“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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“Dave’s relationship with hospitals over the years has not been without problems.”

The two Stuart McLean stories on today’s episode are connected in a very cool way. Both contain secret shout outs to people Stuart loved. Jess tells the backstory behind the little easter eggs like this that Stuart occasionally hid.

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“They tried to stop us, says the old man. But we kept playing.”

We’re talking about winter sports on this week’s episode. We’ve got two stories about hockey – a Dave & Morley story and a listener story exchange. Plus, a back story from Jess about her personal connection to sportswriting and how that informed Stuart’s research for his hockey story.

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Season 7 of Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe started last week, did you catch the first episode? We’ll be with you every Friday until the summer. Whoo!

And for those of you who have asked: Our friends at the Apostrophe Podcast Network are now offering a subscriber option. Subscribers listen to the pod ad-free – zero ads across the entire catalogue. Every week subscribers get the show early, PLUS a whole bunch of other goodies too… Click here to learn more about how to subscribe. There's already an early access episode waiting for you!

If you are happy with the podcast just the way it is? All good! No need for you to do anything. Nothing is changing unless you want it to. 

Subscribe here.

Ad-free listening is here! Listen to the pod ad-free and early, PLUS a whole bunch of other goodies – like virtual parties, Q&As, listener shout-outs & more. Subscribe here: apostrophe.supercast.com

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