Ragin' Cajun from 2001(for Feb. 14th newsletter)

featuring Ralph Stanley, BeauSoleil, and Spencer Bohren

Garrison Keillor TONIGHT!

Garrison Keillor brings his solo show to Greensboro, NC and Newberry, SC . Poetry, Limericks, Sing-Along and the News from Lake Wobegon

One man, one microphone. There are sung sonnets, limericks and musical jokes, and the thread that runs through it is the beauty of growing old. Despite the inconvenience, old age brings the contentment of LESS IS MORE. Your mistakes and big ambitions are behind you, nothing left to prove, and small things give you great pleasure because that’s what’s left.

There is the News from Lake Wobegon, a town booming with new entrepreneurs, makers of artisanal firewood and gourmet meatloaf, breeders of composting worms, and dogs trained to do childcare. But some things endure, such as the formation of the Living Flag on Main Street, citizens in tight formation wearing red, white or blue caps, and Mr. Keillor among them, standing close to old neighbors, Myrtle Krebsbach (“Truckstop”) and Julie Christensen (“Bruno, The Fishing Dog”) and Clint Bunsen. And an a cappella sing-along with the audience singing from memory an odd medley of patriotic songs, pop standards, hymns, and ending with the national anthem. We hope you can join us for an entertaining evening of stories and song.

March 28th at the Carolina Theatre at 8pm in Greensboro, NC

March 29th at the Newberry Opera House at 8pm in Newberry, SC

April 2nd at the Tuscarawa PAC at Kent State University at 7:30pm

Listen to the classic show from February 17, 2001

This week, we travel back to 2001 for a show from the Fitzgerald Theater on Exchange Street in downtown St. Paul, A Prairie Home Companion welcomes Cajun favorite BeauSoleil, Spencer Bohren and a special appearance by Ralph Stanley.

Highlights include Guy Noir, Cafe Boeuf, Ketchup, a visit to a casino plus ‘Everybody Loves My Baby’ by Andy Stein, ‘Zydeco X’ from BeauSoleil, ‘Oh, Death’ by Ralph Stanley, an America Sing-a-long plus the latest news. Listen to the show.

Ralph Stanley was born into a musical family near McClure, Virginia, in 1927. He and his older brother began singing mountain ballads and learning to play the banjo from their mother. After graduating and returning from the Army, Ralph and Carter built quite the following in a six-state area, performing live and recording music, which was featured on radio station WCYB. Later, Ralph would record with the Clinch Mountain Boys, and he would go on to receive multiple Grammy Awards, be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry and the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame. And in 2006, he would be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Ralph Stanley passed away in 2016 at the age of 89. On this Prairie Home show, he sings the song “O, Death,” which was featured in the 2000 film O, Brother Where Art Thou?

During a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Bob Dylan was asked what he thought of BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet. Dylan replied, “That's my kind of music!” Lots of folks could say the same. The band — Michael Doucet, David Doucet, Billy Ware, Tommy Alesi, Jimmy Breaux and Mitch Reed — has spent almost 50 years dedicated to preserving the Cajun style and blending elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, and more into a tasty musical mix.

Being that it’s Valentine’s Day, we thought it would be appropriate to look at one of Garrison’s most popular non-Lake Wobegon pieces that happens to be an epic love story. Only in Minnesota would one jump into a frozen lake for love!

In Northeast Minnesota, what they call the Iron Range,

Where men are men and that is that, and some things never change;

Where winter stays nine months a year, there is no spring or fall,

And sometimes it is so cold the mercury cannot be seen at all.

Where you and I, we normal folks, would shiver, shake and chatter,

And if we used an outhouse we would grow an extra bladder.

But even when it’s coldest, when our feet would have no feeling,

Those Iron Rangers get dressed up and go out snowmobiling,

Out across the frozen land and make a couple stops,

At Gino’s lounge and Rudy’s bar for whiskey, beer, and schnapps.

And then they go into a shack that’s filled with boiling rocks,

That’s hot enough to sterilize even Iron Ranger’s socks.

They sit there until they steam out every sin and every foible,

Then they jump into a frozen lake and claim that it’s “enjoyble.”

But there was one, a shy young man, and although he was Finnish,

The joys of winter had for him, long started to diminish.

He was a Finn, the only Finn, who would not take a sauna.

“It isn’t that I can’t,” he said, “I simply do not wanna.”

And so he stayed close by his stove for nine months of the year,

Because he was so sensitive to change in “tempacheer.”

His friends said, “Come on Toyvle, let’s go out to Sunfish Lake.

A Finn who don’t take saunas? Why, there must be some mistake.”

But Toyvle said, “There’s no mistake, I know that I would freeze

In water colder than myself — 98.6 degrees.

To jump into a frozen lake is not my fondest wish,

For just because I am a Finn, don’t mean that I’m a fish.”

One night he went to Eveleth, to attend the miners ball.

If you have not danced in Eveleth you’ve never danced at all.

And he met a Finnish beauty there who turned his head around.

She was broad of beam, and when she danced, she shook the frozen ground.

She grabbed that shy young man in hand and swept him off his feet,

And bounced him up and down until he learned that polka beat.

She was as strong as any man; she was as fair as she was wide,

And when the dance was over, he asked her to be his bride.

She looked him over carefully; she said, “You’re kinda thin,

But you must have some courage, if it’s true you are a Finn.”

I ain’t particular about men, I am no prima donna,

But I would never marry one who would not take a sauna.”

They got into her pickup truck and down the road they drove,

And fifteen minutes later they were stokin’ up the stove.

She had a flask of whiskey, they had a couple toots,

And went into the shack and got into their birthday suits.

She steamed him and she boiled him until his skin turned red.

She poured it on until his brains were boiling in his head.

To improve his circulation and to soften up his hide,

She got a couple birch boughs and she beat him till he cried,

“OH, couldn’t you just love me now, oh, don’t you think you can?”

She said, “It’s time to go outside and show you are a man.”

Straight way, because he loved her so and thought his heart would break,

He jumped right up and out the door and ran down to the lake.

And though he paused a moment, when he saw the lake was frozen,

And tried to think just which snowbank his love had put his clothes in.

When he thought of his true love, he didn’t have to think twice,

He just picked up his frozen feet and raced across the ice.

And coming to the hole that they had cut there with an ax,

Putting common sense aside, ignoring all the facts,

He LEAPED, o-h-h, what a leap, and as he dove beneath the surface,

It thrilled him to his very soul and also made him “nerface.”

And it wasn’t just the tingling cold he felt from limb to limb,

He cried, “My love, I’m finished — I forgot, I cannot swim!”

She fished him out, and stood him up, and gave him an embrace

That warmed his very heart and made the blood rush to his face.

“I love you darling, dear,” she cried, “I love you with all my might.”

And she drove him to Biwabik, and he married her that night.

They live happily to this day, although they sometimes quarrel.

And there, I guess, the story ends, except for this, the moral:

Marriage, friends, is not a banquet, Love is no free lunch,

You cannot dabble ’round the edge, but each must take the “plunch.”

Though marriage, like that frozen lake, may sometimes make us colder,

It has it’s pleasures too, as you may find out when you’re older.

Anniversary Album: The First Five Years of A Prairie Home Companion

This festive collection is a nostalgic trip through five years of America's favorite radio show. “Commercials” for Powdermilk Biscuits, Jack’s Deep Valley Bed, and more introduce songs and sketches like “The Finn Who Would Not Take a Sauna” and “The Cat Came Back.” Selected from the original live radio broadcasts. Over 2 1/2 Hours on 2 CDs. Get the CDs.

If you have stuff to tote around, why not tote it around in this Lake Wobegon Life bag?

CLICK HERE to buy now!

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