A Night in the Vinyl Cafe

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of going to the Sanderson Centre here in Brantford to watch Stuart McLean and his traveling Vinyl Cafe show.

The Vinyl Cafe is one of those gems that gets produced by CBC Radio. While it might be said that CBC TV is dismissed as a wasteland of bad Canadian programming and a hotbed of anti- Conservatives and Separtists, the Radio is the crown jewel of Canadian Culture. If there is a glue that keeps this nation together it is the CBC and through programs

The Vinyl Cafe, if you follow the link, is a show that centres around the life of Dave and Morley. Dave owns a record stored with the name of the show, which is considered the smallest record store in the world, area.

The show was a delight, the Sanderson was filled with fans and the show, which lasted around two hours, with a intermission, featured stories and music. The music was provided by three travelling musicians who offered songs of the land.

With the music and stories, Stuart also shared some of his life. He gave the background of his parents and something of his growing up years. Then he told of his trip from Montreal to Toronto where he started work as a producer with a new radio show that didn't even have a name. Eventually they decided on the name 'Morningside' and after a few years, a man by the name Peter Gzowski, from that point the rest, as they say, became history. He worked close with Peter, even having his own segment each week and later developed the Vinyl Cafe as a series of stories as well as a summer replacement.

After the show, Stuart McLean came out and signed autographs. Part of the show featured the new CD and one of the Vinyl Cafe books, "Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe". Here are a few photographs of that time:







A number of the fans stayed and chatted with Stuart. I got to thank him for his work on Morningside, telling him that although I lived in a number of places in Canada, it was Morningside that was the constant of my life. His stories as well as the stories and interviews of Peter Gzowski, kept me in touch with Canada. For that I truly thank him.