“It was not
amazing to learn in eighth-grade science that corn is sexual, each plant
containing both genders, male tassels and female flower, propagating in our
garden after dark. Sweet corn is so delicious, what could have produced it
except sex?...A quick prayer, a little butter and salt, and that is as good as
it gets.”
-- Garrison
Keillor, from “Leaving Home,” 1987
There
are worse things to be than a sweet corn and “Prairie Home Companion” addict.
I
told a buddy I was going to see Garrison Keillor and “Prairie Home” last
Saturday and he said – I am embarrassed to even write this – “What is a Prairie
Home Companion?”
There
are philistines among us.
The
rest of you already know that PHC airs at 5 p.m. most every glorious Saturday
evening on public radio, which would be Red River Radio in the Shreveport area.
The station sponsored a LIVE appearance of the show last week at homey Municipal
Auditorium, which was only packed, thank you very much.
I
love Red River Radio but never moreso than now, which includes and by far
surpasses the time when I was allowed to voice my meanderings on its airwaves. Even
so, I’d underestimated the magnetic verbal pull of Keillor, who is doing for live
radio what the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks have done for the NBA
the past two seasons: keeping it relevant. About 3,000 people at Municipal to
see a talking radio show?
While
sitting there in my favorite Shreveport building, I thought that my being
present might be the reason I was thinking this was one of the best PHC
broadcasts ever. But I re-listened to much of it over the next two days online
and decided it was one of the best because it was one of the best, period.
GREAT show. (Having James Burton on and letting him play four or five different
times sure didn’t hurt.)
Genius.
These PHC people are genius, what with their sound effects and timing and
pre-broadcast research and tailoring of material to north Louisiana. And
Keillor has perfected a radio bedside manner that makes you feel it’s all about
YOU, not about “the show.” Just friends over to entertain and tell stories
while you watch and listen.
Unlike
the children in Lake Wobegon, these folk are WAY above average. Don’t you love
people who are good at what they do and look like they’re having fun while
doing it? So it’s fun to you too? If momma smiles while she’s cooking, dinner
somehow tastes better.
It
is a wonderful thing to hear 3,000 people laugh. “Everybody wants to laugh,”
said Carl Reiner, who remains a hero of mine because he’s a guy, like Keillor,
who knows what ‘everyday funny’ is and doesn’t mind sharing. “People need to
laugh.” And at ourselves, most of all.
Frank
Cady died this week at age 96. People my age remember him as storekeeper Sam
Drucker in “Petticoat Junction” and “Green Acres.” His death and PHC’s life,
strong after 40 years, reminded me that the greats know how to crack jokes and
make a point of truth without totally offending the whole world. (Sam Drucker
worked in Hooterville or, as Eva Gabor always called it, “Hooters-ville.” That
was when writers didn’t mind going to extra mile to be clever and hoodwink
censors.)
Keillor
is a guy caught up in yesterday but still able to make fun of today. What a
break. Because while the world changes, human nature does not.
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