TEDA goes on the offensive
October 15, 2013Use fall for quality outdoor family time
October 15, 2013
For Daniel and Marlene Toups it was a no-brainer.
The New Orleans public radio station, WWNO, was giving away tickets to a local presentation of the cult radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” in return for donations, and the Thibodaux couple wasted no time. So Saturday night they sat, a few rows back from the stage at the historic Saenger Theatre, watching literary icon and radio host Garrison Keillor introduce musical guests and deliver one of his signature “Lake Woebegone” monologues, as an estimated 4 million people listened on 600 public radio stations nationwide.
“It’s great to go to the show and see how it’s done,” said Daniel, a land abstracts researcher. “You are listening to it on the radio and don’t know how the sound effects are done. Then, when you see it in person, it makes you appreciate what they do. You have to use your imagination on the radio.”
“A Prairie Home Companion” airs live on listener-supported WWNO, 99.5 FM and 89.9 FM, every Saturday at 5 p.m. Following an old-time radio format of skits, monologues and musical numbers, the show is the brainchild of Keillor, a humorist and author, and has aired in one form or another on radio for 29 years. Usually the show is done at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn., where Keillor resides. But he also takes the show on the road.
It has been a platform for American folk music, blues and gospel.
Singer-songwriter Iris DeMent and gospel vocalist Jearlyn Steele were featured Saturday night.
As is common when the show travels, Keillor made numerous references to local culture and landmarks during his monologues and in some specially-written songs.
There is a special geographic significance for the show when broadcast from New Orleans, as noted by WWNO fund-raising director Janet Wilson.
“We are at the foot of the Mississippi River and they are at the head,” she said, referring to the show’s St. Paul home.
Other people from the Tri-parish area attended the show, along with an auditorium full of New Orleanians; among them was the Rev. Clyde Mahler of Maria Immacolata in Houma.
But the Toups family holds the record for PHC show attendance.
Saturday marks the third time they attended the show in New Orleans; it was produced there on Feb. 16, 2002, and on Jan. 31, 2004.
They attended three other shows, including one in Memphis and another actually done at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. That was a special PHC package deal that included a meatloaf dinner at Keillor’s home.
The runners-up could be Lorelei and Michael Walker, of Houma, who listen religiously every week. Saturday marked their third live show attendance.
“I would not have missed that,” said Lorelei, a semi-retired CPA. “It’s a unique show since it’s a live broadcast. It’s a step back in time to see a live radio show including sound effects. I read Garrison Keillor’s books. He is a lone ranger in his skill set.”
Lorelei was especially amused by Keillor’s “News From Lake Woebegone” segment, during which he spun a tale of Minnesota Lutherans relocating to New Orleans.
Often, during the show, Keillor will poke fun at his own status as an English major, which is a point of identification for Marlene Walker, herself an English major and former teacher at Thibodaux High School.
Although she had hoped local musicians would have guested at the Saturday show – past guests have included Irma Thomas and other New Orleans area artists – she was not disappointed.
“Any performance of Prairie Home Companion is good,” she said.
Tri-parish area fans of the cult variety radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” got to hear the Minnesota-based public radio offering broadcast live from a familiar venue Saturday, the newly-refurbished Margaret Saenger Theatre, which has been closed since its near-destruction by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Among the show’s highlights was a duet featuring host Garrison Keillor and vocalist Jearlyn Steele.
