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It was THE Hippest Bar in Kingston!
On the lake, where the HIP were a bar band and entertained all us teenie boppers :lol:
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Yeah, arriving in Kingston in the fall of '88, I missed out on the legendary lake Manor, which I believe was gone by then (correct me if I'm wrong Tina, but the Manor is where the video for Smalltown was shot(?)...)...
The Manor I vaguely recall (i.e. the "other" one) was at the north end of town and wasn't the sort of place you went to see a band...or so I hear...:wink:
:lol:
M.
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Ahh Mike you would have JUST missed it. I can't recall the exact date but know it was before the summer of '89. It was torn down in order to erect high priced townhomes, apparently the neighbours are VERY thankful. But there was one last HUGE bash, Georgette Fry dancing on tables, the HIP playing - wild wild place, I don't think Kingston will ever see such an AMAZING gathering spot again!! Yes, it is where Smalltown was videoed. The guys used to play there every Wednesday and Saturday (if memory serves me) I used to be AMAZED at the energy of the lead singer. Gord would jump throughout his entire performance. Non stop, straight up and down. Holding the mic. Anyways, enough reminising!
I did see a couple local acts perform at the Mid-Town Manor, it was OK to see live acts, but a tad small. After the Concert for Toronto, I headed to the Horseshoe in Toronto, it felt a bit like the ole Manor, but unfortunately the past is in the past and the HIP are now WAY too big to giver in a small town place like that now.tina
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I grew up in Kingston and moved to Toronto for university. Everyday I try to figure out a realistic way for me to move back there. Sadly there just isn't a market for my skillset there, like there is in Toronto.
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A couple of stories might shed some light on why the Hip don't play as many shows in their hometown as people might expect.
Back when I was at school in K-town, I seem to recall the band being particularly disenchanted with the folks at Queen's U. (specifically the AMS student society pres) for cancelling a show by the Toronto band the Phantoms due to some PC BS (ie. some song or lyric that wasn't PC).
I remember Gord Sinclair (I believe?) going so far as to submit an open letter to the Queen's Journal (student paper) explaining the band's disgust about the cancellation, and stating quite clearly that the band would never play on campus again as a result. I believe that was 1990 or thereabouts, and they've held true to their word ever since. (if anyone has a copy of this QJ, I'd love to get a transcript of this letter!)...
Also, I recall the Kingston Whig-Standard running a week-long series of articles around the benefit show at Old Fort Henry in '91 (taped for the CBC special "Full Fledged Vanity") in which they interviewed parents, friends, even old high school teachers. This did not sit well with the band (as it was done largely without their knowledge/consent)...Gord D. made mention of it in a subsequent MM interview when asked about how "passionate" they are (were?) about their hometown...
I know the band has played some unannounced bar shows in Kingston since then (unannounced to everyone except close friends/family), as well as the documented shows at the Memorial Centre in '95 and the Ironhorse Saloon in '98, but considering everyone but GD still reside there, these relatively slim pickings would suggest that old grudges die hard...
For comparison purposes, by my count the band has played 30 shows in Toronto since the Fort Henry show (excluding the Skydome and Downsview (????) gigs...
M.
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Hey folks I saw the WALL and took a couple pictures. It looks a little different than the CD label for LBU, with the Egyptian eye to the right of the words instead of below. I guess they wanted to fill out the picture on the label so they must have used a computer to move it down.
Thanks to everyone for the directions.
Graham
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I won't pretend to know what the members of the HIP think, and there are thousands of stories. The latest I remember from the mouth of Rob Baker was that Kingston is peaceful, home to them and they prefer to not play here for that fact. They want to rest, and not be harassed. If there were to play here, the venue wouldn't make any money for all the friends/family that would ask to be on the guest list.
They have played, but it's kept very quiet. Usually not all members but the odd one will get up with other local groups, that sort of jammin stuff. If you come to Kingston and go out to one of the fine establishments, you may just get lucky and run into one of them!!
tina
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I'm about a year too late on this thread, but I am from the Kingston Area, those familiar will know the town of Gananoque, and the hip did play on Campus in 93 at Richardson Stadium. I was there. Anyhow, I am not ashamed to say that there is a certain feeling you have knowing that the hip grew up in the same town as you. That's about it really, chances of seeing the hip in Kingston are slim to none. They used to play at KCVI a highschool when they were just starting out
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howdy folks, I grew up in Kingston, well actually in Portsmouth village smack dab in the middle of the Portsmouth House tavern, the Lakeview Manor Hotel, the Psychiatric Hospital and the Kingtson Pen, just to give you a flavour of the neighbourhood. It was a riot, the music rocked and the beer was cheap. We had so many misadventures in the first two establishments, it was a wonder we didn't end up in one of the last two hehehe then the city of kingston came along and we got overrun by freakin' sailboats and townhouses...o well...a Hip connection???...my last two trips back home have been to see the Spades (my son plays in the band) the first time was the May24 weekend and Paul Langlois and Johhny Fay were there. the last time was when they played with Matt Mays, and Gord Sinclair was there as was some of the production crew from the Bathouse where the Spades had been recording. There you go...the Manor's been gone for years you say...I simply thought i had taken a wrong turn the last time i left the Ports...did that before
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Your son is in the Spades? They're rock solid. I've been spreading their tunes around to expats in South Korea. They're spot on. Cool.
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I started out here as a transient (read: Queen's student), but now consider Kingston to be home. I *love* this place; if you ever get a chance to spend some time here in the summer you owe it to yourself to take full advantage--Kingston rules when school's out. As for the Hip, I spent two years as a neighbour of Mr. Robby Baker, took a ridiculous picture of myself in front of the "Live Between Us" mural, run into the four band members who live here on a semi-regular basis and have not yet had the chance to see the Tragically Hip play in their hometown (last "gig" here was a five-song set at the Bluesfest in 1999, I believe). But I've seen Big Sugar here seven times...for what it's worth.
Steve
