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Meeting The Hip Stories... - Stephen Dame - 04-13-2004

The lovely and talented ShannonW (She's an Ottawa U grad, so it comes with the territory...) gave me the idea to start a Hip Meeting thread. Anybody got any cool "The day I met the Hip" stories? Any chance encounters... Here's mine. I'll call it "The Day I Pissed Off Johnny" :mrgreen:

So, my second oldest sisters first boyfriend (Confused Yet?) was Chris Morris. Chris was the Hip's official photographer up until M@W when he decided to go into film. Anyway, after high school ended (And so did their relationship) she and he remained friends. One night in January '99, she calls me from a party that she and Chris were attending in Toronto. She says: "here, talk to Mike." I said "Okay... hi Mike..." and it turned out to be Mike Downie, maker of Heksenketel and Gord's 'lil brother.

He asks me if I'd like to be in the video shoot for Bobcaygeon? I, thinking my sister must be jerking my chain, say: "Yeah, can I bring three friends and hang out with the band?" He says: "Sure, Chris'll give you the details, I'll see you there." So, at that point, if it's possible to figuratively shit ones pants, that's exactly what I did.

Fast Forward to the day of the video shoot. Myself, my girlfriend at the time, and another couple head down to the location *three hours* before we were supposed to get there... We call Chris on his cell and after trying to explain why we were so friggin' early, he lets us onto the set. As soon as we enter the wharehouse/hanger (Near The Docks in Toronto) we see the whole band sitting down to lunch at the services table. The girls jumped they were so giddy, and if there hadn't been so many people around, I probably would have too... We made our way over to the catering area and tried our damndest to look cool, but I'm sure we looked anything but. In a "can you believe this?" moment, my friend Shawn leaned over and whispered to me: "Do you realize we're in the same room with the guy who actually ranted the Double Suicide-Highway Girl story?" (At the time, that bootleg was like our Bible...)

Anyway, while we're there... My friend Charlotte ran into Gord as he was coming out of the washroom, all she could say after was "He's soooo tall!..." We got placed right up front (Just under Gord Sinclair's feet) for the riot scene in the video. Miko, the stunt guy, actually hit my arm as Hugh Dillon tossed him off the stage... We got to meet and chat with all the members of the band, especially Bobby and Sinclair who had to stand around a lot waiting for shots... Bobby is a real sweat heart, seems like somebody who truly appreciates what he's got... Gord played thumb wars with my-ex... I sheepishly walked up to Gord and extended my hand (Without saying anything... LIKE AN IDIOT) he shook it, and we just kinda nodded at each other in silence... As the make-up people touched up his Cop outfit, I eventually said "You just have to grin and bear it huh?" He chuckled, politely... and I realized I AM an IDIOT! Plus, we were lucky enough to get autographs... from everybody except Johnny that is.

We kinda played a bit of a joke on Johnny... the whole day he had been hitting on, and blantantly flirting with, two blondes who had been sent by their "talent agency" to be extras in the video. There were a BUNCH of those types of people around... looks good on a resume I guess. Anyway, one of the clueless "actors" asked us: "Which band member is Randy? My agent's a big fan of Randy's..." So, I pointed out Johnny with the two girls and said: "Him. That's Randy." This dude goes up to Johnny and says: "Hey Randy, can I get an autograph..." Johnny corrected him and eventually signed his "Road Apples" disk. But I think Johnny saw us chuckling in the corner, since when I asked him to sign my Canadian flag, after Bobby and Paul already had, he said: "No man, I don't do that kinda thing..." and then stuck out the back of his hand and kind of reverse high fived my hand as I tried to shake his. Maybe it was a bad day, maybe we pissed him off with the "Randy" gag. :mrgreen:

- beanmedic - 04-13-2004

HAHAHAHA wow

- Summiteer - 04-13-2004

I'm tryin to visualize the handshake part Confusedcratch: Was he like trying to be an ass when he did that or you didn't catch what he was intending to do? Did you feel embarrassed when he did that? Why did you feel like such a Idiot as you put it when chatting with Gord? Great story man :thumb:

- MattPower - 04-14-2004

Great story Stephen!

I met the Hip in Saint John, NB during their Phantom Power tour. It was in January and me and some of my friends waited for them outside the colusseum after their concert. We waited for over an hour by their tour buss and we were sooooo cold that we literally had trouble moving our hands! I think the band was pretty surprised when they came out after over an hour and the 8 of us were still there. I got them to sign my Phantom power booklet. Bobby and Paul had already signed it and I accidentally dropped it on the ground. I had trouble picking it back up because my hands were so numb and I actually thought I'd miss out on a signature from Gord! I picked it up and shook his hand and he exclaimed on how freezing it was. He signed my booklet,"Matt Power, Happy days. Gord Downie"

Stephen, it's funny that you say you didn't get Johnny's autograph because we almost didn't either. He just snuck on the tour bus. After the rest of the band got on, the 8 of us chanted his name for about 5 minutes before he finally came out to see us! I'm not sure why. Maybe he wasn't in a good mood, or maybe he just gets sick of fans. Who knows.

Anyway, we got our photos taken with the band too and our frozen expressions look pretty funny! I was so happy that we got to meet them, got autographs and got photos because it seemed like another half hour out there and we would have been frozen solid!

- Kincher - 04-14-2004

I waited outside in Vernon for them to come out and aftera couple of hours everybody had come out but Gord D. and we had to wait another 45 min for him to get out, got all their autographs, Gord S. thought he rcognized me from a show in somewhere in the states I can't remember where. Gord D. came out and the crowd had pretty much diminished by that time and I had him sign his photo from the tour book in which he wrote "Chris' dancing bear" -Gord Downie

But anyways main point being that when Johnny came out everbody wanted to shake his hand, and he refused everybody, finally the guy next to me asked him why not and he said that because his hands get so beat up during the show he just doesn't chake hands.

- mark - 04-14-2004

i just copy and pasted this from Rory's site. it was my review of the 1/31/99 moncton show. my then g/f is now my wife. Smile

we (me and my g/f wendy) got the arena around 7:20, so we had to sit through By Divine Right Again. neither one of us liked them too much, so i won't write about them.

the setlist has been posted, so i won't post it again. bascially the setlist rocked. highlights: Yawning and Snarling, inch an hour, and 50 mission cap.

gord was in a great mood and very animated. but, the after show part is the best part of the night.

there was 8 or 10 of us standing in one group and about 7 or 8 in another waiting for the band to come back out. it was FREEZING outside, too. i had my car parked close to us, and kept in running so we could get in it to keep warm. i had the trunk open and was blasting the Saint John show from friday through the back speakers.

we got outside around 11:00 or so, but the band didn't arrive until around 1:00 or so. paul some aout first was seemed to be surprised that we were waiting the cold. he signed out stuff and got on the bus. we waited for another 1/2 hour or so, then this HUGE security dude comes up to us and says "go wait inside that door right there. it is too damn cold to be out here".

cool. so now we are inside the doors he tells us that he will go find the rest of the band for us. soon, bobby and gord S. some out. they are signing stuff and joking around. while bobby was signing case liner i made up for the SJ show, i thanked him for allowing us to tape:

ME: bobby, thank you for letting us tape the shows this tour. it made a lot of people quite pleased.

BOBBY: no problem. we don't mind at all. it is just the people who think they can get plugged into the board.

ME: so tape from our seats?

BOBBY: yeah.

then. i go over to gord s. and i asked him if he did the setlist:

ME: Gord. did you write the setlist for tonight?

GORD: yeah, i did.

ME: thank you. it kicked some major ass. it was really good to hear yawning and inch an hour. (scott pipes up and agrees with me)

GORD: yeah, we haven't played yawning in a while. i am glad you liked it.

we wished them good luck on the rest of the tour, and they were gone.

the bouncer went off in searc of Johnny... eventually he came out and signed some stuff for us, and quickly left.
that only leaves gord. we had to wait about 20 or so minutes before he came out. he signed some stuff, and then turned in my direction, so i handed my tape case liner (that paul singed earlier):

GORD (looking at it): is this yours?

ME: yes. it the show from friday night in saint john.

GORD: No shit!

ME: yeah. i saw a sign that told me i could record, so i did.

GORD: did you get good sound?

ME: yeah. not bad at all.

GORD: cool.

then a few minutes later, i asked him if he had a cold on friday (on friday night, his voice sounded a little more high pitched than usualy, but was fine by the end of the night.... it turns out, i was just the acoustics).

ME: did you have a bit of a cold on friday night?

GORD: no, why?

ME: oh, i thiught your voice sounded a little different. good, but different. as if your throat was sore. then again, maybe is was just me.

GORD: one man's raspy voice is another man's sexy voice.

SCOTT: are you saying your trying to be sexy?

GORD (smiling): always.

i had my picture taken with him, and he left. everybody got everything signed by all of the band members. they are down to earth, friendly people.

i went to my car a screamed like a school girl. too cool.

i got back to my aunts place around 2:00am and had to be up at 6:00am to be on the road by 7:30am to make the 2 hour drive to catch my 10am class.

it was well worth it.

- mrlayance - 04-14-2004

I met Gord Downie behind the Marquee Club in Halifax after one of his solo shows. He was LOADED, couldn'y walk very well at all. He scribbled something down on my album cover.

Fantastic - Stephen Dame - 04-14-2004

Fantastic stories all around... You gotta love the "Sexy Man" and frozen fans stuff. Dammit we're a dedicated bunch aren't we?

As for the question about why I felt like an idiot after meeting Gord... I had been waiting about a month to actually meet the dude, and needless to say he'd been my Rock God since I was 12.

But when the moment actually presented itself (He was just standing in the back of the wharehouse getting touched up) I walked up, without introducing myself, or saying ANYTHING for that matter, (I guess it was nerves) and just stuck my hand out. I could have at least said something clever, but nope, we just looked at each other. He thinking: "Do I know you?" And me thinking: "God, DO I KNOW YOU!" It could have been smoother I guess. And then when I did finally say something... it was super corny.

That's why I felt like a dork, but hey, I'll never forget it, and it certainly made me realize that he was right: There is no dress rehearsal, in life you get one shot to make it good... I made it corny. :thumb:

- Summiteer - 04-14-2004

Hey Steve don't be too hard on yourself, I think Gord must get that ALOT, he is quite the sight to behold once you get bout 3 feet from him,well actually when you know he's in the same room as you its a little nerve racking. And with the Johnny thing,He didn't shake our hands either @ ARA 97 Tunetown gig, And that was before they went on, so when he says its cause his hands hurt after a gig,that may be true but ya I think he may be abit superstitious when it comes to his bread & butter......

- TLB - 04-14-2004

Jake Gold told me once "do not shake Johnny's hand, don't even try, he hates it." Something about transferring things like sickness and warts, for example. Since he's a drummer, he can't afford to have a problem with his paws.

- Rye - 04-14-2004

I met The Hip minus Johnny on October 2nd, 2002 which was the second night in Winnipeg for the IVL tour. It's funny how you think "If I ever meet them I want to ask so many questions" and then all you can say is "You guys were amazing tonight" when you finally do meet them. Anyways, Gord signed my tour poster "Ryan's show tonight" which I thought was pretty cool. I also have an awesome picture or myself and Gord D. If anyone wants to see it PM me.

- irish hip guy - 04-15-2004

I was in the press box for a Canucks Rangers game when the Hip were in town for their My Music @ Work Tour. Teh D.J was playing an obscene amount of Hip that night which i commented on to a friend of mine i work with.

During i think the 3rd period the camera guy flashed to Gord Downie, Johnny Fay and the gang up in teh press box. I immediately freak out wondering where the hell they are and as i turn to look up to the next level which is 6 or 8 feet above where we are sitting i see Gord Downie peering down.

This totally sucked cuz you can't under any circumstances ask for autographs up there which is totally understandable.

As we are leaving they get into the same elevator and i sturck up a short convo with Johnny Fay telling him how good the shows were the previous night and the one before @ The Pacific Coliseum.

When we got out of the elevator they all said thanx for coming out to the shows and that was that.

Since then i haven't even come close to meeting them.

- TLB - 04-15-2004

I'm tired & it's past midnight, so I'm not going to get into my stories (save that for another post) but I've been lucky enough to run into them a few times:

Gord D - Calgary 2001
Paul - Victoria #1 2002 Soundcheck
Jake Gold (if he counts) - Victoria #1 2002 Soundcheck
Gord D & Robby - Victoria #1 2002 Aftershow
The band - Victoria #2 2002 Soundcheck
The band minus Johnny - Victoria #2 2002 Aftershow
Johnny - Vancouver #1 2002 Preshow
The band - Vernon 2002 Aftershow
Gord D - Seattle 2003

(I was backstage @ Stage 13 in 2002, at the door to their trailer, but no luck that time)

- Summiteer - 04-15-2004

TLB Wrote:(I was backstage @ Stage 13 in 2002, at the door to their trailer, but no luck that time)

Oh Baby,that was a gig Confusedhock: that whole weekend was a Blast,If Stage 13 is on the Ball,they'll call em up and book em for this yearz bash, all us westernerz can hook-up there for some yuckz.... :twisted:

- LoftyPines - 04-15-2004

After the second show at the Hummingbird in Toronto I went back to the stage door with some friends. It was really cold and we waited for more than an hour. Finally there was some movement, the bouncers were getting ready, and after about another ten minutes Johnny Fay came out. The funny thing was that no one noticed but a couple of us. He just walked straight to the bus as usual. The bouncer laughed and says "I though you guys were fans" and everyone started taking offense. He goes "The drummer just walked out and you didnt even notice".

So, the rest of the boys (minus gord downie) come out, since they were in a group I only met Bob Baker, shook his hand, got my ticket signed, and I have no clue what I said. We waited and waited for Downie to come out, but it turns out that he snuck out a side door and went home to his place in T.O.