Saturday July 2nd was the last time that Garrison Keillor hosted the regular broadcast of A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, a weekly show that ran for 42 years on National Public Radio.
The show was a nostalgic homage to the great live radio shows of the past. Each week we were treated to a plethora of songs, comical skits and fake commercials shilling for condiments, rhubarb pie and the fictitious Powdermilk Biscuits. Anchoring each week was Keillor's "The News From Lake Wobegon", wherein he would tell stories about the people who live in this somewhat fictitious town.
What set this show apart was that it reached beyond the usual confines of rural Americana; indeed, each week one could hear Bluegrass, Gospel (both African American and Country), Show Tunes and many musical guests like Keb Mo and Jorma Kaukonen. I loved it because I had grown up watching the rural comedies on CBS like THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. Say what you will, but when I reached my difficult pre-teen years, I didn't get into as much trouble as my friends; when they went down the street to hang out, I went inside to watch HEE HAW.
When I was a college senior, I took a class titled "Topics in Broadcast Documentary", which was taught by Rebecca Bain from Nashville's NPR affiliate, WPLN. The station graciously let us use its facilities. I marveled at the (then!) cutting edge technologies, like analog reel to reel tape decks, turntables and editing bays that featured grease pencils, razor blades and an unlimited supply of white splicing tape. I listened to WPLN for class but found that I enjoyed the daily news shows and A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION as well.
In graduate school I never got enough sleep, but I made time for A PRAIRIE HOME. On Saturday nights I would clean up my hovel, cook dinner (usually chicken wings, ramen noodles and a pre-washed, bagged salad), take a shower and eat while listening to the show. Then I would lie down during Keillor's stories and I usually fell asleep afterward. This worked out fine. I rose early to go to church and passed by mounds of trash that had been generated by the parties to which I had not been invited.
There has always been a piece of me that wanted to party more, but I don't like pulsating music, claustrophobia-inducing venues nor hangovers. Like Garrison Keillor, my world is the world of words, of books, of ideas. Eventually I found another bookworm to marry. Although she doesn't like A PRAIRIE HOME nor the hourly updates of news ("It's too depressing!"), we reminisce about our shared parallel childhoods. We both watched GREEN ACRES and didn't get invited to many parties.
I'll keeping listening to A PRAIRIE HOME, even when the new host Chris Thile takes over in October of this year. And I will still make my now grown kids roll their eyes by singing "The Powdermilk Biscuit Song". To adapt the philosophy of the fictitious proprietor of the nonexistent Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery (one of the show's recurring gags), I guess I can say that Life...is Pretty Good.
Thanks, Mr. Keillor!
--Always B. Positive
