'The Prairie Home Companion', G. K., and me.

My lady and I just made our anniversary trip down to the Tri-City so we could see the area premier of the 'Prairie Home Companion' movie. It was a nostalgic experience for me. For one thing, as part of this special wing-ding we all got two little Bee-Bop-a-Roo-Bop Rhubarb pies. But mostly it is a good movie. You should go see it.

It made me homesick for Saint Paul, Minnesota and the morning show that Garrison Keillor did that I listened to on my way in to school, or to work at the Minnesota Historical Society. The movie takes place in St Paul, my favorite place to live. I remember the Garrison Keillor Prairie Home Companion Show when it was still just a local show, a home town secret. I saw Garrison several times, here and there. He briefly considered going to St Clement's Church where I went. And he personifies much that I admired and loved about Minnesotans. At 6'4'' and looking like a young Jack Elam he is hard to miss.

The first hint at what the movie might mean to me came in the first few seconds, when 'River Road Productions' flashed on the screen. River Road runs along the bluffs of the Mississippi right through the Twin Cities. I lived one half of a block from it, near the Lake Street Bridge. I drove, biked, or walked River Road nearly every single day for nine years. Later in the movie they did a song named after Summit Avenue, which ended at River Rd about a block from my apartment. Another road I drove or biked up constantly. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in several different places on Summit Ave. In the movie his bust virtually becomes a character in the movie.

The first scene takes place at the old Mickey's Diner, a place in the shadow of John Ireland's cathedral. Then the movie shifts to the Fitzgerald theatre, again a place I have been by many times. And Meryl Streep has the Minnesota accent down pat.

I could go on, but it's hard to put into words the special allure St Paul still has in my memory. The old Summit Ave area was my home, and until I got married I went back every summer. Once I pulled off I-94 on Cretin down to Summit, I could feel myself relaxing. I was safe among friends.

The ties have loosened over the last seven years. But the movie brought it all back.