Dan Thompson
non-student from
Murray, Ky
Scanning The Murray State News and being a big fan of “Prairie Home Companion,” I naturally read the column by Mr. Walker titled “Prairie Home Reality.” While I would not disagree with most of what Mr. Walker said, most of what he said had nothing to do with the show. He made the jump from the show to the past with the sentence “The show has a way of looking back to a world my generation has never experienced and making it look wonderful.”
I was introduced to the show 30 years ago. It has not changed appreciably and it has always been about the present, not the past. Perhaps the tribute to a bluegrass musician who has passed away disguised the nature of the show to a first-timer, but that topic was an exception and a very nice one.
This same “Prairie Home Companion” has frequently hosted the group, Old Crow Medicine Show, the same group that had hoards of students jumping around the floor of Lovett Auditorium like popcorn last year. The “News from Lake Wobegon” is news of what happened this past week, not past decades.
I recommend that you listen to the show a few times. You will note that the only thing old about it is the format. My 12-year-old enjoys it. Too bad it won’t be around to enjoy during his adult years.
We often hear about the “simple things” in life being free. “Prairie Home Companion” is one of the “finer things” and it is also free.