Hey, it’s jD here,
TL;DR
An Evening for Sara J - Saturday, April 11th at The Firkin on Yonge. Live podcast with Patrick Downie. The Forever Hip. 50/50 raffles. $25–$30 at the door. All proceeds to Sara J’s GoFundMe. tickets.tthpods.com
Hip News - “It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken” stage production opens at Theatre Aquarius on April 22nd. Paul Langlois’s “Smooth Rock Falls” vinyl ships April 27th.
PodList 7 - Submissions are open. Deadline: April 30th. Get after it.
The First Verse
Happy April 1st.
No, this isn’t a joke.
Although if you’ve been hanging around this community for any length of time you already know I don’t need a designated day to be ridiculous. I just sort of live there.
If you did fall for something today; a fake headline, a prank text, yer buddy telling you The Hip are reuniting with so and so's singer.
Let's just say I’m not going to judge you. Hope is a hell of a drug.
March was busy.
Several great episodes dropped, and April is shaping up to be even bigger. I’ve organized a live event I need to tell you about right now.
An Evening for Sara J
This one matters.
On Saturday, April 11th, I’m throwing a live event at The Firkin on Yonge (207 Yonge Street, Toronto — fully accessible, elevator and all because it’s on the second floor, and I thought about that). The Forever Hip is playing. I’m doing a live podcast with a very special guest: Patrick Downie. That’s Gord Downie’s brother. And he is just as cool as shit.
Tickets are $25 to $30 at the door. There will be 50/50 raffles and so much more. Every single dollar goes to Sara J’s GoFundMe, which is currently sitting $900 dollars away from our goal of $5000.
Doors will burst open at precisely 7:30 PM. The podcast kicks off at 8ish, music starts at 9ish. Listen, this is going to be one of those nights you’ll be glad you showed up for.
So if you're a big fan of The Hip and doing some good in the name of that community, and if yer in Toronto or anywhere close — get after it. You have no reason not to be there.
Hip News
“It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken” opens at Theatre Aquarius.
Okay, this is the one I’m most excited about, and I realize I say that about everything, but I mean it this time (I also meant it every other time).
A brand new original stage production set to the music of The Tragically Hip opens in Hamilton at Theatre Aquarius on April 22nd.
The story is set in 2002: Waleed, an exiled journalist, arrives in Canada and falls for Kate, the owner of a local music store. Their connection is immediate and undeniable, but when circumstances change, they’re forced to confront duty, uncertainty, and what truly matters — and where they each belong.
The band released a snippet of the cast performing ‘New Orleans Is Sinking’ and Tom Powers hosted the cast on Q where they performed 'Courage (For Hugh MacLennan)' it is pretty fucking cool. This is Hip music living and breathing in a completely new way, and I am here for it. Tickets and info at theatreaquarius.org.
Paul Langlois — “Smooth Rock Falls” vinyl ships this month.
Paul’s fourth album was a surprise digital release back in February. The limited-edition vinyl — just 1,000 signed and numbered pressings on Ching Music and Fontana North — ships April 27th. If you got yer order in, you’re about to have a really good mail day. If you didn’t, maybe check if there are any left. I wouldn’t sleep on it. Get cracking!
What I’ve Been Up To
Our Facebook Community continues to grow at an alarming rate. At the time I am writing this, the group sits at 4,918 amazing fans of The Tragically Hip, and supporters of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series.
It got me thinking; and that's a pretty big fucking deal unto itself. At any rate, my ole brain started tabulating.
I immediately whipped out my abacus and a jar of wind with a label written in crayon that simply read: sour.
What if everyone were to invite ONE of their own Hip brethren. Yer pal who likes the band but wants to like them more. Yer sister who introduced you to the band sometime in '89.
We all know someone who might get a kick out of what we're laying down over here.
Listen, the pipes have been laid (Thanks David Wilcox). The faucets are in place. We have room for some thirsty motherfuckers.
You up to it?
Fully & Completely: Redux — ‘In Between Evolution’
I kicked off March by sitting down with the one and only Toronto Mike to talk about a record that Greg and I both think is one of the most slept-on albums in The Hip’s entire catalogue. “In Between Evolution” came out in 2004. It did about 35,000 copies in its first week. It didn’t have a monster mainstream single. And honestly? That might be why so many fans missed it the first time around.
Greg called it “feisty” — said it’s got punk energy more than anything else The Hip have done, which is a hell of a claim but I think he’s right. He compared the relationship between “In Violet Light” and “In Between Evolution” to a pairing — like “In Violet Light” is the dusk or dawn period of a day (restrained, thoughtful), and this record is mid-afternoon, same day, except now it wants to fight a little bit.
For pocket songs, Greg landed on ‘It Can’t Be Nashville Every Night’ and Mike went with ‘Vaccination Scar’ because it had a head start from all that Edge airplay back in the day. If you haven’t given “In Between Evolution” its proper time, this episode is the reason to start. Put some headphones on. Read the lyrics as you go. It’s really something.
The Tragically Hip On Shuffle — ‘Vapour Trails’
On March 19th, I went live with Adam from Tampa, Patrick from Toronto, and a first-timer, Ryan from Toronto, to break down ‘Vapour Trails’ from “Phantom Power.”
This one hit different. Ryan called it ‘Poets’ at 2AM — same kind of drum-driven intro, same cadence in the opening line, but lonelier, more road-weary, like being in the cab-side seat of a truck getting from point A to point B, or sitting in a hotel room where the TV only gets three channels and they all suck.
He described the whole thing as a lonely song disguised as an upbeat one and compared it to ‘Hey Ya!’ by Outkast, which is actually very sad but because it’s so bouncy nobody ever notices. I thought that was brilliant.
Patrick went full metaphysical on the title (his word, not mine — and yes, that’s a ten dollar word) and talked about how vapour trails are something you can perceive but never touch, no matter how you try.
Adam brought the heat on Steve Berlin’s production and Paul Langlois’s backing vocals — specifically how Berlin buried Paul just low enough in the mix that you almost miss him, the same way he did on ‘Lake Fever.’
Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it. Those right-channel backing vocals as the song fades out? Unreal.
We’ll keep doing this every Wednesday at 8pm on YouTube and now available on our Facebook Community Page!
podList 7 — Submissions Are Open
podList 7 is coming this May Long.
You know the deal by now. Submit yer song. Tell me a little bit about yerself and why the song you picked matters to you.
Deadline is April 30th, and that’s going to come up faster than you think.
What is a podList?
It's a collection of Hip cover songs performed by our talented community.
You submit 'em, I compile them. Boom! podList.
Have you submitted yer song yet?
Visit the portal and follow the instructions and you'll be all sorted in under 45 seconds. Like, seriously. Bob's yer Uncle.
So pick up yer fucking guitars, roll a doobie, and record that shit!
Something to Think About
Ryan said something on the Shuffle episode that stuck with me. He was talking about how ‘Vapour Trails’ is a very lonely song disguised as an upbeat one, and I keep coming back to that idea because I think it’s true of so much of what The Hip did.
How many of these songs do I sing along to at full volume that are actually about loss, or loneliness, or the quiet terror of watching something beautiful disappear? Or water. I mean there is so much water!
At any rate it's about how the music makes you feel held even while the words are telling you something has or is about to evaporate from our life.
That’s a gift.
That’s what this band does that nobody else can in quite the same way.
And it’s why, after nearly a decade since the last concert, I’m still here talking about it. Still finding new things. Still building a community around it. Still somehow not tired of any of it, which, if you know me, is remarkable given my attention span.
That’s the kind of thing that rattles around in my head after a good episode. And that’s why I do the show.
So there’s that.
Anniversaries & Nods
“We Are the Same” turns 17.
Released April 7, 2009; their eleventh studio album, their second with Bob Rock, and their eighth Canadian number one (more number ones than any other Canadian rock band at the time, which is a stat I will never get tired of). It’s a warmer, more reflective record.
If you haven’t revisited it in a while, this is yer nudge. ‘Morning Moon,’ ‘The Last Recluse,’ and don't even get me started on the masterpiece that is ‘The Depression Suite’ — this album is full of songs that just sit with you.
“Yer Favourites” went Diamond three years ago this month
In April 2023, the 37-track fan-voted compilation was certified Diamond in Canada — the second best-selling compilation in Canadian music history, behind only "The Beatles 1."
Over 150,000 fans voted on those track selections. That’s not a record label decision. That’s you. That’s this community. And three years later, it still feels like a hell of an achievement.
That's All Folks
So in a nutshell, March was great, but April is going to be even fucking better around these parts.
I mean the month is already rammed. We've got An Evening for Sara J on April 11th. The premier of 'It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken,' on April 22nd. Paul’s vinyl ships April 27th. And podList 7 submissions are due by April 30th (But I'll accept them until the 7th of May).
I’m exhausted just typing all of that, like maybe carpal tunnel or some shit. Time for some medicinal to heal this ache.
Thanks for reading, thanks for listening, and thanks for being part of this weird, wonderful, and wicked thing we’ve somehow built together. (Wicked like the 90s slang. WICKED! Totally not related to the movie whatsoever. Sigh.)
None of this works without you. And I mean that.
Until next month, yer pal.
— jD
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