A long time ago, when I was a young boy, I was a lifeguard at the local pool which was not much bigger than most backyard pools. During the mornings I taught swimming lessons and during the afternoon lifeguarded an extremely crowded pool filled with little kids and their mothers. Mostly lifeguarding was kind of boring and an exercise in trying to stay awake in the hot sun for the two 20 minute rotations in the chair per hour while scanning utter chaos for signs of trouble.
But there was one part of lifeguarding I really liked. That was guarding the late evening reservations. Groups would rent the pool for a couple of hours in the evening. The groups were usually relatively small, less than 50 people, often only 20-30, which meant that there was much less chaos and the guarding duty more to facilitate the groups enjoyment. So we only had 2 guards, and we could stand together near the office window, chat, and listen to the radio softly playing in the office while the sun slowly set over pool at the end of a hectic day. It was here that Lon Haskell, a guard who was the older brother of one of my high school friends, introduced me to the radio show Prairie Home Companion. The center piece of the show is the monologue about the events in the lives of the townspeople in a fictional place called Lake Woebegon out on the edge of the Minnesota prairie.
Oral story telling was a central core of my growing up years. We didn't watch that much television, if I remember we had a 30 minute limit per day. Instead of TV, the most important ritual in our home was the reading of a chapter a day by my mother from books like Little Britches, Cheaper by the Dozen, and The Jungle Book. The tradition of story telling surely come from maternal grandfather, who when he came to visit us would regale us with stories from his days as a boy growing up in Moab, Utah. The power of oral storytelling is the license it gives to your own imagination create the images and fills in the details that TV and movies give without effort. Perhaps this why I still rarely watch the news of TV, yet devour the news and programs for hours on National Public Radio. So listening to Lake Woebegon monologues has become an important Saturday evening ritual for us.
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION COMES HOME
This Saturday, Prairie Home Companion came to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. As Garrison Keillor has stated more than once, PHC was conceived while he was a young man sitting in the balcony of the Ryman Auditorium when it was home of the Grand Ole Opry. We had never been the Ryman, the tabernacle of country music and the birthplace of bluegrass. So we spent the big bucks and bought tickets to the off-air show. (OK, the first show that goes on air was sold out long before, so we were only able to get tickets to the second, later show that doesn't go on the air.)
The Ryman
At the back of the auditorium were display cases of some of the Grand Ole Opry stars who performed regularly at the Ryman during the 31 years it hosted the Opry. Stars such as Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Little Jimmy Dickens, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, and more. So we gave ourselves a self-guided tour prior to finding our seats.
We settled in to the pews. (Yes, this really is the tabernacle of country music.) The lights went down and the show began. From the beginning it was obvious that being at the second show was going to mean a more spontaneous and fun show. Much more bantering and playfulness, and extended sets and feedback from the audience. So in many ways it had the same intimate feel of the Bluebird or of the late night gig of our friends. Simply put, live music performance is transformational in a way that I can hardly describe.
Some highlights of the show:
Little Jimmy Dickens
In some of reminescences, Garrison talked about not being able to get tickets to the Opry, and standing outside at the window trying to hear the music and catch a glimpse of the performers. He said the one performer he could see all of was Little Jimmy Dickens (being 4' 11"). He then brought the man himself to the stage, dressed in his full rhinestone outfit. The oldest living veteran of the Grand Old Opry, now 88, didn't sign but told a series of jokes before retiring to a standing ovation. Sorry the picture is blurry beyond recognition.
Sam Bush
The leading figure in New Grass, a new movement in bluegrass, Sam Bush and his band, were simply amazing. Sam plays the mandolin with inspiring intensity, joy, and youthfulness. I have since listened to the replay on the on-air performance. Without question, the live performance we listened was simply far better in so many ways. The song choices were different, the interplay between the players was more evident, the banter between Garrison and Sam was not possible on the taped show.
Brad Paisley
Although I am not a country music fan, I have heard of Brad Paisley because my brother-in-law, TK, has some of his albums. It was an interesting performance for someone who is one of the biggest current stars of country music. Brad came off as vulnerable and tentative as any other young aspiring songwriter in Nashville. After starting one of his songs, he stopped and admitted he couldn't remember the words for the moment because the La Bomba song from the skit before was still running through his head. He also admitted that he was rusty because he hadn't been touring while working on the new album and his wife had just had a baby. This eventually led him to play a song which might be titled "Anything Like Me" imagining what the life of his son might be like. He bantered back and forth with some of the audience members and with Garrison and he turns out to be really quite funny and personable. He played several of the songs that he had been working on for his new album and who knows, I might even buy the CD when it comes out. (TK must be falling from his chair about now.)
The Radio Company
One of the great things about the later show was that there was much of the banter between the regular casts was more back and forth, spontaneous with a lot of running commentary. We taped a few clips, if I can figure out how to make them into a postable clips I will do it.
In the end, our show lasted 3 hours, while the normal show only last 2 hours, so we got our lot more fun and performance than the folks who watched the taped show (and we could take pictures!).
