MONDAY

      A Long Shot podcast fan (#LoShoPoFa) named Hart was kind enough to come to the show last night with the Sunday Service, and had offered me a place to stay a while back. I crashed at his place, then today we went on a walk around part of Vancouver, out along the water to English Bay within sight of the Pacific Ocean. We walked through Granville Island, which is a hub of shops and stores (and retail establishments), with an upscale indoor market and a Theatersports. The kind of place that exists in any cosmopolitan, metropolitan city worth its salt at this point. Great coffee. We wandered through a marina, lots of people working on their boats, then reached a point where right across the water from us was West Van, and then, slightly beyond that, the North Shore Mountains. The highest peak in the range is less than 6000 feet, but they are very rugged and beautiful and right outside the city, so you can see them from everywhere. Hart told me that you can get on mass transit, head out to the mountains, and be at some recreational ski areas within 45 minutes. It was also, unusually according to Hart, a clear brisk cool sunny day. Vancouver is a beautiful city, and I could kind of see why it is consistently named one of the top five cities to live in (in which to live?) in North America. As with Portland it helps to have somebody who lives there to give you the dope. Also, it totally makes sense somebody would use it as a stand-in for the part of New York where I went to high school. They’re practically identical.

      Then that night I headlined a standup show at the Fox Cabaret (the or no the?). Also on the show were two very funny Vancouver comics, Sophie Buddle (@sophiebuddle) and Abdul Aziz (@abdulazizcomedy) It was really fun, but also let’s just say I am not nearly as much of a draw as The Sunday Service. But a couple of #LoShoPoFa came out, and it was great to meet them. I got to do almost an hour, and some of it worked, and some of it didn’t, and some of it needs work, but that’s why I’m doing this.