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He really does exist! - Printable Version

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He really does exist! - o78 - 12-26-2004

I saw this in the Winnipeg Sun today and I just had to share it with you all. I found it quite amusing. Big Grin

- clearlyentranced - 12-26-2004

lol..yes...he is real..People say he's not so depressed anymore though.

- ron - 12-26-2004

i think you should forward that picture on to gord and the band


Ron

- Chester - 12-26-2004

yes u definitly should.

- tommygunn - 12-26-2004

Neat! :lol:

- 2feetaday - 12-26-2004

did a google search on Gus and found out more than you would ever want to know Including other pics of Gus)! Following is from chartattack - no doubt this can be found on other threads...

One of the most compelling songs from The Hip's new album, In Between Evolution, is an earnest ode called "Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park." Gus, for those of you not up on your cults of animal appreciation, is one of the main attractions of the Central Park Zoo in New York. The giant bear was diagnosed with depression and obsessive-compulsive behavior back in '94, largely caused by the fact that tight zoo quarters tend to wreak havoc on the well-being of polar bears used to roaming 25 kilometres per day in the wild.

"Any time you've ever seen any animal in captivity — especially big guys like that — there's a behavior that becomes pretty easy to spot. A dementia is what they call it," says Hip frontman Gord Downie. "They have other names for it. Depression. So that's sort of what we're paying money to go see."

To the Zoo's credit, they paid $25,000 to an animal behaviorist to help find ways to get Gus out of his funk, which resulted in extensive activation programs to help his illness. And a few years ago they gave Gus's quarters a massive expansion as well as providing him with some company in the form of two female companions, Ida and Lily.

All this has made Gus and his girlfriends quite the media stars. In addition to The Hip's sonic salute, numerous news stories have been written about Gus. He's also been the subject of a children's book and a short film as well as inspiring performance art and fringe plays. His own "art" (chunks of log he has scratched up and chewed up rubber balls) will soon be available for sale on eBay.

Downie says the inspiration for the song came from a headline he read in the newspaper during a visit to New York. In the song, Gus is too down to feel like killing anything, which is a symptom of his depression.

"I know for a fact that polar bears, as a rule, and not even as a rule, unequivocally, want to kill anything that moves and eat it," he says. "So there's no sort of, I don't think there's any really taming them, really. And I think it's one of those things where, yeah, if you're up there in the tundra and you're moving around, the only reason it's not going to kill and eat you is because it's already full. There's something about that that's kind of compelling to me.

"And we needn't look much further than our own lives, I guess. I guess you can expand upon those feelings and thoughts as much as you like when you see that. Which I guess is also about what we pay money to see or do."

- The Darkest Canuck - 12-26-2004

i always thought he was a fictional character :lol:!

- o78 - 12-26-2004

Thanks for posting the article....I had no idea that is where Gord actually got the idea for the song. Only he could take a story about a polar bear and mold it into an amazing song Smile

Poor Gus - ya can't blame him, zoos depress the hell out of me too.

- clearlyentranced - 12-26-2004

Now the song comes together huh? lol..I thought he was more well known..interesting.

- o78 - 12-27-2004

Thehip21 Wrote:Now the song comes together huh?

Completely! Smile

- hoohaa - 12-27-2004

I knew the song was about Gus the polar bear in central park as I had read that somewhere but did anyone catch the significance of the video that was shown in the background on the last shows (I was at the Montreal show) ? It started out with the illustrated buildings that I seem to remember are on IBE somewhere. The video slowly moved through the buildings and toward the end where they are jamming, suddenly what looked like a red cloud of smoke appeared and grew to dim out the sun. I was thinking that the video was moving south through new york from central park toward lower manhattan to the 9/11 site. Is that what is now troubling gus ?? Gordy's statement on 9/11 ?? Not trying to start a political debate here but curious if others noticed any significance and what others thought.

thanks, Dwight

- Cpt. Trips - 12-27-2004

Obviously there was this post-apoctalyptic feel to the video...
I really had no real interpretation on it other than it went amazing with the song. As did a lot of the videos through out the night. It was a real treat.

My favorite was the waves during Nautical.

- Chris Tanz - 12-27-2004

I think Gus is an apolitical song about a polar bear that Gord saw once and then wrote a song without further reflection.

or maybe it's about the American position in the geo-political high stakes game of super power brinksmanship, and doggone it if that big ol' polar bear who kills everything he sees isn't depressed as hell because no one is afraid and keeps blowing up his skyscrapers and pissing all over him for sending his sons and daughters out to get slaughtered in Nam ... er Iraq.

but I like the not-of-any-moment song about a grumpy zoo bear interpretation, better, personally.

ct

- Bushhogg - 12-27-2004

Your bang on Chris. Gord has on several occasions introduced the song as "Gus, the meataphor from Central Park". Poor Gus used to make the birds stop singing now it seems no one is afraid.

- Ponch - 12-27-2004

Amazing story. And now that I've heard the story, I think I recall hearing about Gus way back when.

But before I made the connection, I always felt sorry for Gus (in the song). Now that I know for certain that he is legit, I feel even worse for him.

Melanie and I are pulling for Gus, everytime we hear the song. And now that we know we actually exists and where he is, we are pulling for him even more.

An amazing song, for an amazing animal.

Poor Gus!!!