A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION NEW YEAR'S LULU FROM HONOLULU
Contact:
David O'Neill
Prairie Home Productions
Phone: 651-999-1092
E-mail: davido@prairiehome.us
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION NEW YEAR'S LULU FROM HONOLULU
Garrison Keillor and the APHC cast ring in the new year with two broadcasts from Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets on sale Saturday, November 19th.
(St. Paul, Minn.) — Not everyone seeks out cold and snow for New Year's. Even dyed-in-the-wool Minnesotan Garrison Keillor can go for a hit of balmy weather in the dead of winter. And so he's taking his ever-popular popular radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, to Honolulu, Hawaii, for two live broadcasts on December 31.
Prairie Home's regular Saturday live broadcast begins at 12:45 p.m. Hawaii Time. Then, at 4:45 p.m. (HT) it's "A Prairie Home Companion's Hawaiian New Year's Eve," a three-hour special broadcast that will ring in 2012 across the country. Check local public radio listings for tune-in times in your area.
"New Year's Eve is supposed to be lighthearted, optimistic, even joyful, and for our listeners across America and overseas, Hawaii represents those things. Yes, I suppose it is a cliché, but it's a happy cliché, and it means that when we Statesiders get off a plane in Honolulu in that marvelous open-air airport and smell the sea breeze and the flowers, we feel an instant buoyancy. New Year's Eve tends to be a disappointing night, too much alcohol in crowded rooms with loud people. I can imagine someone sitting on a farm in Minnesota on December 31st and hearing soft-voiced Hawaiian singers and slack-key guitars and smelling the flowers and imagining beautiful people and deciding that 2012 may be a happy year after all."
— Garrison Keillor
In addition to Prairie Home favorites like Guy Noir and The Cowboys, both performances will feature actress Sue Scott, Tim Russell (the man of many voices), and sound-effects wizard Fred Newman, along with the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, led by pianist Rich Dworsky. There will be an array of special guest performers, including slack key guitar and ukulele master Led Kaapana. And as always, there's a chance to catch up on the news from Lake Wobegon during Keillor's signature monologue.
Tickets for each show go on sale Saturday, November 19, in person at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Box Office or through Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com.
Currently in its 38th season, A Prairie Home Companion has made the fictional small town of Lake Wobegon part of American popular culture. The show is broadcast on close to 600 public radio stations nationwide, with a weekly audience that tops 4.3 million listeners. The program can also be heard on the Armed Forces Network Europe, the Far East Network, and in dozens of European cities via the Astra satellite network.
Garrison Keillor is the recipient of Grammy, ACE and George Foster Peabody awards, and he has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His books include Lake Wobegon Days, The Book of Guys, Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance (Viking), A Christmas Blizzard (Viking), and Good Poems: American Places, a third volume of poetry selected by Keillor.
A Prairie Home Companion is produced by Prairie Home Productions and presented by American Public Media. The show is sponsored nationally by Allianz and Ford. Audio clips, scripts and more information on A Prairie Home Companion can be found online at www.prairiehome.org.
WHAT: A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
A Prairie Home Companion's Hawaiian New Year's Eve
WHO: Garrison Keillor, with Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Fred Newman, the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, plus special guest performers, including slack key guitar and ukulele master Led Kaapana
WHEN: Saturday broadcast: December 31 at 12:45 p.m. Hawaii Time (on air 6:00 p.m. Eastern)
New Year's Eve special: December 31 at 5:45 p.m.
(Check local public radio listings for tune-in time in your area)
WHERE: Neal S. Blaisdell Center Concert Hall, 777 Ward Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii
TICKETS: $35, $45, $55, $65 (plus applicable service charges). Purchase in person at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Box Office, at Hawaii Walmart locations, or through Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Go to www.prairiehome.org or become a fan on Facebook. And visit www.blaisdellcenter.com and www.hawaiipublicradio.org