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Comments from the week of 02.11.24

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GK,
Listening to the podcast about things that spark your memory, to nobody’s surprise, sparked a strong memory. Growing up in the Midwest suburbs, my mom attended a small Presbyterian church. Small, as in fewer than 20 to 30 elderly folks showing up every week. A small but faithful gathering. My Boy Scout troop met in the basement in the ’80s and ’90s.
Now, as an adult, we’ve been invited back to this church every year for a Thanksgiving dinner they open up to the local community. The church basement with the tile floors and fluorescent lighting, the dozen long folding tables with the plastic tablecloths, the coffee, and the iced tea pitchers. Eight senior women crowded in the small kitchen, the casserole dishes filled with stuffing and corn pudding and green beans almost grey in color and Jell-O molds and so many Waldorf salads. The good potatoes are all but gone, and the lousy potatoes are sitting there, staring at you, sad and lonely.
Around many of the folding tables sit families, grandparents delighting in the company, their children tired and yet enjoying the food, the grandchildren squirming and messy. Stepping into this basement in the 21st century feels like you’ve gone back in time, as if you’re visiting a museum about the 1970s. But you sit in that hard, stiff folding chair and chew your turkey and your pumpkin pie and it’s like the world outside doesn’t exist. It’s a place of peace.
You’ve lived a life and then some. I’m curious, where have your places of peace been?
Thanks for the memories!
Justin Hall

I feel at peace in my church, which is a singing church. I’m at peace in a library, working on a laptop. I like sitting on a couch, leaning against Jenny. I like talking on the phone with old pals. GK

Garrison,

Why is it that America has a Poet Laureate, but not a Humorist Emeritus? Can you think of a more essential, worthy task than bringing red and blue America together around a really funny joke? If established, would you consider serving? (I assume this would involve wearing a black robe with a honkable red nose and Groucho glasses ...)

R. Lee Procter

Poet laureate is a very safe honor: nobody pays any attention to them. But a humorist would make fun of public servants and would likely gain an audience. Kings had royal jesters whose job was to amuse the sovereign, but in a democracy a comic is not so easily contained. GK

We had a wonderful time at your show in West Palm Beach. I understand completely your issues with putting pants on. One leg at a time and hop around without falling or sitting down. Your suggestion of leaning was new. It works! Thanks!

Toni Kellison

Be careful, but don’t be afraid to take chances now and then. The trick in putting pants on is to do it in a burst of confidence, same as when you crack an egg or rip a bandage off your arm. No hesitation. GK

Mr. K.,

I was at your show in West Palm Beach, and I wondered if your wife was there. Has she ever appeared on any of your shows? Does she travel with you when you perform? I seem to recall that she is a musician.

Gerry Simonson

She is a violist and she was busy that weekend practicing for a ballet. She played on the show many years ago as part of a string quartet. She doesn’t travel with me, as a rule. GK

I was a wildlife rehabber for 30 years. Your essay on New York birds on the sidewalk made me chuckle out loud. It’s like magic ... put them in a paper bag, let it sit for a bit, and then open the bag outside!!!

Beth Leinbach

I’ve never seen anyone actually do this, pick up a fallen bird and put it in a paper bag. But I believe you. GK

Mr. Keillor,

I thought the show at the Kravis Center was fabulous, but I felt sorry for Erica Rhodes when she was interrupted in the middle of her sketch. Did she know this was going to happen? It felt awkward when I wanted to clap for her in the middle of your phone conversation with your mom. She’s very funny and charming, by the way!

Donna Blake

Palm Beach, Florida

You are so right. I felt the same way and it was my idea. Yes, she knew it was going to happen, but the audience didn’t and it made them uncomfortable. It will never happen again, I promise. GK

Garrison,

The trip around America ... do it! My favorite Steinbeck book, after The Grapes of Wrath, is Travels With Charley. And Bill Bryson’s A Walk In The Woods comes in a close second. But those books are old, and we need a refresher ... go for it.

Mark Savitskie

It bothers me that I don’t know any farmers or construction workers or truck drivers. I know writers galore and teachers and musicians and I miss having conversations with people who take a different view of the world. That’s what the trip would be about. GK

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LIVESTREAM FROM ACL LIVE at THE MOODY THEATER

Hot Club of Cowtown was just added to our A Prairie Home Companion 50th Anniversary performance in Galveston and Austin. They will join our already stellar group of performers: Heather Masse, Christine DiGiallonardo, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, Fred Newman, along with Rich Dworsky and our band (Richard Kriehn, Chris Siebold, Larry Kohut).

Sunday, February 25, at 7:30 p.m. CT from ACL Live at The Moody Theater

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Award-winning Austin, Texas-based Hot Club of Cowtown — featuring violinist and vocalist Elana James, guitarist and vocalist Whit Smith, and upright bassist Jake Erwin — is one of the world’s most globe-trotting, effervescent string trios. The three have toured with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and many others, and have traveled to far-flung corners of the world as Musical Ambassadors for the US State Department. Their sound blends early Western swing with European hot jazz of the same era, plus traditional music, American songbook standards, and original songs — all in their own unique style. Celebrating its 26th year in 2024, HCCT has released twelve studio albums.

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