I’m happy to hear that some of you have dug right into our January book, Cadillac Couches by Edmonton’s Sophie B Watson. Last week, Fiasco22 and I challenged each other to have this book completed before we met today. Well, I’m afraid I didn’t make it. I’m still somewhere near Winnipeg in the book’s cross-country trip. So, if you’re done, I salute you, Fiasco22. You are the master.

Pineapple Flats also chimed in to suggest that, as a pro-Calgary, Albertan, the book was helping them appreciate Edmonton more. Based on the rivalry between these two cities (which I believe extends beyond their NHL clubs), that’s a pretty significant development. As someone who now has family there and has spent a fair amount of time in Edmonton over the past decade, I’ll join PF in suggesting that Watson does a great job celebrating and romanticizing the city of champions, even as her characters long to leave it.

Speaking of which, in the spirit of Cadillac Couches, today I thought I’d open up the floor to you about the farthest you’ve crossed Canada to see someone play music. In the book, Annie and Isobel decide, on the spur of the moment really, to drive from Edmonton to Montreal to see Annie’s musical infatuation, Hawksley Workman.

In 1999, I flew to British Columbia to see Shellac play their first Canadian shows ever in Vancouver and Victoria. I’ve done some country crossing to see Bob Dylan in the Prairies in 2002, and this past October, I left Ontario to see Hot Snakes in Montreal one night, and then made it back to Toronto to see them again the next night. 

Am I nuts? Are you? Are Isobel and Annie? 

What’s the furthest you have travelled specifically to see someone play music? Who would make you consider enduring such a long-distance trek? What do you make of Cadillac Couches thus far? If you would like an entry into its world, Watson has provided this helpful Reader's Guide and Discussion Topics page on her website. Check it out. Otherwise, what'cha readin'?

Ani DiFranco's "Untouchable Face" figures heavily in Cadillac Couches: 


Related: 

CBC Books

What’cha Readin’? Sophie B Watson introduces Cadillac Couches

What’cha Readin’? Cadillac Couches by Sophie B. Watson, plus recommended reading

What’cha Readin’? Best books of 2012 with Sam Sutherland

What’cha Readin’? Best books of 2012 with Dave Bidini

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What’cha Readin’? Farewell to Perfect Youth (and 'Hey there' to Sloan's Chris Murphy)

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What'cha Readin'? Shawn Colvin answers your Diamond in the Rough questions

What'cha Readin'? Daniel Mark Epstein on The Ballad of Bob Dylan

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What’cha Readin’? Thoughts on Writing Gordon Lightfoot by Dave Bidini

posted by Vish Khanna on Jan 17, 2013