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!