The Vinyl Cafe...

[fajrdrako]

Another great show at the National Arts Centre tonight: A Vinyl Cafe Christmas with Stuart McLean. Stuart McLean has one of my favourite shows on CBC Radio, Vinyl Cafe.

He did four stories:

• In which Dave, at a Christmas party, accidentally pours the alcohol into the kids' eggnog instead of the adults';
  
  
• In which Dave is envious of his neighbour Ted's $12,000 bicycle;
  
  
• Stuart McLeans' story of his first job as a journalist in a small town in Saskatchewan, where he had to spend Christmas working, and so couldn't go home for Christmas that year;
  
  
• A story of how Dave's daughter Stephanie fell in love with books, when a copy of The Encyclopedia of Forgotten Places was sent to their home anonymously at Christmas.

Even better, there was great music from Jill Barber (whose CD Chances I own and love) and Matt Anderson, whose singing of Blue Christmas and O Holy Night was wonderful. The first song he sang was this one, So Gone Now. And Jill Barber sang her title song Chances, as well as doing a wonderful version of I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Before the show, maaseru and I went to Daly's (at the Westin) and had a lovely meal. One of those 'couldn't do it too often but it was worth every penny' meals. Mine was tomato-basil soup, braised duck with stir-fried veggies and noodles, and sortilège crème brulée. I didn't know what sortilège meant and had to ask the waitress. Maple brandy, she said. Well. Learn something every day. I had it with coffee. Delicious. It was nice too that, sitting by windows in Daly's, we had a gorgeous view of the National Arts Centre with its Christmas lights along the canal.

Here's an example of a Vinyl Cafe story.