A Prairie Home Companion for May 26, 2012 — Storify
Click through from the dashboard for a compilation of audio, video, scripts, comments from Twitter, and more from last weekend’s show…
May 2012
33 posts
Listen
The News from Lake Wobegon for May 26, 2012
“It’s summer at last and the rhubarb is coming in and the lilacs are in full bloom. Somebody’s been cutting alfalfa. The crickets, you can hear them, and the frogs are singing.”
A rainstorm drenches the town, the Lake Wobegon Whippets begin spring training, local families open their lake cabins, and the Lutheran church switches to its summer service schedule.
A Prairie Home Companion for February 10, 1996 →
prairiehome.publicradio.org
And for a bit of Star-Wars-related APHC trivia — Episode IV was originally released on May 25th, 1977 — James Earl Jones has actually appeared on the show. He joined us to read a poem and appear in a few scripts during a February 1996 broadcast from the Fitz. (The audio is not available in our online archive, unfortunately.)
#NPRStarWars →
storify.com
Morning Edition is looking for the best Star Wars/public radio puns! We like Prairie Clone Companion but what about Ewokareebop Rhubarb Pie? Boba’s Kitty Boutique?
Listen
This weekend at Wolf Trap, Sara Watkins returns to the show to sing a few duets and play a few songs from her new album, which includes this Everly Brothers cover. (Lucky APHC listeners got a preview when Sara, Chris Thile and the Shoe Band performed it during last year’s season finale — listen to that version here.)
We’ll also be joined by singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin, Heather Masse, and three horn players (trombone, saxophone and trumpet) who’ll sit in with The Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band.
“And then there is North Dakota, which is sheer grandeur, but you have to get off the freeway and get out of the car and walk. If you hike 10 miles at night on the High Plains of North Dakota, it could change your life. And for the good.”
—Garrison talks about where in America he gets “carried away” in a recent Q&A in the New York Times
Listen
The News from Lake Wobegon for May 19, 2012
It’s been hot out there and we’re not used to it. Gets up into the 80s and it’s very humid and people get nauseous walking back and forth into air conditioning and back out.
The strawberries and blueberries are plentiful in Lake Wobegon, the junior high boys go skinny-dipping in the lake, and Pastor Liz arrives to much celebration and curiosity, in a monologue from 2010.
The answers about how you listen to the show are great — keep ‘em coming!
(If you’re curious, yours truly is usually only half-listening to the live show since I’m running around the venue to shoot our web videos but I listen to the archived stream on Monday mornings to make sure it’s working correctly. If I’m not traveling with the show, I listen at home while eating pizza and take a few notes so I can update the website when the broadcast is over.)
A Question for Tumblr
A lot of listeners mention that they tune in to the show while cooking dinner on Saturday nights and that got us wondering… how do you listen, Tumblrers? Do you make time for the live broadcast on Saturday, catch a Sunday rebroadcast, or stream online at work? Come for the scripts and skip the music? Ignore the world for two hours or check off a few to-do items while you follow the latest Lake Wobegon gossip?
Listen
The News from Lake Wobegon for May 12, 2012
It’s been spring and the grass is lush and green and the flowers are up. It’s just gorgeous. It’s that time of year in Minnesota when it’s too warm to snow again and not quite warm enough to go swimming.
Corrine Tollerud returns from college having discovered Kierkegaard, Mr. Holmberg avoids a public speaking sentence, and Father Wilmer receives an unusual bequest.
A Prairie Home Companion for May 5, 2012 — Storify
Click through from the Dashboard to see a rundown of last weekend’s broadcast from Minneapolis — including videos, scripts, photos, and your reactions from around the web.
Listen
The News from Lake Wobegon for May 5, 2012
Kind of wet this week but nice and warm, up into the 80s. It’s the real start of summer here. Spring is just a very brief season in Minnesota.
Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church holds its annual book sale. Plus, the story of Dean Levine, who dreamt of becoming a cashier.
Six of One...
On the 17th of May, Rammstein will be playing in the Honda Center in Anaheim California, near where I live. Rammstein are a very loud German band who sing aggressively sexual songs and during their live shows, everything is on fire. Their latest single is called Mein Land, which will give you an idea.
I’ve bought all their albums on CD, the actual physical discs, ever since Sehnsucht, and I think they’re awesome. I’m not really good with crowds, and I assume my aversion will be aggravated by the sort of tomfoolery these yahoos will be bent on, but I might take the risk this one time. The tickets range from $63 to $107.
On the 13th July, Prairie Home Companion will be recording in the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, close to where I live. A Prairie Home Companion is a radio show that’s been running since 1974 and it’s kind of awesome. It takes the form of an old-timey radio variety show, and they always broadcast live, usually from St. Paul, Minnesota. They have traditional country songs, and new songs in the traditional country style, and regular skits like Guy Noir, private eye and the weekly news from Lake Woebegone, which always seems to be covered in snow and irritating animals having rocks thrown at them by bored Lutherans. The whole thing is bullshit, of course, but it’s often hilarious and sometimes sad, but in the nice way. Their audience appears to be composed entirely of white people over the age of 60, but I like it.
I’ve been following Garrison Keillor as an author since 1989, when I bought Lake Woebegone Days, thinking it was a real place. The ticket prices haven’t gone live yet, but they’ll probably be somewhere around $50.
I can justify buying tickets for one of these shows.
HELP ME DECIDE, FOLLOWERS!
IN B4 “both”; I have no income and I feel bad enough about the non-essential expenditure that one of these shows represents.
Could we sway the decision if we talked the Shoe Band into getting a pyrotechnics rig just for this show?
