from the Guy’s All Star Shoe Band, “Time Changes Everything” from The Wronglers, “Rock ’n’ Roll Barbeque” from Pat Donohue, an essay about Flagstaff from Ian Frazier, and talk about pizza and yards. Also, the Lives of the Cowboys, Guy Noir, and the latest News from your favorite small town. The link appears on our Facebook page at 5 p.m. CT (but if you can’t wait, click on the link below). 

Listen to the show >>>
Visit Garrison’s YouTube Channel >>>

More About Our Featured Guests:

Ian Frazier’s best-selling books include Coyote vs. Acme, Great Plains, Family, On the Rez, and Lamentations of the Father, Travels in Siberia, and his latest, Hogs Wild: Selected Reporting Pieces. He also edited Humor Me: An Anthology of Funny Contemporary Writing (Plus Some Great Old Stuff Too). Newsweek once referred to this two-time winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor as “the best master of gentle laid-back befuddlement since [Robert] Benchley.” Frazier is a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker.

Laws Concerning Food and Drink from Definitely Above Average >>>
Get Definitely Above Average CDs >>>

“The holy trinity of West Texas music” — that’s what The Chicago Tribune called the Flatlanders, Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s trio with Joe Ely and Butch Hancock. Later, Gilmore teamed up with The Wronglers, a Bay Area old-time band. The collaboration resulted in a the CD Heirloom Music — released in 2011 on the Redeye label. It is a treasure trove of American gems, from Charlie Poole’s “Leaving Home” to Bill Monroe’s “Uncle Pen.” The Wronglers are Warren Hellman (banjo), Nate Levine (guitar), Bill Martin (mandolin), Krista Martin (fiddle), Heidi Clare (fiddle), and Colleen Browne (bass). Guest guitarist: Robbie Gjersoe.

Listen to “Ripple” >>>

Andra Suchy spent her childhood on a farm near Mandan, North Dakota, the daughter of two talented singers. By the time she was in grade school, she was traveling around, doing concerts and festivals with her family. She went on to sing with several groups in the Twin Cities area — including the all-girl trio The Dollys — and also to work as a back-up singer and as a jingle singer on commercials for White Castle, Target, and more. 

“When I Dream” >>>

Sue Scott: Seriously Silly

Sue Scott is an amazing talent! Today, we highlight a guest interview she gave us tracing her history with the show, how she got started performing, and information about the new podcast she created called “Island of Discarded Women.” Please also see the links below for the most recent “Mom & Duane” sketches that were conducted via Zoom! And check out the new episode of “Island of Discarded Women” episode.

Island of Discarded Women Facebook page >>>

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

When they first aired, did you get any feedback from fans about these particular sketches?

I’ve heard from a lot of folks about the Mom and Duane sketches. They say things like, “You obviously know my Irish Catholic mother,” or “you are definitely channeling my Jewish mother.” My favorite was the comment from a woman who has two sons away at college. She said to me after a show, “You people have ruined my communication with my sons! I am now completely paranoid every time I talk to one of them on the phone because I’m terrified that something passive aggressive is going to come out of my mouth!” I love that one.

Tell us what it was like to perform on APHC each week. What did a show week look like: when did you get the first script, when was the first rehearsal or read-through, how much rehearsal was involved, etc.? Is it true that the scripts sometimes changed at the last minute?

Well, for instance, for one of our shows on the road the actors typically fly out Friday morning and rehearse at the venue sometime Friday evening. (That’s the first time we see the scripts.) Then we gather back at the venue late morning or early afternoon on Saturday for a rehearsal on stage. The scripts have usually changed quite bit between the Friday night and the Saturday afternoon rehearsals. They can often go through further rewrites between the Saturday afternoon rehearsal and the show that night. And yes, sometimes the scripts do change during the show. If Garrison decides to cut something while we’re on stage performing the sketch, he might cross out part of a page and pass it on to me to share with the others. Hey, it’s live, baby. Gotta stay on your toes.

Read our Guest Interview >>>
Watch Mom (Zoom version) Pt. I >>>
Watch Mom (Zoom version) Pt. 2 >>>
Get “Seriously Silly” CD >>>
Listen to “Island of Discarded Women” >>>

A Year in Lake Wobegon

 Each of these monologues is culled from episodes of A Prairie Home Companion that aired between 2014 and 2016. As an added bonus, liner notes contain a poem for each month written by Garrison Keillor. 

Here is the poem “June” from the liner notes:

Be free, dear graduate. That’s what my advice is:
And if it’s trouble for which you hunger,
Don’t wait for midlife to have your crisis.
It’s better to do it when you’re younger.
Don’t wait until you’re older and at the pinnacle
And people fawn over you and hail your
So-called achievements. Not to be cynical,
But youth is the best time for a big bold failure.
You won’t learn this from reading Plato or Socrates:
But rather than average, why not go for Really Really Bad?
Better to be a fool than one of the mediocrities.
And a major failure can bring you closer to your dad.
     Fritter away your dough. Don’t plan, don’t build.
     He’s waiting. That fatted calf needs to be killed.
 

Purchase the CD set >>>

Beautiful Dreamer

“Wild Horses” is ranked #334 by Billboard on its list of 500 best songs of all time. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the song first appeared on the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. Here, Garrison Keillor and Heather Masse perform a duet version on A Prairie Home Companion. Their version is included on their duet album, Beautiful Dreamer, available exclusively via our shop. 

Listen to “Wild Horses” >>>
Purchase Beautiful Dreamer >>>