I'm a big Gord Downie fan, and I was immediately intrigued when I heard he was guesting on the new City and Colour album. Shortly thereafter I heard the song and loved it so much I had to share it with everybody.
It's a sweet blend when Dallas Green's voice dances with Gord's. Here's a neat little behind the scenes vid. Unfortunately, we don't see Gord sing, but we do see him in a very cool Return of the Jedi tee shirt.
Newfoundland and Labrador's Damhnait Doyle has released an album of interesting covers entitled Lights Down Low.
I caught wind of this new release because one of the tracks Doyle covers is The Tragically Hip's "Bobcaygeon", one of my favourite songs from my favourite band. You can hear it right here where Damhnait Doyle is streaming her entire album.
It's worth a visit just to hear her covers of other awesome songs, like Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", The Clash's "Train in Vein" and Foo Fighter's "Everlong".
I share an MP3 from my collection every Wednesday. You have seven days to grab this week's MP3. Please right-click your mouse and select "Save Link As..." or "Save target as..." so you can download it to your PC before playing.
City And Colour - Sleeping Sickness
I just got the new City and Colour album yesterday, but I've been spinning "Sleeping Sickness" for weeks. This track features guest vocals from The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie. Dallas Green and Gord Downie kill on this sweet little ditty.
Yes, I'm biased, but you are in Toronto Mike bias-ville.
The new Dallas Green City and Colour album has a track called "Sleeping Sickness". "Sleeping Sickness" features Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip.
You can listen to this song and the rest of the new City and Colour album Bring Me Your Love on the City and Colour MySpace page.
It's too bad we can't embed the MySpace player. Rupert, if you're out there, that would be neat-o.
Last March I shared the video for The Tragically Hip's "Yer Not The Ocean" and asked if anyone knew where I could find the featured suspension bridge.
Some guessed it was the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver but that wasn't it. Then some thought it might be the suspension bridge at Scenic Caves in Collingwood, Ontario, but that wasn't it either. Now, almost a year later, we have an answer. This comment was left on my Flickr account.
Hello Mike,
You won't need a passport to visit this suspension bridge! The bridge in the video is the Buntzen Lake suspension bridge near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
www.flickr.com/photos/59002956@N00/1395285467/
Of course you can just search "buntzen lake suspension bridge" on "everyone's photos".
While I haven't been to that one yet - I have been to 696 other suspension bridges. It's a hobby of mine; as a quick view of my postings to Flickr will attest. I've been to BC to visit suspension bridges, but just didn't get to Vancouver.
I first became aware of your request for this bridge's location through your Toronto Mike blog, but ended up here on Flickr which I'm very familiar with.
Best regards,
Patrick
So there you have it. If you want to see the bridge below, head to Buntzen Lake. Thanks, Patrick!
City And Colour, Dallas Green's solo project, is releasing a second album in February entitled Bring Me Your Love.
I'm most interested in hearing "Sleeping Sickness". "Sleeping Sickness" features guest vocals by none other than Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip. The first person to score me a listen wins a Coke.
Johnny Fay, drummer for my favourite band of all-time, once famously quipped that being the biggest band in Canada is "like being the world’s tallest midgets." I always liked the quote, and I was pleased to see it in an Aspen Times News headline today.
The Tragically Hip are in Colorado playing small clubs with Joel Plaskett Emergency opening and here's the little write up they got.
Tonight: 'world’s tallest midgets’
By Aspen Times Staff
Aspen, CO Colorado
October 15, 2007ASPEN — It’s a big-name rock band headlining at Belly Up Aspen on Monday. Tragically, The Hip probably doesn’t ring a bell.
The Tragically Hip, better known simply as The Hip to their fans, are hugely popular north of the border, but the Canadian quintet has never hit mainstream success in the States. Consequently, a band that plays sold-out arena shows at home, judging from several web bios, appears in smaller venues and clubs below the boarder. The band heads from Aspen to the Boulder Theatre on Tuesday before turning south for dates in Texas and New Orleans.
Drummer Johnny Fay reportedly once quipped that being the biggest band in Canada is “like being the world’s tallest midgets.”
The heights of their U.S. success not withstanding, these guys were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005. They’ve got some 10 studio albums, a couple of compilations and a box set to their credit since emerging from Kingston, Ontario in 1983.
Their latest, “World Container” was released in Canada late last year and in March in the United States. The third track “In View” quickly charted in Canada — the latest in a long string of homeland hits for the band.
When the group played Halifax, Nova Scotia last month, reviewer Stephen Cooke of The Chronicle Herald in Halifax, wrote: “Few Canadian bands thrive in the bloodstreams of their listeners like The Tragically Hip.”
The band’s current lineup features Rob Baker on lead guitar, Gordon Downie on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, drummer Fay, Paul Langlois handling rhythm guitar and backing vocals, and Gord Sinclair on bass and backing vocals.
Opening for The Hip is up-and-coming Canadian singer/songwriter Joel Plaskett and his band, Emergency, touring in support of their 2007 release, “Ashtray Rock.”
The band is dubbed Joel Plaskett Emergency; Plaskett has several East Coast Music Awards to his credit in Canada, including male artist of the year, single of the year and songwriter of the year.
Tickets to Monday’s Belly Up show are $40. The music starts at 10 p.m., after Monday Night Football (the Giants at Atlanta) on the club’s big screen. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the football (no cover until the music). 450 S. Galena St.
The Sweet Hereafter, a great Atom Egoyan film, features a cover of The Tragically Hip's "Courage" sung by Sarah Polley.
I've always liked this haunting reworking of the tune and meant to share this video some time ago.
I'm all about one-stop shopping. The sole purpose of this entry is to give me easy access to every Tragically Hip video from one convenient page.
Here, in chronological order, is every Tragically Hip video. For more on The Hip, visit my Tragically Hip page.
Let me know in the comments if the order is wrong. I did it from memory. Also, if I missed a video, let me know that as well.
For no particularly good reason other than the fact I feel like hearing the tune, here's The Tragically Hip's "Little Bones".
This Japan baseball update is about Aaron Guiel, a 34 year old from Vancouver Island. He plays for the Yakult Swallows and is a fan favourite at Jingu Stadium. He also loves The Tragically Hip.
What's your favorite music?
I play the Tragically Hip song "New Orleans is Sinking" when I bat at Jingu. I tried to get them to play a different Hip song for every at-bat but that was a little too complicated, we over-loaded somebody, so now we just get one song.
The Yakult Swallows actually play out of Tokyo. They're named after the Yakult Corporation. If you're in Tokyo, you know where to go to hear some Hip.
New York Press has a neat article about The Tragically Hip entitled "Hip Check: The biggest band in Canada is not from Montreal".
The article includes a great quote from Gord Downie regarding the effect downloading has had on the music business.
I’ve always felt that rock ’n’ roll is just melodious air. I get perplexed when music gets blunted at the border by some artificial demarcation line—whether a corporate border or a technological one. Music, or any kind of art, is like water, and it needs to be able to find its way. Fifteen years ago, we would have needed a licensing deal, some kind of emissary to chaperone our music into the same kinds of places that it’s getting to naturally these days. It’s fluid; it’s just doing what it should be doing.
Amen.
We recently determined that the suspension bridge featured in the Tragically Hip's "Yer Not the Ocean" video isn't the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. Some suggested it might be the suspension bridge at Scenic Caves in Collingwood, Ontario, but as you'll see below, that's not it either.
Is it any of these?
I recently posted the video for The Tragically Hip's new single, "Yer Not the Ocean". There's a suspension bridge featured in the video that I'm trying to identify. A couple of commenters think it's the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver but I disagree.
Below is a picture of the Capilano Suspension Bridge and beside it is a screen cap from the "Yer Not the Ocean" video. As you'll see, they're two different bridges.
Unfortunately, Ontario tourism wasn't clever enough to post their "There's No Place Like This" ad on YouTube so I can't share it, but if you've seen it you'll have seen a suspension bridge that might just be the one in the Hip video. If you know where this bridge is, let me know in the comments.
Speaking of Ocean songs and videos, Pearl Jam's "Oceans" is still awesome. Here's the video.
The Tragically Hip's newest video is for "Yer Not the Ocean". It features a polar bear and seems to have an environmental message for us all. Gordie with a message about the environment? Shocking!
Can anyone tell me what park Gord and that polar bear are in? Where would I find that bridge?
I've been hearing from people since I posted a Tragically Hip hater's analysis of the band. Some agree with him, others know exactly where he's coming from. All of this has got me thinking...
I think you either get it, or you don't. If you get it, you get it large and you're hooked. If you don't, you don't, and that's just the way it is. Somebody has already stolen my thunder and written an essay on this topic that I think is pretty accurate.
I just get it, and there's little in this world that feels as good as being bathed in the poetic ramblings of Gord and being surrounded by those songs I know and love. I used to want Taryn to feel what I felt, and I dragged her to a few shows before I realized that she just doesn't get it, and that's okay.
It's better for us if you don't understand.
When I shared Gord Downie's Hallelujah with a reader named Whorella Mundane, she told me I redeemed all of Canada. I must have thought that was pretty cool because it prompted me to write this.
I just got another message from Whorella Mundane. Here's her manically wicked email in its entirety.
Hey toronto mike – i'd have written earlier but pipes broke in the house and water flowed downward – oh it was dark I tell ya!
well first I mean you gave me this gordon downie track I actually tried to get the mp3 from the DVD – but I couldn't figure out how – so I'd sit there watching the movie – over and over and over. And I've heard two other versions of that song and I love them both but wow ... Gordon downie.
But I have a proposition for you ... You already have my complete respect and I saw your blog and thought it was funny. But how would you like to engage in a little banter on your blog? Like if I just show up and post stuff in comments or something? But I really am this hated character. When I met gordie many years ago he said I had quite a following and the band heard about me everywhere agh! I didn't dare ask what he heard ...
But yeah we could converse out there - only I'd be kinda dogging canada but in this way like 'aw canada I love you but 1 out of 6 of you is living in poverty and dogging the us isn't helping those people.'
I want to fight with canadians over one point: we shouldn't be fighting!
But see I would try to do this with the tragically hip fans and they didn't think I was funny at all!
I'd been to the maritimes – PEI, baby! I loved canada until I got to the internet. When I used to be famous ... Seriously it was hilarious. I was driven all over nova scotia in a big old bus with my name on the front. Well "kathy jo" - not whorella!
I added "mundane" after the tragically hip outtake from 'in between evolution", "the utlra mundane"
So the thing is – I gotta admit you canadians are ahead by a century – but I guess I kinda think you're just behind the US a little bit and the shit I see going on around me everyday – I know it's headed north
East
South
WestIt scares the shit out of me – the border is not between countries, but classes defined by power. People gotta find a way to get together and to me, that means we gotta get 'em talking. But the effect I have is this: after ten years, the tragically hip fans gave up on being able to get rid of me on the band's usenet group and all left! I'm the only one there ...
Oh yeah I was famous for being a huge left wing political activists but still, the tragically hip fans hated me! I mean they flamed me – you can't imagine. Whew! And I kept saying, "but we all love the same music, right? That's reason enough to not to fight, right?"
But you know how those kids can get! So be careful – whew. Such a blend of the sweetest kids in the world with a scattering of drunken retards.
Hey – the phantom power tour – calgary saddledome – I was in the f'n phantom zone, dude! I was inches from gordon downie who started taking his pants off to show us a big bruise he got playing hockey! Tighty whities!
So yeah – I talked to him – he called me many years ago. But man I've been a huge fan since 1995.
So yeah a lot of canadians have hated me and one time a work some consultant comes in my office and goes, "I just talked to a client who said you're a big trouble maker and a legend in canada." and I thought I was gonna get fired but he just looked at me like 'wow'
Yeah you don't hear that everyday!
So when I said you redeemed all of canada – on one hand I really meant it – I've seen some brutal behavior on the part of the fans and even had a big love affair with a hard core canadian hip fan who killed himself.
Oh toronto mike! What I have seen!
The cowboy junkies sang 'sweet jane' for me and my friend madge when playing here in carnegie hall ...
See how cool I am? I'm kind of a secret – well people read my shit, they just ... Don't admit it. But they hated me 'cause they said they couldn't help read my shit. And they couldn't! They couldn't just leave me alone and whew hew!
Yeah ... I met gordon downie after rob killed himself in the winter of 98. The hip were playing in state college PA and we got there early and the door to the club was wide open and no one was around, but we could hear the band rehearsing so we just went in and had our own concert! Well until we got kicked out but still.
But that night I asked gordie what he thought about a book – a collection of my columns I'd sent him – and he said he only saw a handful of times, where the music had really permeated the writer's life. And that was me, yo! And he said he wanted to name his next record, "my music at work"
And in 2000, that record came out and in the video, he's wearing a shirt I sent him with a copy of my final column which was mainly about him calling me. And still, the fans hated my ass dang! So then after awhile I just made a bunch of canada jokes – just jagging around ... But trying to warn them.
Oh we woke gordon downie up in the middle of the night once! Yeah ... But he didn't yell at us. But I had his phone number! And madge said he wouldn't have given it to me if he didn't want to call.
But I mean imagine it ... Calling gordon downie. What an f'n heart attack! And madge kept letting it ring and hanging up and calling back and letting it ring twice and hanging up and on the third time he picked up like he wanted to kill someone agh! You should have seen her face! Gordon? Gordon downie?
But he was real nice – aw we were all drunk and dancing up and down like adolescent nightmares after the call was over.
I just wished the canadians would have talked to me. I can tell you what the story is down here and we gotta find a way to talk to the rednecks, christians etc -
I mean desperate times call for desperate discourse
Well
My real name is kathy jo kramer and I love you for sending that song
Oh and when I said you redeamed canada – I did mean it tongue-in-cheek like ... Canada doesn't need as much redeeming as the US.
Not yet – but power shifted up there and I fear for ya!
So yeah okay I'll go now ... Thanks for reading and for the best gift – a song by gordon downie ...
I googled Whorella Mundane and learned that fellow Hip fans really do despise here. Here's what direwolf74 said about her in The Titanic Terrarium.
She was an avid poster at the old newsgroup (alt.music.tragically-hip), and from what I've seen, she still is. Her posts are notorious for being incredibly long-winded, bizarre, and completely off-topic. They're actually more like personal diary entries. Often times we knew stuff about her personal life that we didn't really need to know. She also had/has a rather unhealthy obsession with Gord Downie, which frighteningly straddled the line between fan and stalker. She once claimed that the green shirt that he wore often during the Phantom Power tour (and in the "Poets" video) was one that she had personally sent him. I never really believed that one myself. I'll admit though, she was pretty fun to argue with. Anyway, that pretty much sums up Whorella. And that's all I have to say about that.
"Long-winded, bizarre and completely off-topic" sounds like an accurate description.
My favourite Hip concerts
Last night, the number of times I've seen The Tragically Hip live in concert hit double digits. Ryan and I got to our seats at the Air Canada Centre early to catch Buck 65. This Nova Scotian is unique. He's got a DJ spinning wax while he raps, but it's Hip Hop heavily flavoured with bluegrass country. It's not easy to describe, but it's interesting and entertaining.
I far prefer outdoor concerts, under a clear night's sky, but in February that's not going to happen so 20,000 of us hooked up in the ACC to see our band. Other than a cover none of us seemed to recognize or care for, it was another great show, although I'm rather biased. Here were the highlights.
Fiddler's Green
It took a single note of Fiddler's Green for me to realize I was finally getting my wish. I had never heard this song live, and it's one of my favourites. It's so damn pretty, and while Gord and the boys played it, time seemed to stand still. This song alone was worth the price of admission.
At The Hundredth Meridian
Whereas I was hearing Fiddler's Green for the first time, I heard At The Hundredth Meridian for the tenth time. Anyone who's seen the Hip in concert knows the live version of this tune is quite different from the version you hear on Fully Completely. It's faster, zippier and manic. Then, there's the ultra fast "If I die of vanity" sequence that fuels me like organic speed. This time, Gord threw in some Police and even that couldn't ruin it for me.
Feelin' Those Lighters
Let's see, Bobcaygeon, Fiddler's Green, Long Time Running, Wheat Kings... All had the joint lit up with lighters. I'm not talking about that crappy psuedo lighter thing people do with their cell phones, but actual fire. It was awesome, and all three songs killed. That night in Toronto...
In View Arrives
I've written in the past about how good a single I think In View is. Last night, I heard it in concert for the first time and I'm certain it will become a live staple. It's a great sing-along with that hook and arena presence. Last night was In View's coming out party.
I've updated my Hip page with the setlist and my all-time song statistics. Also, there's a small photoset here of pics I took, but taking a decent picture in the cavernous ACC is an exercise in futility.
The Hip don't perform many cover songs in concert. I keep detailed statistics of every Hip song I've seen performed live and there's not a single cover song in the mix.
On this tour, however, Gord and the boys are singing a different cover each stop. Tonight I'll be seeing them at the ACC with my bro Ry and there's no guessing what we'll get. Here are the covers they've played thus far, courtesy of hipfans.com.
If you're going to the show tonight, I'm wearing my customary #5 Leafs jersey for Bashin' Bill.
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