December 6, 2008

THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK

Michael Feinstein

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, our fearless truck driver Russ Ringsak will negotiate the anarchy of Manhattan traffic to double park the big rig on West 43rd, thus beginning our annual holiday run at The Town Hall in New York City. With this week's special guests, legendary cabaret singer, pianist, and musical anthropologist Michael Feinstein, Metropolitan Opera Tenor Raúl Melo, and singularly soulful jazz vocalist Inga Swearingen. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and The News from Lake Wobegon.


Click any image to start the slideshow


A tribute song for Odetta

Inga Swearingen jazzes up "The Sound of Music."

Michael Feinstein

Raúl Melo performs "Gesu Bambino."

Friday Night Preview

RealAudio

    Show Segments
    Listen to individual segments as listed below

  • Segment 1
    • 00:00:00 - Logo
    • 00:00:11 - Tishomingo Blues
    • 00:02:46 - SFX script
    • 00:06:05 - GK talks about the couple he saw on the subway
    • 00:07:08 - "The Essence of Romance" - GK/ band
    • 00:09:31 - "Time Squared" - The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band
    • 00:11:30 - Guy Noir script
    • 00:25:07 - GK intros Inga Swearingen
    • 00:25:30 - "The Sound of Music" - Inga Swearingen and the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band
    • 00:29:55 - Powdermilk Biscuit Break
  • Segment 2
    • 00:31:29 - GK intros
    • 00:32:55 - "I Love a Piano" - Michael Feinstein and Shoes
    • 00:36:56 - "As Long as She Needs Me" - Michael Feinstein and Shoe Band
    • 00:42:03 - GK talks about Michael's reviews and intros Raúl Melo
    • 00:43:47 - Tenor script
    • 00:54:25 - "Panis Angelicus" - Raúl Melo and Bradley Moore
    • 00:57:50 - GK talks about Odetta, "Oh Freedom"/"Just a Little While to Stay Here"
    • 01:05:10 - "Somebody Stole My Gal" - Shoe band (Intermission)
  • Segment 4
    • 01:09:00 - Greetings
    • 01:12:26 - "Make Me Down a Pallet on the Floor" - Pat Donohue and Shoes
    • 01:15:38 - GK talks with Michael Feinstein
    • 01:18:55 - "I've Got a Crush on You" - Michael Feinstein and Shoes
    • 01:22:50 - "Rhode Island" - Michael Feinstein
    • 01:26:07 - English Majors script
    • 01:28:07 - "The Day After Tomorrow" - Inga Swearingen, Richard Dworsky and Gary Raynor
  • Segment 3
    • 01:32:26 - The News from Lake Wobegon
  • Segment 5
    • 01:45:05 - "Gesu Bambino" - Raúl Melo, with Bradley moore and Andy Stein
    • 01:49:00 - Couples script
    • 01:53:50 - Credits/"Just a Little While to Stay Here"

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Prairie Home on the Big Screen: Encore Presentation

If you missed Thursday's stellar A Prairie Home Companion Live in HD performance, there's still a chance to see it in theaters. An encore performance of A Prairie Home Companion from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be beamed in high-definition exclusively to 500+ movie theaters across the U.S. and Canada. With special guests Elvis Costello, Robin and Linda Williams, Jearlyn & Jevetta Steele, and Heather Masse.

Buy Tickets»

Comic strip

Minnesota author, illustrator, and cartoonist Chris Monroe inked a short comic strip with Garrison Keillor. The comic reveals a few tricks of GK's writing style... or does it?

Read the strip»

Western Caribbean Cruise

The Prairie Home cruise has become legendary on two of the Seven Seas and now is setting sail on a third, a weeklong spring break cruise of the western Caribbean along the Mexican coast, and it leaves March 14 from Tampa.

More Information»

Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance

Stories of a Wobegon romance far from home, all delivered with Garrison Keillor's trademark humor.

Read the first chapter»

Signed Copies Available»
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