Feb 15th 2014: Hockey

The Vinyl Cafe writers clearly have winter on their minds for the cold, cold month of February. Two weeks ago we were treated to a story about tobogganing, and now we have an episode dedicated entirely to that great Canadian pastime of hockey. The show even mixes up the format a little by featuring no Dave & Morley story. Instead, Stuart spends the better part of the episode recounting the greatest game of hockey ever played, the final game of an international European tournament held in 1945 between Canada and Czechoslovakia.

The Canadian team was fairly overwhelmed by the tournament, the biggest any of them had entered (they were all members of the Big Narrows Coal Miners, hailing from Cape Breton, NS and winners of the Allan Cup) but managed to scrape their way to the final game. By the end of three scoreless periods however, both teams realized that they didn't want to win if it meant that the other team had to lose. The spectre of the war still looming over both teams' heads: every player on both sides of the rink had been affected by it in some way, and neither had the will to inflict another "great loss" onto the the other team. So they did something that caused the officials to strike the game from the history books: they mixed their rosters together for the overtime period, and as a result they played a great game where neither side won.

Here's what I like about Vinyl Cafe: the message is always told in a very obvious way, but never in a way that feels preachy or condescending. The message that peace is more powerful than war is a simple, powerful message and it feels fresh here because of the presentation of the story: there's a small dash of whimsy to this tale that makes it feel like something your grandfather would tell you.

And in this case, it sort of is. Stuart frames the story as it was described to him: by three old men still living in Big Narrows, recounting their somewhat conflicting interpretations of the game. This episode makes a nice companion piece to the episode form a fortnight ago: three old men recount a story that seems to fantastic to be true, yet is, while the previous episode had a fictional old man recount a more down-to-earth yet fictional story. I don't have much more to add to this other than to say that I like these winter stories that the Vinyl Cafe has been favouring, and I hope it keeps things up because there's very little weather where I currently am and it's nice to be reminded of winter without actually having to live through it for 5 months of every year.

February 1st 2014 - The Greatest Toboggan Run Ever

For a while now, I've had the feeling that Vinyl Cafe's audience is catered primariliy towards baby boomers, and I think this episode all but confirms it, because it focuses on the two things I assume boomers love: nostalgia and national pride.

The national pride comes first, as Stuart begins the program with a monologue describing why he thinks Kingston, Ontario (the show this episode was taped in) is the most quintessentially Canadian city in the country. It's my favourite part of the show, and Stuart's description of this “Canadian” quality is very sweet and almost poetic at times. At one point he describes Kingston as a beautiful oil painting, and he compares a frozen river to a rolling field of wheat. I can't it it justice, so go listen to it if you haven't already! His monologue is also quite meta, since Vinyl Cafe is broadcast from CBC Radio, the most quintessentially Canadian Radio broadcaster, and it is performed at a time when the Vinyl Cafe performing live shows in towns stretching across the country.

He gives a few superficial reasons for Kingston's Canadian-ness, like being the birthplace of Don Cherry (boo), but his primary reasons have to do with Kingston's importance in Canadian History and, of course, nostalgia. Its home to the oldest hockey rivalry in Canada (Queen's vs. RMC, a game still played in an old fashioned way, on a bay of frozen ice), five railroad companies originated here (and are all sadly gone), and John A. MacDonald was born here. He was also buried here, and Stuart recommends that everyone sit by his grave for a while if they're ever in town. The message here is plain: Kingston is quintessentially Canadian because it's a reminder of where we, as Canadians, have come from. That's a message I can get behind, but I think it resonates especially well with older folks, hence my conclusion that this show is quite appealing to baby boomers.

I don't have much to say about the rest of the show this week, except that it helps to reinforce the dual messages of Canadian pride and nostalgia. The story exchange this week is about a trip to Canadian Tire on a weekend, i.e. the most Canadian thing ever. The musical guest this week sings a never-before-recorded song about pick-up hockey. The Dave story is especially endearing this week, as his older next door neighbour describes a time when he went on an exhilarating and dangerous toboggan ride as a child. It ends with the two of them tobogganing down the hill in the middle of the night, during a snowfall, simultaneously joyous and terrified, remembering what it was like to be young. Nostalgia, everybody!