On August 23 I met with Mary Zophres, the costume designer for a wardrobe fitting. There was a large room filled with every conceivable outfit, male and female, from the late’60’s, a look I remember very well. I received a nice dark suit, skinny tie black shoes and socks, white shirt and a “Blues Brothers” hat. I had a nice chat with Debbie DeLisi, the extras casting director. She worked on the Robert Altman film “A Prairie Home Companion” with me and brought me up to date on what the producers and crew had been up to.

September 1, Labor Day, took me to the floor of the Republican National Convention as part of my day job with WCCO, a CBS radio station, and “The Morning News with Dave Lee”. I’m the Entertainment Editor as part of the morning show, but during the convention I served as a roving reporter ambushing the big names with my trusty Flash Mic, a portable digital Microphone with a built in flash memory. I Talked with Laura Bush, NBC’s Meredith Vieira, Rep. Ron Paul, Face the Nation’s Bob Shieiffer, former Governor Jesse Ventura, CNN’s John Roberts and many others. The security was intense, but since we arrived at 4am each morning it was smooth sailing getting in and out.

After the last day, September 4, my wife and I left for vacation in Buenos Aires, Argentina The Coen Brothers had some concerns about our planned return date of September 15th since my shooting day was to be the 16th, so we arranged to come back on the 13th, traveling back through Houston.

Argentina was great, good food, great people, and fine architecture. Hurricane Ike was of some concern through our week there, so we moved our return to September 11th, arriving in Houston on the 12th. It became a race with the clock, when we arrived in Houston our 11am flight had been canceled; they were closing the airport at Noon. We were able to rebook getting the last two seats on the 7:10am flight to MSP, but had just 20 minutes to make the flight. We were very lucky. Judy’s cousin Patty lives in Houston and said we could stay in their guest room if we got stranded. Ike hit in the wee hours of Saturday the 13th and later that day we got a call from Patty that a tree had smashed through their roof right into the guestroom that had been prepped for us. We were very, very lucky.

Tuesday the 16th I arrived at the base camp of the Coen Brothers Film at 9am, got into my costume and waited for my call. The base camp is a Lutheran Church in Bloomington, a postwar suburb with the right look for the period. The block of homes that serves as the exterior set was hit with straight line winds a few years back so all these ramblers had newly planted trees making it look like 1967. We I got the call for my scene after a great film set meal, I was blown away by the time travel aspect of the one story houses with mid 60’s cars in every driveway.

I play Detective #1 and my partner, Detective#2 is played by Guthrie Theater actor, Jim Lichtscheidl. We looked like Jake and Elwood, The Blues Brothers, in our hats so the Coen Brothers decided to ditch the hats. We blocked the scene then waited 20 minutes for them to set the camera and lights. The props department had just given us badges to use…”Badges! Badges! I don’t need no stinking badges!” I used the time practicing whipping my badge out of my suit coat pocket with authority.

We did four takes, shooting us from inside the house through a screen door, with minor adjustments each time. The brothers were very nice and seemed pleased with the results. They even thanked me for coming back from my vacation early. When I told them about our close call Ethan said, “I guess we saved your life then”. We return on October 13th to film the scene again from our viewpoint of the scene, the exterior of the house looking in to the living room.

It’s about 30 seconds, so I don’t think I’ll be submitted for anyone’s consideration come Oscar time, but it was a big thrill. I just hope I escape the cutting room floor.

ShareThis

We recorded this on a Friday night for broadcast the next day. It’s one of the few times Garrison will do this, out of deference to the LA audience who would bake in the sun if we did the show live at 3pm LA time.

We were pleased to work with Martin Sheen and Bonnie Raitt. Martin has been with us twice before and is a huge Garrison fan, having listened from the earliest days of the show. He took part in the “Guy Noir” and “The Lives of the Cowboys” scripts as well as a tribute to Robert F. Kennedy. Garrison also poked fun at his “struggling actor days” with a presentation of several fictitious appearances on TV and the big screen.

Bonnie Raitt has been with us once before and, in addition to her fabulous musical performance, aided by Richard Thompson, Keb Mo, and The Guys All-Star Shoe band, she showed her acting skills in the “Guy Noir” script.

The amazing Jearlyn Steele had her usual show stopping performances.

After the show the backstage crowd included Martin’s family, Emilio Estevez and his significant other, Sonja, plus several more.

Vince Vaughn and Peter Billingsley showed up with Peter’s 103 Great Aunt Blanche. She was lively and loved the show.

Vince and Peter came back to say hello after our Minnesota State Fair Show last September. Writer Greg Fiedler is a contributor to A Prairie Home Companion in addition to writing for “The Soup” on the “E” Network. He often appears on the live comedy segments with host Joel McCrae on “The Soup”.

Thursday, June 5th, we drove to the offices of our LA agents Vox, Inc. on Wilshire Boulevard. We met with Tom Lawless, Jerome Titshaw, and Jason Merrell. Jason came to the show with a friend and enjoyed the backstage scene as well.

Tim had a call Friday night from Vox booking him for a series of spots Monday morning at LA Studios near Universal City. Turns out it was an ISDN patch with a Twin Cities Agency. Technology has made this a small world, we can do a job on a moment’s notice wherever we are.

Some of the Tourist highlights for Tim and his wife Judy include the new Glendale shopping attraction, Americana at Brand, from the folks who did the popular Grove Shopping Mall near The Farmers Market. We enjoyed a great meal at the new Katsuya Restaurant at Americana.

The Griffith Park Observatory has just completed a 93 million dollar renovation and is a must see attraction. The Planetarium Show is spectacular.

The Huntington Library and Gardens has also undergone a total renovation, 20 million dollars worth, and proved to be a lovely place to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The Cactus Gardens were surreal for a couple Minnesotans.

If you go to Old Pasadena, we would recommend the Santorini Café for outdoor dining with a Mediterranean flair.

Los Angeles in early June with the Jacaranda Trees in full bloom, is a great place to be and we always look forward to our visit.

ShareThis

McCain Might Not Like the Sound of This

By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Friday, May 16, 2008; C03

The man’s been the presumptive GOP nominee for two months already, so it’s about time someone mastered a John McCain impression.

That person is voice actor Tim Russell, a 16-year veteran of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” public-radio show, who in a skit last week showed off a delightfully husky Bill Clinton and a somberly resonant Barack Obama– but whose McCain voice was so eerily evocative you’d think the Arizona senator himself stepped in for a cameo. (With all due respect to Darrell Hammond, who recently debuted a solid McCain on “SNL.”)

“Let me tell you something, my friend,” Russell-as-McCain warned the show’s Hillary Clinton ( Sue Scott). “When you and the skinny guy get done cutting each other up, I’m waiting for the winner in the parking lot.”

[See post to watch Flash video]

How does he get that voice so right? “It’s a little bit of Ronald Reagan,” Russell told us on the phone from Minnesota, “a little bit of Carol Channing, and Liberace.”

Carol Channing?! “It’s the ’s’ [sounds] — there’s a little sibilance involved. It’s the nasality that comes from Liberace. From Reagan, it’s just that breathy tone.”

Plus, there’s McCain’s trademark verbal tic. “I saw him doing a town hall meeting and I was struck by the number of times he said, ‘my friend.’ I thought, ‘Holy cow, there’s a hook.’ We always have our ears open to that kind of thing.”

McCain is easy, he said, compared with Obama, whose tics are subtler, as Russell demonstrated for us: “He only talks [pause] in two or three words [pause] at a time.” And he contracts “you know” to “yo.”

Russell’s big concern: That Minnesota’s own Gov. Tim Pawlenty may end up as McCain’s VP pick. “He’s got a good talk-show-host voice, very straight, nothing to pick up on,” he said. “Anyone who’s normal is always trouble.”

ShareThis

[See post to watch Flash video]

ShareThis

“A Prairie Home Companion’: From Lake Wobegon to Las Cruces
By S. Derrickson Moore/Sun-News reporter

LAS CRUCES — The folks of Lake Wobegon are coming for the first-ever Las Cruces live broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” from New Mexico State University’s Pan American Center on May 31.
Here on the Southwestern prairies, fans are eagerly awaiting the event, according to David O’Neill, “PHC’s” marketing director.
“We are very excited to be coming to Las Cruces and from the moment that Garrison (Keillor) made mention of our coming there in a New Year’s Eve special, we have been hearing from folks telling us how excited they are — we honestly have been given an incredible welcome have received a ton of the nicest messages from people in and around Las Cruces,” O’Neill said.
In phone interviews this week from their home base in Minneapolis, longtime cast members Tim Russell and Sue Scott talked about what it takes to bring the beloved PBS show to its fans every week.
“Usually we come into town the day before the show,” said Russell, whose motley crew of characters have been described by legendary show host and author Keillor as “the mafioso, callow youth, Yale smoothie, prickly curmudgeon, Paris boulevardier, Russian artiste, Swedish sourpuss and cowpoke president.”
This year, Russell has added some new voices to his repertoire.”Because it’s political season, I’m also doing John McCain and Barack Obama in addition to the current occupant” of the White House. “And sometimes I still bring out Al Gore,” said Russell, breaking into character to announce that “I didn’t really invent the Internet.”
He has a Monday through Friday show on a Minneapolis radio station and spends most weekends on the road with “PHC.”
“We’ve been on the road for the last six weeks,” said Russell, adding that broadcasts from the Midwestern environs envisioned by most “PHC” fans are rare these days.
“We actually do most of our shows on other locations: maybe 10 or 12 in the twin cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) and all the rest, 24 or so, are on the road. I love to travel and enjoy going to museums in whatever city we’re in,” Russell said.
He said the show is full of surprises for the cast and rewrites continue until just before broadcast time.
“Garrison is a genius and what makes it fun for us is that we really don’t have to think about it. The writing is so good everything just falls into place. We’re always in hog heaven,” said Russell, who has been with the show since 1994.
There are also perks like the chance to hobnob with a highly diverse group of celebrities that range from legendary musicians to movie stars.
“Leon Redbone was just on the show,” said Russell.
He and Scott also have fond memories of the 2006 movie based on the show with an all-star cast that included Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin and Lindsay Lohan.
“Lindsay calls me grandpa,” Russell reports.
Scott, a native of Tucson, Ariz., said she is looking forward to a visit to desert country. She’s been with the show since 1992 and said she has “the best job in show business. We are truly like a family. Some people have been with the show for 33 years, since the beginning. Garrison writes brilliant dialog and at 65 going on 66, he seems to have more energy and gets busier all the time.”
She has recently added Hillary Clinton to a list of characters that Keillor describes as “Lutheran lunch lady, grizzled waitress, supermodel, suburban mom, bimbo, harridan, harpy and siren.”
She and Russell also team as Barb and Jim, the popular Ketchup Advisory Board couple.
“I say that they are all my favorites because I don’t want any of my characters to feel left out. Tim is great with impersonations and I would say that I am more of a character actress. I try to find some kind of hook. Laura Bush is easier because of her thick Texas accent. Hillary is harder. I try to pick up something from her stump speeches,” she said.
Her adventures with “PHC” have included theme cruises with the cast and live broadcasts from exotic locales like Iceland.
“We broadcast to about 5 million fans in the United States but we’re aired in other English-speaking countries, on the BBC in London and in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand,” she said, and Internet streaming is making “PHC” a worldwide phenomenon.
She said an 18-wheeler with sets and equipment will roll into Las Cruces a few days before the May 31 broadcast, and a cast and crew of about 25 will gather for rehearsals on May 30.
“Garrison keeps doing rewrites and the script keeps evolving until broadcast time,” she said.
The “PHC” Web site recently announced that the musical guest will be Grammy Award-winning mandolin player and vocalist Chris Thile.
“We’ve been working to get this show here for three years. I’m really excited about this,” said Bobbie Welch, Pan Am’s special events coordinator, who reports that 3,000 of 4,500 available tickets were sold by this week.
“That includes almost all of the top-end tickets,” she said, adding that Pan Am officials are considering whether to open up additional seating areas to a maximum capacity of 5,300 seats for the show.

ShareThis

[See post to watch Flash video]

ShareThis

[See post to watch Flash video]

ShareThis

We had a wonderful time connecting with old friends from the previous two cruises, and new friends as well. We embarked from Copenhagen, Denmark and in between our scenic stops at the Fjords and Towns of beautiful Norway,

there was a constant source of entertainment on board with the Royal Academy of Radio Actors, the Guys All Star Shoe Band and lots of frequent guests of the show performing and putting on workshops at all hours in several different venues. Tim, Sue , and sound-effects Wizard Fred Newman held a couple of Actor’s Workshops giving guests a chance to perform a script from “A Prairie Home Companion”.

Sue and Tim performed an original play, “First Impressions: An Encounter In Three Steps”. Sue came up with a wonderful outline of the story of a man addicted to voice impressions and the women who help him deal with it. Sue and Tim fleshed out the script with the help of Prairie Home Companion writer Laura Buchholz. We performed it four times in the Ocean bar with musical accompaniment by accordionist Dan Newton.

The concept of performing a theater piece in a bar or café setting came from “Thirst Theater” , which performs short original work by Twin Cities playwrights and professional actors in the midst of a bar/café. “First Impressions” was a great deal of fun for us as we were able to work in over 50 celebrity impressions plus some APHC favorites like “Barb and Jim” and Dr. Judith Flexnor.

ShareThis

ShareThis

ShareThis