A few months ago, Lance had the grand idea to buy tickets for his Prairie Dawn to A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass. Desiring a visit Tanglewood since we moved, this seemed like the best opportunity since the lure of classical music alone is not quite enough to get restless Lance to endure a 3 hour car ride. But Garrison Keillor is, you ask? Well, yes...he is, or his show is anyways!
Having listened for years, the Tanglewood shows stick out in my mind because they have a completely different sound; mainly one of bird calls and whistles and clapping being carried through the wind. The show was held in the "shed" basically an open air shelter with a roof. Before the show started, we had the requisite picnic on the lawn, with a bottle of wine, stilton and a crunchy soft baguette, salami, and fresh raspberries. While dining, our eyes perused the picnic of New Englanders; many, many characters passed before our eyes. Even when full of people, you feel as though it is just you and a few people around you - I guess it's sort of like camping at a campground - you know others are there but you are so wrapped up in your own content world that you don't even notice.....
You can buy seated tickets in the shed or simply pay about $20 to sit on the lawn and listen. Before the show, Keillor walked down the long aisle of the shed and greeted the lawn guests with a song in a very joyful relaxed way....I imagine it must be quite an amazing place to perform, with multitudes of people fanned out on a beautiful forest-y lawn in all directions....people picnicking and drinking wine, kids throwing footballs, generations of families together, and little ones snuggled on blankets, all surrounded by a perimeter of pine trees and just beyond them, the valleys and peaks of the Berkshire hills. The charm of New England in utter force....
James Taylor, a Berkshirite himself, performed a few songs...one I remember Dad singing to me when I was a little thing and he wanted me to sleep...Sweet Baby James, which Dad appropriately edited to Sweet Baby Jane. I also recall listening to the show at 7 or 8 years old, middle of winter, middle of nowhere, fire going in the woodstove, trying to stick it out until the News from Lake Wobegan, as that was about the only part I found funny...besides the songs about cats. Anyways, with those two memories flashing in my mind during the show, it was good to flash forward to a current one of Lance smiling next to me, fidgety and restless, in the middle of Massachusetts....a good life I seem to have stumbled into...
Here's pics:
2 comments:
I was listening on the radio, didn't know you and Lance were there! Hearing the opening strains of PHC or Garrison's voice has the same effect on me - for a few seconds I'm instantly transported back to a (usually) winter Saturday night somewhere in MN, warm and full from dinner, waiting for the News from Lake W. The theme music from As It Happens or Barbara Budd's voice - same effect, but I'm in the backseat of the car looking out my window at the stars wondering if the flashing one is a UFO. Glad to hear it was so nice to be at Tanglewood - cbe
I listened to this show because I am (and have been forever) the biggest JT fan in my family. My first cat was named James "Mr. Squeak" Taylor and Sweet Baby James was our song! I can't believe you got to BE THERE -- and that you actually got my brother to peel himself away from that damn job of his! Good job, Mindy. Your powers amaze me. Now if you could just get him to at least call his sister when he's in town . . .
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