On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

Budgie raised a question about the unforgettable dead the other day. Noting that there are several kinds of truly unforgettable dead in the real worlds, and I needed an outlet for the thought that came up.

Some of the most recent such celebrities of Canadian affiliation - born, migrated, whichever - that we've lost in recent years that I felt truly sorry to lose?

Gord Downie, back in 2017. Lead musician of the Tragically Hip. That one hurt the whole country and our Indigenous relations into the bargain. My mother and I watched that last concert together - I don't think I talked about it much beyond the fact of it, called it the "Last-We-Fear" at the time back in 2016 - as part of the 12 million who watched or listened to all or part of it. That one hurt, partly because brain cancer and we all knew it was coming.

Later, that same year, Stuart McLean, creator and host of CBC Radio's Vinyl Cafe. Most ruthless storyteller in Canada I knew of, others are as good as - Rob Sawyer for one - but none better when it came to live tellings of other people's stories over the radio and in the concert halls. I never got to see any of his live shows. Skin cancer in his case. His medical team thought they'd nailed it on the first go-round, but no. Like that cat from the Fred Penner song, it came back and just wouldn't stay away until it ended him.

One thing from the Wikipedia profile of the series I want to quote here: "The series also presented an annual set of awards that were called the "Arthur Awards", which were intended to commend various people who had performed extraordinary good deeds in the preceding year."

I feel like we ought to keep that last thing, the Arthur Awards (named for the family dog from the "Dave and Morley" stories which gave the series the Vinyl Cafe name), going beyond the once that Duncan McCue hosted on Cross-Country Checkup in April 2018. Did that happen this past year of 2019?

Not ready for any snowfall tomorrow. Any more than I was ready to finally listen to the last Vinyl Cafe Christmas Concert this afternoon. I made it through the show, though, right up to the closing salutations from Mr. McLean.

I cried. No regrets, no apologies. I cried.

I said before: Stuart McLean was among our most ruthless storytellers. Others are as ruthless. None are moreso.

This will never be a complaint on my part.

Check this interview from 2013. It's a bit more sombre than we're used to from him, but it does show us something of the inner man in a good and helpful way.

http://www.broadcastingcanada.com/the-interview-blog/stuart-mclean

I saw Miss Sloane at the cinema last night. Worth the time, worth the money...for reasons of timing more than anything else. More people should see it.

I think I'm going to skip Designated Survivor on TV for reasons of emotional health. Maybe things will change in time, but for now?

Some sad news I want to note: we're losing The Vinyl Cafe on Radio One for the time being. It seems that Stuart McLean's cancer issues are more stubborn than we'd all hoped. Hoping that he and his medical team have better hunting this go-round...

...in the middle of decorating the tree to listen to the Vinyl Cafe. Their first recorded-live show from Seattle, so far as I know.

Always fun.