Musicians help send MPR's 'Morning Show' into the sunset

Bruce Bisping, Star Tribune

Minnesota Public Radio's Morning Show's Jim Ed Poole and Dale Connelly.

Fans lined up before dawn to watch the final broadcast at St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theater.

Last update: December 11, 2008 - 7:19 PM

It would have been enough for some of the area's top musicians to simply show up before dawn Thursday to pay their respects on the last broadcast of Minnesota Public Radio's "The Morning Show." Instead, many of the artists premiered numbers and paid heartfelt tributes to a packed house at the Fitzgerald Theater, to thank Dale Connelly and Jim Ed Poole, who hosted the free-form acoustic program for more than 26 years.

Ann Reed, Neal & Leandra and Peter Mayer presented songs written for the event, which aired live on the Current (89.3 FM) and various MPR stations. Greg Brown reworked Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Long Time Gone" into a tribute that asked the question: "What good is the radio without you?" For the first time in her career, Prudence Johnson performed Bob Dylan's "Restless Farewell."

The audience ate it up, even as they were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. The line for the free show began forming at 2:30 a.m., and more than 200 people waited in line during the show, hoping to snag a vacated seat. Many who couldn't get in were consoled by a pancake breakfast for the occasion at the nearby Central Presbyterian Church.

Audiences were treated to Poole's "greatest hits" of characters, from his boisterous pirate to a corrupt congressman. MPR president Bill Kling and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman popped by and founding host Garrison Keillor, who is in New York for a show this week, sent a taped message.

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