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October 16, 2007 | 3 Comments

Post to the Host:
Thank you for the grand show broadcast from the Hippodrome Theater Saturday evening. As always your program was highly entertaining. As a Baltimore native I was especially pleased to hear our city described in such glowing terms. Unless one was raised over in the blue blood neighborhoods, (I wasn't) we tend to view our town and ourselves as "Joe six-pack, blue collar" people, too often neglectful of and having little appreciation for our own very rich history. Sometimes we need out-of-town folks to remind us of that.

Lisa F.
Baltimore, MD

I loved Baltimore, Lisa, and spent Sunday walking around downtown and dropped in at a fine old brownstone church, Grace and St. Peters Episcopal Church, on Park and Monument Streets, and was deeply moved by a magnificent choir and high mass, then sat by the water and ate a platter of Chincoteague oysters and a fine corn chowder and striped bass on a sunny day, and then got to visit the Enoch Pratt Free Library, which is my idea of what a library should be, and then saw the H.L. Mencken house on Hollins Street, which some fellow Mencken-lovers are planning to restore and furnish with the great man's stuff. He loved Baltimore and spent almost his entire life in that brick rowhouse on Union Square, an amazing prodigious writer with enormous influence in the Twenties and also a grand old German of Baltimore, devoted to beer and Beethoven and the good life, including the spacious freedom of his own mind. I plan to come back to Baltimore soon and poke around and then bring back the show. I spent most of a day at WYPR, a sweetheart of a radio station. I suppose Baltimore has its problems but it's an easy city for an out-of-towner to love.

3 Comments

Ray | October 17, 2007 11:03 AM

Mr. Keillor,
Thanks for bringing your magic to Ballmer, Merlin. Unbelievable show! I was running late to see your great show and parked my car at 6PM. I could'n get out of the car for 10 minutes, being so mesmerized by the beginning of the show and the excitement of the sold-out crowd at the Hippodrome. It was a wonderfull experience listening to the radio and then seeing it live! Also great to hear Carole King-one of my favorites. Also enjoyed your being interviewed by Marc Steiner on Monday.
My kids went to Grace & St. Peters, a lovely school. Try to catch their Chrismas Pageant.
I'll try hard now to use your new pronunciation Bal-TI-more, Ma-RI-land!
Please come back soon,
Ray

Ed Schneider | October 19, 2007 3:17 PM

Dear Mr. Keillor,
As a member of the Vestry and lead chorister at Grace & St. Peter's
Church, I want to thank you for your kind words about my beloved
parish church. Your comments on Marc Steiner's broadcast on 10/15, and your article in yesterday's newspaper deeply moved me. I have never heard anyone express so elegantly and beautifully our parish mission and our raison d'etre. Again, thank you!

Perry Beider | October 23, 2007 12:20 PM

Mr. Keillor,
You mention wanting to come back to Baltimore; next time you're there, you might enjoy checking out the Geppi's Entertainment Museum, on the Camden Yards grounds. It's a museum of pop culture, focusing on comic books, movies, TV, toys, and the connections among them. Steve Geppi has made a small fortune as the owner of the company that distributes comic books to comic shops (he's also a part owner of the Baltimore Orioles, which explains the Camden Yards location), and the museum is the result of his years of collecting. It's an amazing place: he's got every rare original comic you can think of, some toys going back to the 18th century...just tons of stuff. You can get a feel for it by clicking on the "galleries" link at www.geppismuseum.com . The museum is not OF Baltimore in the same way that Mencken's house is, of course, but I think it's a real treat for anyone with an interest in pop memorabilia.

Just a thought. In any case, keep up the great work on the show.

Thanks,
Perry Beider