Weekend with Stuart McLean

Today is my birthday and I'm 41 years young. I know I've said this a few
times, but whatever I thought my 40s would be like, they're really not much
different than most other parts of my life. Sure, my bones are creaking a
bit more now and I don't have as much energy as I did in my 20s, but that's
mostly due to having to carry these 50 extra pounds around my middle.

My birthday gifts this year are spectacular. The first half of my gift from
Sarah was a box of decaffeinated King Cole tea. Sarah got me hooked on the
stuff shortly after she moved in with me and it's really become my comfort
tea of choice. The problem is when I want to cuddle up with a warm cuppa at
night, which usually results in laying in bed with my eyes screwed open for
hours. Decaffeinated King Cole tea is practically impossible to find in the
grocery stores: you must order it directly from New Brunswick, which she
did, Gods bless her.

The second half of my b-day gift was going to see Stuart McLean at Place des
Arts. If you don't know, Stuart hosts the Vinyl Cafe on CBC, which is a
mixture of stories and music. Stuart's storytelling is different from mine:
he writes and tells original stories about Dave and Morely, a fictitious
family that live in Toronto. They are fabulous stories and I've been a huge
fan for years.

The live show at Place des Arts was recorded and should appear on CBC radio
in two weeks or so. The musical guest was Montreal's own Patrick Watson;
after listening to two of his pieces, I was hooked and bought his CD at the
intermission. About a month before the show, I wrote to Stuart and said that
I would be attending his show for my birthday, that I was a storyteller
myself, and would he be open to me telling a tale on his stage? His producer
wrote back promptly with regrets that folktales didn't really fit in the
format of the show, but it was worth a shot. Still, I had prepared a piece
in my mind on the off-chance he'd ask, but he didn't. Ah well... maybe I'll
have a chance to perform in Place Des Arts someday.

But there was a moment in the show that caught me by surprise. In the second
part of the show, Stuart was recounting is own stories about growing up in
Montreal and how, in 1962, his friends went to see Bob Dylan perform at the
Finjan Club on Victoria Street. Stuart went on to say that this show was
recorded by Jack Nissenson (from the band *The Mountain City Four*) and has
become one of the most sought-after bootleg CDs today.

I was bowled over for several reasons:
1. Jack is one of my dearest friends and we were meeting with him that night
in Chinatown
2. I own this bootleg CD. It is truly one of the finest bootleg CDs I've
ever heard (you can clearly hear Jack and Dylan chatting throughout the
show, even as people slowly left before his show was over).
3. I'm pretty sure Stuart learned about this show, bootleg CD, and about Jack
from a Wikipedia page <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jack_nissenson> that I
wrote.

After the show, Sarah and I invited Stuart to join us for supper with Jack
in Chinatown, but he declined because he already had plans to have supper
with his mum.

Amazing weekend! Thanks be to Sarah for making 41 so memorable!