by Pa Rock
Cultural Artifact
My son Tim phoned a couple of months ago and told me that Garrison Keillor was coming to Kansas City. Did I want a ticket, he asked. Having missed the opportunity to see Keillor perform with his beloved radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, I jumped at the opportunity to at least see the man himself. Yes, I told Tim, get me a ticket.
Tim is always on the lookout for good shows headed into the Kansas City area, and consequently, since returning to the Midwest nearly four years ago, I have seen some stellar performances: Cher and Cindi Lauper, Diana Ross, Art Garfunkel - and also attended some wonderful plays. Not bad for an aging hillbilly stuck two hours on the wrong side of Springfield, Missouri!
And when it comes to snagging a good seat, Tim never falters as he wields Old Dad's credit card with wild abandon. He had me on the front row last night - just left of center - at the historic old Uptown Theatre (built in 1928) in beautiful downtown Kansas City.
Ordering the ticket for the Keillor performance was such a spur-of-the-moment thing that Tim and I both forgot about it until last week when he got a email reminder. Tim called and got me geared up for a quick trip to the city - and then the pump in the well house went out and it looked as though I would miss out on the show afterall. But the pump repairman came early Monday morning, installed a new part, and had my well pumping water within five minutes - all for about the price of a front row seat-and-a-half at a Garrison Keillor event.
So, with the water restored at The Roost, Rosie and I headed northwest to Kansas City - where everything remains disgustingly up-to-date.
Keillor retired from hosting A Prairie Home Companion last year, or possibly the year before - so I wasn't sure what to expect. Friends of mine saw him perform in Nashville a decade ago and said the show was primarily a monologue with some music. As I entered the auditorium it was apparent from the stage setup that a small band would be on hand to liven up the show.
The program was billed as the "Prairie Home Love and Comedy Tour," so I had hopes of seeing some of the show's regulars that I had listened to for years. I was not disappointed. Rich Dworsky rocked the house with his piano-pounding skills, and sound effects genius Fred Newman proved amazing beyond description. At one point Newman sang while playing a "jaw harp" and later whistled while playing the same primitive instrument. Keillor challenged Newman several times during the three-hour show with stories involving all types of weird things, animals, and events to which Newman automatically responded with appropriate sounds - a game that they often played on the old radio program.
The stage band consisted of four members including Dworsky. A beautiful and very pregnant vocalist by the name of Aiofe O'Donovan was also a central focus of the show. The young lady sang numerous duets with Keillor and performed several individual numbers. Miss O'Donovan had a powerful voice, echoing a bit of Loretta Lynn, and accompanied herself with a guitar on a few of her numbers.
Keillor was a bit of a surprise as appearance goes. At the mature age of seventy-five he remains instantly recognizable to those who are familiar with his work. But for an elite individual who reportedly spends much of each year living in Paris (France, not Texas), his wardrobe was remarkably relaxed. He wore a beige suit that was so rumpled that it could have easily come directly from the bottom of a laundry hamper. He also wore a long-sleeved white shirt adorned with a red silk tie, and red socks and red sneakers. The sneakers were understandable for a person who was required to spend the better part of three hours standing on a stage and walking through the auditorium. The sneaks probably had a long personal history with the star, because they were obviously older than at least his teenage daughter - and the right sneaker had a pronounced hole along its outside edge. (Okay, maybe I was too close to the stage!)
But the man definitely looked comfortable, and through his storytelling and singing he made several hundred folks from the Midwest comfortable as well.
There is little point in trying to describe Garrison Keillor's performance. Most of graying America has listened to him for decades, and he is, in person, exactly what one would expect. Keillor is familiar with Kansas City, and he managed to weave quite a bit about the community into his monologue - as he does with all cities that he visits. He sang one of own compositions which focused on the names of many rivers in Missouri, and he made several references to the Starlight Theatre, the venue which he has initially intended to use for last night's performance. Keillor made the audience feel that he was at home in Kansas City as they were.
The show began on time (yeah, team!) with Keillor strolling out into the audience and leading the house in a sing-along. He began his set with "My Country Tis of Thee," progressed through "Shenandoah" and several other familiar American classics, and ended on stage with the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." As he closed out the sing-along he solemnly noted that the people in that theatre were among the last generation who would be able to sing those tunes without frantically searching for the lyrics on their phones!
Two hours after the show began, Keillor (who never left the stage) called for an intermission. He told people they could go out in the lobby for a drink, work on their cars, or do whatever they needed to do to get ready for the rest of the performance. He then added that he would spend the intermission singing. A few ran for the bathrooms, but most members of the audience stood by their seats and sang along with the one of the most familiar voices in America. We sang verse after verse of "Home on the Range" and even did "Silent Night." The Uptown's acoustics combined with the gentle exuberance of the crowd to create a group vocal experience that sounded like it could have originated in Vienna (Austria, not Missouri).
The Love and Comedy Tour presented several staples of the familiar radio program. "Powder Milk Biscuits" and "The Catsup Advisory Board" were both nominal sponsors of the event, and "Lefty" of "Dusty and Lefty" also put in an appearance at an Old West saloon where he he had a spelling duel with a character given voice by Fred Newman. It was during the cowboy skit that Keillor and Newman combined to poke some good-natured fun at Donald Trump. Sadly, Guy Noir was a no-show.
And then there was the jewel of the show, Garrison Keillor's iconic "News from Lake Woebegone" (where all the women are strong, all the men good-looking, and all of the children above average). This particular monologue contained classic bits from older shows - including on of my favorites where the twenty-four large Lutheran ministers go for a cruise on a twenty-two foot pontoon boat. It took Keillor about two fifteen-minute stints to get through all of the "news" from Lake Woebegone. He related it all, in his dulcet tones, without notes while sitting on a stool at the edge of the stage directly in front of his biggest fan in West Plains, Missouri. It felt like he was looking directly at me as he chatted about the good folks in Lake Woebegone. That seat was priceless!
I missed out on seeing a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion during the years that Garrison Keillor was at the helm, but with last night's Love and Comedy Tour I managed to get awfully damned close to correcting that bit of personal history.
Garrison Keillor is a comic genius and folksy entertainer who remains at the top of his game!
Cultural Artifact
My son Tim phoned a couple of months ago and told me that Garrison Keillor was coming to Kansas City. Did I want a ticket, he asked. Having missed the opportunity to see Keillor perform with his beloved radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, I jumped at the opportunity to at least see the man himself. Yes, I told Tim, get me a ticket.
Tim is always on the lookout for good shows headed into the Kansas City area, and consequently, since returning to the Midwest nearly four years ago, I have seen some stellar performances: Cher and Cindi Lauper, Diana Ross, Art Garfunkel - and also attended some wonderful plays. Not bad for an aging hillbilly stuck two hours on the wrong side of Springfield, Missouri!
And when it comes to snagging a good seat, Tim never falters as he wields Old Dad's credit card with wild abandon. He had me on the front row last night - just left of center - at the historic old Uptown Theatre (built in 1928) in beautiful downtown Kansas City.
Ordering the ticket for the Keillor performance was such a spur-of-the-moment thing that Tim and I both forgot about it until last week when he got a email reminder. Tim called and got me geared up for a quick trip to the city - and then the pump in the well house went out and it looked as though I would miss out on the show afterall. But the pump repairman came early Monday morning, installed a new part, and had my well pumping water within five minutes - all for about the price of a front row seat-and-a-half at a Garrison Keillor event.
So, with the water restored at The Roost, Rosie and I headed northwest to Kansas City - where everything remains disgustingly up-to-date.
Keillor retired from hosting A Prairie Home Companion last year, or possibly the year before - so I wasn't sure what to expect. Friends of mine saw him perform in Nashville a decade ago and said the show was primarily a monologue with some music. As I entered the auditorium it was apparent from the stage setup that a small band would be on hand to liven up the show.
The program was billed as the "Prairie Home Love and Comedy Tour," so I had hopes of seeing some of the show's regulars that I had listened to for years. I was not disappointed. Rich Dworsky rocked the house with his piano-pounding skills, and sound effects genius Fred Newman proved amazing beyond description. At one point Newman sang while playing a "jaw harp" and later whistled while playing the same primitive instrument. Keillor challenged Newman several times during the three-hour show with stories involving all types of weird things, animals, and events to which Newman automatically responded with appropriate sounds - a game that they often played on the old radio program.
The stage band consisted of four members including Dworsky. A beautiful and very pregnant vocalist by the name of Aiofe O'Donovan was also a central focus of the show. The young lady sang numerous duets with Keillor and performed several individual numbers. Miss O'Donovan had a powerful voice, echoing a bit of Loretta Lynn, and accompanied herself with a guitar on a few of her numbers.
Keillor was a bit of a surprise as appearance goes. At the mature age of seventy-five he remains instantly recognizable to those who are familiar with his work. But for an elite individual who reportedly spends much of each year living in Paris (France, not Texas), his wardrobe was remarkably relaxed. He wore a beige suit that was so rumpled that it could have easily come directly from the bottom of a laundry hamper. He also wore a long-sleeved white shirt adorned with a red silk tie, and red socks and red sneakers. The sneakers were understandable for a person who was required to spend the better part of three hours standing on a stage and walking through the auditorium. The sneaks probably had a long personal history with the star, because they were obviously older than at least his teenage daughter - and the right sneaker had a pronounced hole along its outside edge. (Okay, maybe I was too close to the stage!)
But the man definitely looked comfortable, and through his storytelling and singing he made several hundred folks from the Midwest comfortable as well.
There is little point in trying to describe Garrison Keillor's performance. Most of graying America has listened to him for decades, and he is, in person, exactly what one would expect. Keillor is familiar with Kansas City, and he managed to weave quite a bit about the community into his monologue - as he does with all cities that he visits. He sang one of own compositions which focused on the names of many rivers in Missouri, and he made several references to the Starlight Theatre, the venue which he has initially intended to use for last night's performance. Keillor made the audience feel that he was at home in Kansas City as they were.
The show began on time (yeah, team!) with Keillor strolling out into the audience and leading the house in a sing-along. He began his set with "My Country Tis of Thee," progressed through "Shenandoah" and several other familiar American classics, and ended on stage with the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." As he closed out the sing-along he solemnly noted that the people in that theatre were among the last generation who would be able to sing those tunes without frantically searching for the lyrics on their phones!
Two hours after the show began, Keillor (who never left the stage) called for an intermission. He told people they could go out in the lobby for a drink, work on their cars, or do whatever they needed to do to get ready for the rest of the performance. He then added that he would spend the intermission singing. A few ran for the bathrooms, but most members of the audience stood by their seats and sang along with the one of the most familiar voices in America. We sang verse after verse of "Home on the Range" and even did "Silent Night." The Uptown's acoustics combined with the gentle exuberance of the crowd to create a group vocal experience that sounded like it could have originated in Vienna (Austria, not Missouri).
The Love and Comedy Tour presented several staples of the familiar radio program. "Powder Milk Biscuits" and "The Catsup Advisory Board" were both nominal sponsors of the event, and "Lefty" of "Dusty and Lefty" also put in an appearance at an Old West saloon where he he had a spelling duel with a character given voice by Fred Newman. It was during the cowboy skit that Keillor and Newman combined to poke some good-natured fun at Donald Trump. Sadly, Guy Noir was a no-show.
And then there was the jewel of the show, Garrison Keillor's iconic "News from Lake Woebegone" (where all the women are strong, all the men good-looking, and all of the children above average). This particular monologue contained classic bits from older shows - including on of my favorites where the twenty-four large Lutheran ministers go for a cruise on a twenty-two foot pontoon boat. It took Keillor about two fifteen-minute stints to get through all of the "news" from Lake Woebegone. He related it all, in his dulcet tones, without notes while sitting on a stool at the edge of the stage directly in front of his biggest fan in West Plains, Missouri. It felt like he was looking directly at me as he chatted about the good folks in Lake Woebegone. That seat was priceless!
I missed out on seeing a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion during the years that Garrison Keillor was at the helm, but with last night's Love and Comedy Tour I managed to get awfully damned close to correcting that bit of personal history.
Garrison Keillor is a comic genius and folksy entertainer who remains at the top of his game!
1 comment:
We have been fortunate enough to have Garrison perform close by on his tours to see him - not front row but good enough. The show you described could have been the show we saw but ours wasn't that long. The matinee we attended had sold out in something like 15 or 20 minutes so he added an evening show which also sold out! Love the man. Loved his show. Thanks for letting me vicariously experience another one. And yes - the Lutheran ministers on Lake Woebegone has to be among his top 3!
Post a Comment