This week we'll travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A progressive bastion, with its rich history of industry, immigrants, municipal innovations, and a certain bubbly beverage, we're sure to feel right at home at the Milwaukee Theater. Featured guests include the 100 year-old Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, local surf-rockers The Exotics, and sitting in with the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, swingin' clarinetist Chuck Hedges. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting: Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, The News from Lake Wobegon, and much more. This week on a Prairie Home Companion.

This week we travel to The University of Minnesota Morris to broadcast from the P.E. Center (also known as the "gymnasium") with special guests Tim Sparks, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, and Prudence Johnson. Also this week, The Royal Academy of Radio Acting, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with Andy Stein, and the News from Lake Wobegon.

February: The ebb of Minnesota life. With frozen pipes, a dark cloudy sky, and a self-described vampire running for Governor, it seemed like a good time to get out of town for awhile. So this week, we’ll go to the beautiful Bayfront Amphitheater in Miami, Florida. Featuring jazz luminaries Vince Giordano, Butch Thompson, and Dan Barrett, Cuban chanteuse Aymee Nuviola and her band, and sitting in with the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, Andy Stein. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting, the News from Lake Wobegon, and much more this week on A Prairie Home Companion.

There's nothing like a University audience to energize our old radio show, so this week we're headed to West Lafayette, Ind., to broadcast from the campus of Purdue University, close by the Wabash in famed Hoosier land. Our special guests include the "Jimi Hendrix of Bluegrass" Jerry Douglas and his band, senior savant of the diatonic harmonica Howard Levy, singer Prudence Johnson, and the Purdue University Varsity Glee Club. Also featuring the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting, and the News from Lake Wobegon, all this week on A Prairie Home Companion.

This week, we return to the Ted Mann Concert Hall at the University of Minnesota with special guests Butch Thompson, Robin & Linda Williams, the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, and sitting in with the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, Andy Stein. Also featuring a special student cameo appearance, The Royal Academy of Radio Acting, and The News From Lake Wobegon, this Saturday on a Prairie Home Companion.

This week, we'll be in the very heart of Minnesota, broadcasting from the Ted Mann Concert Hall at the University of Minnesota. Luckily, that failing grade in organic chemistry does not disqualify us from doing live radio on campus. Featured guests include rising Nashville star Adrienne Young, Bulgarian violin prodigy Bella Hristova, Jazz singer Prudence Johnson, and sitting in with the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, the maestro, Andy Stein. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Acting, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith. Join us Saturday, there's bound to be something you'll go-pher.

This week, we're on a deeply needed vacation. So, for this Saturday, we produced a special encore performance from January, 2005. Featuring "Country's most explosive hillbilly band" BR549, the magic fingers of Dan Chouinard, and singers Sally Dworsky and Prudence Johnson. Drummer Peter Johnson sits in with the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, The Royal Academy of Radio Acting is at its best, and Garrison talks about winter, the holiday aftermath, and gets into trouble with Lutherans.

This Saturday, from the Fitzgerald Theater, we'll attempt a feat many thought impossible. A New Year's Eve triple play. Our first show will feature the formidable talents of Butch Thompson, Duke Heitger, Howard Levy, Andy Stein, Sally Dworsky, and poet laureate Billy Collins, along with The Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band and the Royal Academy of Radio Acting. Afterwards, Garrison will host a gala dinner party for a few hundred of our beloved listeners, while we Web cast some of the best New Years material from the past. Then, we'll be back for a special late night show (10 pm–1 am CST), featuring all of the early cast, completely new material, plus singers Jearlyn Steele and Suzanne Ohlman. With the help of some B vitamins, an espresso machine, and pure oxygen, we're going to party like it's 1999. Again.

This weekend we'll gather East and West in a joyful Christmas broadcast from the Town Hall in New York City. With special guests: the legendary Blues singer Odetta, three brilliant voices from the Metropolitan and New York City Operas—Janez Lotric and Jennifer Rivera. Also featuring Czech father and daughter duo, Stanislav and Kristina Kotyza. And from the Ukraine, the Paulishyn sisters—ages eleven and thirteen—accompanied by Alla Kutsevych on the amazing Bandura (the national instrument of Ukraine). All of this, plus the Royal Academy of Radio Acting, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with Andy Stein, and the News from Lake Wobegon. Join us, for a packed sleigh ride this Christmas Eve!

This week, after we've recovered from the sticker shock of Manhattan hotel rooms in December, we'll be back at the Town Hall welcoming old friends Rob Fisher, The Wailin' Jennys, and the pride of the upper west side, Andy Stein. Join Garrison, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and the Royal Academy of Radio Acting for our pre-Christmas preparation and shopping show, this Saturday on your local public radio station.