"An evening with Garrison Keillor"
Went to watch Garrison Keillor live today, blending dry wit and insight in his monologue.
It was a particularly introspective performance, since he had a stroke several weeks ago. But that hasn't seemed to harm him, he still has that amazing speaking voice, a voice I've heard on the radio for as long as I can remember. His radio show "A Prairie home Companion" was one of the few activities my parents both enjoyed and agreed on. His voice was a part of my childhood that I can always associate with pleasant weekends and quiet evenings.
As for the performance, there was only a chair on the stage, and then only him. jeans and a beige blazer and worn red shoes. He opened and closed with song, but mostly he talked. He said alot of things, about his stroke, about his life, about the meaning of life. He said things there, like in his radio program, that makes you think and makes you laugh at the same time.
I wish I had sound bites to share, but his punchlines come at you unexpectedly, at the end of an interesting tale, with his tone never giving away that a funny statement or a punchline is coming. For instance, the statement... "She was really quite brilliant for a naked person" is cute in and of itself, but after listening to how he met the lover that this refers to, how her words shaped his future, the sonnets he wrote in her honor as a young man - it's far more funny and meaningful.
Definitely one of those "you'd have to be there" performances. I'm very glad we -were- there.
It was a particularly introspective performance, since he had a stroke several weeks ago. But that hasn't seemed to harm him, he still has that amazing speaking voice, a voice I've heard on the radio for as long as I can remember. His radio show "A Prairie home Companion" was one of the few activities my parents both enjoyed and agreed on. His voice was a part of my childhood that I can always associate with pleasant weekends and quiet evenings.
As for the performance, there was only a chair on the stage, and then only him. jeans and a beige blazer and worn red shoes. He opened and closed with song, but mostly he talked. He said alot of things, about his stroke, about his life, about the meaning of life. He said things there, like in his radio program, that makes you think and makes you laugh at the same time.
I wish I had sound bites to share, but his punchlines come at you unexpectedly, at the end of an interesting tale, with his tone never giving away that a funny statement or a punchline is coming. For instance, the statement... "She was really quite brilliant for a naked person" is cute in and of itself, but after listening to how he met the lover that this refers to, how her words shaped his future, the sonnets he wrote in her honor as a young man - it's far more funny and meaningful.
Definitely one of those "you'd have to be there" performances. I'm very glad we -were- there.