GaryOsberg.com

Yesterday was the 25^th anniversary of “Giving Thanks”, a Minnesota Public Radio special hosted by John Birge that airs nationwide on Thanksgiving Day. The show consists of classical music, songs, and dramatic readings all related to Thanksgiving.

Although the format remains the same, some individual features are always aired, notably, selections from Charles Laughton’s 1962 album The Story Teller, about his experiences with Etienne Houvet and Alfred Manessier at Chartres Cathedral, as well as his reading from Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums. Musical pieces regularly included are Handel’s Largo from Xerxes and music from Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring.

Although John Birge began doing an annual Thanksgiving program in 1985, “Giving Thanks” did not go national until 1999, two years after he began working for Minnesota Public Radio. Birge states on the website for the program that Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday.

If you missed the program yesterday, you can find it at www.yourclassical.org/holiday.    

This is the link to the Charles Laughton segment.   https://youtu.be/qWhH7Mbb85w?si=g5TDguQLeqQqMPEf

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world..”  J.R. Tolkien author of The Hobbit.