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| Lake Wobegon set- live broadcast June 28th, 2011 |
When I was attending massage therapy school, I became a fan of my favorite radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. I would listen to it when I had finished my long Saturday shift in the student massage clinic. In those days, I often wanted to be anyone but myself and be anywhere except where I was, due to the acrimonious divorce I was going through at the time. How I looked forward to tallying up my practice hours and heading home to Mesa for a hot shower. My company on the way home was Garrison Keillor and company. I could always get a laugh from the down home humor. I have always wanted to be at the live broadcast of the show and if I can't be at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St, Paul Minn, then this was my alternate goal- Wolf Trap in Vienna Virginia!
Saturday evening of Memorial Day weekend, we set off for the live broadcast at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts http://www.wolftrap.org/
We debated the pros and cons of public transportation vs driving ourselves. In the end, we drove, as it would have required two Metro transfers and a bus ride as well. Wolf Trap is administrated by the National Park Service and parking was orchestrated like a well-oiled machine-impressive.
The venue is gorgeous and the weather was temperate- just lovely for the 5:45 start of the performance.
I got excited and purchased the tickets last January, so we had excellent seats at the Filene Center and didn't have sit on the lawn.
The show started with a warm-up at 5:45 with Garrison Keillor and a female singer-didn't catch her name.. They strolled around the periphery of the theatre and lawn seating while singing and chatting.
The show started promptly at 6:00 and it was thrilling to see the "on air" sign light up.
The customary remarks about the locale were hilarious as Mr. Keillor remarked on the local political scene , mall shirtless joggers and the requisite lawyer jokes. I beamed with pride as there are some times I feel entitled to call myself a "local".
I couldn't help but notice that the majority of the audience were aging baby boomers such as ourselves and also those of a more advanced generation. I've gotta say that the crowd was well behaved and no one was texting during the show- ha ha !
Tom and I had seen Garrison Keillor's one man show in Phoenix and enjoyed his story telling which is full of playful jabs at Lutheran Midwesterners. If you haven't heard the show, I would urge you to give it a try- it is broadcast on Saturday nights through your local NPR station: www.prairiehome.org.
The evenings guests were "The Wailin' Jennys", a bluegrass sister band that appears often as guests
on the show.
It was fun to watch the cardboard moon drop down as Mr. Keillor began his weekly monologue "It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown".
Also dropped down were faux advertising signs from "The National Catchup Advisory Board and Powdermilk Biscuits" Also dropping down at the Filene Center, were tiny spiders who randomly dropped from the rafters and you could see them in the dusk, making their way down to unsuspecting patron's laps and shoulders.
The show ended and we spent another few minutes singing "God Bless America" with the cast. A fitting end to a Memorial weekend show. Once again, my understanding husband who is a PHC convert, was my amiable companion at the event- love you Tom!
