An early Valentine for Stan fans

[gerisullivan]

The Stan in question is Canadian folksinger Stan Rogers. A few weeks ago, I stumbled across and ordered One Warm Line: The Legacy of Stan Rogers. Friday night, I watched the 1989 CBC documentary for the first time. It won't be the last. The bonus tracks include footage of Stan & his band performing two live songs: Archie Fisher's "Witch of the Westmoreland" and Nigel Russell's "White Collar Holler." I saw Stan perform both at the Coffeehouse Extempore. Oh, the memories....

But even more than the music, I enjoyed the thoroughly Canadian approach to the documentary itself. It brings added insight to Stan's life more with maritime and farming footage than with images from his performances, much as there's an ample amount of the latter, too. There are interviews with his widow and mother as well as some brief comments from his brother, Garnet. And photos of his children, including his son, Nathan, who has a music career of his own. My favorite of the bonus track interviews is the first. I found myself hanging onto every word from poet Bill Howell, talking as he did about all-night conversations he and Stan had about writing and more.

The Kensington website linked above sells the DVD for $20 (plus postage) and has a streaming option for $2. When I ordered it, the only Amazon listing was for an overpriced copy from a third party seller. Tonight, the DVD is on Amazon for $14.99 with free shipping for Prime members, so that's an another option if you're an Amazon customer and want the documentary.

When I returned to my computer after watching the DVD on the TV in the living room, wandering around the web turned up another new-to-me discovery: From Coffeehouse to Concert Hall. How the heck did I miss this album when it was released in 1999, or through all the years that have passed since then? I now have 20 tracks of studio and live performances, none of which are on any of the other 5 Stan Rogers albums I own. My oh my.

And no matter how certain I am that surely decadentdave has long known and been familiar with both the documentary and album, I'll talk with him directly about both. Because none of my friends would have thought they'd be news to me, either.

Happy Valentine's, all. If you'll be at Boskone on the day, please be sure to stop by the MidAmeriCon II table and pick up a heart or three from me.

Comments

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I count myself lucky to have heard Stan Rogers live twice while I was a grad student in Philadelphia, lo-these-many-years-ago. (Amusing fact: our local dentist was in dental school at Temple University during those same years, and he and his later-wife were at a lot of the same folk concerts Himself and I and the rest of the Philly-area SCA used to go to -- we never crossed paths at the time, but all four of us ended up here in the same exceedingly small town in the frozen North.)

To this day, I know that cabin fever season is setting in hard when my brain radio starts playing "Canol Road" on repeat.