Lights turned out on Lake Wobegon

[left-of-center2012]

Garrison Keillor Turns Out the Lights on Lake Wobegon
Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” signed off the air for good on Saturday evening, after 42 seasons, as millions of listeners, many in their cars on a holiday weekend, tuned in via public radio.

With the exception of a telephone call from President Obama, the show, which was recorded Friday at the Hollywood Bowl in front of 18,000 people, ambled along the way it always has.
There were pretty country-folk songs; an ad for Powdermilk Biscuits; a clippety-clop “Lives of the Cowboys” skit; a heartfelt version of “Every Time We Say Goodbye.”

The phone call was telling. The self-effacing Mr. Keillor refused to allow the conversation to be about himself. He praised Mr. Obama’s “dignity and wit and humor” and the fact he’d “never had an awkward moment in all these years.”
When the president was finally allowed to speak about Mr. Keillor, he said, “One of the reasons I miss driving is that you kept me company.” “A Prairie Home Companion,” he said, “made me feel better and more human.” Mr. Keillor responded with awkward silence.

As the monologue began to come to its close, Mr. Keillor, 73, spoke about how he might be remembered, if at all.
“I am at that age now where people start to use the word ‘legacy,’ although there is no such thing and we all know that,” he said.
“Radio has the permanence of a sand castle. Even books that are printed on acid-free paper, they tend to migrate toward recycling rather quickly.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/arts/garrison-keillor-turns-out-the-lights-on-lake-wobegon.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

[left-of-center2012]

2. We don't know that

It was a radio show, so we saw none of the characters.

[vanlassie]

3. Was that comment really necessary? My mother would call that taking a gratuitous potshot.

[left-of-center2012]

5. It's also racist

[bluesbassman]

7. Wow.

Lots of POC in Frostbite Falls were there?

[Odin2005]

8. What a disgusting post.

[bigtree]

4. k&r

[Photographer]

6. k&r... with a tear.