The gang gets together to close the book on Discovering Downie. They share their experiences from their journey to Kingston, Toronto, and the fundraiser.
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[0:17] Hey, it's J.D. here and welcome back to Discovering Downey, an 11-part project.
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[0:24] Where you're finally getting the 11th part. It's got a focus on music and poetry of Mr. Gord Downey, the late frontman of the Tragically Hip. He gave to the world an extensive solo discography on top of all of the great music we got from the Tragically Hip. Gord released five albums while he was alive and three more posthumously. Now, listen, you may think you're the biggest fan of the Tragically Hip out there. I've got three of them sitting right in front of me right now. But why is it that so few of us have experienced Gord's solo catalog? Have you really listened to these records? My friends, Craig, Justin, and Kirk, giant fans of the hip in their own right, fell into that camp. So earlier this summer, I invited them to discover Downey with me, JD as their host. Every week this summer, we got together to listen to one of Gord's records working in chronological order. We would discuss and dissect the album, the production, the lyrics, and we would break that sucker down song by song. But that's come to an end. We put it to bed on July 19th. And here we sit on August 5th.
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[1:34] Gang, we fucking did it. Yeah. Yeah, we fucking did it. We did. We got stickers to prove it. Yeah. We got stickers to prove it. All over Kingston, in fact, we've got stickers to prove it. Well, tell us more about that, Justin and Kirk. We did a little vandalizing of Kingston. That was okay, right? Do not call it vandalizing. We call that- Yeah, I was bruising up. I would call that an art improvement project for Kingston. I love it. Yeah, it was good. What a, what a beautiful little city that is. Oh my God. Amazing. I just watched the video again. And I mean, I know I haven't watched it 15 times or 20 or something. I don't have an issue watching or hearing myself, but I mean, honestly, I think I've been rewatching it, you guys, just cause I can't believe it happened. Um, just like still that we have it documented that, you know, we went to one of our favorite bands cities after this whole project so i i mean it's it still hasn't sunk in for me and it's been a couple weeks.
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[2:44] Well, let's start at the start. On Wednesday, the 17th of July, both Craig and Kirk set out from the West to fly into YYZ. YYZ. Oh my gosh. They're going to take my passport away now. We need to redo this Canadian quiz here. Jesus Christ, right? And Justin, this guy, jumped in his hot rod and fucking drove all the way to Kingston. How many hours was that, Jack? 10, 10-ish. Oh, just 10. Oh, man, that wasn't bad. No problem. Just 10 hours. Each way. You know, just for the day, too, right? Each way. Yeah, 10 out, 36 there, 10 back. And you beat us.
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[3:29] Yeah, I did. I was there 10 minutes before you guys got there. Yeah, what was our holdup? Oh, I ended up driving all over to try and find the 407. That's what it was. This is going to save us so much time getting on the 407. So we leave, uh, Kirk and Craig and I met at a hotel near the airport and we woke up the next morning and we basically said, we're never going to talk about last night again. And then my probation officer thanks you, by the way, we met for breakfast and then Then we got in our ride and we headed out to a rest stop on the way to Kingston where we met Dean and David, who were so gracious to join us and capture all the stuff and made us, I don't know how they made you feel, but they made me feel a little bit like a celebrity, you know, walking around Kingston. And they're like, stop right here. David, you know, David would always be like, like Dean tries to capture the au naturel is how I feel. And David's always like, Jamie, back up one step. Okay, Craig, tilt your head over here. You know, like, I want this to look this way. But I'm talking way too much now. Because from that rest stop, we met up with them. And we started recording this Kingston video.
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[4:48] And it wasn't until we got to Kingston a couple hours later that we met up with Justin. And I'll let somebody else carry the story on from here. Because otherwise, it's just me droning on. Craig, what, what, um, what was the drive from Toronto to Kingston? Like for you, was it, was it what you expected? Was it. Yeah, it's pretty much what I expected, except for it was a lot, there's a lot more green than I expected. Driving along Lake Ontario, anytime I could see the water, it just made me feel at home. But it was, it was a long drive, but, you know, had great company. And so that made it, made the time pass a lot faster. And I was super tired. I did a lot of the driving, but, um, I had had zero sleep. I was adjusting to the time, uh, time change. And so for me, when we met in the lobby that morning, it was like 4 AM for me. So, so I was very tired, but got through on fumes and it was, yeah, we drove out and met Justin at the Gordownie pier.
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[5:54] Yeah, it was good though. Really good. And you mentioned it earlier, JD, but Dean and David are just two top-notch dudes, let alone act like full-on professionals at what they did. And they made me feel like a rock star for sure. And you go back through and you look at some of those pictures and some of the video and some of the posting and us walking through the city of Kingston and people stopping us going like, why are they filming you?
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[6:24] Why are they taking pictures? you know like that that part that that was to me the part that kind of pushed everything through like this whole project like that was definitely not what i had thought was going to happen like just the thought of going to kingston was cool but like that we got the full tour and like we had some things that that fell through that were going to happen that were really cool you know the the radio stuff and whatnot but but everything we did do was well above and beyond you know anything that i expected and again here we are two weeks later and i'm watching video and i'm looking at pictures and i still don't believe it happened honestly like just it's so insane to think the level of of interaction that we had with uh with again what we've said from the beginning like just somebody a band we loved and an individual that that you know had such an impact obviously as a band, which brought us into this. But then with the solo work that we just spent a wonderful amount of time going through. And as we mentioned, I think on this first call, we're all just roaming around aimlessly like what the heck are we supposed to do now? Yeah. Yeah.
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[7:40] Yeah. That, that tour of the bath house that day though, was, was the highlight for me and meeting Niles and hearing the stories about some of the instruments in there, the piano that, um, you know, Stranger was played on. And then the piano that Haunt Them was played on and a couple of little stories around that was just so cool. And to see the artwork, you know, the, some of the artwork we've seen in the albums. For the albums. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And even video too, though, right? That they just filmed part of it was in there. Yeah. Right. Right. Oh, which one? For the doc.
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[8:22] Oh, well, the cover of the book he said was, um, was taken up in the loft that we got to visit. See, I didn't see the loft last time. So to me that way. Yeah. That was unreal. And that's prominent in the book too. Big time prominent in the book. Is that? Yeah. How would you know that, Kirk? How would you know about the book? Because maybe someone spent a little bit of extra money. It was a good conversion from US to Canadian. And I might have gotten a book. And I might have gotten a jersey. And I might have gotten a few other things. But it all went to a- And a tattoo. And a tattoo. Show us that on. And I got a really cool tattoo. And I think all of my funds went to great causes. So I'm very- Oh, yeah. Right. So you are probably, other than the band, probably one of the few people in the world with that book right now. We'll have to wait another couple months, but hi. Yeah, let's just give some, we'll give some context on that. One of the items we had in our silent auction, which was for people that were there only, was a advanced copy of the Tragically Hip book that is called, it's eluding me right now. What is it called? What is it called?
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[9:37] Sure you've got it right there this is our life this is our life that's right yeah and um sorry i didn't and it's well worth buying it's way better than i expected i just glanced through it that night and it's not i'm super pumped to get i thought it would be you know a lot of photos and very little text but there's a ton of info in there i really oh yeah you're right craig i expected it to be a coffee table book right which is lots of pictures little subs but it is i mean this is going to be a full-on commitment to sit down and read all this. And I'm excited about getting through more than just my, you know, going through and looking at some of the pictures and whatnot, but yeah. And this is just the base level level version too. And it was packed full. I can't even imagine what the, uh, right. Expensive one looks like. It was pretty cool when I came home and I was showing the book to my family, I was showing the pictures on my phone and items that were on my phone were there in the book, you know, just front and center.
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[10:36] Oh my God. And it was really just cool to just like go, like we, we, we weren't just there. We didn't just get a tour. Like we spent time and talked about it. And like, for us, I think the tour almost began when we did those interviews ahead of time. Right. When we talked to Niles and we talked with Kevin and we talked with, um, Josh and, and others, like those were the pre-tour for me. And then obviously, because we know so much about the band, we've seen footage and we've watched all the videos, but like to get that pre stuff to already have a base knowledge and then to get in there and, and it didn't feel rushed at all. And we went everywhere. I mean, like Patrick even said at the event afterwards, Oh, did you go for a dip in the pool? And he wasn't joking.
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[11:24] He honestly, if we would have said, yeah, he would have said to Niles, oh, we're going to jump in the pool. It would have been no big deal. And that's the way it felt when we were there. And, um, like to go up in that rehearsal room, but just to go to the garage, to get to the rehearsal space. Like, I don't know if you guys slow walked that. I know you all did. Oh yeah. You were looking at all the, like, I'm looking over the boxes to see what's in that, that other case that's down there. And I just was like, wanted to go, Hey, now, do you mind if I just clean this place out? Like, I'm just going to clean it up. It looks a little dirty. I'm not taking anything. I just want to arrange it. It was like that big museum type thing at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. There's that big warehouse where they keep all the Ark and things. It was like that. All these treasures unfold inside there. Great analogy. Yeah. You didn't talk about the part where they opened up that one gearbox and Dean's face melted off. This is true.
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[12:24] Yeah, it was, I thought it was so cool that we're like, we're walking through that garage, which is just musty and dirty. And like, we're oohing and aahing over the stuff that that's just where the crap goes. Like, that's not the room you're supposed to see. And like, that's the one that we're like, wow, look at that over there. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I was, in retrospect, kind of glad that our tour, our actual tour of Kingston fell through because I think we were able to soak up things a little bit more and enjoy them as it unfolded. It probably would have felt a little bit more rushed had we had that time commitment. Yeah, you're probably right. We got to really spend a lot of time with Niles, and he was so gracious having us there, and he didn't rush us out the door. He was like you guys good like what you know he he was a great host and oh he showed us everything and did you guys have a favorite uh moment from the from the tour.
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[13:25] Of the bathhouse? Oh, it was definitely when he went to the bin at the end of the tour and got that little whatever it was. So what happened was I, I asked him, uh, my MVP track for away as mine was, or sorry for introduce yourself was, um, snowflake. And I asked him what the jangly sound was and you could see him sort of, you know, go through the Rolodex in his mind. And then I was expecting just an answer like, oh, that was a blah, blah, blah.
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[13:56] But instead he runs out of the room, goes through this tickle trunk, uh, Canadian reference there. Um of uh stuff and and pulls out these bells like just like almost like toy sleigh bells and starts jangling them in his hand and just said you know it's just this and i added some reverb and it was so cool and it sounded exactly like it when i heard i was like that's so cool when we were in the kitchen and you asked the question that the i just watched his face and watched him process the question and you could see him within seconds like go through the inventory in the house and he knew exactly where it was and then he go yeah i i called it a hamper what did you call it craig a tickle trunk a tickle trunk and he like he goes to that and he's like and it's just a bunch of johnny faye's percussion stuff and he just reaches in and grabs it that that was a magical moment um watching him try and uh hook up the the speaker on the leslie the b3 the the leslie's you know in a rotating speaker. That was really cool.
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[14:59] Obviously going into the, uh, the rehearsal space to me, seeing that mic, I think was probably the highlight for me out of like many highlights to see the mic that Gord used on the last hip show, you know, down to the XLR cable. And it's just a straight stand and a, and a good old SM 58 and like being an audio visual guy and knowing that he still uses that mic that's been around, you know, that brand has been here forever, like 30, 40 years, and it's still considered the industry standard. And he used that for his vocal when there's tons of other mics out there that are, you know, considered to be better, but just to see that basic level and to see that it was the last one and to be in that, that room, I think just that, that was my highlight moment for sure. Well, just imagine what's been created in that room. Right. And not just from the hip.
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[15:59] I mean, having that discussion with Miles about all the different people that have been in there and recorded, you know, like, yes, the hip and gourd did some amazing, but it's not just them. Like so much magic has come out of that space. Yeah. There was a, when I was asking him that question in the kitchen right behind him was a, a half man run album with his name on it. And that's, they're one of my all time favorite bands. bands and um and he said i think july talk was coming in the following week and just yeah so many great canadian and and probably not canadian bands rolling through that place and yeah so cool i had a little bit of imposter syndrome walking through there like i don't know if this is the right place for me like i soaked it all up but it's like i don't think i should be in this room right now you know he kind of toward he well we were going through oh that was a little upstairs who's kind of shown us i was like yeah this is uncomfortable i did take a quick selfie on gorge's couch but i couldn't resist i'll never be there again and craig craig forced me to take a picture of him playing paul's guitar i asked i did ask niles to paul if you ever hear this niles said i could not permission uh i got chills when um he played the keys on that piano um from haunt them.
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[17:18] Holy crap I was like yeah I gotta go outside for a second because it immediately it was like a full body experience you could feel it not just hear it but you could feel it it was a very distinct sound on that piano and you know I loved the seeing the bass drum from some marching band in Rochester New York or wherever it was from you know and seeing the books on the bookshelf like this is where these ideas came from.
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[17:45] You know, that was super cool. God, it was just a really good place. I mean, I think overall, especially, you know, having, I've been to Toronto, but I haven't been to Kingston, but like not only finding stuff in the bathhouse, but just driving around, you'd see subjects to hip tunes or gourd tunes, like either titles of songs or references. Yeah. Millhaven and right by that was the Ferry to Glenora sign. Yeah. And then like the, the pictures of the, uh, just at the bath house itself, the, um, uh, oh gosh, help me out. The Jamie, you took a picture with one that not garden gnomes, but the, oh, the gargoyles. Thank you. The pictures of the gargoyles were there that you've seen in, in, you know, several of the, um, on your t-shirts shirts and hip and gourd related stuff. But that part to me is pretty cool when you see it wasn't there, but the actual unit that they did Phantom Power, the photo from was they had taken it out for the photo shoot for the box set. But, and as Craig mentioned earlier, like seeing artwork from actual albums, that parts, I get the imposter syndrome, right? Because it's, you see these things right there in front of you, the real, and they've helped create, you know, moments in your life that obviously musically have moved you beyond anything. So that part, that part is very cool too.
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[19:14] Yeah, really cool. So from there, well, actually before there, I just want to touch on this really briefly. We, we did meet at the Gordani pier and these three guys all fucking jumped in. We did. Like they, they, they changed. I would have just fallen asleep. I almost, I almost didn't come back either. I was going down. I went down with my mouth open and I got half of the lake in my lungs. Oh God.
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[19:43] So from there we ended up driving. No, not like that. No. I have to say though, that lake was insane and I can see why it was such a, you know, such a common thread through Gord's music like that. Like, you know, I, I grew up on a large lake, but this, this is like an ocean. It is insane. Sorry, JD. No, no, no. Uh, no, it's Lake Ontario is pretty formidable and it's not even, you know, the biggest one. No, it's the fourth, isn't it? Fourth biggest? I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so where did we go from there? We left Niles and we went and had that, that weird pizza place. Yeah. Great pizza. What, what, um, Justin, what did I make you get again?
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[20:30] Oh, I got the poutine pizza. The poutine pizza. Yeah. I totally forgot. Weren't they from. And the owner was really, really cool guy. He, he had a recording studio, he said down the, down the street and he was, um, building a larger space and he was, um, they were giving out grants to allow people to record for free. Really interesting, man. Yeah. And that place was only what, three or four months old. He said the building had just been built, and he was so excited to show us his sound equipment. And play it for us, too. Whether we wanted to hear it or not. And play it for us, yeah. He cranks up Thunderstruck. That's right. And then he put on the headband. And let me tell you, for us, I love pizza, and I love poutine. They don't belong together. You heard it here, folks. It was good cold the next day. It was good.
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[21:22] So then we left to that delicious lunch. lunch and we had already toured kingston a bit at that point right yeah so did we go to our we went to joe's house oh fuck we went to joe oh yeah who wants to take that one the same day that day is just the the never in a good way yeah and you guys remember sorry going back to the bathhouse like.
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[21:45] You wouldn't have known it was there if someone oh yeah pulled in like it was you you couldn't tell it was insane and then just to go oh yeah not that far away over to joe's house and you see this i think i called it a hip sanctuary and i think that's like being kind but just he's spent years creating this space his garage into this hip sanctuary and i mean from floor to ceiling like that's checkerboard floors literally he's got uh he's got graphics on the the garage uh with you know, really cool, you know, an earlier shot of the hip and then, and one from the, you know, final tour, um, the, the signed jerseys, the, um, the art piece artwork of the band that he got, I think from his wife on as part of their wedding gift, just everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The table. It was pretty spectacular. He had the, he had the set list from the troubadour and, and, uh, a show that I'd actually gone onto and he actually had the, the, a poster for the Anaheim and LA and San Diego shows I went to as well. So just. Yeah. Really? Yeah. A story for every, every item. I guess I, I didn't know that. That's crazy. Every item had a story. You're right, Craig.
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[23:01] Every item. In fact, his beer fridge too, stocked full of. I was going to say the beer was cold. Stocked full of all Trashly Hip themed and we were, um, you know, lucky enough to be able to give him some podcast Pilsner to add to his collection.
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[23:16] Yeah. That's right. He had the wines, the ciders, everything was hip related. And then that really cool photo of him, because, you know, as you do, you wake up one day and you go, I'm going to run a marathon without training. Cause, cause that's what you do. And, and then you do it the next year and you go, Oh, I'm going to dress up as Gordon, carry a guitar the whole time and raise, what did he say? Like 20 grand or 10 grand. He raised a bunch of money. Yeah. Um, so it just, the guy himself was, I mean, he was a really cool individual, great story, chiropractor, fireman, you know, the story with Billy Ray and, and, um, helping him. And that's how he got that, that grace to Jersey, which was really cool.
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[24:04] Um, oh, also I didn't tell you guys, but he had the copy of the, um, um, uh, secret path book there. And that I took the picture of here, here, here for my tattoo from his book. Cause I didn't have it from already and I couldn't find it on, on a Google search. So, so Joe, if you're out there, my tattoo came from the photo of your book. Nice. That's great that's awesome uh that's great and he was such a he was such a good host like he kept us laughing the whole time and you know you guys need more beer and we're like all right man, it's cool yeah it was a whirlwind day but it was a good day because from there we left joe's and we went and just sort of chilled or did we go for dinner yeah we went, We checked into the church first. Yeah, which was the church. Oh, our Airbnb was in the 18th century. The church.
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[24:59] Which now has Brown. Yeah, which now has a clean apartment. Sorry. I don't even remember. Who spilled the coffee? Went for dinner. We're not going to announce it. I think it was Dave. Sorry, Dave. It wasn't us. Sorry, Dave. You owe me some money, Dave. Oh, okay. It was like 10 minutes before we left. play guitar and then we went to Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons was five seconds down the street, like five second walk. That's right. It was like two doors down the street. We walked to dinner. That place was cool. Oh, that's right. We went to that cool place. And you guys saw that dude from the hairband. The bass player. We were inside. This is a crazy story. We were part of that. It relates to the hip too. I wasn't there. I just heard the story after. So we're we stayed inside and uh just having a chat jd and i and um we it was either david or somebody else we were talking to dean somebody and um it was dave outside what's that it was dave outside with us because so we're just chatting in and i'm like yeah i'm from la and when i said i'm from la this guy walks out of the car with his wife or girlfriend or whatever and or wasn't both Thank you, folks.
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[26:18] And he goes, oh, I'm from LA too. And so we just started chatting. And he ends up going, well, yeah, I'm originally from Kingston, but I moved out there when, you know, I was trying to be a rock star with his band, Anna Black.
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[30:20] And they were a full-on hair metal band that did okay. And they were in L.A. and Hollywood. And he tells a story about how they were playing the Roxy and the hip were playing the whiskey. So it wasn't that famous Roxy, which I think we had mistaken when we were talking that night. So they were playing the opposite places. So Anna Black was playing the Roxy and the hip are playing the whiskey, which if you're familiar with it, it is quite literally a two blocks, a block walk from each other on the sunset strip. And so he tells the story of he's driving the car up, they're going to the gig for, you know, to do to get ready. And there's a line around the block for the other venue where they hit for play. So he was really worried that you know that there was there weren't going to be people there because every canadian in town was going to go see the hit but he said he said there was a crowd so.
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[31:19] But then he went on to you know tell the story how you know when they found out they're from kingston and ended up you know talking to each other you know both in the u.s and back in kingston and you know him and uh rob ended up becoming pretty good friends he had mentioned and And yeah, and part of his, you know, part of the interview we took is, is on our Kingston video. So that was definitely look for the Kingston video. Cause it's, it's, it documents everything that we just told you. It's what is it? It's not 10 minutes long. It's eight minutes. Yeah. So it's like, if, if you've got some time and you want to watch it, it's a lot of fun. And you get to see all three of us with our shirts off.
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[32:03] They could have done some like color correction. I should have mentioned right there. I know. Well, they had a whole like three hours to edit it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. And that's the other thing. Like not only were Dean and Dave awesome and they were very much part of our I think they made the experience a lot better just being good dudes. But Dean worked on that video until five minutes before the event started on Friday. It was wild. We were all running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But anyway, we'll get there. Because it was like, we get to the, so basically the next day we drive.
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[32:39] Uh, we drive back to Toronto and then by the time we get back to Toronto, we've got to run around. And like, I anticipated having much more time than we actually had, but it was run around, run around, run around, and then head to our, Oh, I didn't even go to the Airbnb. Two of you guys went to the Airbnb and two of us went to the venue, right? Well, we went to your house for a little while. We got, got to check out the scenery. Your view jd is insane by the way i didn't know toronto had yeah green stuff there was a lot and such a cool skyline too yeah and you can see all of it yeah yeah we got to record some of our promo videos too which was nice up there on the yeah yeah we we did a good job that day i think of we recorded a video of the program we recorded a video of the guitar recorded a video for dinner so we were we were we were doing our best to try and help support the people that were supporting us that's right and you know it was we're not gonna lie it was a small but mighty crowd like i they didn't make it they didn't make us feel like they were a small crowd by any stretch.
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[33:53] Now some of you might be wondering why are we not listening to the actual episode that you recorded that night and i can tell you the answer to that we didn't record the episode that night we did the episode it was an in-person but we didn't record yeah we are the dance and baby yeah what was your experience like with the final event just for people that didn't get a chance to go um i had a blast meeting patrick i mean it was it was great hanging out with you guys but patrick is just a dude like us and he was so approachable and was like he was there for the whole night um he was drinking beers and talking and and just being a guy and and he's he's as big a fan of the hip and of Gord as we all are. And I mean, obviously he's his brother, so he's got some, some more background, but you know, he, he was cool with whatever questions we had for him on or off Mike. I mean, he, he was a superstar.
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[35:10] I had so much fun getting to know him that night. Yeah. Me too. He stayed like, it was there three hours at least. Yeah. Yeah, the first thing I said, like, you know, you're welcome to leave, but we'd love to have you hang out if you want. And yeah, I chatted another good 45 minutes with him. And it was, yeah. And then I jumped up on stage with the band, which was awesome. So the Almost Hip, they did a great job. Also a big highlight. And I was lucky enough to get up for, um, they let me choose a song and I did music at work with them with Patrick, uh, standing side stage, which was pretty cool. And, uh, yeah. Yeah. The whole. Very cool.
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[35:57] And listen, I want to, I hope I'm not blowing up his spot here, but, um, maybe you can edit this out if it's not appropriate. But the you know patrick wasn't he's not in love with hip cover bands as i think most most bands are not in love with cover bands sorry craig but you know he at the beginning of the night he said what are these guys called and somebody answered the almost tip and he goes i almost feel bad for them but he stuck around and by the end of it he was i mean he was bobbing his head and tapping his toe and he was enjoying the music and he was like yeah these guys are all right you know i mean I mean, he warmed up to it and he stuck around and he hung out with the fans that were there and he talked to people and was, like I said, he was totally accessible. And I'm talking about Patrick a lot, but the fans, you know, Kirk was the host that night, by the way. Kirk talked to every single person for at least 20 minutes. Or tried to. I'm sorry. And it was great. I tried. I really tried. Yeah. Yeah, but you played the role perfectly. Craig and I sort of last minute handled the auction items with, I'm sorry, I don't remember his name, J.D.
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[37:19] Yeah. And he was awesome too. And he's hilarious. Um, and has a great sense of humor. He was very funny guy. Um, but he, he handled everything. And Craig and I were kind of switching back and forth between beer and water, trying to get through it. And, um, and everybody JD that you brought to help out. Um, and I, I forget most of their names, but, um, they were, they were all wonderful. And um it was all hands on deck and we all pulled in the same direction and none of it when we were yeah when we were did it all of us madly trying to get all these items up online and take photos and, put the pack just together i looked at justin i'm like this isn't phasing you at all is it and he's like yo this just this is what i do this is what with the racing this is yeah and yeah it was it was a good time it was uh a little high stress for a moment there but and then getting up on stage and interviewing Patrick in front of the crowd and like you said it wasn't a huge crowd but they were so supportive um obviously fans mostly of the you know I think most of them were fans of the podcast and big hip fans and we got to what did you have a question that that that you asked Patrick that you you know that did you want to share.
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[38:48] Um, like any that you, you know, that kind of stuck out to you or surprised you. I'll, I'll go, uh, just to, I guess, really back up what Justin said. Well, we've all been saying is, you know, he showed up an hour early, took photos, you know, signed stuff, talked with everyone. Like the fact he, he was so enamored with my hip California shirt. Shirt like he must have stopped me four or five times to like look and look the you know the lyrics that were in there and he took a couple pictures with it and he was genuinely like he wasn't just messing around he genuinely dug the shirt and then um you know the other thing that i thought was cool too is he spent time with every single one of the guys in the almost hip like he took pictures with them talked to him he treated them with the utmost respect and i just so dug that because he could have easily, he could have easily been a star and stayed in the corner that night and not done anything, but he totally opened himself up, not just that night, but all the stuff that he helped, you know, getting with the different items that we got in, like, sorry, I'm going to, I want to answer your question, Craig, but I'm going to put on my producer hat and say, I'm bummed that we didn't get more people because that event was an amazing event. You got more than your money's worth walking in the door, getting the interaction with everyone.
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[40:14] I mean, just getting interaction and accessibility to the auction items. I, I mean, we could spend an hour talking about the different items we got from, you know, the hat, the guitar, the Oxford pennant that day, that day had donated stuff and, um, just all the people that, that stepped up for that. But Patrick was able to, to get a couple of really cool things as well. Um, and then him coming out on stage and I think him talking about, um, like playing on his brother's album, I really appreciated kind of that effort and especially the part. And, and I might be taking Craig's moment and I apologize, but him really understanding how much effort it takes to be a singer. Um, and I'll say that as a singer and the amount of work that you go into prep your voice and, and he really, he just thought it was, oh, you just go in and sing a little bit, but there's, there's a lot more to it. And I think he articulated that extremely well. So I really appreciated that. But again, I just want to say overall JD, that event was phenomenal and people missed out if they didn't go. I mean, um, the band was spot on the, the staff there at the rec room were great.
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[41:35] Oh my God, hold on. I have to interrupt you. Security guard. Yes. It was her first night. It was her first night working there. And she's a huge fan, was raised on the hip by her parents. She was, I don't know, mid to late 20s and had no idea this was happening. And she got to meet Patrick and he took the time and talked to her and took selfies and all this. And she was just like, what the fuck is happening to my life right now? It's all downhill from now. It was such a great moment. Yeah she was just oh my dad's gonna be losing his mind yeah and yeah but there were people that were out in the rec room like having dinner or playing arcade games or whatever and they heard a band they didn't know what was going on they came over and they were interested and i think i think you're right bidding on items too um because they were they were genuinely like what the hell is happening right now and then they became very interested very if you're out there and you're listening and you've got an answer to how do you crack the nut of getting people to come out to your events, send me an email.
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[42:37] DiscoveringDowny at gmail.com. Because I just can't figure out that part. I feel like we nailed everything else. Is it the Toronto thing? I had to wonder that. Well, I don't know. We were up against a baseball game in an IndyCar race. And we are a very niche podcast. podcast this is you know there was a reason why i guess there's not a reason but it's called discovering downey because none of us had ever heard of it you know and you know so i wouldn't i i thought that the crowd that showed up they were there for the right reasons and they enjoyed the hell out of the night and who cares about the numbers and i think patrick even said so on an email said we still raised a good amount of money though how many people were there would have been nice to double that but it was sure nice to not only hit our goal but get a little past it Yeah. JD.
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[43:32] I think that you should stand a little taller than you have been about this whole thing because it's been pretty fucking awesome. And especially being there in the event and seeing everything after it. Meeting your friends and family also says a lot about you, JD, and they're top-notch people. And obviously you guys get along because you're all really good people and you made you know, at least this American feel completely at home and, um, just, uh, really, really enjoyed getting to know all of them and hanging out. Um, yeah, it was, it was fantastic.
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[44:08] And we're all friends because of thanks you know and a a married couple yes spent their honeymoon with us right they drove across the goddamn continent to smack down in the middle of american st louis right almost dead that was so cool yeah that was so cool yeah that people were great um that that was to me and you mentioned justin it was really important because there were word people that drove and flew in from all over the place and a bunch of cool well you got well yeah christ but the fact that you guys all made the trip like that's a big fucking deal don't let that you know just slide away but we we were i think paid back in spades with the experience that we had i mean all all of it out the window just to become friends with you guys has been been great right justin you said that like jdu facilitated that but to go on this experience as hip fans was absolutely phenomenal but to go out there to to fly and get to visit kingston and get to go to the places that we went to and then to be a part of that event that i mean yeah something we'll never forget so it yeah it was yeah it was spectacular it really was and, And then, of course, for me, the next day, it just was...
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[45:33] Put you know i got to walk on the danforth finally got to walk down the danforth and then i got to go into the black pearl tattoo and get you know my my mvp tattooed in which i had planned earlier but to actually have it done there i was just going to go to whatever tattoo place i could go to and to get like we walked in and we had just they just had a cancellation and had that not happened it wouldn't have all came to fruition and kirk do you remember we were even going to go to a different place and i was like oh fuck we walked around the block we missed the black pearl so we had to we went backwards that's right that's right and had we not done that yeah yeah that was pretty special i think the whole thing was pretty special guys and i really want to thank you but before we wrap it up we did do something at the event that uh i would like to reveal on the podcast as well and that was kirk you just mentioned the m mvp tracks the most valuable of your most valuable playable tracks. Kirk, you revealed that yours is... Here, here, and here. That's right, and it's on his arm. Craig, what was yours? Mine was Steeplechase. And yeah, go back and listen to the episode if you want to hear my reasons, but just, I couldn't get away from that song. It's just too good. Yeah, it's great.
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[47:01] All right and uh craig anything else to say about that no i think you've summed it up and you also nailed it by saying go back and listen to the episode, a part of me really wanted to pick um hell breaks loose just because it was just in my head at the time that was like my current favorite song that's become my favorite but i think um yeah steeplechase is pretty hard to beat, Justin, how about you, buddy? Mine ended up being Don't Let This Touch You. It's for a lot of different reasons. But I will say my original pick before I knew that we had to pick from our MVPs was Steeplechase. Mine had changed to Steeplechase, but that wasn't on my original MVP list. I had 11th Threat on that album, which is still ranked highly for me. He was trying to bend the rules, folks. I didn't know the rules. And I wouldn't let him. I wouldn't let him. I had to come down hard. Stern but fair. That's right. Yeah.
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[48:05] So, guys, this has been an incredible journey. And I'm really grateful. You know, Justin, I knew you tangentially, you know, through your donation last year and your emails.
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[48:21] You know, Craig, I knew you from coming to the event. Kirk, you were a wild card, though. you were a wild card and you still kind of is that guy still kind of is it turned out to be a-okay yeah kirk was the last minute addition too it was originally me and justin right and then, jd's like do you mind if i bring in one guy one more guy i think he'd be be great hopefully we're glad you did i kept it interesting oh yeah yeah yeah there were a lot of people that wanted to do it too so it worked out really nice yeah um tremendous journey folks go back and listen to the Gordani solo records, enjoy them parse them, You know, but this is what we've got. What is out there is what we've got. Unless there's, you know, more to come. There was just, I can talk about this now, but when I went for drinks with Patrick Downey before our event, just to sort of get to know him a little bit. And he told me something that was just revealed officially last week on creative control, the podcast, uh, done out of Edmonton by Vish, uh, Kana, um, and creative control. They had, um, oh my gosh, what's his name from the Sadie's? Why can't I think of his name right now? Uh, Travis. Travis. Travis. Yeah. Travis. Yep. And he, uh, and he, um.
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[49:50] Confirmed what patrick had told me that i couldn't say before but there's like five or six, songs that they left off the record that are out there it's 80s songs can't wait it's so interesting that they're doing a reissue of and um that record and the conquering sun, but they didn't include those extra tracks i was i was really blown away by that are we gonna get get to see them like where you know like if if you don't include them on that reissue when are you, i don't know i'm sure they have a plan i'm sure they have a plan but guys it's been just so fun and we'll have to uh keep um some sort of uh book club type, atmosphere going with the four of us that we can get together and talk about things maybe when the up to here box that comes out oh yeah um you guys i definitely look to have you on the next podcast i'm working on which is the tragically hip top 40 countdown which begins january 6th and runs through uh middle of october and the finale will be a fall finale this time it will be in october on the 26th so there's that 2025 correct 2025 okay.
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[51:15] You're making me happy because that's after racing season right, so we'll see if that changes things at all uh in terms of getting people out who knows like uh whoever it was who said a minute ago who fucking who fucking cares the people that were there had a great time we got some good feedback um i had a great time you guys had a great time Patrick had a great time. The band had a great time. What more can you ask, right? We made 5,500 bucks. That's awesome. Like just shy of $5,500. That's nothing to shake a stick at, you know? We also got to get pretty close to some music that we were already close to and didn't really know was out there. So that's definitely worth the price of admission. And the rest of the world needs to listen to it. They do. I'll go around the table one more time. Oh, sorry. Oh, sorry. Just a quick, uh, shout out to the fans too. Like getting emails from, from some of you about your experience with the, with the podcast and going back. And we heard a lot of stories about people like us who, who were discovering this catalog along with us. And so to hear from you was, was really awesome. Yeah. And we're still hearing from you, which is great. Yeah. Stay active on the socials, you guys, we're going to be so. Oh, we should also announce, uh, we, we hit a milestone, uh, recently. Oh yeah, go ahead and that's it, Kirk or Craig.
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[52:40] We officially on Apple podcasts hit 10,000 downloads a couple of days ago. So. Awesome. Pretty pumped for that. Yeah. It's fucking great. That means people like us. They really do. They like us. Well, they may not like us, but they've heard us. This is true. Well, I don't know. The two people that. Hey, it's five star rating. A lot of people reviewed or a lot of people rated, but we also got two actual reviews as well. And they were both very positive. So I feel like if you take the time to write a review, you know, um, you're either pretty pleasantly surprised or you're angry, you know, that's usually the two, the two things. Anyway, I've got a pretty hard stop, but what I want to do really quick before we be at a due is I just want to go around the table one more time for, you know, final thoughts, buttoning this up, uh, obviously as concisely as you can. But, uh, if there's, you know, anything else you want to share or say or do, um, this is a good opportunity for you to do that. Kirk, do you want to start? I'll jump right in. And again, just thank you guys for being a part of this journey for the last, uh, what feels like six years.
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[53:52] Um, I think it was six months. It felt, uh, also like six weeks in certain cases, but it was great. Get to know you guys especially um you know with the the depth and knowledge that you guys have on the hip catalog and the lyrics and everything it was impressive to um who i thought i was a pretty big fan to you know really really see that that knowledge um jd thanks for having us um and for the experience that we just talked about on this episode but i said it and i'll just keep saying it Like this music is amazing. Y'all, you really need to give it the chance. I know there's a lot of hip lovers out there that didn't quite give Downey Gord Downey solo stuff. It'll grow. You'll enjoy it. You'll learn to love it. Use our podcast to help you with some guiding, you know, if you have questions, but you got it, you got to get into this music. It's great stuff. Thanks, man.
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[54:54] Well, it was just a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience. It was amazing. I talked from the start about how this music had been sitting with me in this very room, these unopened CDs, and I knew I needed to listen to them, but I just couldn't bring myself to it. And sometimes just finding the time even to listen to new music can be difficult. So this gave me a perfect opportunity to do that. And, you know, the event meeting Patrick, you know, it was just the crowd being a bit smaller actually made it better for me. I enjoyed myself more, I think, than if it would have been like a packed club. And, you know, we really did get to circulate and talk to people and take photos and just have a great time. And, and, and honestly, the highlight was probably just getting to know you guys and talk about this music. It's, I don't get to talk about music very often, even though it's a big part of my life. Um, there's not a lot of people who actually want to talk about, you know, lyrics and break things down like, like we have. So it's just been a blast. Thanks, man.
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[56:09] Justin. Justin? So I just noticed that right there, my wife put an empty can of podcast Pilsner on the shelf right above my desk. I love it. I'm just seeing it right now. And that's like kind of my favorite part of the whole thing was actually when we were in the basement of a church and we were all pretty much hammered. We'd had a good dinner. we were exhausted and we were sitting around playing guitars and singing songs. All right. The six of us. And it's, and I'm, I'm including Dean and Dave. Um, cause they were, like I said, they were absolutely made this thing better in every way. And, um, just the odds of all that coming together. Um, the event was great. Don't get me wrong. And the tour and the, you know, meeting Niles and the whole thing that was great, but sitting together, the, the six of us who didn't know each other at the beginning of the day was pretty fucking special.
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[57:11] And we're all a bunch of nerds and we all have the same interests. And, and I think, I mean, we're going to be friends forever, right? Like this is, this is a much bigger than, than what it was intended to be. So I'm, I'm just thankful for the experience and for JD reaching out, you know, it's, this has been a lot of fun.
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[57:33] And continues to be. It's been so much fun for me too, guys. Like truly, truly, you know, these things are a lot of work, both the fundraiser and, and, you know, promoting the podcast and editing the podcast and doing research and, you know, writing the little mini essays and, you know, that stuff. But I didn't feel any of it, this, you know, with this project, it was, it was an, it was a breeze. stories. Uh, it, it was delightful, you know, it was just a lot of fun. You guys, you guys really brought it. So that was really great. So that's what I have to say. And I, you know, I just thank you so much for bringing everything you had into this project and making it what it was. I'm really proud of this. This is something I'm going to, uh, you know, definitely point out to people when they ask what I do. Um, it's a, it's a great example. of what I try to do, you know, and, uh, take things I'm passionate about and get people who are equally passionate and try to get other people passionate. And, uh, I think that's what we did. So there's that.
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[58:42] That's what we've got for you this week, man. And that's a wrap on episode 11, of Discovering Downy, an 11-part podcast.
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[58:55] Pick up your shit!
