On M2M this week Sarah Hyde and I broadcast from the Burrard Bridge, hang out in Kitsilano, go to a coffee shop, walk by some car dealerships and talk all about our favourite places in the city.

Some of them are surprising. Some feature a baby owl. Some have cheesecake the size of a twoonie. And like every other M2M show so far, Sarah and I talk a lot. Talking out our nuances and joking about our foibles, we try to uncover how these cool places transcend the everyday and take us to new heights of experience. (I swear only Dads are allowed to use puns, so I sincerely, sincerely apologize).

We also talk to a few people who represent what we love about Vancouver: arty magic and dancing! I stop by my favourite place in the city (a separate blog post coming up on that shortly) and speak to Wendy Williams Watt who has really cool things to say. And Sarah talks to fellow “unicorn” Quinn Peters about his favourite secret place.

*unicorn is a term one of Sarah’s friends-from-away calls people born and raised in Vancouver. I find it fitting as I really relate to Douglas Coupland’s City of Glass understanding of the place and equate Vancouver to Cloud City mixed with Gotham and Atlantis. Surreal, beautiful and hard to get into.

Tune in Thursday at 3pm at CJSF 90.1 fm.

Tales of Cool Places Vancouver Part I

Tales from Cool Places Vancouver Part II

We heart Douglas Coupland, a national treasure and celebrated Vancouverite!

Those nooks up in the far corners of the bridge? Surprisingly great (and peaceful!) places to hang out.

CBC Radio 3 scarf I received for telling a secret to Appetite for Distraction host Lisa Christiansen

Yes, the CBC Radio 3 scarf (and there’s a toque too!) are much, much better than fruitcake, even the kind with brandied nuts!  But the real gift of xmas to me, was who I was with when I got this scarf: two friends that have seen me cry, laugh, panic and lose at any trivia board game I’ve played even with creative  answers such as “the one who always wears pink and walks with a hop” or “the year Amelia Earhart started her period.” (c’mon that last one should have gotten a bonus point).

These friends are fellow radio graduates Kristina Mameli and Chris England.  Two people I know will be rocking the mic at CBC sooner than you can down a jug of soy-nogg, (ok, a lot sooner than that!)

Our collective dream is to all meet up for slurpees.  And in between that make great radio.

So in the spirit of friendship, I want to share some photos we took at the recent CBC Open House in Vancouver. Congratulations are in order as CBC employees, listeners and fans who raised $568,607 for the food bank which computes to over a million dollars worth of groceries.  And to the thousands of fans who took a tour of the new building (Myself, Kristina and Chris among them). We are a testament that in CBC all of us Canadians can find a friend.

Freelance broadcaster and writer, Kristina Mameli and broadcaster Chris England having a little fun at CBC Radio 3.

Kristina and me with Scotty. We all stood in line behind him for the "guac and talk" segment on Lanarama's Foodie Friday. But Scotty was too good to follow so we got this picture instead.

Where art installations live forever: Chris and Kristina inside CBC Vancouver. I really hope this shot wins the ipod!

The archives on display were really cool. Here's a close up of a camera.

Kristina pointed out this mic right away. Reminds me of David Letterman's, you know you have a show when you have a mic like this on your desk.

Along with these items, a film was put together showcasing some older programming. We hummed along to the theme of the cooking show "Wok with Yan". I can see Chris with his own cooking show.

There has been something on my mind lately that has nothing to do with the recession, the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen, the recent military coup in Honduras or the upcoming year of the Inuit.

Nope, this nagging something only has to do with AM Radio hits, one smash wonders and something well-meaning-gray-gouteed djs like to call “classics from the 80s.”

Well, it has to do with that and a little something I like to call the ‘unforigiving mercy of relentless time.’

I am now in my 30s.

And although I haven’t really noticed too many signs of aging, I have definitely heard one. Loud and clear.

The other night my main squeeze Jordan and I were driving home in one of the cars from the Co-operative Auto Network, I was scanning through the radio dial to find something playing other than a booming voice selling a sandwich when I coincidentally landed on Jack FM.

No, I take that back. I didn’t just land on Jack FM, I did a double-foot-guitar-kick-jump-roof-punch because of the song playing….

You might ask was that song old school Rage Against the Machine or maybe the new Mother Mother single?

Nope.

It was Rock You Like a Hurricane by The Scorpions.

And man did we rock out in traffic like our car tires were on fire and our hair was teased higher than the rotating KFC bucket we were driving by.

And the rocking didn’t stop there, oh no:

We were so happy listening to these hits! As happy as I remembered being when I first saw The Constantines play in Canmore, Alberta in a bar with six other people. I mean that was the historical music event of my life!  How on earth could the Scorpions make me feel just as happy?

Aging.

There is a reason it’s called easy listening. It is easy to listen to.

There is no clever wit required to process the irony, no angst to wade through, no political subtext or secret message only nerdy critics with dark glasses can uncover. When the Scorpions sing “Here I am/rock you like a hurricane” they mean exactly that: there they are and they are going to rock you (or preferably your ladyfriend) like a hurricane. And that’s without the stuffed sock.

Jerry Rubin, Jack Weinberg, Bob Dylan all at one time said “Don’t trust anyone over 30.”

The reason?

Easy Listening.