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spicedogsHere's a great synopsis of what GK's one-man show was like when I saw him at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. From reading the article, I found that the actual talk was the same. However, more than likely, the "Question and Answer" section was different. His answers, of course, are dependent on the questions he is asked. The man has a quick wit. I wish that there was a recording of all the "Question and Answer" sections that he made for this book tour. And, yes, he mostly sang and talked about sonnets. There was a good reason for that, as his next book is a book of sonnets. The man doesn’t promote his current books. He doesn’t need to. People buy them anyway. He just makes us salivate for his future books. I am definitely looking forward to his next book, because, except for the works of Shakespeare, there aren’t many published sonnets available. Great move, Garrison.
| 10:58 PM Tue, Oct 07, 2008 | Michael Merschel Garrison Keillor spoke in Dallas this evening, and special contributor Manuel Mendoza was there to file this report: Garrison Keillor was in Dallas tonight to promote his new Lake Wobegon novel, Liberty, but never cracked it open. I didn't see a copy on stage, and the author/humorist/musician/radio host didn't even mention the book until almost an hour into his appearance at Unity Church of Dallas. Instead, he recited and sang sonnets of his own creation. "I've been writing these sonnets, and I don't know why," he said. But that wasn't strictly true. "A sonnet reins you in a little bit...and sometimes you find that's all you needed to say," he later observed. "Most books are too long." Mr. Keillor weaved the talk around his familiar biography, which plays out every week on his public-radio show, A Prairie Home Companion. Religion was at the heart of it. He was in a church, after all, and his fundamentalist upbringing is central to his persona. "I came from dark people, and they had good reason to be dark. We were in Minnesota," he said. "We believed in forgiveness, in theory. It depended on the circumstances." Dressed in high-water jeans and red socks and sneakers, he looked the part. But Garrison Keillor is an urbane wolf in rural clothing. His "sanctified brethren parents" and community's literal belief in Scripture unintentionally passed on to him a love of language, he said, "verbal art." Teachers, who he called "goddesses of learning," extended that love to secular "imaginative literature." And then came rock 'n' roll, which he used to secretly listen to on a tube radio hidden under his bedsheets. To make the point, he moved from sonnets to Jerry Lee Lewis lyrics. Mr. Keillor stayed clear of politics, as he did at the request of his hosts the last time he was in Dallas two years ago - until he was asked about it. This time, the audience of about 800 was anxious to hear what he had to say, and he obliged. Did he have any thoughts about the upcoming election? "Hundreds, hundreds," he said. "It's going to be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday." On George Bush's low approval ratings: "It makes you worry for his employment prospects. I hope his financial portfolio is in better shape than mine." Who will win the presidency? "It'll probably come down to the skinny guy and the bitter old man." And on Sarah Palin: "She will get a terrific book deal in December, January at the latest, and she'll have a lot of time to work on that...The American people have a very keen ear for when someone is talking and the clutch is not in gear." |
SOURCE: Go Live
