Adieu Stuart

Time marches on, and another voice is laid silent by the scourge of cancer. Stuart McLean passed away this past week after a fight with melanoma. Platitudes aside, we are the less for it.

A cartoonist had posted his tribute of Stuart and it showed, quite vividly, why he mattered to us...an look inside showed that Stuart McLean had a maple leaf for a heart. I think that pretty much summed him up. A unique talent that held us spell bound with human connections.

Much as Gord Downie last year was celebrated as a Canadian icon telling our stories and being dork like while doing it, Stuart McLean connected us to each other with humour and warmth...and dork like cheese. Hearing his voice gave one an instant case of the warm and fuzzy's...his stories of Dave and Morely and everyone around the Vinyl Cafe are legend. Like the Hip, he held up a mirror to our collective selves and showed us what it was to be Canadian. To once again quote Gord Downie "with my music I will give you the confines of my heart"...yeah, it's a safe bet to say that those words will resonate with me till I die and they certainly do justice for Stuart.

While I have only been paying attention for the past six or seven years I have fallen under his spell many a time. Often stretching a drive to make sure the story was uninterrupted by the mundane everyday. Dave Cooks a Turkey or Sam's First Job...simplistic joy in the telling of our stories. Relatable and almost always poignant Stuart would tug at your heart strings and leave you wanting more. A rare talent. A rare human being.

To see him perform was to see how spoken word should be seen. He combined music, almost always choosing a local act, with his stories and his letters. And he really did perform, in constant motion his hands and arms would conduct his stories the same way Maestro would conduct the orchestra. It was an honour to to have seen him twice. I won't forget.

What he left behind is what we will remember him for. Those tiny perfect tapestries that reminded us of why we should care about our neighbour, why family matters and how the little things are the notes and sounds of our orchestral movement....binding it all together in the warmth of his unique take on the world around us.

"We may not be big but we're small"