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Walt the Writer GK: Shopping for a Christmas gift for your kids? Here's an action
figure that'll keep em engrossed and occupied for hours. It's Walt the
Writer. A realistic figure, anxious, middle-aged, in a gray sweater and
blue jeans, Walt the Writer performs many authentic actions, such as pacing
the floor (DOLL WALKING): TR (SMALL VOICE): I'll never finish this in time…..I need
the money desperately….Why don't I write best-sellers like John Grisham?
I write better than he does. What's wrong with me? GK: And answering the phone (RING) and lying to editors. TR (SMALL VOICE): It's coming along great, Mr. Wacker. I'm really
excited about it. GK: Sitting at his desktop computer and writing (CLICKING) and
having terrible computer problems. TR (SMALL VOICE): It froze up again! And I forgot to back it up!
All my hard work---- lost! Oh my goodness! GK: And Walt the Writer drinks like a fish. (POURING) TR (SMALL VOICE): A little bourbon to steady my nerves and I'll
get right back to work. GK: And he loses his wife and family and his house and car and
becomes a homeless person. TR (SMALL VOICE): Spare change…..got fifty cents?…..help
a guy get a laptop?…… GK: And he goes on the wagon and writes the story of his life
and he goes on Oprah ---- TR (SMALL VOICE): I was destroying myself because I didn't know
how to love myself, Oprah, and now I've allowed myself to do what I need
to do for me. GK: It's Walt the Writer. With his good friend, Pat the Poet.
SS (DOLL): The water ripples rapidly over black rocks, GK: And Mamie the Memoirist. SS (DOLL, DEEPER): The first snowfall of December always takes
me back to Prague and the Christmas of 1973 after I fell in love with
Joseph and followed him to Kafka's city, the city of chocolate and cigarettes
and clocks and cathedral bells. GK: And Corey the Choreographer. TR (DOLL): (TO MUSIC) And one---- (RUNNING FOOTSTEPS) and two-----
(SPIN) ---- and three----- (LEAP) and four (RUNNING FOOTSTEPS)----- GK: And Peter the Painter. (SQUIRTS OF PAINT, FLUNG, AND DRIPPED AND DAUBED) GK: And Scott the Sculptor. (BLOWTORCH) GK: Action Figures of Artists……..yours for Christmas,
from A.F.A. © Garrison Keillor 2002 |
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Singer and songwriter Andra Suchy talks about singing duets with Garrison, and her latest album, Little Heart.
Old Sweet Songs: A Prairie Home Companion 1974-1976
Lovingly selected from the earliest archives of A Prairie Home Companion, this heirloom collection represents the music from earliest years of the now legendary show: 1974–1976. With songs and tunes from jazz pianist Butch Thompson, mandolin maestro Peter Ostroushko, Dakota Dave Hull and the first house band, The Powdermilk Biscuit Band (Adam Granger, Bob Douglas and Mary DuShane).
