Last night the Trout and I went to our local movie theater to see a live performance of Prairie Home Companion starring Garrison Keillor. Our connection to Garrison and Prairie Home goes back to 1981 when we were living in Wisconsin.
A new friend told us about his habit of listening to Prairie Home Companion on Public Radio every Saturday night for 2 hours. We turned the radio on one Saturday night while we were preparing dinner and we were hooked. That makes this our 29th year of listening to this storyteller.
In the early years, we used to drive to St. Paul which was only about an hour or so from our home, and would watch him live when he used to broadcast in a St. Paul park and then later in a theater in St. Paul. Even our daughters tolerated our Saturday nights with the radio on.
Garrison is a brilliant storyteller. His stories take place in Lake Wobegon in Minnesota. He has characters that live in this make-believe town that come from a Norwegian background. He talks about the Norwegian bachelor farmers and the Trout can so relate to this. He had these same Norwegian bachelor uncles and they had the same habits. We have laughed ourselves to tears and cried along with his tales.
Last night, in the movie theater, we were not surprised at the age of the patrons. They all knew this man with his wonderful sense of humor and I am sure they also have been following him for years. Elvis Costello was a guest last night and his song writing, singing and performance was top notch.
Several years ago Garrison made a movie of the Prairie Home Companion starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Klein. Of course, we saw that also. We had a very enjoyable evening and I hope some of you are Prairie Home Companion enthusiasts also.
