 "Photo: Nic Meyers")
According to Garrison Keillor, Vermillion is where "flat couldn't be more beautiful" but also the "place of many truths." It's also the home to the "natural stone formation" known as the DakotaDome. But most importantly, Vermillion is the nest for the National Music Museum.
Of course, no "Prairie Home Companion" show is complete without the Days of Lake Wobegon or Guy Noir.
But before Keillor started his national broadcast last Saturday from the Dome, he helped familiarize the audience with Vermillion's Valiant Vineyards, where they make red wine for a red state. Keillor also poked fun at South Dakota as a state where Texas Hold'em is played instead of hopscotch.
André Larson, Director of the National Music Museum, said when Keillor was backstage, he found a computer and saw that the show's Web site had gotten twice as many hits as it normally gets.
Keillor's Web site wasn't the only place that received more attention because of the instruments; the museum did as well. According to Julie Borg, receptionist at the National Music Museum, there were 156 visitors on Saturday alone.
"Compared to the 25-30 we get on a regular Saturday, it was a zoo," Borg said. "A woman fainted and it was probably due to the number of people who were in one gallery."
Later in the evening, an overwhelming number of people filled the Dome to watch Keillor's show.
Margaret and Bob Ikonen from Hot Springs sat within 10 rows of the stage because of a donation they gave to National Public Radio in early March.
"It's a personal approach to entertainment, but still decent, clean fun," Margaret said regarding Fred Newman's sound effects and the commercials.
Even from the crew's perspective, "they were ranking it in their top five as far as how much fun (the show) was," Larson said.
"A Prairie Home Companion" and Keillor couldn't have asked for more entertaining reasons to host their show in Vermillion on April 29, aside from the the echo in the Dome and a conservative state.
The National Music Museum proudly presented guest artists from L.A. as the "New Custer Brass Band," and USD cello professor Nick Curry, and members of APHC and the Shoe Band including Pat Donahue.
The museum presented a half-dozen guitars ranging from creators such as Orville Gibson to John D'Angelico. Also featured along with civil war drums and brass instruments was the oldest violincello known to have survived the French Revolution of 1547.
Larson had three months to prepare the instruments and decide which one he felt deserved to be played for an audience of 3 to 4 million listeners and a football-sized crowd at the Dome.
While more than 10,000 American, European and non-Western instruments reside in the museum's two-story building, only a precious few accompanied APHC's Shoe Band and guest artists.
"To pick a favorite collection or instrument is like asking a father which of his 12 twelve children is his favorite," Larson said.
But some of the instruments were chosen by guitarists of the Shoe Band and requested by Keillor himself. One request was "The King" cello.
An Amati collection acquired in 1984 by the museum featured Andrea Amati's "King" cello. Played on Saturday by Curry, "The King" is kind of an "icon of western civilization" Larson said.
Larson was excited about letting Curry playing King Charles IX's inauguration cello.
"(He's) a very knowledgeable and sensitive person," Larson said.
In preparation for his radio debut, Curry practiced Bach, Chopin, and Paradis for a radio audience and live audience in the Dome. Holding "The King" in his arms was something he looked forward to since he was asked to play.
"I'm the third in 25 years to have played this cello and I couldn't think of a greater honor than to choose music which will flatter its range and sound," Curry said.
Throughout Prairie Home Companion's show, Keillor remained faithful to the story of Felix Vinatieri, a Bandmaster for George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Calvary.
An Italian immigrant, Vinatieri penned several original manuscripts of marches, polkas, waltzes that are in the archives of the Museum. Many of these pieces were played by the New Custer Brass Band using original instruments of the civil war era including bass drums and cornets.
Several musical interludes were courtesy of Pat Donahue, members of Keillor's Shoe Band and Tim Sparks. Arriving early Thursday, both guitar players browsed through the Museum's collection of plucked string instruments.
Even if Keillor didn't know how he felt about domed buildings and didn't want to imagine what coyotes did to gophers, APHC, the National Music Museum, and South Dakota Public Broadcasting put on an entertaining show, which celebrated America's Shrine to Music.
Reach reporter Kari Owens at Kari.Owens@usd.edu.
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