And what a night it was. Like many things, it started over a beer at Great Waters Brewing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. I said to my wife, as two older couples walked by, “Look, they’re Lutherans.” Kathy, herself a Lutheran from Minnesota, lectured me about trying to identify people’s religion by the way they look. I took a swig and told her to trust me.
Ten minutes later, there they were, standing in line at the Fiztgerald Theater waiting to see Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. I put my arm around Kathy and whispered, “Told you so” in my very best Scandinavian accent. The lines getting into the Fitz were long; the lines at the two bars inside the theater, even longer. Perhaps that’s the secret to getting people to laugh at nearly anything; in some cases it might be, but not with Garrison — the guy is a walking and talking and singing home run.
It was a show that I didn’t want to end. Which for me, is what content should always be about. Content should be compelling, engaging, humble and genuine. All content — even your emails — are more telling than you think, as are your text messages. But more on that in a later post.
A Prairie Home Companion is so content-rich, it’s inspiring. (And while I’m feeling so inspirational, let me give a shout-out to two young musicians going by the name of Storyhill, who performed that night. Wonderful.) A Garrison Keillor show is all content from the sound effects and story telling, to the music and the ad-libbing. But what makes this content even stronger is the ability to see it in action; the imagery seals the deal. It was the first time I’ve ever seen live radio theater. I can only imagine how compelling it would have been to see shows like Tales of the Texas Rangers, Amos & Andy, Ellery Queen, and Artie Shaw.
In fact, as a boy, I remember my father launching into a bone-chilling rendition of “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow does.” Then he’d pull the trigger on the most terrifying laugh for what seemed like a minute, although it was probably just seconds. Gee dad, why did you have to do that just before bed time?
In any event, what makes a Prairie Home Companion so terrific, is not just the content, but also the simple imagery that plays along with that content — and we can all learn a lesson from that. Add imagery to your copy. Even if it’s a blog post, add a little color. If I had artistic control of this blog, I might add a glass of beer toward the top of the post and a poster of The Shadow right above here.
As someone said, “A picture’s worth a thousand words.” Unfortunately, something got lost in the translation. Apparently, the literal translation is, “A picture’s worth a thousand pieces of gold.” Even better. Have a great night, and take a pass on terrifying your children.
Sign up for the free IB Update — your weekly resource for local business news, analysis, voices and the names you need to know. Click here.
