709th Post - A Visit to the Vinyl Cafe

I got a belated birthday present from Patricia today. We attended a concert at the Rebecca Cohn today: Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe.

There are people, lots of them, whose fame, whose recognition factor, exists only within the confines and context of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, particularly CBC radio. How many of you non-CBC'ers know who Rex Murphy is? Who Michael Enright is? And who Stuart McLean is? If you don't know anything about these guys, then that tells me a lot about what your listening habits are. I am not being critical, just perceptive for a change.

Anyway, I don't know if you listen to the Vinyl Cafe on CBC radio or not. I have listened for several years now. The conceit is that there is a man named Dave who runs a small record shop. The stories McLean tells center on Dave and his wife Morley, and their children, neighbours and friends. Interspersed with these stories are musical performances by people McLean and his producers find regionally. He takes the show on the road from coast to coast. It is a marvelous, special program, the kind of show the CBC does best, and the kind of show no private broadcaster would touch with a ten foot pole. Once again, I am not trying to be critical of private broadcasters because several of them read this blog. I am just saying that some programs would not be a good fit for private broadcasters, and this is one of them.

I never thought I'd have an opportunity to attend one of Stuart's shows because the concerts tend to sell out very quickly. Patricia got lucky when she managed to get through and get two tickets. Bless her little heart!

For those who know what I am talking about, writing about, Stuart told 3 Dave and Morley stories. Two were new, but I hadn't heard the repeat before, so it was new to me. He told a story from the VC story exchange, a very touching story about a woman who worked in a grocery store and her attempts to make a customer's final days be as pleasant as possible. He had 2 musical guests: Meaghan Smith and Matt Anderson. Smith's breathy singing sets my heart a flutter, causing me to think thoughts best not written about here. Anderson's a Blues guy, and his rendition of "Ain't No Sunshine" is one I will not soon forget. Bill Withers? Who's that? This is Matt Anderson's song now!

We laughed. We teared up a couple of times. And we loved every note of every song. My frig, what a wonderful, wonderful show.

Patricia, honey: I can't think of a better present that you have ever bought me, ever.

I think there are still a few seats left for Stuart's remaining shows in Halifax. You'd be doing yourself a huge favour by going.

Long day. Time for bed.

Bev