Attend a performance of "A Prairie Home Companion"

I went to a Prairie Home two or three years ago at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand. I remember that at the end of the show we all (2000? people) sang the Star Spangled Banner, and as soon as we got to the end, they set off the fireworks. It was awesome.

Tickets in hand, my wife and I enjoyed a day away from the baby on the Twin Cities, until we realized that we needed batteries about fifteen minutes before the showtime on the ticket. Otherwise we were going to have to go back to baby.

Luckily the batteries were found, and disaster averted.

The show was kind of like the radio part of the movie. There’s really no better way to put it. Go see the movie if you want (it’s only ok) to get a flavor of what being there is like.

We sat in the very back row of the Fitzgerald Theater, but it felt like we were among friends. Or at least people with whom we shared something in common.

The whole affair had the informality that can only be had after doing the show every week for years on end. It began with some warmups of the band and audience. Then all of a sudden, Garrison Keillor started talking about it being the Prairie Home Companion from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. Two hours later, it ended almost as informally with a curtain call and the band playing some music as everyone left.

The night we went, Martin Sheen, BR549, Nick Lowe and Maria Jette were the guest performers. A fun night.

Almost surreal after hearing the show on the radio for years.

We’ve got our tickets to the show on the 29th. Right on! This should be a fun date night for us. The price was reasonable until Ticketmaster added on their fees.

Then it became 2 for the price of 3.

Every time I use their service I find them more and more distasteful, because their fees exceed the value of their service. My favorite fee is for internet delivery of tickets. For an extra fee, you can download your ticket directly from the website and print it out from home, but for free they will mail them to you. That makes no sense. Fu, Ticketmaster, fu!

in Little Rock. Our daughter bought tickets for us and our whole family went. It is as good as one would expect.

The wife and I might wind up seeing the Prairie Home Companion at the end of September.

St. Paul and the Fitzgerald Theater are about two hours from my in-laws’ house. So we’re thinking of making a day of it once the baby takes a bottle, but that’s a big maybe.

We got $10 lawn seats… I had no idea that meant we would not even be in the same area of the venue as the stage, but the show was so great it didn’t matter! It was fun to lie in the grass and listen to the music. Since it’s Father’s day weekend, he did a lot of songs and skits about being a dad, including a hysterical song about sperm. People danced to the Powdermilk biscuit song, and all the musical talent were fantastic. When it’s on the radio I am not nearly as focused on it, and it was well worth paying attention.

edit: Saw this yesterday at Ravinia just north of Chicago.

I’m hoping it will come through Indy sometime soon.

We went to the Christmas show in New York City. They were balcony seats but it was great fun!

After several years of not being able to take the time or travel the distance for a show, I finally was able to see one this weekend. It was in Vermillion, SD. Very good show! They played many instruments from the Music Museum there.

Getting there was actually kind of tough… it started out a few months back when I heard there was going to be a show in South Dakota. I planned on going, whatever it took. I asked my sister in passing if she wanted to go along, since she was planning a trip up here anyway. My parents heard about it, and soon it turned into a 6-person trip. While I was working out lodging and ticket arrangements, I neglected one small detail… Vermillion is actually almost 7 hours away, including the time change.

So, Saturday morning I was up at 6:00 a.m., getting bags packed, vehicles gassed up, and the dog kennelled. We made it out of town by 9:00, and stopped only once for gas, and once to eat. We had initially planned to stop by the hotel (in Yankton, 30min West of Vermillion) to get settled and change clothes. We skipped that, so I ended up buttoning up my shirt on the way to the door of the Dakotadome, with my black pants, white socks, and oh-so-comfortable zipper-shoes. Lucky it was a radio show.

We found our seats and sat down seconds before Garrison came out, introduced himself, and explained how being on a radio show would work. The show itself was very good, and it was very enjoyable hearing these instruments being played that we saw in the museum as kids on vacation. After the show, my dad bought a CD of the civil-war style band that played the old brass instruments, he plays a couple brass instruments in the community band back home.

The next day, I went over to the museum. I was surprised they had regular Sunday hours (2-5). With the show in town focusing on the museum’s instruments, I would think they’d open up the museum all day, even get some tours arranged (maybe convince some of the professors or music majors from the music department of the University in town to show people around). It was still interesting to see the old instruments, though it was really quiet for a music museum, I thought.

It would’ve been much easier had it been closer, but I had a ball! (As a bonus, I think this will make the upcoming PHC movie easier to understand, too.)

I’m not sure what I was expecting but this was a let down. Better (for me anyway) to let the sounds and voices play out in my head while mopping the floor than to sit in the balcony of Town Hall craning my neck to see a disorganized band of folks stand at microphones.

Also - and this was the big disappointment - I didn’t get to send a message to the folks at home. I don’t know if I missed it or if it’s just completely fictional, but no one came around for my little scrap of paper, lovingly edited.