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Buzz Preview: A storytelling national treasure, Garrison Keillor impresses Chico crowd
Editor's note: Our "He Said, She Said" movie critics shared Garrison Keillor's recent Chico Performances appearance, and we were more than happy to have them write about it in their inimitable back-and-forth style.
Garrison Keillor, star of the "Prairie Home Companion" radio show, performed on Valentine's Day at Laxson Auditorium, to enthusiastic applause.
MICHELLE: Storytelling is an art. Sometimes, I think it's a lost art. People seem to be entertained only by inane reality television and high-tech action films. Then I go to Laxson Auditorium and see more than 1,000 people who left their homes on a cold night to watch one guy tell stories. And they love it.
ALLEN: We probably use the phrase "national treasure" too much, but it really applies here. Keillor is in the mold of Mark Twain and Will Rogers. What he does is old fashioned but doesn't feel stale. In fact it seems a bit edgy. His hilarious stories sometimes have a serious center to them. Some are secretly about his difficult relationship with his father.
MICHELLE: But he never comes off preachy.
ALLEN: The fact that he has a squeaky-clean reputation didn't stop him from singing a song about the joys of relieving oneself in the snow. Everything was in good fun, but somehow literary. Keillor has published many of these stories, but I can't imagine reading them is as fun as seeing him recite them. His ability to digress repeatedly but never lose the thread of the story is a marvel.
MICHELLE: I loved to hear him talk about how he joined a chorus just so he could stand close to a girl and not thought to be weird. And as soon as he started talking about how his father constructed his own RV, I knew it would somehow end up getting destroyed by young Garrison.
ALLEN: The performance was on Valentine's Day, so Keillor let out his romantic side. He spoke of early loves and longings. He also wore a nifty set of red sneakers and a red tie for the occasion.
MICHELLE: I think he always wears those — at least, he did in the movie, "Prairie Home Companion." It's hard to tell what he wears normally, since it's radio.
ALLEN: Well, stories about dark Lutherans from Minnesota don't sound romantic, but the evening had that feeling anyway.
MICHELLE: I guess what makes any story interesting are the little touches. He believed every house in his neighborhood had a story. Some of them involved giant pythons that survived Minnesota winters by living in the floor of a home, close to a stove. One day it tried to take on a little girl, instead of merely the smaller pets.
ALLEN: The story of how a man becomes frozen to his own roof is priceless. That fact that he can't reveal his dilemma to his gossipy neighbor is a hoot. In the end it was a story about a lovely relationship between a husband and wife.
Michelle MacEachern and Allen Lunde can be contacted at moviecouple@hotmail.com.
SOURCE: Chicoer.com
Humorist and National Public Radio star Garrison Keillor sings during his appearance at Laxson Auditorium on Valentine's Day evening.(Alan Sheckter/The Buzz)
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