Ryan ChartrandAcclaimed radio host and author Garrison Keillor will perform in the Performing Arts Center tonight at 8 p.m. Keillor last visited Cal Poly in 2002 for a sold out show with the San Luis Obispo Symphony.
Keillor is the best known for his radio show “A Prairie Home Companion,” which was recently adapted into a film.
In the tradition of his popular radio show, expect to hear some anecdotes about life and a few songs. Pianist Rich Dworsky who has performed with Keillor on numerous occasions will join him.
The show was started in 1969 as a morning radio show. It transformed into a live broadcast radio show 1974, according to the show’s Web site, http:// prairiehome.publicradio.org.
Although the show ended in 1987, it was restarted in New York a few years later. After getting some publicity, Keillor brought it back to Minnesota where it is still recorded today.
In 2006, the movie “A Prairie Home Companion” was released. It is a celebrity rendition of the radio show. It stars Keillor, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones and Lindsay Lohan.
The movie focused on the cast members of the soon-to-be defunct radio show of the same name who get paid a visit from death (as played by Virginia Madsen).
“Like the show that inspired it, ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ is not about anything in particular. Perhaps it is about everything in general: About remembering, and treasuring the past, and loving performers not because they are new but because they have lasted,” wrote film critic Roger Ebert in his review of the film.
Keillor has been nominated at the Grammys numerous times and has won once for the spoken word category. He was also inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994.
Keillor has also written twelve books, three of which were written for children. This includes the now-famous “Lake Wobegon Days.”
The famous satirist and radio personality will only be here tonight, don’t miss your chance to see him. For samples of his show, go to “A Prairie Home Companion’s” Web site, as mentioned before.
Tickets for tonight’s show can be bought at the Performing Arts Ticket Office from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, the show is almost sold out, so students can try to purchase rush tickets two hours prior to showtime.