RIP: Kate McGarrigle and Vancouver's Duthie Books

So sad to read about the passing of Quebec singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle She performs here in a 2009 video with her son Rufus Wainwright, Jr. and Spectacle TV host Elvis Costello.

And a Canadian passing of another kind is the closing of Duthie Books' last bookstore. After 53 years of being Vancouver's primo independent bookstore, customers were greeted at the their Fourth Avenue store in Kitsilano with the sad news. Here in part is an explanation that they posted on their website:

Everybody knows that Independent bookstores have been under pressure from the 'big box' operations for many years now and it is clear that it is not going to get any better; the likes of Chapters, and Amazon are ruthless in their drive for market share and we cannot compete on price anymore. The book itself is in the throes of a technological transformation and book readers undergoing a major demographic shift.