Keillor hails Clooney, Music Hall -- and there's a wedding proposal

Garrison Keillor paid tribute to Rosemary Clooney with an audience sing-along of "White Christmas" and praised Music Hall, "the grandest hall we've ever done our show in," during his first live broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion" from Cincinnati on Saturday.

There wasn't an empty seat in Music Hall, which probably seated 3,500 including the extra seats up front, for the 6 p.m. show. Keillor, dressed in dark suit, red tie, matching red socks and (could they be?) red PF Flyers, warmed up the crowd at 5:45 p.m. with the National Anthem, strode out to the center of the hall, looked up at the "painted dome of naked ladies" and pronounced Music Hall a gem, with good acoustics, too.

"When I look at this dome, I feel so small," he said, praising Cincinnati for saving the 1878 landmark.

With his six-piece The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band on Music Hall's stage in front of a Lake Wobegon-style frame house, Keillor spun his yarns, pitched Powdermilk Biscuits, crooned and wove local lore into his two-hour show.

The crowd hung onto every word and honky-tonk note, and cheered at all the right moments. Keillor, in turn, had done his homework. Cincinnati, he informed as his bangs fell into his glasses, had the world's first night baseball game, played right here. He talked about how WLW, the "nation's station," had 500,000 watts, and you could pick it up in your back fillings. Keillor once strolled the Cincinnati streets with Chet Atkins, whose first gig was at WLW, and saw the Y where Atkins stayed ... And with King Records here, Cincinnati "almost became the capital of rock 'n' roll." Doris Day, Roy Rogers and other local stars got a mention, but Rosie got the biggest hand, along with a nostalgic sing-along of her signature song.

About that proposal -- it was during the messages read on the air, we heard, "Mr. Rankin, how do you feel about another son-in-law? From Jeff."

That was Jeff Syroney's way of asking for Katie Rankin's hand in marriage (Jeff is Inktank exec director and Katie is PR director at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.)

"I was very surprised," says Katie, who was there with her dad Richard Rankin, of Lakeside Park, Ky. "I guess if you're going to go big, you might as well go that way."

The rest of the show was Keillor's unique radio formula of fun music and quirky skits -- and it was fun to see how it's done behind the on-air sign.

There were twangy country songs with a terrific mandolin player named Sam Bush, and some incredible picking by Wayne Henderson, with his wife, Helen White. The crowd clapped and howled, especially when he pitched "Rubarb Pie." Of course, Guy Noir surfaced in a corny skit. Keillor signed off with a sing-along of "Happy Trails."

About that wedding, Katie said yes, but there's no date set yet. "I'm still in a haze," says she.

To hear the show, click here.