Garrison Keillor

ST. PAUL - Tom Keith - a longtime sound effects man who was the source of creaking doors, clucking chickens, and more on "A Prairie Home Companion" - has died. He was 64. Mr. Keith's death was announced yesterday by Jon McTaggart, chief executive of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, which distributes "A Prairie Home Companion. " Mr. Keith died suddenly after collapsing at his home Sunday. He had performed with the "Prairie Home" host, Garrison Keillor, since 1976, when Keillor hosted an early version of MPR's "The Morning Show.

NEW YORK - Charles W. Bailey - who edited The Minneapolis Tribune for most of the 1970s, when it was among the most polished of the nation's midsize daily newspapers, after earlier winning renown as a coauthor of the best-selling Cold War novel "Seven Days in May" - died Tuesday in Englewood, N.J. He was 82. The cause was complications of Parkinson's disease, said his daughter Victoria, executive director of the Theater Development Fund in...

Walking up to the Wang Theatre Saturday night, you might have thought you were outside Fenway Park in July, given the number of people looking for extra tickets to the sold-out show inside. The attraction was the enormously popular live radio program "A Prairie Home Companion" and its star and creator, Garrison Keillor. While the weekly two-hour show has become an omnibus of entertainment, featuring singer-songwriters, classical musicians, humorists, and poets, the Boston lineup was less than eclectic.

ST. PAUL - Tom Keith - a longtime sound effects man who was the source of creaking doors, clucking chickens, and more on "A Prairie Home Companion" - has died. He was 64. Mr. Keith's death was announced yesterday by Jon McTaggart, chief executive of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, which distributes "A Prairie Home Companion. " Mr. Keith died suddenly after collapsing at his home Sunday. He had performed with the "Prairie Home" host, Garrison Keillor, since 1976, when Keillor hosted an early version of MPR's "The Morning Show.

Tom Keith, a longtime sound effects man who was the source of creaking doors, clucking chickens and more on "A Prairie Home Companion," has died. He was 64. Keith's death was announced Monday by Jon McTaggart, chief executive of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, which distributes "A Prairie Home Companion. " He died suddenly of a heart attack after collapsing at his home Sunday, "Prairie Home" host Garrison Keillor said in a statement. Keillor remembered Keith as "one of radio's great clowns.

NEW YORK - Charles W. Bailey - who edited The Minneapolis Tribune for most of the 1970s, when it was among the most polished of the nation's midsize daily newspapers, after earlier winning renown as a coauthor of the best-selling Cold War novel "Seven Days in May" - died Tuesday in Englewood, N.J. He was 82. The cause was complications of Parkinson's disease, said his daughter Victoria, executive director of the Theater Development Fund in...

Maybe the Republicans were working off an old memo when they picked "A Prairie Home Companion's" hometown for their convention next month. Minnesota hasn't gone GOP since it pulled the lever for Richard Nixon in 1972, and the city's mayor and congresswoman - and Garrison Keillor - all belong to the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party. Keillor, who refers to President Bush only as the "current occupant," isn't likely to be throwing a cocktail party for anyone sporting an elephant tie. Still, the citizens of St. Paul are certain to welcome their Grand Old Visitors with a...

Pianist Andreas Haefliger joins the Takacs Quartet for the Dvorak Quintet on Sunday at 3 in Jordan Hall, in a FleetBoston Celebrity Series event. . . . Humorist Garrison Keillor joins conductor Isaiah Jackson and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra on Sunday afternoon at 3 in Sanders Theatre. . . . The New England Light Opera presents music from all 14 Gilbert & Sullivan operas with guest artist Richard Conrad and a cast of 20 tonight at 8, tomorrow at 2 and at 8 in the Tsai Performance Center, and Sunday at 3 in the Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield.

MUSIC Needham: Voices Rising women's chorus will host a performance by singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler (right), a pioneer of the women's music movement, Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Congregational Church of Needham, 1154 Great Plain Ave. $25, $50. www.voicesrising.org. Watertown: The Back Bay Carillon, a Boston-based community handbell ensemble, will present a concert of original handbell compositions as well as arrangements and transcriptions of favorite songs Saturday, 2 p.m., at Watertown Free Public Library, 123 Main St. Free.

NEWARK, Vt. -- Evanne Weirich, founder of the Newark Balkan Chorus, has died. Ms. Weirich, 50, died at home of cancer. Ms. Weirich was a teacher at the Newark Street School and started the chorus in 1994. She combined harmonies and rhythms while teaching the teenage girls about Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, and other Balkan countries. The chorus eventually grew into a well-known a cappella group. In 1997 the chorus performed on Garrison Keillor's nationally broadcast radio program, "A Prairie Home Companion.

Tom Keith, a longtime sound effects man who was the source of creaking doors, clucking chickens and more on "A Prairie Home Companion," has died. He was 64. Keith's death was announced Monday by Jon McTaggart, chief executive of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, which distributes "A Prairie Home Companion. " He died suddenly of a heart attack after collapsing at his home Sunday, "Prairie Home" host Garrison Keillor said in a statement. Keillor remembered Keith as "one of radio's great clowns.

Maybe the Republicans were working off an old memo when they picked "A Prairie Home Companion's" hometown for their convention next month. Minnesota hasn't gone GOP since it pulled the lever for Richard Nixon in 1972, and the city's mayor and congresswoman - and Garrison Keillor - all belong to the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party. Keillor, who refers to President Bush only as the "current occupant," isn't likely to be throwing a cocktail party for anyone sporting an elephant tie. Still, the citizens of St. Paul are certain to welcome their Grand Old Visitors with a...

Walking up to the Wang Theatre Saturday night, you might have thought you were outside Fenway Park in July, given the number of people looking for extra tickets to the sold-out show inside. The attraction was the enormously popular live radio program "A Prairie Home Companion" and its star and creator, Garrison Keillor. While the weekly two-hour show has become an omnibus of entertainment, featuring singer-songwriters, classical musicians, humorists, and poets, the Boston lineup was less than eclectic.

Nov. 5 Suzy Bogguss at the Bull Run in Shirley. www.bullrunrestaurant.com New England Conservatory Presents Simón Bolívar Big Band Jazz at Jordan Hall. www.necmusic.edu/concerts Nov. 7 Gare St. Lazare Players Ireland's "Moby Dick" presented by ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage at Paramount Center. www.artsemerson.org Nov. 11 Huntington Theatre Company's "Captors" starts at BU Theatre. www.huntingtontheatre.org Nov. 12 Noel Gallagher's High-Flying Birds at Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre.

NEW YORK -- Joan Didion, whose memoir "The Year of Magical Thinking" is quickly becoming a classic portrait of grief, won the National Book Award for nonfiction last night. "There's hardly anything I can say about this except thank you," said Didion, who wrote her acclaimed bestseller about the death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and the illness of her daughter, Quintana Roo. Jeanne Birdsall of Northampton won in young people's literature for her debut novel, "The Penderwicks," which tells of four sisters and their widowed father.