From my notebook this morning…
20 February, 2017
Leaning on the
counter, waiting for the coffee to gasp and gurgle into wakeful splendor.
Fell asleep listening
to the most wonderful obit/tribute to Stuart McLean, 20 year host of Vinyl Café, who’d
worked at CBC for over forty years. They
played different clips from his career.
It was interesting to hear his style carried through different kinds of
broadcasting.
He was absolutely a storyteller, a raconteur. I especially liked the clip of Dave and Morley skating on the canals in Holland.
He was absolutely a storyteller, a raconteur. I especially liked the clip of Dave and Morley skating on the canals in Holland.
When he begins—either a
report on Gordie Howe trying to get his 1000th NHL goal or the last
official bare knuckle boxing match or skating on the canals or gravy on the
lightbulbs and Butch the turkey—a barn door is opened. The latch is slid back and bit by bit, this
wide door is pulled open. And everyone
waits to see what is inside, moving to the side in relation to the progress of
the door, in order to crane and see the most that can be seen.
That was the way he
seemed to see things—whether the world around him or the world within him—as something
to be revealed, shared, shown, and he thought that HOW the revelation happens
makes a difference. His approach was
slow and deliberate. But it never felt
sluggish—no, it was detailed, invitational so this drawing back of the barn door
was a part of the experience of coming to know what was inside. Each wedge made visible was as important and
equally worthy of time and consideration as the whole. In fact, when the door
IS open all the way, when the report or the story/episode ends and the whole is
revealed, my accumulated feelings of participation, curiosity and presence settle
into the praise of a culminating sigh. A
sigh of fullness and gratitude and knowing.
Because Stuart McLean has revealed the beauty of the journey itself,
step by step and detail by detail.
Thank you,
storytellers, writers, talespinners of all sorts…the reporters, the
broadcasters, poets, preachers, painters, composers and singers, symphony musicians
and subway buskers... Thank you for
revealing the details of this journey. For helping us walk in truth and in faith,
in beauty and in hope.
1 comment:
Canada and CBC will miss Stuart, that's for sure. Rest eternal grant Stuart, O God; and let light perpetual shine upon him.
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