Busy has been the word. Locally early Spring, at times summer like weather, second photo job worked and finally done, and with the above weather back to weekend yard work means so much to do and not always enough time.
May 14th, we drive to Spokane to see a show.
A 'bucket list' thing one could say for me was my hope to at some point to attend and see a live performance of "A Prairie Home Companion" with the host Garrison Keillor. Then last October on our local PBS radio station it was announced that the current season of the show was going to be Keillor's last, he is in his 70s after all, and has been running the show since the 1970s. And to top that news off there would be one last live performance with him as the host in Spokane, Washington, only 2 hours away.
I have listened to his Saturday evening show off and on since first discovering the show in the early 1990s while going through the dial on my motorcycle's AM / FM radio while on a trip, and had often considered going to a show when he would be in the Los Angeles area, we lived in Southern California then, but just never did it.
In the early 2000s daughter Sandy, who at the time was working her first post college architectural job and living in Santa Barbara, California, had found out about a Garrison Keillor one night show appearance in town for the college crowd.
She'd gotten us tickets and we drove to Santa Barbara for the weekend and Stacy, Sandy and I went to see his one man show.
Now, over a decade later and just in time at the end of his long run as creator and host, and Stacy and I go to see his most known for show.
I had purchased the pretty expensive tickets last November, 2015, so we could go. At the time I was just checking the Tickets West site after learning about the show date and was very surprised to find out the show was already almost sold out even back then, so I bought our 2 tickets.
Fast forward to Saturday the 14th, due to the show being broadcast and recorded live for the time zones, it starts at 3 pm pacific for up to 6 pm eastern start time airplay.
So, that made this trip an all day event with the drive involved plus the email a week earlier I'd gotten from Tickets West about several big events that same day in the same general area at the same time that would make it crowded in the venue area.
We combined the trip with some shopping Stacy wanted to do and an errand to pick up some stuff for Stacy from a person from her state level involvement.
We got there early, found parking in the big area mall that we'd never been to before a few blocks away, had lunch then walked down towards the INB Performing Arts Center. There were many vendors set up in the park for the annual "Lilac Festival", also lots of marriage parties getting their before and after wedding photos in the park as we walked over to the center.
In the area the "Lilac Parade" had recently ended and there were lots of school kids, bus loads, and families still in the area.
At the Convention Center near the INB was also the Spokane Valley "Comic Con" and we saw quite a few people in costume walking around for that event.
Here are some photos I took:
We spent too much on some Prairie Home gifts, always more expensive at the venue instead of later online, but it was fun. I was able to record the audio of the show we'd attended the next night as the show is always rebroadcast again the next day, Sunday, from 6 pm to 8 pm on Spokane Public Radio.
And, if you go to the website, www.prairehome.org, you too can listen to that exact show from May 14th, 2016, we were in the audience for as well as most shows from all the years it has been on or on the air since that Saturday night. Garrison Keillor's last time "at the plate" is in July. That should be a good show too.
The show, Prairie Home Companion will go with a Keillor picked replacement host starting next October. Will they still be as good? Will a much younger guy bring back some "life" to the show? Even I have to admit after listening to a few of the late 1990s shows on the website myself, you can really tell the years have slowed Keillor down a lot, so maybe. We'll all have to wait and see!
Bucket list checked, and I'm glad we got to do this!!
May 14th, we drive to Spokane to see a show.
A 'bucket list' thing one could say for me was my hope to at some point to attend and see a live performance of "A Prairie Home Companion" with the host Garrison Keillor. Then last October on our local PBS radio station it was announced that the current season of the show was going to be Keillor's last, he is in his 70s after all, and has been running the show since the 1970s. And to top that news off there would be one last live performance with him as the host in Spokane, Washington, only 2 hours away.
I have listened to his Saturday evening show off and on since first discovering the show in the early 1990s while going through the dial on my motorcycle's AM / FM radio while on a trip, and had often considered going to a show when he would be in the Los Angeles area, we lived in Southern California then, but just never did it.
In the early 2000s daughter Sandy, who at the time was working her first post college architectural job and living in Santa Barbara, California, had found out about a Garrison Keillor one night show appearance in town for the college crowd.
She'd gotten us tickets and we drove to Santa Barbara for the weekend and Stacy, Sandy and I went to see his one man show.
Now, over a decade later and just in time at the end of his long run as creator and host, and Stacy and I go to see his most known for show.
I had purchased the pretty expensive tickets last November, 2015, so we could go. At the time I was just checking the Tickets West site after learning about the show date and was very surprised to find out the show was already almost sold out even back then, so I bought our 2 tickets.
Fast forward to Saturday the 14th, due to the show being broadcast and recorded live for the time zones, it starts at 3 pm pacific for up to 6 pm eastern start time airplay.
So, that made this trip an all day event with the drive involved plus the email a week earlier I'd gotten from Tickets West about several big events that same day in the same general area at the same time that would make it crowded in the venue area.
We combined the trip with some shopping Stacy wanted to do and an errand to pick up some stuff for Stacy from a person from her state level involvement.
We got there early, found parking in the big area mall that we'd never been to before a few blocks away, had lunch then walked down towards the INB Performing Arts Center. There were many vendors set up in the park for the annual "Lilac Festival", also lots of marriage parties getting their before and after wedding photos in the park as we walked over to the center.
In the area the "Lilac Parade" had recently ended and there were lots of school kids, bus loads, and families still in the area.
At the Convention Center near the INB was also the Spokane Valley "Comic Con" and we saw quite a few people in costume walking around for that event.
Here are some photos I took:
In the park was this giant Radio Flyer wagon. Stacy standing by the back wheel shows how big it was. A kid is climbing up into the wagon box and then can slide down the slide where the handle would be were this a real wagon a few hundred times smaller!
Walking past the corner of the INB building towards the entrance.
Past the outdoor lobby area was a common walking area and there was this statue honoring one of the astronauts, a local guy, of the Space shuttle killed in February 2003 when it burned up on reentry after the foam put the hole in the wing.
Waiting in one of the several lines for the doors to open at 2 pm to go inside.
So we're inside and making our way to our seating area, this was the throngs still coming in below.
So, these photos show the crowd getting seated. This was about 2:20, not many here yet.
Now about 2:35, getting there. It was a record sold out show.
Almost 2:45 now and pretty full! We were in the "orchestra level" all the way at the back wall and there were 2 levels of seating above us that really could be called the "nosebleed seating" with them so high!
Sorry, not a good shot but at 2:45 Keillor comes out to "warm up" the audience which is what he's doing right then. His white suit and red tie and red tennis shoes, his trademark attire, don't contrast with the white stage light.
The stage setup behind the curtains as the show got started. Of course the auditorium was darkened during the show and the ushers came around yelling at people using their phones to take any photos or videos after the lights were down, so I didn't take any.
Above from the lobby and the last two photos were right after the show Keillor came out the "Green Room" entrance to meet with any fans. We were walking back towards the mall and our car and watched for a few minutes. It soon got really packed as word got around he was there.
We spent too much on some Prairie Home gifts, always more expensive at the venue instead of later online, but it was fun. I was able to record the audio of the show we'd attended the next night as the show is always rebroadcast again the next day, Sunday, from 6 pm to 8 pm on Spokane Public Radio.
And, if you go to the website, www.prairehome.org, you too can listen to that exact show from May 14th, 2016, we were in the audience for as well as most shows from all the years it has been on or on the air since that Saturday night. Garrison Keillor's last time "at the plate" is in July. That should be a good show too.
The show, Prairie Home Companion will go with a Keillor picked replacement host starting next October. Will they still be as good? Will a much younger guy bring back some "life" to the show? Even I have to admit after listening to a few of the late 1990s shows on the website myself, you can really tell the years have slowed Keillor down a lot, so maybe. We'll all have to wait and see!
Bucket list checked, and I'm glad we got to do this!!
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