prairie home companion at the bowl

We went up to Hollywood yesterday to see Prairie Home Companion at the Hollywood Bowl. This is the view from our hotel window. You can see the Hollywood sign in the upper left corner if you squint. We could also see the Griffith Observatory and the Capitol Records Building, but the photos didn't turn out well. I was playing with the sepia filter on my new phone.

We were seated way to the left. That's Garrison Keillor in the white suit onstage. Pretty venue, huh? I have more pix of tiny little figures onstage, but you probably don't want to see them. You might be familiar with the Prairie Home Companion if you listen to NPR. It's an old-timey variety show with Keillor as the host, a great band, sound effects guy Fred Newman, the Steele Sisters and other regulars. Visiting were Sarah Watkins, singer and mandolin player, and actor Martin Sheen, who barely reached the shoulder of tall Keillor. Interesting. 

There was a huge crowd - do you want to see photos? My favorite part of the show was before it actually began, with Keillor and a few other cast members walking through the crowd, up to the top of the hill where the uppermost seats were, and then back down, all the time gently singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and other simple tunes. I took photos but you can't see him in the throng. Oh, there was a wonderful opera singer, too. They did all the familiar stuff, like Guy Noir and The Lives of the Cowboys, the News from Lake Wobegon, etc. Well, you had to be there. The crowd loved it.