Thank you for singing and writing and speaking truth for democracy 🎶💙🎶.
I’ve been listening to you read “Cheerfulness.” The letter from RWE wowed me! Please check out Megan Marshall’s two biographies of Margaret Fuller and The Peabody Sisters. Those women were friends and collaborators with Emerson. They called him Waldo.
The 19th century didn’t give women enough credit. The 21st will move us forward by electing Kamala Harris 💙💙! Your meeting people where they live is helping. 🙏🏻
Thank you for your beautiful and courageous witness. You are a national treasure, singing salt and light in a hard time. We need to laugh and cry together again—and remember what really counts. Go under the love.
It's taking some good chutzpah to stand in front of, or among, a crowd of tRumpers and declare that you're a Kamalist, Mr. Keillor. This fellow American salutes you for it! It is beyond belief, beyond understanding, what is happening in this country. Knowing what we know, seeing what we see, hearing what we hear, if that hideous monstrosity wins (in any legitimate sense), then we surely have to admit that this country is not the country we thought it was. As beautiful as group singing, spontaneous a capella singing, is, that is temporary balm, isn't it, and can't compensate for the fact - as you observed - that a large proportion of that audience would cheer and clap for the Con-artist Who Would Be King and sing the same songs under the "protection" of the fascist. His most recent speech, the "I Am Your Protector" bilge directed at women, supposedly, is chilling, horrific, creepy, disturbing and infuriating. Seeing him deliver it and seeing people there with their young children listening to it just repulsive.
It's difficult enough to realize that he is running; it is just about unbearable to hear the near-constant refrain of what the polls "say" - and even when Harris leads by some amount, it is always still close. It is just unbelievable!
I recommend to you again, on the blessed YouTube, The Marsh Family and their delightful rendition of "Kamala, Give Us Hope." Try that with your next group singing audience and see how warm and fuzzy the audience singers are. Or try Leonard Cohen singing "Democracy Is Coming to the U.S.A."
With all do respect, I do not think you need the results from a close election. I think the country is already "not the country we thought it was."
And to those seeking common ground, that is worth studying, dissecting, and maybe even accepting things you do not understand. Not too different from studying the culture of a far away land.
Beautifully said, Annie. I also salute Mr. Keillor for his courage to be honest and speak the truth at this show and over the years. And I so agree with everything else you said!
Chuckling. I commented before reading other comments and began mine with "Chutzpah!" That Mr. Keillor has and that he is willing to use to even put a thought in others' heads. YES, the Marsh Family did a grand job. Let's continue to work to ensure the best outcome in states and Federally in November.
This is so absolutely beautiful. I can hear the show as you describe it. And I too, wonder how a crowd who would choose to pay for tickets, brave COVID and all other crowd-opportunistic autumn illnesses, get a babysitter, wear ill- fitting yet nice looking footwear …. AND sing heart-tugging songs together IN HARMONY - meaning NOT the same notes, but notes which blend and meld and weave together as one - a melting pot, you might say …. How does THAT crowd not believe that this election is genuinely about so much more than what political party you like. As I see it, political party has very little to do with this specific election. This election is about patriotism. About that which brings us all together. About a shared vision of strangers with such an overwhelming amount of similarities that together, they can join in on Shenandoah … and leave that theater with their hearts still singing.
We need a President and Vice President who know the words to Shenandoah. And there is a ticket available. Please America. Let us sing together. It has never been more important.
Joanie (to family and close friends) to Joanie - YES! Without doubt. Each local, state and Federal election is fraught with angst for me. I thought 2016 and 2020 were heart-thumping stress.
I see that you've included a Bruce Springsteen video in your post today, Mr. Keillor. Did you know that this past Monday was his 75th birthday? I like to include Springsteen videos in my posts too, along with others of my favorite artists, usually one per any post. I always tell my readers that the songs are the best part of my blog posts and that if they don't take a few minutes to listen to the song, then they're too damned busy and they missed the emotional heart or punch of my post.
I first danced in public at a Bruce Springsteen concert when I was probably seventeen, which would have been fifty years ago. He and his young E Street Band blew the roof off of the too small confines of the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, one night in 1973, and I just couldn't help my then shy self. Hell, the dead would have danced that night to "Rosalita" and "Kitty's Back" and "The E Street Shuffle," as well as "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City!" And it is soooo hard, huh, especially at seventeen!
Thank you for picking "Shenandoah." I'd never heard Springsteen cover that song. I'm gonna steal it now for a blog post of my own, a weepy one that I'm getting inspired to write now even as I write this comment. I first heard "Shenandoah" when I was probably just seven or so on the soundtrack to a movie that our mother took us to see when we were living in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with our grandmother in the early 1960s while our father was in Vietnam. The movie was set during the American Civil War with Jimmy Stewart playing a once prosperous farmer who spends years trying to find his teenaged son who had been conscripted to fight for one side or the other, I forget now which side, and it really doesn't even matter. Does it? That song made me cry. It still does.
Good morning, Garrison. Throughout this writing, pictures continued to show within my brain. The empty stage, great, oh how I do like seeing a good entertainer working from an empty stage. Giving us all an experience of true personal talent that no amount of smoke and mirrors can attain. Then down the aisle and out-front visiting. What genuine personal pleasure could an audience enjoy more. Then this, "The beloved country has a month in which to come to its senses. There is, among young men, a taste for outright fascism that we never had noticed before". How is it even close to possible that all sane human's living here does not feel this? It's the big stretch-cab oversized pickup truck syndrome I see each and every day as these monstrosities drive by our home. The "guy'" thing. "Look at me, aren't I somebody"? DT give men that same macho erectional spasm of being better than the girls. Well anyway, Thanks again and again. rr
What? Hold on, GK. I am a loyal, longtime fan of yours, and I have applauded you in person and in writing, as have millions of others. Are you saying that you couldn’t speak out on the election in your live and in person show in York, PA because one third of the audience didn’t laugh? You couldn’t crack jokes about the mentally deranged egomaniac that is running for president? You couldn’t address this matter of vital national (and international) importance because your audience didn’t applaud enough? Woe is me.
when Americans are frightened, they turn to muscle (think John Wayne). Indeed, they morph into children, seeing muscle as Daddy, coming to rescue them from oncoming danger, not realizing that ironically, the muscle is the oncoming danger. Thanks anyway, Keillor, for trying to turn off the Tramp (er, Trump) victims.
"There is, among young men, a taste for outright fascism that we never had noticed before." You hit the nail on the head, unfortunately. And it's not just young men, also unfortunately.
I love it when you talk while walking along the aisles. The last time I saw you, in RI a few years ago, they only had a scary, narrow staircase with no railings going down from the stage. I hope that the next time I go there is a safe way of getting down to the aisles. Keep talking about the election - if you enlighten only a few people in a swing state, it might make a difference.
Both of my husband’s parents (and most of their ancestors back to the early 1700s) were from York, Co, PA and my French-Canadian grandfather lived there for the last 20 or so years of his life, so it is one of my favorite places. My late mother’s much younger step-sister still lives there. We always thought that they were half-sisters until I sent her a DNA test to find out whether she had any Indigenous American DNA from our presumed shared father/grandfather. (I have 1%, split between 2 chromosomes). When the results came back, we were shocked to find that she was half Jewish rather than half French, and had no French ancestry at all! Based on a close match she has I was able to determine who her biological father had been (he died in 1959) and was even able to send her a picture of him that was on his draft card. She doesn’t know whether either of her parents knew that my grandfather was not her biological father, although the mother might have suspected but never said anything. My step-aunt doesn’t resemble any of my mother’s relatives and she is only about 5’ tall, whereas my grandfather was 6’ tall and her mother was of above-average height. On the draft card of her biological father it states that he was 5”6’ tall and that his skin, hair and eye colors were the same as my grandfather’s, so her height would have been the only clue that something was fishy.
WOW! What a story. So you may stay in the US if the worst thing happens in Nov. and as the Indiana, PA, crowd shouted ("Send them back") in response to DJT expression of hate of immigrants. Alas, that there appears to be a good percentage of Jewish (Ashkenazi I'm guessing) too .. may make you vulnerable. Or is it the step-sister .. I have trouble without diagrams, really. Is it time to learn about next week's start of the High Holy Days if you don't already know? l'shana tova!
Thank you for singing and writing and speaking truth for democracy 🎶💙🎶.
I’ve been listening to you read “Cheerfulness.” The letter from RWE wowed me! Please check out Megan Marshall’s two biographies of Margaret Fuller and The Peabody Sisters. Those women were friends and collaborators with Emerson. They called him Waldo.
The 19th century didn’t give women enough credit. The 21st will move us forward by electing Kamala Harris 💙💙! Your meeting people where they live is helping. 🙏🏻
Pitch perfect.... just lovely. You are full of the hope and joy that we need so very badly.
Thank you for your beautiful and courageous witness. You are a national treasure, singing salt and light in a hard time. We need to laugh and cry together again—and remember what really counts. Go under the love.
It's taking some good chutzpah to stand in front of, or among, a crowd of tRumpers and declare that you're a Kamalist, Mr. Keillor. This fellow American salutes you for it! It is beyond belief, beyond understanding, what is happening in this country. Knowing what we know, seeing what we see, hearing what we hear, if that hideous monstrosity wins (in any legitimate sense), then we surely have to admit that this country is not the country we thought it was. As beautiful as group singing, spontaneous a capella singing, is, that is temporary balm, isn't it, and can't compensate for the fact - as you observed - that a large proportion of that audience would cheer and clap for the Con-artist Who Would Be King and sing the same songs under the "protection" of the fascist. His most recent speech, the "I Am Your Protector" bilge directed at women, supposedly, is chilling, horrific, creepy, disturbing and infuriating. Seeing him deliver it and seeing people there with their young children listening to it just repulsive.
It's difficult enough to realize that he is running; it is just about unbearable to hear the near-constant refrain of what the polls "say" - and even when Harris leads by some amount, it is always still close. It is just unbelievable!
I recommend to you again, on the blessed YouTube, The Marsh Family and their delightful rendition of "Kamala, Give Us Hope." Try that with your next group singing audience and see how warm and fuzzy the audience singers are. Or try Leonard Cohen singing "Democracy Is Coming to the U.S.A."
Annie,
With all do respect, I do not think you need the results from a close election. I think the country is already "not the country we thought it was."
And to those seeking common ground, that is worth studying, dissecting, and maybe even accepting things you do not understand. Not too different from studying the culture of a far away land.
Just a thought.
Beautifully said, Annie. I also salute Mr. Keillor for his courage to be honest and speak the truth at this show and over the years. And I so agree with everything else you said!
Chuckling. I commented before reading other comments and began mine with "Chutzpah!" That Mr. Keillor has and that he is willing to use to even put a thought in others' heads. YES, the Marsh Family did a grand job. Let's continue to work to ensure the best outcome in states and Federally in November.
Off the stage and out of the spotlight, but still bringing us together in 🎵....thanks
This is so absolutely beautiful. I can hear the show as you describe it. And I too, wonder how a crowd who would choose to pay for tickets, brave COVID and all other crowd-opportunistic autumn illnesses, get a babysitter, wear ill- fitting yet nice looking footwear …. AND sing heart-tugging songs together IN HARMONY - meaning NOT the same notes, but notes which blend and meld and weave together as one - a melting pot, you might say …. How does THAT crowd not believe that this election is genuinely about so much more than what political party you like. As I see it, political party has very little to do with this specific election. This election is about patriotism. About that which brings us all together. About a shared vision of strangers with such an overwhelming amount of similarities that together, they can join in on Shenandoah … and leave that theater with their hearts still singing.
We need a President and Vice President who know the words to Shenandoah. And there is a ticket available. Please America. Let us sing together. It has never been more important.
Joanie (to family and close friends) to Joanie - YES! Without doubt. Each local, state and Federal election is fraught with angst for me. I thought 2016 and 2020 were heart-thumping stress.
Dr. Tool -What a great name! - And a great comment, perfectly describing a hoped-for future. May it be reality as soon as possible...
Good morning, Garrison
Wonderful as always of course, but I just have to ask: Tell us more about the “anti-thong” song.
[P.S. And thank you for the video by The Boss. I’d never heard this before. A great way to start an early autumn day here in Vermont.]
I see that you've included a Bruce Springsteen video in your post today, Mr. Keillor. Did you know that this past Monday was his 75th birthday? I like to include Springsteen videos in my posts too, along with others of my favorite artists, usually one per any post. I always tell my readers that the songs are the best part of my blog posts and that if they don't take a few minutes to listen to the song, then they're too damned busy and they missed the emotional heart or punch of my post.
I first danced in public at a Bruce Springsteen concert when I was probably seventeen, which would have been fifty years ago. He and his young E Street Band blew the roof off of the too small confines of the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, one night in 1973, and I just couldn't help my then shy self. Hell, the dead would have danced that night to "Rosalita" and "Kitty's Back" and "The E Street Shuffle," as well as "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City!" And it is soooo hard, huh, especially at seventeen!
Thank you for picking "Shenandoah." I'd never heard Springsteen cover that song. I'm gonna steal it now for a blog post of my own, a weepy one that I'm getting inspired to write now even as I write this comment. I first heard "Shenandoah" when I was probably just seven or so on the soundtrack to a movie that our mother took us to see when we were living in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with our grandmother in the early 1960s while our father was in Vietnam. The movie was set during the American Civil War with Jimmy Stewart playing a once prosperous farmer who spends years trying to find his teenaged son who had been conscripted to fight for one side or the other, I forget now which side, and it really doesn't even matter. Does it? That song made me cry. It still does.
Thanks again for the Springsteen video. https://themjkxn.substack.com/p/shenandoah
Good morning, Garrison. Throughout this writing, pictures continued to show within my brain. The empty stage, great, oh how I do like seeing a good entertainer working from an empty stage. Giving us all an experience of true personal talent that no amount of smoke and mirrors can attain. Then down the aisle and out-front visiting. What genuine personal pleasure could an audience enjoy more. Then this, "The beloved country has a month in which to come to its senses. There is, among young men, a taste for outright fascism that we never had noticed before". How is it even close to possible that all sane human's living here does not feel this? It's the big stretch-cab oversized pickup truck syndrome I see each and every day as these monstrosities drive by our home. The "guy'" thing. "Look at me, aren't I somebody"? DT give men that same macho erectional spasm of being better than the girls. Well anyway, Thanks again and again. rr
What? Hold on, GK. I am a loyal, longtime fan of yours, and I have applauded you in person and in writing, as have millions of others. Are you saying that you couldn’t speak out on the election in your live and in person show in York, PA because one third of the audience didn’t laugh? You couldn’t crack jokes about the mentally deranged egomaniac that is running for president? You couldn’t address this matter of vital national (and international) importance because your audience didn’t applaud enough? Woe is me.
You, dear boy, 'are a living satire of male 'let's go' and 'lather.' Savvy, fiesty, funny and whole! If you were closer, I'd hug you.
Thank you, sir. As an 80 year old white dude, I deeply agree with your sentiment. Thank you also for your continuing work. You are the greatest!
when Americans are frightened, they turn to muscle (think John Wayne). Indeed, they morph into children, seeing muscle as Daddy, coming to rescue them from oncoming danger, not realizing that ironically, the muscle is the oncoming danger. Thanks anyway, Keillor, for trying to turn off the Tramp (er, Trump) victims.
"There is, among young men, a taste for outright fascism that we never had noticed before." You hit the nail on the head, unfortunately. And it's not just young men, also unfortunately.
I love it when you talk while walking along the aisles. The last time I saw you, in RI a few years ago, they only had a scary, narrow staircase with no railings going down from the stage. I hope that the next time I go there is a safe way of getting down to the aisles. Keep talking about the election - if you enlighten only a few people in a swing state, it might make a difference.
Both of my husband’s parents (and most of their ancestors back to the early 1700s) were from York, Co, PA and my French-Canadian grandfather lived there for the last 20 or so years of his life, so it is one of my favorite places. My late mother’s much younger step-sister still lives there. We always thought that they were half-sisters until I sent her a DNA test to find out whether she had any Indigenous American DNA from our presumed shared father/grandfather. (I have 1%, split between 2 chromosomes). When the results came back, we were shocked to find that she was half Jewish rather than half French, and had no French ancestry at all! Based on a close match she has I was able to determine who her biological father had been (he died in 1959) and was even able to send her a picture of him that was on his draft card. She doesn’t know whether either of her parents knew that my grandfather was not her biological father, although the mother might have suspected but never said anything. My step-aunt doesn’t resemble any of my mother’s relatives and she is only about 5’ tall, whereas my grandfather was 6’ tall and her mother was of above-average height. On the draft card of her biological father it states that he was 5”6’ tall and that his skin, hair and eye colors were the same as my grandfather’s, so her height would have been the only clue that something was fishy.
WOW! What a story. So you may stay in the US if the worst thing happens in Nov. and as the Indiana, PA, crowd shouted ("Send them back") in response to DJT expression of hate of immigrants. Alas, that there appears to be a good percentage of Jewish (Ashkenazi I'm guessing) too .. may make you vulnerable. Or is it the step-sister .. I have trouble without diagrams, really. Is it time to learn about next week's start of the High Holy Days if you don't already know? l'shana tova!
Thanks, GK, for carrying a bit of sanity into Red country. You are a brave and honorable man.