Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe

“Family and friends, they sure mess up our lives…”

For our final episode of this season, two classic Vinyl Cafe Christmas stories by Stuart McLean. Dave tries to make himself useful at Mary Turlington…

“Come and get me, copper!”

We’ve got to know Dave and Morley’s neighbours well over the years. This week, two stories about the neighbourhood at Christmas. Holiday gift-giving gets a bit out of hand …

“I was thinking it would be fun if we made presents for each other this year”

What’s the best gift you have ever received? On today’s podcast, Jess shares the surprising truth about her favourite gif…

“Did you take the turkey out of the freezer?”

Today is the day Dave Cooks the Turkey! Jess tells us why it gives her such pleasure to say those words on the pod today and plays the beloved turkey sto…

“Jim never had any intention of having any pets at all”

To be fair to the other household critters (and no, we’re not talking about headlice again!), last week was dogs, so today we have a story abou…

“You know how loud he snores? Ninety decibels. That’s the equivalent of sleeping beside a pneumatic drill.”

This week, two stories about dogs. Oh how we love them! Even if, like Stanley, they snore a…

“There’s something about the ghosts who live in the house where you live. Some kind of an inexpressible pull between the people who have lived and loved under the same roof as you have.”

Today, a Dav…

“Our daughter is living with a man who takes pictures of roadkill!”

We’re dealing with difficult and weighty matters on this week’s episode. Yes, this week is all about art and beauty. Dave is slight…

“Let me state the case for Hallowe’en”

The nights are getting longer, the air is getting colder, so this week on the pod, two stories about the season and about finding light in the darkness. In Hall…

“He was eye level with the falls…”

This week on the show, something different. We’re playing one of Stuart McLean’s most requested stories and you might be surprised to hear it is not a Dave and Morl…

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

On today’s episode, Stuart tells two hilarious Vinyl Cafe stories about Dave’s encounters with dec…

“When Stuart stepped off his bus and waved goodbye, he thought to himself: 'This guy deserves an award.'”

Back by popular demand: it’s the Arthur Awards! You asked, we listened; so today on the pod, w…

“Dave thought, 'It will never get any better than this. Some people have God, and some people have money, and some people don’t have anything at all. I have this. I have the beat and the back beat.'”

…

“He had, intentionally, set his bar low. Really low. And now someone was telling him he wasn’t even big enough to be small.”

Today’s episode turns out to be a bit of an ode to record stores. Jess tal…

“Just one day, she wanted one of them to come home and say ‘Gee, lunch was good.’”

On today’s episode, two stories about back to school: first a hilarious (and occasionally gross) account of a school…

"The best time to share bad news is almost always never.”

Welcome back to Season Two of Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe! We’re thrilled to be back and ready to kick off the new season with two Stuart McL…

If you’ve listened to the podcast you’ve heard me talk about Stuart’s Long Suffering Story Editor, Meg Masters. I welcomed Meg into the Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe podcast studio for a chat recently …

In today’s bonus episode, two Postcards from Canada.

When people think about the Vinyl Cafe, they often think about the concerts we did across Canada, in big towns and small. Stuart opened many of tho…