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  Gord to lead off white ribbon show

Posted by: Ryan2
06-03-2003, 06:00 PM
Forum: Hip Solo Discussion
- Replies (4)

Just listened to an interview on the edge 102.1 . Gord will be opeing up with a friend on accoustic guitars and then leaving for his gig at the rivoli tonight meeting up with the country of miracles

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  website?

Posted by: clarke
06-03-2003, 12:46 PM
Forum: Hip Solo Discussion
- Replies (4)

where is this special website listed...all i can find is the winerart.net one, or is that it?

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  Now Toronto article

Posted by: Ryan2
06-02-2003, 08:30 PM
Forum: Hip Solo Discussion
- No Replies

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2003-05-29/cover_story.php">http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2003-0 ... _story.php</a><!-- m -->


WHERE THEY'LL BE AT NXNE
TIGHT NEW BAND RE-ENERGIZES ROCK HERO'S SENSITIVE SOLO PROJECT
BY SARAH LISS

GORD DOWNIE with Jeff Martin and the Tea Party, Jim Cuddy, Todd Kerns, Holly McNarland, Gordie Johnson and others as part of the Sixth Annual White Ribbon Benefit Concert at the Phoenix (410 Sherbourne), Tuesday (June 3). $26.75. 416-870-8000. <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.whiteribbon.com">www.whiteribbon.com</a><!-- w -->

GORD DOWNIE and the Country of Miracles at Radio Monday at the Rivoli (332 Queen West), Tuesday (June 3). 416-596-1908.

GORD DOWNIE and the Country of Miracles with All Systems Go!, the Salads and Cuff The Duke as part of the NXNE launch concert at Dundas Square (Yonge and Dundas), Thursday, June 5, at 5 pm. Free. <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nxne.com">www.nxne.com</a><!-- w -->

GORD DOWNIE and the Country of Miracles as part of NXNE at Lee's Palace (529 Bloor West), Saturday, June 7, midnight. $20. 416-532-1598.


walking down a west-end ware-house's narrow corridor, with its wobbly teak urns taller than a 10-year-old kid and stacks of raw wooden skids guarding freshly imported intricate glass lanterns, I feel like I'm in a scene from Raiders Of The Lost Ark. I follow the faint whiffs of pot smoke, the trail of beat-up bikes and the sounds of a cranked-up Fender and pummelling drums coming from the doorway at the far end.

There, a bunch of blissed-out dudes in a late-night jam session take swigs from their beers. One guitarist in a Johnny Cash T-shirt busts out a creaky slide riff. The drummer kicks in a boogaloo beat. The second guitarist, a towering guy with a ratty baseball cap pulled down over his eyes, adds a quirky run and quavering vocals.

It could be any random crew of wannabe rock stars. Except that the tall dude in the hat who keeps tripping over his patch cord is Gordon Downie, enigmatic frontman of the Tragically Hip.

I start to understand what he was talking about a few days earlier when he was trying to explain why an anthemic rocker who's made it big in Canada's notoriously forbidding music scene would take a stab at a solo career playing vaguely limp-wristed, artsy indie tunes.

"Think of it like guys who get together to play pickup hockey," smiles Downie.

Battle Of The Nudes (MapleMusic), his new solo disc, echoes with the hushed, oblique introspection of, say, Tom Waits's Closing Time or Elliott Smith's XO.

Lyrics cribbed from Downie's dreams swirl around carefully crafted soundscapes of effects-warped electric guitars, staticky found-sound snippets and trash-can percussion. He rocks out on Battle, but it's more art school than Up To Here. Which is a pleasant surprise, since I find the Hip's frat-friendly anthems a bit of a yawn.

One thing's for sure – Battle's a better record than Coke Machine Glow, Downie's first solo disc, mostly because it transforms the latter's loose, meandering jams into cohesive songs. Downie's snagged some of the solidest local talent for his Country of Miracles crew. The new album retains the rickety charm of the first, but what you hear is a tight band operating as a unit.

Downie agrees.

"I've been living in Toronto all this time and I finally got a good combo together and I can go to rehearsals and they're no different from rehearsals I had when I was, like, 16."

The night I sit in on their practice, everyone except for Dale Morningstar and drummer Dave Clark is a no-show. (MIA are The Dinner Is Ruined's Dr. Pee, Skydigger Josh Finlayson and indie poster girl Julie Doiron.) When they improvise songs (some about the missing members, including a running joke that Finlayson got booted out), it's evolution in action. The deconstructed jam heaves itself out of the primordial ooze, sprouts feet, and all of a sudden there's an actual song echoing around the room.

Downie's a star, but during this session he's just kicking back with his pals. He's as subtly deliberate in conversation as he is with his improvised riffs.

His attention to language makes sense – this is a guy who in 2001 released Canada's top-selling poetry book, the Coke Machine Glow volume he dropped in conjunction with the disc of the same name.

His face lights up when he recalls seeing his book on the poetry shelves, sandwiched between "John Donne and T.S. Eliot, of all people!"

Coke Machine Glow is not a Jewel-style Night Without Armor exercise in precious musician-turned-scribe self-indulgence. Downie's writing is spare, evocative and, considering the macho boys' club of the literary establishment he likes to cite (Layton, Leonard Cohen, Al Purdy, American tough-guy Raymond Carver "and b.p. nichol. Let's not forget the machismo of b.p. nichol!"), not so far removed from the testosterone-friendly domain of the Hip.

"Now I know the difference between writing lyrics and writing poetry. A lyric has the music that's standing there waiting, tapping its toe. 'Got anything yet? Come on, let's go! We're together in this!'

"There's really nothing, no voice around a poem. It's just paper and pen and you."

Curled up on a couch watching him rehearse with the Country of Miracles, I'm more impressed by the sensitive Renaissance man who's proud to play the anti-violence-against-women White Ribbon Show and the tunesmith who writes songs about his fears that his seven-year-old daughter will grow up into a mascaraed rebel who'll turn away from him than by the stoic Hip frontman.

I think of Downie's kooky tale of the Arizona soul reader who told him he was female in all his previous lives, and about his memories of writing Coke Machine Glow at the kitchen table just after his daughter was born.

"Late at night, new dad, trying to eke out your time when you can find it. I only had three hours of quiet. When Raymond Carver realized he needed to do things he could start and finish in a night, he decided to concetrate on short stories.

"I wrote on my little nylon-string guitar, so everything sounded so beautiful to me. And then gradually the songs grew. That album was about the kids, about reconciling daily life with the need to work on your craft. Or the interplay, cohesion and dovetailing of the two. "

When I get up to leave at around 1 am, Downie, concerned about the deserted neighbourhood, tries to give me money for a cab. We argue, but I'm touched.

"Be safe," he mutters, punching me lightly in the shoulder. And I turn and walk, like the dream of his daughter, into the night. <!-- e --><a href="mailtoConfusedarahliss@hotmail.com">sarahliss@hotmail.com</a><!-- e -->






Gordon Downie and the Country of Miracles have been through their share of North By Northeast festivals. You can catch them at Thursday's NXNE kickoff and Saturday at Lee's Palace, but here's where they'll be when they're not onstage.


Gord Downie
young ideas midnight Saturday (June 7), Oasis

"What the world needs today."

The Populars 9 pm Thursday (June 5), Horseshoe

"Oh yeah."

Great Lake Swimmers 1 am Saturday (June 7), Healey's

"Yes."

Warsawpack 1 am Thursday (June 5), Kathedral

"Oui."

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  Looking for a B&P ! Anything from 90-94

Posted by: Ned
06-02-2003, 06:56 PM
Forum: Download & Trading Central
- Replies (3)

Hi Everyone
Can anyone please hook me up with a B&P of anything live from the hip from 90-94
Thanks
Tom
NY

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  New Toronto Sun article on solo album

Posted by: grooveless touque
06-02-2003, 09:46 AM
Forum: Hip Solo Discussion
- No Replies

Hot off the grill, just posted today...

[Image: downie_gordon_160.jpg]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://jam.canoe.ca/JamMusic/jun2_downie-sun.html">http://jam.canoe.ca/JamMusic/jun2_downie-sun.html</a><!-- m -->

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  GD article on canoe/

Posted by: chancellor
06-02-2003, 09:43 AM
Forum: Hip Solo Discussion
- Replies (1)

hey everyone, check this article out. The Hip are recording an album in the fall with 25 songs already written.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusic/jun2_downie-sun.html">http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusic/jun2_downie-sun.html</a><!-- m -->

Kris

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  Post Your SkyDome Seats

Posted by: mrlayance
06-01-2003, 11:19 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (13)

[Image: torcft.gif]

Maybe will get some Hipbase members close together.

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  Post your BOTN reviews

Posted by: quemortal
06-01-2003, 10:42 PM
Forum: Hip Solo Discussion
- Replies (15)

I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts on the new album, so please post them here. Here is my song-by-song review (yes, I downloaded the album, but I'll be buying the CD Tuesday afternoon, I swear):

1. Into The Night - This is a beautiful little song which would have fit well on Coke Machine Glow. It's fairly simple, both lyrically and melodically, but Gord's cracked-voice crooning on the chorus really puts it over the top.

2. Figment - Out of all the songs Gord has written, both solo and with the Hip, this one makes my top five favourites list. I loved it the first time I heard it live on MuchMusic, but this version just blew me away. The horns were a great touch. My only complaint is that Gord didn't record the beautiful acoustic version as well (why not have Figment #1 and #2 as well as Pillform #1 and #2?)

3. Christmastime In Toronto - I didn't like the live version of this song all that much, and the album version didn't do much for me upon first listen, but it's grown on me considerably. Like many of Gord's songs, it's deceivingly catchy. Besides, I grew up in Toronto and I'm a sucker for streetcar references.

4. Willow Logic - This is one of my favourites, although I'm still in two minds about using a cellphone for the spoken word parts. I kind of wish they'd used a straight recording, because I really like the poem. The melody on the chorus is gorgeous.

5. Pascal's Submarine - Everyone seems to love this song, so it was probably a good choice for the first single, although it hasn't grabbed me quite as much as Figment. The harmonica parts annoy me a little, but that aside, it's catchy as hell.

6. 11th Fret - This was the first song on the album that I could easily imagine Gord recording with the Hip. Quite catchy, and I love the lyrics now that I actually know what they are.

7. Who By Rote - The spoken word part is actually rather catchy (although it would have helped to repeat the "chorus" more than once), but it is a little frustrating to sit through a minute and a half of feedback on a 37-minute album. Next time, Gord, give us another ten or fifteen minutes of music and we'll gladly listen to a few minutes of snow shovels and feedback.

8. Steeplechase - This one has grown on me a little, but it's not one of my favourites. It feels like it's building up to something and never delivers. The Ace Bailey clip is rather creepy.

9. More Me Less You - Upon first listen, I felt the same way about this one as I did about Steeplechase, but MMLY has really grown on me. I suspect this song was influenced by Royal City, a great band from Guelph that Gord is apparently a big fan of, as well as Julie Doiron herself. Unfortunately, the subject matter is a little hard to take at the moment, as my girlfriend and I are breaking up... Cry

10. We're Hardcore - This is a fun little song, probably as close to punk as Gord will ever get, but I'm mildly disappointed with the album version. I actually think this one may have been better suited for the Hip.

11. Pillform #2 - This is one of my favourites. Laid-back, breezy and beautiful, not unlike Chancellor on CMG. The "wishing it down into pillform" chorus is one of the most memorable hooks on the album, even though it's only used once.

12. Pillform #1 - I much prefer the second version, and as with Who By Rote, I have to question the inclusion of this song on a 37-minute album, but what can you do?

All in all, a big thumbs up. If only it were longer! :thumb:

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  Hip signed Jersey

Posted by: Ryan2
06-01-2003, 08:29 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (1)

Was checking out ebay.ca and found that the toronto police are auctioning off a signed Tragically Hip jersey


<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2535489988&category=7164">http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... egory=7164</a><!-- m -->

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  Vancouver

Posted by: dannya2
05-31-2003, 06:47 PM
Forum: Hip Solo Discussion
- No Replies

Got my tix for the Aug 31st show, should be a great day.

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