scott@islenet.UUCP (Scott Allen) (11/16/85)
Garrison Keillor cast a spell over Hawaii today. He appeared at the Blaisdell
Concert Hall on King Street in a regular two hour show today, Friday, 15
November, with Butch Thompson, Peter Ostroushko, Chet Atkins, Johnny Gimble,
and Taj Mahal, advertising Powder Milk Biscuits, Minnesota Language Systems,
and speaking of birth, death, love, and Minnesota morality. The local talent
was The Sons of Hawaii, playing traditional Hawaiian tunes in the old
Hawaiian style.
Tomorrow at noon Hawaiian Standard Time the show will be aired lived from the
same stage.
GK read several poems which hit the optimum mix of sentiment and humor; one
was obviously to his love "13,000 miles away," and if the poem was correct,
he meets her "at the station" about an hour after the show. Another implored
a recalcitrant and independent cat to "come on home." You'll be happy to
know that after achieving great material success, the cat does in fact come
on home and is welcomed.
In another tale, we hear of the "Finn who wouldn't take a sauna." He finally
does so for the love of a strong Finnish wife, who drags him from a post-sauna
dash into a frozen lake after he realizes he has never learned to swim.
The report from Lake Wobegon was more of a report about Lake Wobegon and the
attitudes people there have about going to Hawaii -- paradise. Life is meant
to be hard. One should not seek something better. Everyone will get to
paradise in this life or the next. This leads to thoughts of where people
come from before they are born (each soul is stored in Heaven in a jar much
like a candy ball machine -- as conception occurs, the next ball rolls down
the chute). The discussion of death sees transplanted Lake Wobegoners
standing at the Gate of Paradise, thinking about how to level and fertilize
the green meadows for a lawn, and the women looking for the steps to the
basement of the Lutheran Church so they can find the kitchen and a place
to work.
GK won the hearts of the audience by having them "hum a little tune" which
turned out to be "Aloha Oe". He also had the audience sing, "Tell Me Why",
after which Chet Atkins, Peter Ostroushko, and Johnny Gimble joined the Sons
of Hawaii in a "family play", in which we heard these "mainlanders" show
what they can do with Hawaiian music with guitar and fiddles.
How do other audiences treat GK and the Prairie Home Companion? Here in
Hawaii we give him a standing ovation. We cheer. We shout. We hope the
show will last another hour.
Lake Wobegon, after all, is just a short way from Moiliili.
--
Scott Allen {ihnp4|dual|vortex}!islenet!scott
Honolulu, Hawaii 808-941-8500 808-947-3657 808-946-1919
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