With your permission, I shall give a short speech

I skipped the news today and clicked on Zoom where my church held Morning Prayer for Holy Week and there we all were in little boxes on the screen, like pastries on the grocery shelf, and we prayed for forgiveness --- though in self-isolation, there’s not much lust or anger, just gluttony and sloth, the usual --- and I prayed for my friends who are alone, the one who said, “This is a great time for introverts” and the one who told me she’d instructed her doorman that, if she dies, she should be hauled away in a cardboard box and cremated, no ceremony.

Meanwhile, it is spring in New York City. Bright green grass is growing in the planter boxes on our balcony and a loud bird is hanging out there. We are three people isolating ourselves in five rooms, one reading, one Facetiming, one typing these words. We have groceries, running water, WiFi, all the necessities, and we’re on the 12th floor and can open a door and sit outside in the sunshine, the ultimate luxury.

It’s an easy life compared to what many people are going through and skipping the news lets you ignore a president who, as the British writer Nate White points out, “has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honor and no grace” and now, in a national crisis, shows himself to be an ignorant bumbler and con artist focused on weeding out non-yes-men in the White House.

The Founders never considered this. They provided for impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors but not for blinkered stupidity. So we must depend on the heroes in our midst, the hospital workers and truck drivers and grocery clerks and crucial employees, the people the Queen thanked in her speech, to get us through the next few weeks or months until, God help us, the rate of infection declines and life can resume.

Read the rest of the column >>>

For your entertainment!

As everyone hunkers down at home and practices good social distancing, Garrison and the Prairie Home staff are serving up some virtual comfort food and helping to keep us all entertained and sane! Below are some features and activities to keep the mind occupied:
 

A Prairie Home Companion - April 2, 2016:
Each week that we are "sheltering in place," the staff is picking through archival content for full "Prairie Home" or Garrison Keillor shows that we can provide as one-week online streams. We hope it is helping to pass the time for you and your families!

This week, we travel back to April 2016 for a show from our home away from home, The Town Hall on West 43rd Street in New York City. VÃSEN bring a blast of mind-bending music from across the North Sea and the North Atlantic, Heather Masse joins the host on a few duets, and our friend Rob Fisher returns with the Coffee Club Orchestra and a roster of tunes sure to bring down the house. Plus: radio drama and election-year intrigue from the Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Lila Newman, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman; our music director and pianist Richard Dworsky with Richard Kriehn on mandolin and fiddle and Chris Siebold on guitar; and an update on the latest News from Lake Wobegon, where signs of spring are just beginning to appear. 

Watch the Show >>>

New Mom Script:
Well, we had so much fun last week that we recorded another brand-new Mom & Duane script via Zoom! In this script, Mom calls Duane, who also hears from his dad, his old friend Ricky, his therapist, a telemarketer, and a grocery delivery man who just wants to chat.

This script will "premiere" on our YouTube channel this evening at 6:00 p.m. Central Time.

Watch Mom & Duane script beginning at 6pm CT >>>
Watch last week's Mom & Duane script >>>

Brand-new #PHCactors content:
In addition, our talented cast has been pretty busy creating new solo content for your enjoyment. Tim Russell has been adding humorous musical videos in the style of various singers, Sue Scott has debuted a new episode of her podcast "Island of Discarded Women," and Fred Newman just finished a gorgeous and relaxing new sound effect project. Below, some words for you from Mr. Fred Newman:

"This is an 8-minute recording made from The Listening Chair, a red kitchen chair mounted on a horizontal fork of a large maple tree, felled by Hurricane Sandy. The chair juts out over the pond, about 10 feet from shore, 4 feet from the surface. The pond itself acts an acoustic mirror that collects sounds coalescing from the glacial hills around.

At sunset a dramatic, sonic transition unfolds: from the early evening, arboreal chatter of red-wing black birds, punctuated by coos of mourning doves, to the rise of thousands tiny spring peeper frogs, the earliest sign of spring in Connecticut. Light breezes accompany – a sprinkling of distant cars, a flock of geese bedding down for the evening, the horn of a distant train approaching and rising before passing back into the mist of swelling night peepers and gentle dog barks. It is a piece of music, composed in the moment, recorded especially for APHC followers, from the first week of sheltering in place – a sign from nature, to the nature in all of us, recorded on the uniquely warm night of the recent equinox, as a waning crescent moon rose to the east.

Something very like this happens wherever you find yourself. This is a time to stop. And Listen. And take comfort."  –Fred Newman

Watch Tim Russell's "Are You Lonesome Tonight" >>>
Listen to Sue Scott's "Island of Discarded Women" >>>
Listen to Fred Newman's "The Listening Chair" >>>
 

The Writer's Almanac:
April is National Poetry Month and we are thankful to listeners of the podcast, many of whom have written in recently to tell us how comforting The Writer's Almanac has been during a time of great anxiety. We are so glad to be of service at this time.

For the past few weeks, we have also been posting personalized videos of TWA poets reading their own work and sharing a few thoughts and insights. Check out our Facebook page and look for the tag #TWApoets, or watch the playlist on YouTube.

If you enjoy The Writer's Almanac, you can help support it with a contribution. All proceeds are used to pay the poets and publishers for the rights to broadcast the individual poems each day. You can contribute here (note: donations to LLCs are not tax-deductible) >>>

Visit The Writer's Almanac website >>>
Follow The Writer's Almanac Facebook page >>>
Watch our #TWApoets videos >>>

 

The Prairie Home Archive:
Finally, the www.prairiehome.org archive site is always there for you with audio streams of almost every A Prairie Home Companion show since 1991. Check it out if you haven't already!

The Garrison Keillor Facebook fan page is being updated on a daily basis with videos from the archive, plus new videos from artists and actors who have appeared on the show during its 43-year run. Most days we also have an update from Garrison himself called "The News from Manhattan."

Check out the Prairie Home archive >>>
Follow our Facebook fan page >>>

A Prairie Home Companion Scroll Shirt

Over 40 years ago, Garrison wrote a piece about the history of the Grand Old Opry for the New Yorker magazine. The article triggered an idea for a Midwestern version of the show featuring music, comedy, sketches, and storytelling...and thus began A Prairie Home Companion. For the 40th anniversary of the show, we took a look at some historical shirt designs that the Grand Old Opry created & we borrowed their scroll concept for this handsome shirt featuring the classic microphone logo.               

Get the shirt >>>
Listen to the 40th Anniversary Show >>>