On this week's classic rebroadcast: a show originally from November 2014 at The Town Hall in New York City, New York. Kat Edmonson sings "You've Said Enough" and "Dark Cloud," Vince Giordano and Butch Thompson sit in with Richard Dworsky and the band to pay tribute to pianist and composer James P. Johnson, and Kate Beahen joins Garrison on a few Broadway classics. Plus: Guy Noir heads to City Hall to report a dangerous elevator, and a message from our sponsor Fritz Electronics. In Lake Wobegon, the exiles begin to trickle back home for Thanksgiving. Download this week's News from Lake Wobgeon Notes from Kat Edmonson about this week's rebroadcast: I got one rehearsal the day before the show to make sure everything was copacetic between myself and the show's band who would be backing me up, The 43rd St. Regulars. It's rare that I ever feel comfortable handing over my songs and arrangements to another bandleader but collaborating with musical director Richard Dworsky is like taking a ride in a luxury automobile. Everything works and runs like a dream. For that reason, we were free to have fun and make good music instead of worrying about hooking-up as a band. On top of that, we had Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, a phenomenal big-band, playing on the show with us which was a total thrill! I'd always dreamt of fronting a big-band. I met Vince and his gang at the rehearsal for this show and we've subsequently played a lot together since that day.
This was my first time performing at Town Hall, one of my favorite venues in New York City, and the crowd was rowdy and marvelous that night! Garrison was in top form, as usual. I'm forever in awe of the way he wrote each week's show so seemingly effortlessly and I was grateful that he gave me the returning role of "Kat Mandu" in his famous Guy Noir script. He wrote this character for me during my first time on Prairie Home and in retrospect, I don't know why he did. I didn't have any acting experience that he was aware of but I was over-the-moon excited to be a part of that script -- it was my favorite part of show as far back as when I was a 12-year-old girl listening in on Saturday nights. Performing with Garrison and the mammoth talents of Fred Newman, Sue Scott, and Tim Russell will always be a highlight of my career. Notes from Butch Thompson about this week's rebroadcast: My assignment for this show was to play and talk about the music of the great pianist/composer James P. Johnson. This is right up my alley, and because we were in New York, I was able to enlist the great Vince Giordano and Jon-Erik Kellso to make it work. Smooth sailing!