The Vinyl Cafe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vinyl Cafe is an hour-long radio variety show, hosted by Stuart McLean and broadcast on CBC radio and on several U.S. public radio stations. It airs Sunday at noon on Radio One and Saturday at 10 a.m. on Radio Two. The show features essays, fiction and music; while frequently humorous, the weekly programs are also often wistfully nostalgic. The show also endeavours to introduce listeners to new Canadian musical talent.
The show is independently produced by McLean and sold to the CBC. Each season has approximately 22 new episodes. Half of those are recorded in the studio and the other half are done with live audiences in theatres across Canada.
A major feature of many of McLean's shows are the "Dave and Morley Stories," featuring a fictional Toronto family. The name "Vinyl Cafe" refers both to the show's musical content, and the fictional record shop owned by McLean's character Dave. This aspect of the show has spawned a number of books of short stories, as well as audio recordings.
Every episode ends with McLean's signature signoff, "I'm Stuart McLean, so long for now," followed by the show's folksy guitar theme song, "Happy Meeting In Glory" (as performed by Ry Cooder). The show is produced by Jess Milton. Meg Masters is the story editor and the show's founding producer is Dave Amer.
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[edit] Dave and Morley Stories
Although they are not featured in every episode of The Vinyl Cafe, the "Dave and Morley Stories" are by far the show's most famous segment. The stories, written by McLean himself, describe the zany misadventures of a fictional family whose last name is never given (although in one story, Dave's mother's name is given as Margaret McNeal). The family consists of Dave, his wife Morley, their children Stephanie and Sam, as well as several pets which figure prominently in many stories. They live in contemporary Toronto, and they keep a jukebox in the living room.
The major characters in the stories are Dave, Morley, their family, and assorted friends and neighbours:
- Dave is in his late forties to early fifties. He runs an independent record store, called "The Vinyl Cafe", whose slogan is "We may not be big, but we're small". He grew up in Big Narrows, on Cape Breton Island, where his mother Margaret still resides. Dave is frequently neurotic and prone to small accidents and mishaps that he usually inadvertently escalates into major ones; he is somewhat of a hypochondriac. He is painfully awkward and a terrible liar. These attributes motivate many of the stories, ranging from an incident with the Christmas turkey, to accidentally destroying Mary Turlington's treasured candles, to filling the elementary school playground with frogs. Dave often enjoys a good prank and has a tradition pulling outrageous jokes on his friend, Kenny Wong, every April Fools Day. Dave worked as a roadie before meeting Morley. His enjoyment of pranks is seen in his younger days a roadie, as well.
- Morley was a stay-at-home mum until re-entering the workforce. She is currently employed at a local theatre. She loves to figure-skate. She and Dave first met at an ice-rink in Providence, Rhode Island when they were in their twenties. She is often more level-headed than Dave and frequently long suffering when it comes to his adventures.
- Stephanie is a jaded Toronto teenager. In the first stories, she was fourteen or fifteen years old. She was frequently rebellious and sullen which led to many disagreements with her parents and Sam. In more recent stories, she attends university in another city and dates a young man named Tommy Nowlan. She spent one summer planting trees north of Thunder Bay. Soon after her job ended, Stephanie visited her aged 'Aunt Dorothy' in England. She assumed she would dislike the trip but discovered an interest in history and the past while away.
- Sam is about seven or eight years younger than Stephanie. In many stories, he was referred to as seven; although his age has recently made a jump to age eleven. Only a few stories have Sam placed at any age between seven and eleven. Despite his ineptitude at sports, he plays goalie on his hockey team and plays on the girls field hockey team, which was the subject of one story. He likes to knit and help his neighbours, Eugene and Maria. Sam is frequently portrayed as sensitive, slightly goofy and often naive. Several of his friends have been minor characters in several stories.
- Arthur is the family dog. He likes soft ice-cream, and considers himself dominant to Dave (much to Dave's surprise) and steals socks and potatoes. He was once a sheep in a Christmas pageant.
- Galway is the devilish family cat, who came from Dave's sister Annie, and is named for American poet Galway Kinnell. Galway was intentionally brought on one family vacation and accidentally came on another, by stowing away in the trunk. The vacation was ruined partially due to her. She was briefly toilet-trained (until she almost flushed herself down the toilet), but still enjoys flushing the toilet when the bathroom door is left open.
The stories often include various neighbours and friends of the principal characters:
- Jim Scoffield is Dave's closest friend and neighbour, although he has a tendency to be present at Dave's most awkward moments, such as Dave's infamous incident with the Christmas turkey. Jim is originally from the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia.
- Bert and Mary Turlington live next door to Dave and Morley. They have 3 children, Adam, who is younger than Stephanie, and "the twins" (one of whom is a girl), who are older than Sam. Bert is a talkative criminal lawyer, while Mary is a chartered accountant and one of Dave's few enemies. Mary resents that Dave loves his job, considering him sanctimonious and phony, while Dave thinks Mary is stiff and intimidating.
- Ted and Polly Anderson are an elegant upper-class couple who throw an annual Christmas house-party. Polly is the neighbourhood's "Martha Stewart" figure and "perfect home-maker". Morley often feels inadequate around Polly.
- Carl and Gerta Lowbeer are neighbours of Morley and Dave. They are somewhat older, Carl having recently retired from his job as an engineer. Since then, Carl has begun to take philosophy courses. Carl once asked Dave to "babysit" his sourdough bread starter while he and Gerta were on holiday. Gerta has been revealed to be a keen birdwatcher.
- Morty and Irene Zuckerman live on Brock Avenue, a five-minute walk away. Not particularly close friends, Morty's surprise invitation to dinner one night is the subject of the story "Late Date".
- Eugene and Maria Conte are an elderly couple who live next-door. Eugene loves to garden. His famous fig tree is the focus of a story. Maria loves to dote on the children. They have a son, Anthony Thomas, who lives in London. They have always called Anthony Thomas "Tony" but he has been going by his middle name ever since moving to England. Eugene is originally from a village in Calabria called Rendi in Fiori. Sam and Eugene are friends, and Sam helps with the emails that Tony sends them. Eugene makes home-made wine, and has offered it to Sam on several occasions. Dave is often concerned about their wellbeing and their strange habit of only living in the basement of their house but realizes they will ask for help when they need it.
- Kenny Wong runs Wong's Scottish Meat Pies, a shop located near the Vinyl Cafe. It is largely referred to as a Chinese restaurant, but has once supplied meat pies and deep-fried Mars bars to Sam's birthday party. Kenny is from the town of Burnt Creek. While he was living there, he and his family were excluded by most of the town's citizens because they were the only Chinese family living there. He enjoys pranks just as much as Dave, who is frequently the victim in his jokes, and vice versa.
- Emil is a homeless man who resides around the Vinyl Cafe and occasionally asks for money from various people around the neighbourhood. He once won ten thousand dollars in the lottery.
- Dorothy Capper is a friend of Dave's, who owns "Woodsworth's Books". Her store is located down the street from the Vinyl Cafe and Dave frequently stops by just to hang out. There have been two stories focused on her in the series. The first one is about her problems with her dog, Stanley, and the second is about her growing disinterest in owning a book store. At the end of the story, her zest for selling books is renewed and she continues to run her store.
[edit] Collections of Stories in Book Form
Canadian Editions
- Stories from the Vinyl Cafe (Penguin Books Canada, 1995, updated and revised edition, 2005)
- Home from the Vinyl Cafe (Penguin Books, 1998)
- Vinyl Cafe Unplugged (Penguin Books, 2001)
- Vinyl Cafe Diaries (Penguin Books, 2003)
- Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe (Penguin Books, 2006)
U.S. Editions
Home from the Vinyl Cafe (Simon & Schuster, 2005) *
UK Editions
Home from the Vinyl Cafe (Granta, 2005) * Vinyl Cafe Unplugged (Granta, 2006)
- The U.S. and UK editions of Home from the Vinyl Cafe are a compilation of stories from the Canadian editions, Stories from the Vinyl Cafe and Home from the Vinyl Cafe.
[edit] Collections of Stories in Audio Form
- Stories from the Vinyl Cafe
- The Vinyl Cafe - Odd Jobs
- The Vinyl Cafe on Tour
- The Vinyl Cafe Coast to Coast Story Service
- A Story-Gram from the Vinyl Cafe Inc.
- Vinyl Cafe: A Christmas Collection
The covers of the Canadian editions of Vinyl Cafe Diaries, Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe, The Vinyl Cafe Coast to Coast Story Service and A Story-gram from the Vinyl Cafe were designed and illustrated by noted writer, artist and cartoonist Seth.
McLean's Vinyl Cafe stories can also be purchased in audio form from the web label Zunior. In addition, older stories are being podcast at CBC.ca.
