Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe

“I don’t want a birthday party, said Morley. I hate birthday parties” Some vintage Stuart McLean this week, as Morley celebrates a milestone birthday. And we have an older story for you, one you may not have heard before, where Dave is not necessarily his ‘best self’.

“Dave was still a kid the night he and Jimmy met.” Stuart loved to write about old friends. This week we’ve chosen two of our favourite friendship stories – one will make you laugh, one might also make you cry. 

"Thank God, he thought, help has arrived.”Today on the show, Jess shares a back story about a Vinyl Cafe tour bus adventure. Plus two Dave and Morley stories about more car trouble.“

“Dave was going to see Morley. He was trying to find the courage to ask her to marry him.” Some vintage Stuart McLean this week with two stories from way, way back. 

“It was not as if they *needed* a 1948 red panel truck…”On today’s episode, two hilarious Vinyl Cafe stories that highlight Dave’s tendency to, let’s say, really commit to the things in his life. In the first story it’s his health, in the second, a special new purchase.

“Morley thought she was the Athletic Support” We’re all about equipment failure on this week’s pod. Those everyday items that make life easier – until, suddenly, they very much don’t!

More about parenting and family life this week, with two moving essays by Stuart McLean. 

“I think I have an alien.” This week, two wonderful stories about kids… and their parents. And Jess admits to a surprising source of inspiration for her own parenting journey. 

“He didn’t understand that the organic confusion that’s at the heart of the Vinyl Cafe is, in fact, the thing that makes it work.” Is there anything that cuts to the heart quicker than music? On the pod today, we’re talking about the power of song. Jess shares a script Stuart wrote for the radio show, about a song that moved him to tears. And we have a story for you, about a song that has a hold over Dave.