Sunday, May 24, 2009

National Treasures

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Garrison Keillor, author, entertainer, English major of all English majors and the host of Prairie Home Companion. Here is Mr. Keillor looking spiffy and sporting his famous red sneakers (and matching red socks). He is coming out to meet us backstage.
This is it! Prairie Home Companion being performed live at the Wolf Trap Theatre in Vienna, Virginia. The Wolf Trap is the national park for the performing arts! A beautiful venue, just twenty minutes from Washington, D.C. The show itself is a national treasure. We were treated to storytelling, poetry and amazing artists of gospel, bluegrass and other traditional American music. The music was joyful, unpretentious and inspired.
This experience was made possible because out local public radio station organized a bus tour with members of the Central PA community who chose to donate $1 a day to WITF, our local public broadcasting network. For pledging we were gifted with a bus, tickets and a lunch for the memorial day weekend show.



What we did not anticipate was a private audience with Mr. Keillor.


There I am, Neetzy, getting Garrison Keillor to autograph my program. You all know I am camera shy and not photogenic. The back of my head is all you will get to see. (BTW my hair is a mess). Yes, Garrison is very tall. I am quite short. I think if I did enough research I could prove hobbit blood.


Mr. Keillor is discussing deep and important international and political issues with fellow WITF members. I think he is a national treasure. I also think the Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts, a part of our National Parks Service, is a treasure most U.S. citizens are not aware of. This was an amazing experience that I will not soon forget.
Peace to all. Garrison Keillor is a national treasure. The Wolf Trap theater is a national treasure. Many people do not know about these things.
Appreciate what you have. Remember the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. The war was not their fault.
Enjoy your weekend. Peace out.

12 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

I'm so jealous! How wonderful for you! Can you photograph the autograph and put it on your blog?

(Your hair looks fine to me). I like the glasses (what I can see of them) too.

Kat

The latest "Blast" is up btw.

Shazza said...

Neetzy - This was a great post. Your hair looks best when it's messy. Thanks for sharing - you are definitely the coolest in my book.

neetzy said...

Poetikat,

I can and will photograph the autograph. (Haha! That rhymes)
Yes. I bought myself some funky glasses this year.

Shazza,

My hair always looks messy. The more I try to tame it, the more it "flies" away. I've decided I'm going to let it grow long for a while. I will then eventually let it all go white. (It really wants to).

Janelle Goodwin said...

Thanks for sharing this national treasure. It must have been a fun day. Looking forward to seeing the photo of the auto!

Kat Mortensen said...

Hey Neetz! I think YOU'RE a National Treasure which is why I'm giving you an award at "Keepsakes".

Kat

neetzy said...

Janelle,
Thanks. Garrison is such an amazing artist. He is an artist of the written and spoken word. I hope someday to use paint in the way that he uses words.

Kat,
Thanks so much. I just never know how to put them up on my blog??

Totalfeckineejit said...

Garrison Keillor is cool.we used to have tales from Lake Wobegon read by the man himself broadcast here in Ireland on cold Winter Saturday nights as we were travelling home from my cousins cocooned in a warm car and metaphorically transported to a different cosy world,lovely.
By the way he apparently lost his first book and reckons he has tried (and failed) ever since to recapture or match those first glorious words.

Maria said...

Oh, how fun. I have actually met him too. A good friend of mine is a rather well known jazz singer and she was playing in Minnesota once several years ago and he came to hear her sing and then sat at our table for a while to visit.

I was tongue tied.

neetzy said...

Totalfeckinejeet, (Can I call you TFI?)
Thanks for stopping by. We listen to Garrison every Saturday night here. I'm sure he would fit it to Ireland quite well. What book did he lose?

Maria, I was like a giddy fangirl. Sitting down at a table with him would be amazing. I felt stupid for asking for an autograph, but that was all the courage I could muster.

Kat Mortensen said...

Neetz - another Blast is up for your pleasure!

Kat

dive said...

AWESOME, Neetzy!
I love GK, so this makes me seethe with jealousy, but I am so glad you got so close to him.

The back of your head looks just fine to me.

neetzy said...

Dive,

I'm such a gushy fangirl. I hate photos of myself (even the back of my head looks ugly to me).