[thechat] Garrison Keillor (was: Lincoln)

[Martin Burns]

On 1 Feb 2013, at 20:22, Joel Canfield wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 2:13 PM, Stéphane Deschamps <lists at nota-bene.org>wrote:
> 
>> Garrison Keillor? The guy who wrote Lake Wobegon Days? He's not just a
>> writer?
> 
> 
> One of the best voices in radio. Weekly show called "A Prairie Home
> Companion" since about 1932 (maybe it was 1992.) 

I first heard it in 1990 and it was well established then. Like Stéph, I came to GK via books just before I first visited the US that year, and a co-worker clued me in. 

> Focuses on his remarkable
> storytelling.

And in particular, a weekly monologue that starts

"Well, it's been quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town, out there on the edge of the prairie"

Write a few of 'em down and you've got a book or three about Clint and Arlene Bunsen, and Mr Berge and his friends the Norwegian bachelor farmers, having lunch in the Chatterbox Cafe, and that Tollefson boy and what he did behind the Lutheran church last Sunday just as Pastor Inquist got up to give the sermon. Not that we were there you understand, being Brethren. And we don't go in for gossip of course, but when a neighbor comes round especially to tell you, and brings cake, well, you listen.

and always ends with
"Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average"

> He can tell you about a dog crossing the street and make you
> believe.

And lying down in the middle of Main Street for about as long as any dog would want to, and not being disturbed by traffic.

> If you like homespun humor and truly great bluegrass, folk, and country
> music, it can't be beat.


Yep. I have a number of years'-worth of podcast:
http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/podcasts/xml/prairie_home_companion/news_from_lake_wobegon.xml

Cheers
Martin
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