It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the legendary radio program “A Prairie Home Companion”, so you can imagine how excited I was to be able to attend “An Evening with Garrison Keillor”. Keillor, who is the star and creator of “A Prairie Home Companion”, gave a performance which included whimsical tales of Lake Wobegon, his memorable high school experiences and his thoughts on aging.

Upon entering the Music Center at Strathmore, I was amazed to see this solitary figure onstage, walking to and fro as he told a variety of stories. One of his stories included an incident in shop class, which involved him sitting on a work bench that had a bit of acid on it, which caused a hole to burn into his pants. He made sure to point out that the pants were hand-me-downs from his sister and that he had to pull part of his shirt out of his pants just to cover the hole. Such an incident resulted in stares and a few smiles when he went to another class not long after.

He later recalled a story about a man who ran afoul (no pun intended) of a skunk who sprayed him while on a run and that the man’s wife refused him entry into their home, but left a bar of soap and tomato juice because “she could smell him” from afar. The wife is said to have asked, “did you plan on staying here for the night?”. After several stories and reenactments of various incidents, he closed out with the songs “Happy Trails”, “Good Night Ladies” and “Sweet Caroline”. He quipped that since there were no backup singers available, he wanted us to be the closing act. The audience sang along with him, many of them knowing these songs by heart. Admittedly, I only knew the chorus from two of the songs.

Keillor’s quick wit and light-hearted humor made the event a fun-filled one that the audience loved. The fact that he encouraged the audience to interact with him in his closing songs was amazing and heartfelt. If the opportunity arose, I’d go see him perform again. If you want to catch future performances, check out his website at www.garrisonkeillor.com and see if he’s performing in a theater near you. You will be so happy you did.

Final Grade: A

About The Author

Lauren Beverly

Music Reviewer

I love to write and have been doing so since the age of eight. Fictional stories have always been a favorite of mine, because it gives me a chance to be creative and to express myself in a multitude of ways. On more than one occasion, a song proved to be the inspiration to several stories I have written. Believe it or not, some of those songs were on soundtracks! That’s mostly what I listen to, aside from hits from the 1950’s up to the 1980’s. I’ve learned that anything can be the inspiration to a story, even a poster from the 1990’s or a DVD cover.

I’ve lived in Upper Marlboro all of my life and spent much of my childhood watching cartoons of all kinds, and listening to my older sister’s cassette tapes. Growing up, I listened to everything Jackson related, Paula Abdul, Elton John, and even the controversial group Milli Vanilli. As a teenager, I continued to listen to old-school hits and that was pretty much all I liked, aside from listening to all of Michael Jackson’s music. To this day, I still love old-school hits. That hasn’t changed.

I own a variety of CDs from artists such as Styx, The BeeGees, Michael Jackson, Queen, The Yellow Submarine Soundtrack, and many others. When a soundtrack comes out, there will always be one specific song from that album that I’ll love. It never fails.

I’ve graduated from Bowie State University in December 2013 with a B.A. degree in English.

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