and make up. And since it’s our 125th, that’s a fun jumping off point.” The TV special was filmed at Spearfish’s Matthews Opera House. Heeren calls it a dream venue. “That kind of venue has a story. You feel like you’re part of its story when you’re there. It’s smaller, a little more intimate, which is nice. You feel like you’re in on something together. I think it probably brought something out of us. It was a special night.” The show features music from the Rock Garden Tour Family Band (headed up by South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jim Groth) and Minneapolisbased Pleasure Horse (which includes South Dakota native Timothy Evanson), in addition to original and parody songs written and performed by Heeren and Hurlbert. “Oil Can thought this was his chance to work in a tune that he’s always wanted to write,” said Heeren. “He’s always wanted to do the Billy Joel ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire.’ That kind of became the cornerstone of the whole program, because it gave us a chance to get in a lot of little historical tidbits from the last 125 years all in one song. There was audience participation, where they had to help us sing the chorus. It was kind of messy, but we got through it. It was fun.” Taking the show from radio to TV for one night will allow audiences to see some of Rock Garden Tour’s recurring characters in the flesh. “If you like News from Pierre – he’s a character on our show – we get to see him. That’s a big deal to some people,” said Heeren. “We always do jokes about [Saved by the Bell character] Jessie Spano in the radio show. I actually have a little painting of Jessie Spano that I usually have with me, and unless you’re there, you don’t realize that’s a real thing. I think you get to feel a little more ‘in’ on some of the jokes.” That is especially true for the few hundred audience members who showed up to watch the taping. Heeren says the live version was nearly two hours long, but will air as an hour-long program. “A couple of times, I screwed something up, so I had to cut the band
November 2014
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