Post to the Host

Personal Edition (Part 2)

I’d like to know what it was like to be on the road with your cast members, roadies, etc. After a show, did you all have a cast party to eat, drink, and blow off a little steam as you came down from the high of a performance? Would all cast members show up, including any guest stars? Or did everybody just go back to their hotel rooms to watch TV or whatever they did in their rooms? I suspect it may have been more of a cast party in the early days, and hotel room/TV later on.

Steve McHenry

For the broadcast shows on the road, I don’t recall cast parties. People did as they pleased. Some people got together in a hotel bar. I usually stood around talking to people in the audience. It was a long work day for me with a lot of last-minute rewrites and rehearsal and all, so what I recall was exhaustion. The bus tours were more fun since we did the same show every night. We had two buses and there was a spirit of frivolity afterward. And then we crawled into our bunks and slept until we arrived at the next town, usually around 3 or 4 a.m. and we got out and went to our hotel rooms. The musicians sat in the front of one bus and played music and the rest of us dozed or read. I wish I could do another bus tour someday but I doubt that it’s possible. GK

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What do you miss, if anything, about living in Minnesota now that you live in New York and what do you do to fill that void, if applicable?

Len M.

I miss my old neighborhood in St. Paul, running into people at Kowalski’s or Frost’s or Luci Ancora, sitting in Mickey’s Diner, going to SPCO concerts. I miss Common Good bookstore over by Macalester. I lived there for thirty-some years in four houses a few blocks apart. I led a strange life, holed up in a study, writing, and traveling a lot for work, and the Crocus Hill neighborhood made me feel at home. But then things changed and I was glad to leave. New York gives a person the gift of anonymity and this is a beautiful thing for a writer. I go to the library and sit in the reading room with my laptop, surrounded by people in their twenties, predominantly Asian, and nobody knows who I am, and this makes me feel young and eager, just like the strivers around me. It’s a great gift. I’m a lucky man. GK

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I have always marveled at how you tell the stories about Lake Wobegon without tripping on a line. How do you do it? If I understand correctly, you map out the story and then just go up and tell the tale, right? (They have provided inspiration for me when I’m writing a sermon).

Msgr. Bob Murphy

If you know what you have to say, you don’t need a script. That’s my theory. I can write four or five pages, single-spaced, look at it a couple hours before a show, and memory does a good job of editing it. Reading from a sheet of paper inserts a barrier between you and the listeners. Why hobble yourself? GK

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Was Meryl Streep having fun in that movie she made with you?

Charlotte C.

She sure gave the impression she was. She’d never worked with Robert Altman before and he gave actors enormous freedom and she liked that. She got to sing in the movie and she’s a terrific singer. And when she said goodbye, after her last scene, she told the cast and crew, “Don’t you have any fun without me.” A great lady. GK

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Tell us about your grandparents: which one do you find yourself identifying with most?

Rhonda R.

My grandma Dora was an independent-minded woman, a farm wife, but before that she’d been a schoolteacher and a railroad telegrapher. She believed in education and we all did our best in school in order to please her. My grandfather James Keillor died in 1933 and my mother’s mother died in the twenties. But I had a wealth of aunts and I identified with a bunch of them. Especially when I sing duets. They were all altos. I love singing harmony. GK

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If you could go back in time to meet anyone, whom would you choose?

Margaret M.

My grandfather James, I think. He was a skilled carpenter in a shipyard in New Brunswick and came to Minnesota to help out his sister after her husband died of TB. He never went back to Canada. He was very well-read and I’m curious about his knowledge of family history. I heard a lot about it from my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Lew and now I wish I had asked more questions. I also wish I’d met my great-great-great-great grandfather who was a sailor on a British warship and jumped ship in Charleston, a hanging offense, and made his way to Pennsylvania and married and settled down. I’d give anything to hear the full story. GK

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When PHC was on the air, how many times was it rewritten while being broadcast?

My husband and I went to many live shows at the Fitzgerald Theater, standing for hours in the rush line so we could get seats onstage.

Dianne W.

We did a read-through of the sketches on Friday night and I always did a big rewrite that night and the next morning. We had a Saturday rehearsal and I tinkered some more. I recall only a few times when I reached over an actor’s shoulder and crossed out a line or inserted a revision when the ON AIR light was on. But if it had to be done, I didn’t hesitate to do it —Tim Russell and Sue Scott and Tom Keith and Fred Newman were unflappable. There was never any stage fright that I was aware of. And I was okay with them rewording spoken lines. They had good ears. GK

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Q: How did you meet Fred Newman?
Q: What do you like most about Fred Newman?

Kathleen L.

He came through town when I had a morning show, promoting his book Mouth Soundsand there simply wasn’t anybody like him, who could do the sound-effects vocal that he could do. A gull having a heart attack and falling into the water and being eaten by a shark, for example. He did it effortlessly. So he joined up as the sound-effects guy and that opened the door to the supernatural and outright weird. I kept trying to stump him and I never could. GK

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What is the latest event in your life that prompted the writing of a new limerick? What is the limerick?

Brent A.

Heather Masse turned 41 last week and I wrote:

It’s a gift to be singing with Heather

In classic cold snowy weather,

Two solid friends

From opposite ends,

As she turns 41,

Having big fun

On the road singing closely together.

GK

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I laughed out loud when you wrote that you were “raised in the Book of Revelation.” And wondered if you’ve heard comedian Nate Bargatze talk about growing up with ultra-Christian parents? He says Christian parents of the 1980s and 1990s “were the most Christian parents …” Having been one of the ’80s/’90s Christian parents (along with my wife) and knowing exactly what he is talking about, I laughed out loud when I first heard that too.

We monitored what our kids read, watched, and who they associated with. Ensured they were in church whenever the doors were open. Walked out of movies that used foul language or showed too much skin. We set very high standards of behavior for our kids that were nearly impossible for them (or anyone) to meet without a goodly amount of help from the Holy Spirit. How did your parents influence your faith and character?

My boys are grown and didn’t exactly follow their Christian parent’s bent, but they are kind men and loyal friends. You seem to have turned out reasonably well, so maybe these parental “best efforts” yield some useful fruit after all?

Willie K.

I grew up Plymouth Brethren, which now I’d describe as a cult in that we were warned to avoid unbelievers, which is just not possible for a young person. But in that cult I was surrounded by loving aunts and cousins, so I don’t think we were emotionally stunted or abused, but there were strong winds of doctrine blowing. I left the Brethren when I was 20 and didn’t feel at home in any church for thirty years or so. From my parents I got a good work ethic, a respect for proper English, and from my mother a sense of fun. She loved comedians. The Brethren I knew tended to be legalistic and argued over points of doctrine, which led to schisms and to tiny groups of saints that got tinier and disappeared, which was sad to my parents but they stayed loyal to it, perhaps a family loyalty. Growing up with the King James was an education in itself, the stories, the magnificence of Ecclesiastes, the poetry, and I don’t regret any of it. GK

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Were you an English major in school, and if so, like most of the rest of us who were, do you hate science stuff? (“Stuff” is the closest I can get to being scientific.)

Sandy R.

I was indeed but I love science stuff when it’s explained to me by friends who speak the common tongue. I had an engineering brother, have a doctor cousin, a psychologist cousin, and a botanist friend, and they’re all good teachers. I know nothing so I’m an apt pupil. GK

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Have you had to change the songs you sing onstage today? No more “Jimmy Crack Corn,” “Turkey in the Straw,” etc., because they are now considered racist? Have you had to change much to be politically correct?

Jacqueline

I didn’t grow up with those songs so I don’t sing them. I don’t think p.c. has affected me much. I did a show in Richmond years ago and we sang “Dixie,” which sort of shocked the crowd but they sang it. It’s part of their history. I probably wouldn’t do that today. Nowadays I sing love songs and I don’t run them past the p.c. police, but what I love most is singing a cappella with an audience. There are agnostics present but we sing hymns and they don’t object. Not yet. GK

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In the event that the Earth lasts for a while more and human civilization continues for some time into the future (which seems less and less likely with each passing day), do you think your work will “stand the test of time” and that your books will still be read and/or your recordings listened to and appreciated by future generations? Or do you think that like many, many other well-known and popular artists, your work will eventually fade away and disappear or be dismissed as outdated and inconsequential? And do you care about that? And have you written with some degree of consideration as to what future readers will think of you? And how do you feel (if anything) about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s statement that “the wise writer writes for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward”?

Also, though for me and many others — especially NPR listeners — you are a well-known celebrity writer/performer and a bona fide national institution, I often encounter people (both uneducated and highly educated people) who have either never heard of you, or have heard your name but have no idea who you are, or have some idea who you are but have never read your books or heard your show. It seems weird to me. Do you often encounter people who have no idea who you are? Do you find it strange?

And finally, has your opinion about NPR changed along with your feelings about Minnesota Public Radio and their management?

Leigh Woodhouse

Leigh, I’m already a back issue and fading rapidly and I don’t think about the future beyond this year. I just finished a book and I want to write another Lake Wobegon novel but I don’t expect it to find a wide audience. I had my time in the sun and now it’s other people’s turn. I love working, writing, doing shows, and that’s good enough: I don’t care what happens after I’m done. GK

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Mr. Keillor,

You and I met when you were a guest speaker at a Univ. of Minn. Alumni Assoc. meeting (at our Washington, D.C., Chapter), back in 2003.

At that time, you spoke about a couple of topics — repeated below. Since that was 20 years ago, I would like your current views:

1. You believed that Minnesotan’s have more trust and honesty with strangers (by comparison, you spoke of villages in India where the people are programmed to behave politely to strangers). 

Question: 20 years, later, do you still believe that about Minnesotans?

2. You said that when you left Anoka to attend the U, you met students from Kenya and all over the world. You used the expression “The University gave me my life.” PS: at that point in your speech, I turned to my wife and said “that is me.”

Question: 20 years later, has your view of the University changed?

PPS: You also spoke that, instead of the impersonal large Univ. that others complain about, you loved the anonymous nature of the U.

Bruce Gregoire

Former President, U. of Minn. Alumni Assoc., Washington, D.C., chapter

1. I think Minnesota has been changed by the same political fevers that affect everyone else, and I think the northern European Lutheran culture I grew up in is fading. I think Minneapolis is something of a disaster zone. I want to get back in touch with rural Minnesota but it’s not easy.

2. I think the University has become a vocational school, like a great many other institutions, and it has lost the land-grant ethic that made education available to persons of modest means. I paid for my education, working part time. That’s not possible anymore. That is a complete shift from the intentions of the founders. I think students are getting a mediocre education at a premium price, and I think academics have no idea what to do to change course. GK

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Have you ever had a pet? And if no, why not?

Wendy C.

A couple of dogs when I was a kid, a couple of cats, but no pets in the past forty years because I travel a lot. GK

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Who is/was your favorite sibling, and why?

Loren W.

My younger sister, of course. She’s the one who talks to me. GK

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Mr. Keillor,

What exactly is a gravedigger’s face? The images that popped up on Google didn’t resemble you.

Keep up the good work.

Ron U.

It’s a grim expression I’ve had since I was young. I never was in sales and so I never needed to smile. GK

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We sometimes regret not asking questions till it is too late. I never asked Tom how his presence on PHC started. (I know I was to ask one question, but one question led to another.)

I am enjoying your essays via email and comments from readers. I’m impressed how you are still doing shows and having your guests sing endearing songs a cappella. I loved when you did that at the State Fair shows.

I love your idea of cheerfulness being a state of mind. It’s interesting that as we age, there is a different perspective that emerges and we see what truly is important in life. It’s like we just relax and try to spread that sense of peace with others but have fun doing it. I’m 76, by the way.

I miss Tom a lot. Thank you for suggesting a question with his name in it. I don’t want people to forget him.

Take care,

Tom’s twin sister, Terry

Tom Keith was the engineer of the morning radio show I did in St. Paul starting around 1971. I didn’t need an engineer so I made him the sports editor and gave him the name Jim Ed Poole and the two of us kept up some repartee on the air. I gave up the morning show and he continued with Dale Connelly and they did a better show than mine but he got to travel with PHC as our sound-effects man. He had exquisite timing. And he was an amiable soul whom everyone loved to be around. GK

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Who did the research for your comments about the city you were performing in? I always thought they were complimentary and amusing at the same time. I was at your Albuquerque show and thought you got us right. Be well and I know you’re doing good work. 

Tom Hughes

We had a number of researchers, they came and went, and they’ve all gone on to better things. They all complained that they didn’t know what I was looking for. I didn’t know either until I found it. That’s the nature of writing. GK

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If you had three uninterrupted hours and no family obligations, how would you spend them?

 Jamie Spencer

I’d sit down at my laptop and work. But I do that even when I have family obligations. GK

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Even though I grew up in Chicago, both of my parents were from St. Joe, and I went to St. John’s in the late ’60s. I was there when KSJR was launched and Garrison was a morning disc jockey with a very entertaining show, pre-Prairie Home Companion, and I think it was called the Prairie Home Morning Show? But Garrison never seems to include that period in his reminiscences. Did he have a bad experience then? Just curious.

From a big fan for over fifty years.

Michael R.

It was a great stroke of good luck, being hired by Bill Kling at KSJR. The turning point of my life. I’d quit a comfy job at the U of M because it was boring and meaningless and I was broke and went up to St. John’s and got hired because I was the only applicant. Mr. Kling went along with my doing a free-form three-hour show though KSJR was a classical music station, and it was the beginning of a long and happy career. I lived in a rented farmhouse near Freeport and one day went out to the mailbox and found a letter from The New Yorker accepting a story of mine. Two big breaks in one year. GK

CHECK OUT GARRISON’S MEMOIR — THAT TIME OF YEAR: A MINNESOTA LIFE now in softcover.

CLICK HERE