The Artist in Question

It’s not often I can recall the exact event in my memory when I discovered a new band. But in the case of the Tragically Hip I’ve remembered this event for more than 25 years. It was a news report at the tail end of a late night newscast. I don’t remember which network however so I’ve been having difficulty in my Youtube searches. All I really remember is that the band was thrashing it out onstage, probably to “New Orleans Is Sinking”. To be honest, perhaps I wouldn’t even be able to identify the exact video footage if I saw it. But the band has definitely remained in my consciousness all these years.

But you’d think by now (over the last few weeks) I‘d have run across the footage. The news clip I was searching for occurred in the late 80s (maybe even as recently as ’91) about a great new upstart band in Toronto known as The Tragically Hip. Way back then I had finished high school and I remember I’d stay up to watch the late news with my dad sometimes. The event I’m trying to recall may have even been before the dawn of the TV remote control because if I remember correctly, if my dad had had a remote control he’d have changed channels pretty quickly once the clip of the band’s live performance started. It was one of those moments where I was witnessing what I thought was one of the best bands I’d ever seen, and all my dad could do was utter his somewhat classic expression, “It’s a sickness!” And I don’t mean “sick” in the modern slang sense.

Admittedly Dad was ESL, having emigrated from Germany in his formative 20s. Descriptive English wasn’t always his strong suit. But he had certain catch phrases that inevitably popped up when he experienced something that clashed with his German post-war upbringing. Back then I hated that saying of his, but of course since his passing in 1991 I’ve come to use it now and again, mostly in teasing my wife after she’s asked my opinion about something, like a performance for instance (she of course is in on my humour).

Rural Abbotsford on BC Day

The apples are almost ready for harvest.

Apparently it's bear country up in the hills near the Abbotsford-Mission border but all we saw was a deer. However it was too close to dusk to get a good photograph.

J-Tru Siting at Pride Parade

"You are ahead by a century"

I’m sitting here thinking and typing, listening to “Trouble at the Henhouse” and “Up To Here” which I’d forgotten I had until the concert last night, and also various other tracks I’ve pulled up from Youtube (“…in my opinion, the drug is ready…”). At the concert I was trying to sing along but realized I remembered embarrassingly few lyrics (“…I put it off, I put it off, I put it off again…”). Some fan I am. To be fair to myself however, hearing those songs again (“…just what our apartment does while we’re not around does not concern us…”), especially from the early albums actually choked me up a bit hearing them blasted loud in an arena setting.

It’s really interesting and a bit enlightening for me to listen to my old favourite albums again and realize how few lyrics there actually are in the Hip’s songs. And upon closer examination I probably shouldn’t be surprised that they’re more poetry than I’d expected. A lot of times they don’t make a lot of sense. They’re often more thought fragments than stories really (“…lies over time with no apparent purpose…”). And for some reason I’m attracted to that.

A Hip concert really is a magical, often hypnotic experience. Another thing I’d forgotten.

I don’t remember after which encore it was, maybe after both, or maybe it was after the seemingly endless applause following “Grace, Too”, but Gord looked out at the audience and seemed quite authentically awed. I know the circumstances of this concert tour are extraordinary but it was a truly Canadian cultural moment to see a nation come together to celebrate a man (and don’t forget the rest of the band) that’s shunned potential wider commercial success internationally in persisting in promotion of Canadian culture and history domestically.

I commented to my wife that Gord didn’t say much to the crowd throughout the 2 hour-plus concert but as she pointed out, there’s really nothing to say (“No dress rehearsal, this is our life…”).  Gord’s struggle is out there and we just have to be grateful we have a chance and a venue (multiple venues actually) to give back to him and the band.

“They shot a movie once, in my home town. Everyone was in it, from miles around…”

Having never seen the skit on which the band’s name is reportedly based, I none-the-less feel pretty confident that the “tragically” portion of the name was not intended to be taken quite so literally.

Canada Day

Happy 149th Birthday, Canada!

The VSO performed in Whistler.

Sun Run 2016

I took a week off from running post-SunRun but I hadn't meant to delay blogging about the experience by a week. However, the week got the better of me.

I liked the uniformity of the Blue Wave this year. A technical event t-shirt was a welcome change.

All in all it was a good event, as usual, and my time was alright. To be honest, by the end of January I didn't think I'd be able to participate at all due to a knee injury. I rested it for about 3 weeks, then decided to take a stab at it. My training schedule had lots of holes in it (it's really the least I've ever trained for this event) but I persevered and ended up jogging the 10K in one second less than 61 minutes. My usual elapsed time is about 59-1/2 minutes so that's actually quite good (for me) considering the number of practice sessions I missed.

Shauna ended up walking the course too. It was kind of a last-minute decision, but the weather was perfect and she felt up to the challenge. I was done first so I managed to get  a pretty good photo of her as she approached the finish line. Wasn't that good advice I gave her to wear the pink shirt?

Aerials

As I've said before, one of the things I like best about this job is the travel. On Friday I was sent to Kelowna again. So far in 2016 I've been there 4 times. I like the flight, especially in winter (although technically now it's Spring) for the majestic views of the snow-capped Rockies. Early morning flights are best for the photogenic morning light.

Looks like a sizable snow pack this year.

When weather and available daylight permit I like to try to identify the plane's location from the air. I'm getting reasonably good at, but this time the return flightpath was new to me. I couldn't readily identify where we were until I saw the new Pitt River bridge at Port Coquitlam.

The Pitt River Bridge and adjacent train yard in Port Coquitlam.

SFU Mountain and beyond to Vancouver.

The old Port Mann structure is now completely gone.

The cranberry fields of East Richmond.

A few years ago we were walking along Jericho Beach and I noticed the largest car carrying freighter I've ever seen anchored in English Bay. On the flight home from Kelowna I'm pretty sure I spotted the same one from above, although it certainly looks different from this perspective.

New cars storage lot in south Richmond near Silver City Cinemas.