The Heron Outside Wrote:A terrible and tremendous loss. I wrote this with all of us in mind: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/i-just-had-to-go-a-tragically-hip-superfan-on-his-devotion-to-the-bands-live-shows/article36650459/">https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/m ... e36650459/</a><!-- m -->
Thanks Josh
" just had to go. If I didn't go, I'd miss out on both the predictable and the unpredictable, the familiar and the outlandish. It was that blend that made Tragically Hip shows my church. It was a place I could go for affirmation of who I was as a devoted fan, share my experience with others with the same strange affliction and, hopefully, learn a little more about the world around me."
The Heron Outside Wrote:A terrible and tremendous loss. I wrote this with all of us in mind: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/i-just-had-to-go-a-tragically-hip-superfan-on-his-devotion-to-the-bands-live-shows/article36650459/">https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/m ... e36650459/</a><!-- m -->
(And please forgive the self-promotion today.)
Thanks for that. So much to recognize in everybody's individual experiences. Don't think I could feel the way I feel right now about any other thing. So alone and connected at the same time. Merci.
The Heron Outside Wrote:A terrible and tremendous loss. I wrote this with all of us in mind: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/i-just-had-to-go-a-tragically-hip-superfan-on-his-devotion-to-the-bands-live-shows/article36650459/">https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/m ... e36650459/</a><!-- m -->
Chris Tanz Wrote:Driving this morning after dropping my kids at school and finally getting a chance to start to process the news, I said out loud to myself in the car, to this man I had never met in person (except to see him across a venue, as noted above, through a bunch of dancers), to this man who had helped me make sense of my teenage years and my early adulthood, and more recently to my life as a husband and a father -- I said "Gord, if you're really dead ..." (as if by saying "if" it might be otherwise) "... if you're really dead, then this is the first time that you can hear me" (me believing profoundly in the intercession of the saints and all). "And since you can hear me" (the "if" having vanished) "then, all I can say is 'Thank You'."
Those were my first tears of the day.
Then I put on Heaven is a Better Place Today, and those were my second tears of the day.
Then I got where I was going on they had CP24 on with the breaking news. And then our Prime Minister came on and spoke from his heart, and stared crying on television, and those were my third tears of the day.
And they I started texting and writing to my "Gord Downie" people reminding them of this or that and thanking them for our shared experiences. And that made me cry a lot. And one friend even phoned me back (in this day and age!) and I cried some more.
And then I sent a tweet to Rob and Paul because they're the only ones on twitter and because I wanted them to know that while the whole lot of us lost an icon, they lost an icon and a best friend, and that I was feeling profound sadness for them.
And then I finally got a chance to log-in here, just to - you know - be here. Like I had to be here in May 2016 and all through July and August 2016, and anytime anything Hip-related happened, and even when nothing Hip-related was happening.
And now the grief and the memories and the sadness of the bittersweet reminders have been hitting me in waves all days, and I'm lucky I work for myself and have a very understanding boss.
I said my Thank You to Gord already. I also want to say Thank You to the Hipbase. To the people who run it and to the people who post in it. From the safety of behind a keyboard, I have been able to share my deepest connections and innermost thoughts about this band and this man, in a way that isn't really possible to do and say aloud, and equally importantly, I've been able to share and read your thoughts and experiences too. Thank you.
I can't imagine this place can be the same after today. We'll meet up again when Introduce Yerself drops. We'll meet up again when a box-set or retrospective is released, or when Gord S, Johnny, Rob, or Paul make the news and continue with their music or championing their causes or picking up the torch for Gord's causes. But not the same.
I don't know how to finish. Maybe I won't. It goes on and on and on ...
Beautiful post. I think you've summed up what a lot of us are feeling today.
The Heron Outside Wrote:A terrible and tremendous loss. I wrote this with all of us in mind: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/i-just-had-to-go-a-tragically-hip-superfan-on-his-devotion-to-the-bands-live-shows/article36650459/">https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/m ... e36650459/</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://soundcloud.com/starfishentertainment/gords-tune-by-greg-keelor">https://soundcloud.com/starfishentertai ... reg-keelor</a><!-- m -->
The Heron Outside Wrote:A terrible and tremendous loss. I wrote this with all of us in mind: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/i-just-had-to-go-a-tragically-hip-superfan-on-his-devotion-to-the-bands-live-shows/article36650459/">https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/m ... e36650459/</a><!-- m -->
(And please forgive the self-promotion today.)
Thanks Josh.
You did a great job articulating (and always have) what I have been unable to do.
To your point there was always something to the way Gord pronounced “Hello” when he walked on stage. It was more than a simple greeting and something I looked forward to at every show I attended.
While we are all grieving today, soon we will be able to move back to celebrating the life of this beautiful man!
You did a great job articulating (and always have) what I have been unable to do.
To your point there was always something to the way Gord pronounced “Hello” when he walked on stage. It was more than a simple greeting and something I looked forward to at every show I attended.
Yeah, something about that 'hello', like he looked out at the audience & the exact person he thought would never be able to show up did. 'Hello!' Meant for all of us & each of us.
Or like it was already a response to something he'd heard the audience say, like he wasn't starting the conversation with us but we were all already halfway into it.
Knew it was coming
But never expected it
End of an era
His music was and still in an inspiration
I am grateful for
I always found myself growing with each new album
Every time a new album came out something significant like a job moving cities getting married having a good
His lyrics gave me great comfort with the changes in my life
I am shocked saddened however grateful for having his inspiration
I now look up to the gord above and say hey man thanks
Like everyone else here, I am not sure how to put today into words. I woke up this morning and was shocked by the news, even though it's been known for over a year now that he was sick.
I actually woke up and my local radio station has a contest they are running and today's artist cue to call was the Tragically Hip. This was decided long before the news broke... I was actually pretty excited, until I found out the news. I found out on the way to a meeting this morning for work. I had no idea who was speaking at the meeting or what it was about. To my surprise, we had an indigenous speaker and panel who spoke mainly on residential schools and reserves and their struggles over the past 150 years. Even after the news about Gord, it made me happy to know that what he has been doing will still live in with all of us and he has made a difference and it is now up to us to continue the fight..
You did a great job articulating (and always have) what I have been unable to do.
To your point there was always something to the way Gord pronounced “Hello” when he walked on stage. It was more than a simple greeting and something I looked forward to at every show I attended.
Yeah, something about that 'hello', like he looked out at the audience & the exact person he thought would never be able to show up did. 'Hello!' Meant for all of us & each of us.
Or like it was already a response to something he'd heard the audience say, like he wasn't starting the conversation with us but we were all already halfway into it.
That’s it! That sense of surprise and appreciation. That feeling they weren’t taking anything for granted and desire to connect with everyone in attendance.
We had wicked winds this morning in Winnipeg and my wife told me me to be careful driving on the highway and I said 'The winds won't knock me off the road". And they did not, but hearing the news nearly did.
Our local Classic Rock station call signs coming home were "92.1 Citi is GORD FM".
Hope we are all fast healers, fast as hell.
A Hip set list is like a box of chocolates..you never know which one you're going to get.
I was lucky to see the Tragically Hip more than a dozen times. All over New York and Pennsylvania and - spectacularly - last August in Toronto. This is the rare band that so many of my friends, my wife and my brother all loved. I've spent a lot of late nights debating personal Hip Top Five Lists with friends. Truly the soundtrack of our lives. One of the coolest things ever was when we saw the Hip in Salamanca in 2009. I actually got to create an ad promoting the show which was a personal highlight. We had seats in the second row and Gord walked right into the audience. It was amazing. Just kept singing. As he walked past me, going from seat to seat, I put my hand on his shoulder, maybe just to say thanks. Thanks for a thousand memories, each of them positive.
