UPDATE: You can hear this broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion online. Click here!

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Jeane and I just returned home from a wonderful weekend in St. Louis. We haven’t traveled for pleasure in a long time, and though there were a few business elements to this trip, it was more of a vacation than a business trip. We made the trek to St. Louis to make our debut on A Prairie Home Companion. If you listened to the show very closely you should have just been able to hear us applauding very loudly from our perfect seats in the mezzanine. And that was our first, and probably only, appearance on nation-wide radio.

We have been fans of A Prairie Home Companion for a long time. I am in love with the medium. Radio and I are old lovers, and the live variety show with excellent musicians, smart comedy, and accomplished radio actors is the perfect vehicle for it. It is what radio should be–as opposed to the virtual, genre-specific jukeboxes most stations have become.

And to top it all off, this week’s broadcast was from the beautiful Fabulous Fox Theater. The trip was worth it just to see this magnificant old theater restored to her former glory. Built for $5 Million in 1927, this theater of the Simamese Byzantine style is one of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever seen. The only thing you can think to say to yourself as you look around the Fox is, They just don’t build things like this anymore.

And speaking of things they don’t build anymore, our hotel was in the restored St. Louis Union Station. Sheer historical beauty and elegance!

But the best of all was the time we got to spend with our good friends Brandon and Emily who drove in to spend the weekend with us. Working together–and hard, if I do say so myself–Jeane and I can live an almost cocoon-like existence. It is so good for us to take a little break and sneak up I-44 just to have some fun, laugh with friends, enjoy good art, and see some of the folks we admire most. And yes, I realize that it is utter frivolity to go see a radio show.

And, lastly, we also got to stop in Springfield on the way home and visit with my cousin who is about to burst with child! In fact, they are inducing tomorrow. We fed her some pie because, as I told her, it was her last night to eat for two. On a sad note, they have been without electricty in Springfield for a week, and it is still not on. Our hearts are with them and the many others who have suffered without basic utilities–and those who have had their beautifully remodeled kitchens destroyed. Thank God it is not always like this.

And now, it’s off to bed…