Vinyl Cafe Stories from CBC Radio

CBC Radio podcasts

CBC Radio presents the stories and misadventures of Dave, the owner of the "Vinyl Cafe", the world's smallest record store, where the motto is "We may not be big, but we're small." The show also features Dave's wife, Morley, their two children, Sam and Stephanie and assorted friends and neighbours.

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Episodes

Vinyl Cafe May 26th, 2012 "Stephanie's Exam"
5/26/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Dave's daughter Stephanie struggles studying for her statistics exam.
Vinyl Cafe May 19th, 2012 "Bird"
5/19/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Join Stuart McLean and special musical guest Sarah Harmer from Essex County and Point Pelee – sight of the annual spring bird migration. When a rare bird arrives in Dave's back yard, his family's home becomes a Mecca for bird enthusiasts for miles around. Originally broadcast: May 19th, 2010
Vinyl Cafe May 12th, 2012 "Mother's Day"
5/12/2012
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Duration: 36:44

Today we celebrate Mother's Day with a story about a woman who taught her mom to read and with a story about Morley's relationship with her son Sam. When Morley discovers that Sam has only two pairs of underwear that fit him, she is seized with maternal guilt. While Morley feels that she needs to spend more time with her son, Sam does not seem to enjoy the extra attention. Not until, that is, Morley has an unexpected encounter in a men's change room in the local department store, and Sam introduces her to one of his new interests
Vinyl Cafe May 5th, 2012 "Fish Head"
5/5/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Royal Wood from Bracebridge, Ontario. On a trip home to Big Narrows, Dave tells Sam about his father Charlie, their fishing adventures and how Charlie taught young Dave about the magic of a dried cod's head. Originally broadcast: May 16th, 2009
Vinyl Cafe April 28th, 2012 "Car Wash"
4/28/2012
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Duration: 54:1

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Mark Berube from Morrisburg, Ontario. Bert and Mary ask Dave to pick up Mary's car at the shop while they are away on vacation. Dave decides to do one better. He will take Mary's brand new Lexus to the car wash, so he can pick up his neighbours at the airport in a spanking clean vehicle. But maneuvering an unfamiliar car through an automatic car wash turns out to be more challenging than Dave could have imagined.
Vinyl Cafe April 21st, 2012 "Dave the Dog Walker"
4/21/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Polaris-Prize-winning musician Patrick Watson from Place Des Arts in Montreal. When Dave agrees to look after the Turlington's dog, Tissue, over the spring break, word gets out. Before he knows it, Dave is looking after six dogs. Originally broadcast: May 15th, 2010
Vinyl Cafe April 14th, 2012 "Music"
4/14/2012
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Duration: 38:1

Today we have stories about the strange and wonderful world of music: A story about a woman who had never played a professional gig in her life and ended up opening for The Doors. A story about an encounter with Mitch Miller. And, finally, a story about Dave's years in the music business.
Vinyl Cafe April 7th, 2012 "Dolls"
4/7/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Whitehorse(Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland) from Cleveland, Ohio. When Dave was a boy, dolls terrified him. But there was one doll in particular that creeped him out: his little sister Annie's hideous doll, Rhoda. Like all little sisters who smell their older brother's fear, Annie exploited it. But Dave will soon learn that Rhoda isn't finished with him yet… Originally broadcast: June 4th, 2011
Vinyl March 31st, 2012 "Book Club"
3/31/2012
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Duration: 35:39

Now that the children are older, Morley has decided that she has the time to join a book club...but she doesn't like the books, or the people (who treat reading like a competitive sport). Originally broadcast: January 22nd, 2011
Vinyl Cafe March 24th, 2012 "Spring in Big Narrows"
3/24/2012
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Duration: 54:1

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Harry Manx from Medicine Hat, Alberta. When Dave and his little sister, Annie, find a stray dog stranded on a chunk of ice in the lake, they hatch a rescue plan to save the dog, before he tumbles over the falls.
Vinyl Cafe March 17th, 2012 "Lost Rings and Other Things"
3/17/2012
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Duration: 42:30

Today on the show we have stories about things lost and things found. We have a story about a man who lost his way, and then his car. About a woman who lost a diamond and about the time Dave lost his wedding ring.
Vinyl Cafe March 10th, 2012 "Hospital Dave"
3/10/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Dave goes to the hospital to visit a friend and, in an effort to raise his friend's spirits, he puts on one of the hospital gowns. Later, while wandering around the hospital, he is mistaken for a missing patient. Originally broadcast April 17th, 2011.
Vinyl Cafe March 3rd, 2012 "Family"
3/3/2012
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Duration: 45:53

Stephanie goes to visit her Cousin Dorothy in London, England. When Stephanie arrives, it is clear that Dorothy has intended that the visit be an introduction for Stephanie to both London's past and her own family history.
Vinyl Cafe: February 25th, 2012 "Morley’s Bath"
2/25/2012
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Duration: 54:1

Morley is asked to house sit for the new, young couple in the neighbourhood. She is amazed by their newly renovated modern home…so amazed that she slowly starts spending more and more time at the house each night. Originally broadcast March 20th, 2011.
Vinyl Cafe: February 18th, 2012 "Stuart as a Boy"
2/18/2012
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Duration: 54:1

Today's show comes to you from Place Des Arts in Montreal, Quebec. Montreal is Stuart's hometown and he tells us all about what it was like to grow up there, and he attempts to pay tribute to the city that will always be 'home'. Originally broadcast June 5th, 2010.
Vinyl Cafe February 11th, 2012: "Valentine's Day"
2/11/2012
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Duration: 29:1

Dave overhears Morley talking about her stale relationship with her hairdresser and he assumes Morley is talking about their marriage.
Vinyl Cafe: February 4th, 2012 "Boy Wanted"
2/4/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Sam gets his first job, working at Harmon's Fine Foods.
Vinyl Cafe: January 28th, 2012 "Mary Turlington"
1/28/2012
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Duration: 41:23

Today on the show we have two stories about Dave and his neighbour and arch-nemesis, Mary Turlington.
Vinyl Cafe: January 21st, 2012 "Dave's Truck"
1/21/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Dave inherits some money and decides to buy himself a 1948 GMC panel truck - the same car his father and grandfather drove when Dave was a boy. Originally broadcast February 28th, 2010.
Vinyl Cafe: January 14th, 2012 "New Year's Resolutions"
1/14/2012
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Duration: 54:0

Every New Year, Dave sits down to write out 'The Davies,' his annual awards and New Year's resolutions. This year Dave resolves to clean up the storage space above his record store. While he is cleaning up, he finds a letter he wrote thirty years ago. The letter outlines his life goals. When Dave realizes he has contradicted all of them, he questions the choices he has made in life. Special musical guests: Jenny Whiteley and Joey Wright. Originally broadcast: February 19th. 2011
Vinyl Cafe: January 7th, 2012 "Winter"
1/7/2012
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Duration: 47:43

Today on the show it's: "Winter! A celebration!" Well, we won't go that far. How about: "Winter! A coming to terms." We have a story about the first winter that Dave's son Sam played hockey. And a story about a pair of mittens Stuart got in the north.
December 31st, 2011 "Bloopers"
12/31/2011
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Duration: 40:28

Today on the show it's Vinyl Cafe Bloopers. Stuart McLean is joined in studio by Vinyl Cafe producer Jess Milton, who has collected the best outtakes from the last decade of Vinyl Cafe episodes. Originally broadcast: January 1s, 2011
December 24th, 2011 "Christmas Special 2011"
12/24/2011
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Duration: 54:1

Ever since the year Dave cooked the turkey, Christmas has been a tradition at the Vinyl Cafe. Tune in this year to find out what Dave and Morley are up to this holiday season, and hear original Christmas music performed by Hawksley Workman.
December 17th 2011, "Dave Cooks the Turkey"
12/17/2011
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Duration: 34:6

Dave is supposed to cook the Christmas turkey but can't get the stove to work. He ends up at a hotel, hoping the kitchen can cook it for him.
December 10th, 2011 "Polly Anderson's Christmas Party"
12/10/2011
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Duration: 26:6

Dave spikes the wrong punch bowl at a friend's Christmas party, leading to riotous good spirits for the kids, including his son Sam.
December 3rd, 2011 "The Christmas Tree"
12/3/2011
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Duration: 54:0

Dave tells his son Sam about something that happened years ago at Christmas-time…something that Dave still feels bad about. It is a story of repentance, restitution and a chopped-down Christmas tree.
June 4th, 2011 "Doll Daze"
6/4/2011
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Duration: 54:0

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guests Melissa McClelland & Luke Doucet from Cleveland, Ohio...for the first Vinyl Cafe concert ever recorded in the USA!
May 28th, 2011 "Mort D'Arthur"
5/28/2011
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Duration: 54:0

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Jim Bryson from Manitoulin Island – the largest freshwater island in the world. When Arthur, the family dog, gets sick, Dave reminisces about his boyhood dog, Scout. Originally broadcast July 15 2010
May 21st, 2011 "Fish Head"
5/21/2011
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Duration: 54:0

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Royal Wood from Bracebridge, Ontario. Dave’s son Sam is eager to learn about his grandfather. So Dave tells Sam the story about the night they caught the famous ‘King Cod’ – a giant fish with a deformed head and magical powers.
May 14th, 2011 "The Bird"
5/14/2011
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Duration: 54:0

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Sarah Harmer from Essex County and Point Pelee - sight of the annual spring bird migration. Stuart talks about, you guessed it, birds. Originally broadcast June 19th, 2010.
May 7th, 2011 "Tree Planting"
5/7/2011
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Duration: 26:43

This summer marks the 100th anniversary of Parks Canada - the oldest national park service in the world. Today on the show we honour our national parks and we tell a story about the summer that Dave's daughter Stephanie spent tree planting.
April 30th, 2011 Dave the Dog Walker
5/4/2011
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Duration: 54:0

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest – Polaris Prize winning musician Patrick Watson from Place Des Arts in Montreal. Dave offers to look after the Turlingtons' dog Tissue during Spring break and, once he does, other neighbours come forward asking Dave to watch their dogs. By the time spring break arrives, Dave is babysitting, feeding, walking and trying to control six dogs – each with their own needs and issues. Originally broadcast: May 15th, 2010
April 23rd, 2011 "The Fig Tree"
4/28/2011
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Duration: 40:13

Today on the show, Stuart tells us why he's always found Easter to be a traumatic holiday. And he tells a story about Dave's neighbour Eugene. It's a story about Eugene’s fig tree – a tree that Eugene carefully buries every autumn and resurrects in the springtime.
April 16th, 2011 "Hospital Dave"
4/17/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Hannah Georgas from Smiths Falls, Ontario. Dave goes to the hospital to visit a friend and, in an effort to raise his friend’s spirits, he puts on one of the hospital gowns and hides his clothing on a cart of supplies. When he goes to retrieve his clothes, a few hours later, the cart and his clothing are missing. And Dave, who is wandering around the hospital is mistaken for a missing patient.
April 9th, 2011 "Dave & The Bike"
4/14/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guests The Once from Gander, Newfoundland & Labrador. This town of less than 10,000 people is home to the Gander International Airport – what was once the largest and most important airport in the world. And he tells a story about Dave: Dave is aching to try his neighbour Ted Anderson’s new, expensive racing bike. Originally broadcast: March 27th, 2010
March 26th, 2011 "The Car"
4/17/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Hawksley Workman from the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec. Dave’s son Sam, and Sam’s pal Murphy are spending some of their summer holiday in Cape Breton. When the two boys find an abandoned car on Old Man MacCauley’s farm they hatch a plan for how to get the car out of the ditch and onto the country road so they can drive it. Originally broadcast: October 24th, 2009
March 19th, 2011 "Morley House Sits"
4/17/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join host Stuart McLean and award winning East Coast musicians Madison Violet & David Myles from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Morley is asked to house sit for the new, young couple in the neighbourhood. She is amazed by their newly renovated modern homeso amazed that she slowly starts spending more and more time at the house each night.
March 12th, 2011 "Stuart As A Boy"
4/17/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Today’s show comes to you from Place Des Arts – in Montreal, Quebec. This is Stuart’s hometown and today on the show he tells us all about what it was like to grow up in Montreal, and he attempts to pay tribute to the city that will always be ‘home’. Originally broadcast June 5th, 2010
March 5th, 2011 "Dave's Truck"
4/17/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Dave inherits some money and decides to buy himself a 1948 GMC panel truck—the same car his father and grandfather drove when Dave was a boy. Meanwhile, Morley hears the startling news that her friends Brian and Susan are splitting up. As Dave’s efforts to restore his vintage truck to its former glory morph into an obsessive love, Morley begins to wonder about their marriage. Originally broadcast February 27th, 2010
February 26th: "Razor's Edge"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 31:46

This week on the show we talk about the joys and challenges of life on the road. And we have a story about an episode that Dave had an airport security: Dave’s aged and decrepit electric razor sets off alarms when security guards at the airport see the device in their x-ray machines.
February 19th, 2011 "Dave's Letter"
4/17/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guests Jenny Whitely & Joey Wright from Smiths Falls, Ontario. Every New Year, Dave sits down to write out ‘The Davies’ his annual awards and new years resolutions. This year Dave resolves to clean up the storage space above his record store. When he is up there cleaning up, he finds a letter he wrote thirty years ago. The letter outlines his life goals and when Dave realizes he has contradicted all of them.
VC: February 12th, 2011 "Best Things"
4/17/2011
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Duration: 32:58

Today on the show we celebrate Valentine's Day with music about both sides of love…and with a story about how Dave’s daughter Stephanie met her boyfriend Tommy: When a young man arrives to visit his girlfriend at Stephanie’s dorm and discovers that she has gone off to find new love in Montreal, Stephanie steps in to take care of the sad fellow.
VC: January 29th, 2011 "Grocery Shopping"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe Orchestra return to Minnedosa, Mantiboa for the first time in a decade. They have returned to this small prairie town to play the piano – a piano that the audiences of the Vinyl Cafe helped purchase, by donating change at Vinyl Cafe concerts. Stuart also tells a story about Dave: Dave finds himself at the grocery store without a quarter for the grocery carts. In an effort to be efficient, Dave hops on a motorized scooter.
VC: January 22nd, 2011 "Book Club"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 36:37

Today on the show we tell you about two of our favourite book clubs: one which started in the 1950s and another that has been going for 27 years and has only missed one meeting! And we have a story about Morley's book club: When the children got to be a little older, Morley decided that she had the time to join a book club...but she didn't like the books, or the people, who treated reading like a competitive sport.
VC: January 15th, 2011 "Updates"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 29:44

We have spent the last couple of weeks trying to catch up with ourselves...and having succeeded in our bumbling way…we thought it was time that we did the same thing on the radio: catch you up that is. So this week we'll be updating you on a few things that we started last year.
VC: December 25th, 2010 "Christmas Concert 2010"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe Orchestra for this year’s brand new Vinyl Cafe Christmas Concert. Music by award winning musicians Matt Andersen and Jackie Richardson and a brand new Dave and Morley Christmas story. Dave tells his son Sam about something that happened years ago at Christmas time…something that Dave still feels bad about.
VC: December 4th, 2010 "The Gloves"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join Stuart McLean and special musical guests Dala and Russell De Carle (from Prairie Oyster) for the annual Christmas Concert from 2008. Dave tries to teach his son Sam about the true spirit of Christmas giving by telling his son about his first Christmas with Morley. But in the end, it is Sam who ends up doing the teaching. Originally broadcast: December 2008
VC: November 27th, 2010 "Honey"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join host Stuart McLean and musical guest Matt Andersen (recent winner of the International Blues Challenge) for a concert from Campbell River, BC. Stuart talks about why he loves ferry boats, and he tells a new story about Dave’s son Sam, and their neighbor Eugene.
VC: November 13th, 2010 "Dave and the Elevator"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 54:17

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guests: The Abrams Brothers from Picton, Ontario. Stuart tells us why he thinks Picton’s main street is so fabulous – and what other towns and cities could learn from their success. He also tells us about what happens to Dave when he gets stuck in an elevator for hours with a special cake made by Mary Turlington. Originally broadcast: November 16th, 2008
VC: October 30th, 2010 "Gabriel Dubois"
4/19/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guests Madison Violet from Mabou, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Stuart talks about the morning he went fly fishing on the Margaree River in Cape Breton. And he tells a story about Dave’s old friend Gabriel Dubois.
VC: October 16th, 2010 "Centennial Mug"
4/17/2011
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Duration: 54:16

Join host Stuart McLean and special musical guest Andrea Simms Karp from the National Capitol Region. Stuart talks about why he thinks a crumbling cake in the National Library of Parliament is something to pay attention to. Originally broadcast: September 12th, 2009

Vinyl Cafe Stories from CBC Radio

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