“The Barstools of Yutopia” was yet another segment that wasn’t on the initial slate for season two. During the month of August, Mark and Jesse made good progress towards getting the requisite seven segments in the can—enough to air one new segment each month during Jesse’s extended vacation to Australia and southeast Asia.
The final two stories were already in progress when Mark, walking down Main Street in downtown Whitehorse one sunny afternoon (actually, he was probably strollering his daughter), noticed the poster boards plastered with advertisements for a new bar and grill called Yutopia. The business was located at the corner of 4th and Main where Coasters, Shenanigans, Mama Martinis and—this is going a little further back—the Caribou Lounge (a.k.a. the T&M) used to be. Dave Haddock might remember the place…. Around the same time, the bar’s owners talked to the Yukon News about the origins of their business and how starting it was the realization of their own personal version of utopia.
So, basically, the story idea inspired by this convergence of factors was simple: use the bar—and its suggestive name—as a framing device for a story about the Yukon’s qualifications (or lack thereof) as a utopia. This story seemed like a no-brainer, if for no other reason than it required less fieldwork than the story Mark and Jesse had originally planned. The clock, they noticed, was quickly ticking down to Jesse’s early October departure date.
After dropping by Yutopia one evening to explain his idea to the bar’s co-owner Jo Radzimirksa, who seemed a little puzzled by the whole thing, Mark received a follow-up call from Jo’s sister and Yutopia partner, Anna. The plan, as it was formulated and more or less simultaneously explained to Anna, was to come down to the bar and ask some of the patrons whether or not they thought the Yukon was utopia—the assumption being that no one in their right mind would say yes. After all, the standards for utopia are set extremely high.
As they so often do, Mark and Jesse arranged a play date and, on Saturday, September 15, with pink tickets in hand, dropped by Yutopia. Most of their recent dates had involved something called Boogaloo, so this rare evening together, in a bar, surrounded by alcohol, marked a significant step forward in their blossoming relationship.
Both Mark and Jesse were pleasantly surprised by Yutopia’s atmosphere. It wasn’t really busy, but no one—least of all Anna—seemed terribly concerned about the situation. After doing a quick interview, Anna was gracious enough to make some introductions to a few bar patrons and staffers who, in turn, were generous with their thoughts and time. One of the highlights—and hopefully you’ll catch a bit of this in the piece—was the live blues by Ryan McNally, a recent newcomer to Whitehorse who can now be heard at least three nights a week at various venues around town. (And when he’s not picking his guitar, you might catch him behind the counter at Zola’s.)
To make a long story short, none of the people Jesse and Mark interviewed had many negative things to say about the Yukon—they were such a hopelessly optimistic lot—so it was left to us to plant suggestions and see where they would lead. But, truth be told, by the time Jesse and Mark departed the bar, they were feeling a little happier with the Yukon. One thing the Yukon didn’t need, they decided, was a nice watering hole for a couple of dudes past the barfing-in-the-gutter stage of life; Yutopia had already filled that void. If they can find it in themselves to be just a little less lame, Mark and Jesse might even make it back there some day. (For the record, Mark and Jesse shared a Singapore Sling, and paid for it themselves.)
The script was written and recorded, without incident (except for one minor fistfight) over the next week or so, and was submitted to CBC in early October, along with the rest of season two. As Mark has since realized, there are risks to recording a radio segment a couple of months before it goes to air. Circumstances change, and where there was once just a giant hole in the ground at Whitehorse International Airport, there is now a glaring inaccuracy in the script.
Live and learn.
Oh, and this seems like an appropriate place for one final nod to that other bar at 4th and Main.
Rest in peace, Taku Hotel.
Mark provides a timely update about the recent but no longer distopian state of affairs in the parking lot of Whitehorse International Airport. In the process, he also serves warning to Rick Mercer that the whole walking-and-talking-into-the -camera-thing is better left to... well, Rick Mercer.
