Garrison Keillor
This has been a very long week. I want to give a prelude to my own summary, by offering some observations by Garrison Keillor, who I first became acquainted with in 1977. Keillor’s two most recent columns are here and here.
I have a long affinity for Keillor’s work, beginning with the first time I saw him in person at a local college in the days before he became famous. In those days, you could walk in off the street and there was plenty of seating, and the likes of the Powder Milk Biscuit band were just beginning to evolve. I think he became a national item in about 1981, and the rest is history.
The first picture I have of him is at St. John’s University at the Swayed Pines Festival in 1979. I took the photo. He’s the long lanky guy and the dark beard. (He talks about these years in the referenced columns)
Garrison Keillor at St. John’s University Swayed Pines Festival April, 1979
At some point I was searching for something else in the musty archival stacks of the Walter Library at the University of Minnesota and inadvertently came across a bunch of student literary magazines, The Ivory Tower. Among the old publications were two, including two 1965 commentaries on hockey by Garrison Keillor, then a Senior at the UofM. This week is hockey state tournament week in Minnesota, and in recognition, I offer the two essays by Keillor. You’ll see the talent. Keillor Ivory Tower 1965001. Whether you’re a hockey nut or not, you’ll find these articles to be truly vintage Keillor.
October 23, 2010 University of Minnesota Garrison Keillor at center with daughter, attending talk by President Obama.
Please take time: “This has been a very long week. I want to give a prelude to my own summary” (post for March 6, 2025)
COMMENTS (more at end):
from Jeff: I always enjoy the yearly [Minnesota] State High School Hockey Tournament. It remains the best high school tournament in any sport in the nation. I also find the quality of the hockey at this level unparalleled in the USA, and it seems to get better every year. (about 5 years ago I watched a game or two of the Wisconsin State High School tournament where the talent level paled in comparison to here, the winner was Superior High School, which is de facto part of Minnesota anyway)
from Larry: Thank you, Dick, for the GK piece. I read and l listen to his free columns but I see you subscribe. I should. Keillor has been a source of inspiration for me since his first MPR broadcast in 1974. That’s when I bought an FM radio for the living room. Listened each week and taped a sizable number of shows until I recorded them on CDs. He still hasn’t lost the touch. We were and still are contemporaries. He was at the U of M when I was there. I didn’t know him. He worked at KUOM, the student station, and I was the late night and all night on the weekends DJ at 50,000 watt KSTP. Had I known more about the Great American Songbook and life itself, I could have done a much better job at KSTP. I wasn’t experienced enough, in my own mind, but I earned a “voluntary quit” slip from Hubbard Broadcasting when I left in ’64 to get married and return to ND, turning to a different side of broadcasting. Which, as I write my history, was a good decision, although far less “glamorous” than staying with an on-air position I earned at a broadcast station in the 13th market nationally. Thanks for the piece. Stimulated lots of memories, Dick. LG
What an incredible teller of stories! My 98-year-old brain is a sieve, but I can still remember the details of a least a dozen of those he told on his NPR show.