(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

Grabbing a few minutes this morning before I'm supposed to be awake, to update...:D

I would be remiss in recounting last night if I didn't mention the EXPERT in the field of EXPERTISE who caught the bus to the fair with us and told us ALL ABOUT THE FAIR, not to mention about Austin and Chicago, BECAUSE HE IS AN EXPERT. He said the Giant Slide attraction at the Fair makes the most money (highly dubious) and ranted about the misnamed Miracle Of Birth pavilion, because "Hogs don't give birth! They FARROW."

When I found out he was going to the Prairie Home Companion show, I KNEW he would be sitting next to us, but fortunately he was apparently too much of an expert to sit in the plaza level where we were.

One especially nice thing about the performance was that we were allowed to bring food and drink in, so we all got LEMONADES and sat in the gorgeous evening sunset. Keillor also said he specifically taped this show when he did because recording live at 5pm on a Saturday would have resulted in a lot of sunburnt Norwegians. :D

Garrison Keillor was, as previously stated, solid awesome. The weather was amazing and there was a huge full moon, AND unlike we had planned I actually got to sit with Mum and Lucky, because originally I didn't have tickets with them but the people next to them had one person who didn't show. So I got a great view and to LOL with my folks through the show.

Keillor came out and sang a few songs to warm up the crowd, one of which I hope makes it into the show somehow because it was an ODE TO CHEESE CURDS set to the tune of Unchained Melody. I can't recall it perfectly but it went something like

OHHHHH MY LOVE
MY DARLING
I'M HUNGRY FOR
CHEEEEEESE CURDS
THE LINES
ARE LONG!
LENGTHY LINES!

I wasn't especially enamoured of one of his female musical guests, who might have been more impressive if she got more pickup off her mic; as it was we couldn't actually understand what she was singing, just that she really really meant it. :D The woman who sang with Keillor was great though, as was the bluegrass group he had, and of course the All Star Shoe Band.

There was also an entire Guy Noir segment dedicated to the gentle art of the Subjunctive Tense.

At intermission, we did a sing along, including "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" to the tune of Hernando's Hideaway:

Whose woods
are these?
I THINK I KNOW!
His house
Is in
THE VILLAGE THOUGH!
He will
Not see
Me stopping here
To watch
THE WOODS FILL UP WITH SNOW!

Solid awesome!

Anyway, we had a great time even if I never got to try cheese curds. You have to save something for next time, is how I choose to look at it. Listen in to the show tonight, at 5pm on your local NPR affiliate. I'll see if I can find a link to the show on the website a little later. Right now I need to shower and finish packing for our 8am bus pickup.

Comments

[musikologie.livejournal.com]

You'll be able to listen to the show once it hits the archives (http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/) on the website, but the better bet would probably be to have people download it from the iTunes podcast section -- the NPR/PRI section of iTunes is my best friend forever and ever.

[shollin.livejournal.com]

Can you get the full show as a podcast? I can only find the Lake Wobegon segment, and I'm terribly intrigued by subjunctive Guy Noir.

Amen on NPR podcasts being the best ever. I have seven subscriptions going at the moment.

[musikologie.livejournal.com]

I had never noticed that the Prairie Home Companions podcasts weren't the whole show. D: I wonder why they do that?! Seems silly, when almost every other show is there in its entirety.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Well, it is two hours long ... that'll put a dent in your bandwidth. Aside from that there are probably licensing issues with the guest artists on the show ... but why they don't release a condensed version with the sketches included I don't know. Contract agreements with the other actors? [shrug]

[musikologie.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's licensing issues -- Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me, and Fresh Air both have celebrity guests on all the time, complete with performances, and both put the shows on in full. Hmmm, maybe it's an APR vs. NPR vs. PRI thing.

[cageyklio.livejournal.com]

Guy Noir is full of rockitude.

(And *waves* because I've been offline for a while. I missed your ramblings pithy commentary on life).

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! :)

[crazedcrusader.livejournal.com]

....that poem should always be sung to that tune.

*will be doing that all day now, and annoying passerby, probably*

I've done Head Like a Hole to the tune of an aria from Carmen. It's a little odd how well NIN scans to Bizet.

[cymbal-monkey.livejournal.com]

I saw Keillor once a few years back with my folks. I remember being fascinated with the aspects of a radio show but otherwise not amused.

I'm still not old enough to appreciate his humor, I guess. But I do know my dad and mom adore him. My father's barbershop has lots of old Keillor stuff and autographs, too. I remember growing up thinking he was a huge celebrity (right up there with Don Knotts and Andy Griffith...)

[rue_deday.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it's not as good as the State Fair Cheese Curds, but if you have a Culver's restaurant near you
http://culvers.know-where.com/culvers/
they have cheese curds on their menu. Little lumps of battered, deep fried cheese! Even less good cheese curds are pretty tasty!

[tracy-rowan.livejournal.com]

Oh dear god... will I ever be able to read that poem again without singing it? Robert Frost is spinning, I tell you. Spinning.

[hidden-gems.livejournal.com]

Hey Sam! No link whatsoever with the fair, sorry (I do enjoy the entries, though) but I thought you might get a laugh from this (http://twitpic.com/gk5p7). Good to see John so classy and butch XD

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Oh Barrowman. STAY AWESOME.

[queenfanfiction.livejournal.com]

I agree with some of the comments there. OMG HIS ANKLE. It's cuter than mine! D:

[revolutionaryjo.livejournal.com]

Wah! I am jealous. Wish I'd gone this year. Can't wait to listen to the show when it airs. :D

[shane-mayhem.livejournal.com]

I LOVE EXPERTS.


also, "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" to the tune of Hernando's Hideaway:
this is one of the reasons that I sometimes love humanity.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

The woods
Are lov
LY DARK AND DEEP
But I
Have pro
MISES TO KEEP
And miles
To go
BEFORE I SLEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP!

[ladyphoenixia.livejournal.com]

That's fantastic, now I've got it stuck in my head. :)

[unicornvamp3z.livejournal.com]

♥

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

Now this, THIS is the kind of State Fair that all state fairs should be. Out here in Tucson ours is rather rodeo-oriented, but it's a hell of a lot of fun-- lots of antique farm-machinery, tons and tons of livestock (and, for some reason, chickens in the hundreds) and home crafts and canning and... yeah. Not as much in the way of creative foods, though you *can* get fresh-cooked tortillas with honey.

As for the Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening thing, THANK YOU. I love stuff like that. Didja know that you can sing the Agincourt Carol to the tune of the Bananaboat Song? Seriously.

Our King went forth to Normandy
Deo gratias Anglia
With grace and might of chivalry
Deo gratias Anglia
Deo, Deo, Deo gratias Anglia
Redde, Redde pro, Redde pro victoria!

....and so forth. Wiki's got the full set of lyrics. The things I learn in the SCA, maaan.

[chronographia.livejournal.com]

Listen in to the show tonight, at 5pm on your local NPR affiliate. I'll see if I can find a link to the show on the website a little later.

* 5 pm Central Standard Time. Shift your time zones accordingly and check your local listings..

::is designated former NPR worker::

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Ach. I thought it was the same, 5pm wherever the broadcast was. D'oh.

[chronographia.livejournal.com]

Usually it's a fixed time because of the traditional 'live broadcast' thing, but I'm not sure how that plays out on the west coast. (My mind rebels at the thought of listening to PHC at three in the afternoon. By the time they're done it should be dark, dang it.)

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Heeheeheeeeeeee!!! This is a source of enormous controversy in our home. See, my husband HATES GARRISON KEILLOR WITH A PASSION, as if he had RAPED HIS PONY or something. If, say, PHC is on the radio BY ACCIDENT, he flips. It is the most LULsworthy thing EVER.

I kind of LIKE PHC. But that is the show that dare not speak its name around here. XD XD XD XD

[trinity_clare]

Wow, you are two for two on songs from The Pajama Game this week. O.o

[seneska.livejournal.com]

Best version of Unchained Melody evah! (Or is that uncheesed melody?)

xx

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Just heard the show! You're right, it was a good 'un. I think that singer you mentioned also had a hard time hearing herself, but her channel came through loud and clear on the radio... I wish the Robert Frost thing had actually made it into the show. Makes me wonder what other golden nuggets are lost to intermissions past ...

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Well, we certainly couldn't hear her in the audience; or rather, we could hear her voice, but couldn't comprehend what she was saying.

[meran-flash.livejournal.com]

You can get cheese curds at KFC/A&W.

My mom and I get them on road trips and wait expectantly for our heart attacks afterward.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Not in Chicago, you can't. :D And not fresh ones, I suspect.

[queenfanfiction.livejournal.com]

LOL, my family doesn't really like Keillor or PHC, but we heard the beginning of the show by accident yesterday, AND I HEARD MY MUM SINGING ALONG to "Unchained Melody a la Cheese." It was LOLtastic. :D