I found a cache of old cassette tapes last night, and this morning began listening to them — an exercise in nostalgia. One of the tapes held bits and pieces of some old episodes of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion”, and I came across a segment that aired live from San Jose. I think it was probably in the late 1980s.
Twenty years later, his tongue-in-cheek description of San Jose as a place without a story of its own — nestled, as it is, in the shadow of San Francisco — is still applicable.
Since I can’t find this show on their official archive site, I humbly present this short snippet from the show as a historic document with the hopes that a DMCA takedown notice is not on its way.
If San Jose has a story, it’s not a story that anybody outside of San Jose is aware of… San Joseans have always known that San Jose is preferable to San Francisco–for one thing, it often gets up into the 70s here; the sun shines, you don’t have to take out a mortgage to rent an apartment… and people in San Jose talk about other things than San Jose. That sets it apart right there.
So boot up your laptop
and bring up the file
And call up the index
and let us compile
A list of the beauties
of a place by the bay
The beautiful city
of San Jose!
