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Some 40 plus years ago, Garrison Keillor created a live radio variety show called A Prairie Home Companion, featuring folk music, humor and tales of life in a fictional Midwestern town. Its first audience was a mere 12 people and today it is heard by millions across the wires, on stages and over the Internet. "When the show started," Keillor recalls, "it was something funny to do with my friends, and then it became an achievement that I hoped would be successful and now it's a good way of life." Fans of the boyish storyteller, noted for his thick-rimmed glasses and signature smirk, can enjoy some of that good way of life when Keillor and his distinctive voice grace the Van Duzer Theater on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. ($66, $10 HSU students).

In APHC, Keillor brought audiences the quaint, lovable land of Lake Wobegon, his fictional hometown, as well as Dusty and Lefty (the Odd Couple of cowboys), and Guy Noir, Radio Private Eye. His voice is as soothing as a lullaby, but the humor it delivers keeps you from nodding off. Keillor is the antithesis of the mouthy, drunk uncle from whom you try to run at family gatherings; he is that familiar fellow you'd love to sit with on the porch as he regales you with story after story. See what tales he brings to Arcata — from one quirky small town to another.