“It would work so much better if we could plug the toaster in at the table”

Two of your most-requested Vinyl Cafe stories on this week’s show. Some vintage Stuart McLean, at your service!

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You asked, we listened! So, this week on the pod, we’ve got two more of Stuart’s love letters to this country, what we call his Postcards from Canada.

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"He looked like a kid on a roller coaster. But not one of the happy ones.”

On today’s episode, two stories about transportation—and what happens when it takes on a life of its own (with a little help from Dave of course…)

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“Bonjour,” he said. “Je m’appelle Dave.”

Stuart loved Quebec and was proud to have grown up there. That influence is apparent in so many of his stories. We’ll play one of them today. Plus one of his Postcards from Canada, from Montreal.

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“It was a magnificent tree.”

We’re thinking about our connection to the natural world on this week’s pod. We’ve got an essay from Stuart McLean about a Winnipeg tree that galvanized a community, and a story about a woodsman from Dave’s childhood in Cape Breton.

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“It was Sam’s first year in high school. And it was not going well.”

On today’s episode: two of Stuart McLean's hilarious Dave & Morley stories about the wonderful world of work. And Jess talks about her work on the Vinyl Cafe.

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“That afternoon, in his first true act of citizenship, Dave wore five lacy bras across the border.”

This week is all about the relationship between Canada and the U.S. We’ve got a Dave & Morley story about crossing the border, plus Stuart’s essay from the Haskell Free Library and Opera house, that straddles the Canada U.S. border. An essay that has particular poignance today.

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“There is nothing like a wedding to addle people’s minds.”

Today on the pod we’re celebrating one of Stuart’s favourite stores: The good old hardware store. We’ve got two Dave & Morley stories to illustrate the point.

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“He wanted to be alone so he could try the beef-flavoured toothpaste”

On this week’s episode: two fan favourites: stories about some of the sweetest characters in the Vinyl Cafe universe – the animals!

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"It began simply enough. It began with a phone call."

Stuart loved talking on the phone: much of his work revolved around phone calls. Jess talks about some of the memorable phone calls you may have heard on the Vinyl Cafe radio show over the years, plus we’ve got an essay Stuart wrote about his journalistic practice and a Dave and Morley story.

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“What’s in a name? When it’s yours – a lot, apparently.”

We’re talking about Canadian humour today on the podcast. We're following a thread back to Stephen Leacock and the ways in which he influenced Stuart McLean's writing. We have a Dave & Morley story for you, plus a postcard from Leacock’s hometown, which includes memories of Stuart's friend, the late CBC Radio host Peter Gzowski. 

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