Hey, it's jD here, and I'm writing this ten days after the Victoria stream, which is to say ten years and ten days after the Man Machine Poem tour opened at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre and the countdown started for all of us.
Quick word before anything else. Last month's letter was a heavy one, and you answered it in a way I did not expect and will not forget. More on that near the bottom. For now, just this: thank you. I'm doing better.
Now let's talk about August, because August is the whole thing.
TL;DR
• Forever Hip in Kingston runs August 20 to 23, and the itinerary is taking shape. No RSVP form, so just email me. • Yer Hipstories: Reflections From The Final Tour is live on YouTube at 8pm on the anniversary date of every show, straight through to August 20. • On Shuffle shifts to Tuesday nights whenever a Reflections episode lands on a Wednesday. • A brand new live record, "The Tragically Hip Live, July 22 to August 20, 2016," arrives August 21, and we're throwing a listening party for it in Kingston that day. • CBC re-airs the National Celebration on August 22. • Three episodes recapped: 'The Darkest One', 'Every Time You Go', and opening night in Victoria. • A note about what you all did for me in July, and what Reflections has given back.
THE FIRST VERSE
Ten years ago this month, a band we love drove across a country we love and said goodbye in the slowest, most public, most generous way anyone has ever done it. We all know how it ends. That's the strange gift of an anniversary. You get to walk the road again knowing exactly where it goes, and somehow that makes every stop land harder rather than softer.
That's what this month is. Not a memorial. A walk-along. Every second night, ten years to the day, with the people who were in those rooms.
So let's get into it.
FOREVER HIP THE GATHERING IN KINGSTON
August 20 to 23. Kingston. We’re going.
Ten years ago, on August 20, 2016, a sold-out room in Kingston watched this band play its last show, and the rest of us watched from somewhere else: a living room, a legion hall, a packed bar in a town of eight hundred people. I’ve now spent a month listening to people describe where they stood that night, and the thing that comes through every single time is that nobody wanted to be alone for it. Ten years on, that’s still the whole idea. Go be in the same place as the other people who felt it.
Here’s where things stand as of this writing. There is no RSVP link and there is no ticket page, because this is not that kind of thing. It’s a gathering, not an event with a box office. The way in is to email me at jd@tthpods.com and tell me which pieces you want. Then I’ll make sure you’re looped in and you’ll get the details as they lock.
The shape of the weekend:
- Thursday, August 20. The anniversary itself. We open with a mixer at the Merchant Pub, which is the part I’m looking forward to most, because it’s where the screen names finally become faces. If you’ve spent years arguing about side two of “Up to Here” with somebody you’ve never met, this is the night that stops being true.
- Also Thursday, Choir! Choir! Choir! in Springer Market Square. An outdoor square in Kingston, in August, full of people singing these songs together on the tenth anniversary of the last night. I don’t think I need to sell that one.
- Friday, August 21. A listening party for “The Tragically Hip Live, July 22 - August 20, 2016” on the day it comes out. First listen, together, less than 24 hours after the anniversary of the show that closes the record.
- A screening of Long Time Running. Watching that documentary alone at home is one experience. Watching it in Kingston, with a room full of people who were on that tour, is a different one entirely.
- Saturday, August 22. The CBC re-airing of the National Celebration. Same broadcast, same feeling, ten years later, and this time you get to be surrounded.
- Sunday, August 23. A farewell brunch at Morrison’s to send everybody home properly, which in my experience is where the best conversations of any weekend actually happen.
A few honest notes. Some of that is locked and some is still firming up, and I’d rather say so plainly than pretend the whole thing is bolted down. Times will follow. You do not need to do all of it. Plenty of people are coming for one night, and that counts. And nothing here requires you to have been at a show in 2016. If you found this band in 2019, or last year, you belong in that room exactly as much as the guy with the ticket stubs.
Kingston in August fills up, so if you’re coming, sort your bed out sooner rather than later.
If you want in on any or all of it, email me. That’s the whole process.
GEDfest 2026 - WELCOME TORONTO!
GEDfest is coming to Toronto on October 17.
If you don't know it, here's the short version. GEDfest started in Calgary in 2018, the year after Gord died, when a fan named Keith Dyck asked other Hip tribute bands to play on the Saturday closest to the anniversary and put the money toward cancer care. It grew. Eight years in, it's spread across six Canadian cities and raised more than $732,000. The name is just his initials: Gordon Edgar Downie.
This year it lands at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern at 8pm on October 17, the anniversary of the day we lost him. Our special guests Grace 2 will play two blistering sets of Hip classics. And if the Horseshoe rings a bell from the recaps below, it should. That's the same room where the band debuted 'Every Time You Go' as 'Holding Out' in July of 1988.
Every dollar raised goes to Campfire Circle and the Murphy Family Fund in Precision Medicine in Pancreatic Cancer. Tickets are on sale now.
Yes, October is a long way off. Buy them anyway.
HIP NEWS
The big one is already running. Yer Hipstories: Reflections From The Final Tour is a live stream, and it airs on YouTube at 8pm on the exact anniversary date of the show it covers. Same night, ten years on. It kicked off with Victoria on July 22 and it goes every second day through August 20. Each episode gathers people who were actually in that building, and they take it from soup to nuts: hearing the news, chasing the tickets, and living the night.
That schedule creates a collision, so here's how we're handling it. The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream normally lives on Wednesday nights. When a Reflections episode falls on a Wednesday, On Shuffle moves up to Tuesday at 8. Not every week, just the weeks where the calendar forces it. Watch the group for the specific nights, because I'd hate for you to show up on the wrong evening.
And on August 22, CBC re-airs the National Celebration. Whether you're in Kingston with us or on your own couch, a lot of us will be watching the same thing at the same time again. That felt worth saying out loud.
WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO
Recording Reflections, mostly, and it has taken over my life in the best possible way.
The format is simple. Find the people who were in the room on a given night, put them together, and let them tell it. What I did not anticipate is how much comes out. The ticket war stories. The drives. The kid on somebody's shoulders. The moment the lights went down. People have been carrying these nights around for a decade waiting for somebody to ask.
EPISODE RECAPS
'The Darkest One' (The Tragically Hip On Shuffle). The wheel pulled the third single from "In Violet Light" and handed the panel a real puzzle: how does a song this beloved get played live only 31 times, first on December 31, 2001, and last on August 1, 2003? Kirk from Chino, Sean from Toronto, and Duxoop from Toledo worked the theories, and they kept landing on Gord: the punishing high notes and that one-of-a-kind delivery timing, the kind of thing nobody else can execute, including at karaoke. They read the lyrics close (a darling sky, not a darkening one), watched the video again for the Trailer Park Boys and Don Cherry and one very good cat let in from the rain, and Duxoop answered the question the song keeps asking by admitting he's the darkest one in his own friend group. So there's that.
'Every Time You Go' (The Tragically Hip On Shuffle). This is why the archive matters. Andrew from Winnipeg, Adam from South Tampa, and Daryl from Belleville took on the side-two rocker from "Up to Here," and Daryl and Adam independently turned up the song's live debut at the Horseshoe Tavern on July 15, 1988, where Gord introduces it as 'Holding Out', dedicates it to race car driver Bobby Rahal, and sings an entire lost third verse: a prom dress, a tear-stained vest, and a waltz. The band cut it and didn't play the song again for a year. The panel also chewed on the demo from the "Up to Here" box set, Andrew made a strong case that this song is the musical blueprint for 'Little Bones', and Adam asked the question every box-set owner is asking: how did 'Wait So Long' not make the album?
Victoria, July 22, 2016 (Yer Hipstories: Reflections From The Final Tour). Opening night, told ten years to the day by three people who were in the building. Chris from Kelowna dumb-lucked into fabulous seats through a venue voucher, then spent the week on CBC, Global, CTV, and CNN, and reported his drive in the most Canadian unit ever devised: 12 Tragically Hip songs per hundred kilometres. Dave from Campbell River had seen the band 19 times and never sweated a ticket until the bots and dynamic pricing made this the most stressful on-sale of his life. Jay from Edmonton stared down 45 minutes of sold out before row four appeared for him, his wife, and his two-year-old daughter, who got a wave from Gord during 'Blow at High Dough' and turns up in the documentary. Then the lights went down, 'Boots or Hearts' opened the night, and Gord walked out in the silver suit and the feather. Chris read it as the band flipping the bird at cancer and taking control of the narrative. The word the panel kept coming back to was gratitude.
TRIBUTE TO THE TRAGICALLY HIP
Introducing a new monthly feature: TRIBUTES TO THE TRAGICALLY HIP.Here's the idea. Once a month we pull a Hip tribute act out of the hat, hand them the mic, and let them tell you who they are. Because across this country there are bands loading gear into bars on a Friday night to keep these songs alive in a room full of people who need them. They deserve some light.First act up.
WHO THEY ARE
Canada's Forever Hip is a high energy nostalgia trip.All of your favourite Hip songs are executed with skill, precision, and album authenticity while retaining the purity and raw energy which endeared The Hip to their legions of fans.Led by versatile front man Joe Cuscianna, and supported by long time musical associates John Keffer (guitar and backing vocals), Eric Newb (guitar), Frank Baraczka (drums and percussion), and Ken Purvis (bass), this is one tribute act Hip fans will not want to miss.
FOUR QUESTIONS
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN AT IT?
"In the grand scheme of Hip tributes, we are relative newcomers, having been at it only since early 2023, with one of our first appearances at a street party in September of that year. The genesis of the project was driven by two things: firstly, the positive response our cover band Freeloader received everytime we performed a Hip song, and secondly, a desire to tackle another project with guitarist Eric Newby.
"WHAT'S THE KICK-OFF SONG?
"Our kick off song is usually 'Gift Shop', the opening track from "Trouble at the Henhouse". We love this curtain raiser for the same reason it works so well off the top of the Hip's fifth album. The way the ethereal organ sound slowly rises and then the opening lyrics create mystery and build tension that is finallyreleased when the full sound of the band kicks in. There is an art to constructing the perfect set. Build excitement, grab attention early, hit hard for the first few songs, then a more laid back mid set period so the audience can catch their collective breath, and then end the set on a high.
”FAVOURITE SONG TO PLAY LIVE?"
My personal favourite is 'Twist My Arm' from "Road Apples". Not only because Gord Sinclair's bass part is funkier than usual, not only because our rhythm section cuts a mile wide groove, but everyone gets to shine. It's one of those songs that I get completely lost in and enjoy watching my band mates knock out of the park.”
WHAT DON'T FANS KNOW YET?
"An interesting bit of trivia would be our Kingston connection. I was born and raised in Kingston and am a contemporary of the members of the Hip. What's more, I spent three summers working at Fort Henry in the early to mid 1980s. Gord Sinclair was working there at that time as well. I am lucky enough to have seen them in their early days when they were still playing small clubs in downtown Kingston.” Answered by Ken Purvis.
CATCH THEM LIVE
SEPT 12, 2026 — Palasad SocialBowl, 777 Adelaide St N, LondonOCT 2 & 3, 2026 — The Block Co, 395 John Street, BurlingtonOCT 24, 2026 — Couchiching Brewing Co, 162 Mississaga St E, OrilliaJAN 23, 2027 — Junction Underground, 2907 Dundas St W, Toronto
FIND FOREVER HIP
Web: foreverhip.ca
Social: @foreverhipband
Booking: booking@foreverhip.ca
ARE YOU IN A HIP TRIBUTE BAND?I want you in this series.Doesn't matter if you're playing theatres or the back corner of a legion hall. Doesn't matter if you've been at it fifteen years or fifteen months. If you're keeping these songs in the air, I want to feature you in an upcoming issue. Drop me a line at jd@tthpods.com and I'll send over the questions.
A NEW LIVE RECORD
On August 21, a new live album lands: "The Tragically Hip Live, July 22 to August 20, 2016." It takes its name from the run itself, opening night in Victoria through the last night in Kingston, and it puts the whole tour in one place for the first time.
There's something fitting about it arriving the day after the anniversary of the final show. We spend all month walking the tour date by date, and then the record shows up like the official transcript of the trip.
We'll be listening to it together in Kingston on release day as part of the Forever Hip weekend. If you're coming, that's a big one to be in the room for. If you're not, put it on that day anyway and know a lot of us are doing the same thing.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
I want to talk about what happened after last month's letter.
I told you I'd been unwell, that the slope started around the second week of May and things came to a head in mid-June. Then I hit send and went about my day. What came back was a flood. Messages, notes, and a whole lot of people simply saying they were thinking of me. I don't have a clean way to describe what that does to a person in a hole. It doesn't fix anything. It just makes the hole feel less like a hole.
Around July 10 I started to climb. Part of that was time and part of it was work, but a real part of it was sitting down to record Reflections. I thought that project would be a heavy lift on a bad month. Instead it turned out to be the thing that recharged me.
Night after night, people from across this community and across the continent telling me about the best evening of their lives. The drive. The seats. The suit. The wave. You cannot sit in that for an hour and come out worse than you went in.
So here's the thought I'll leave you with. We talk a lot about what this band gave us, and that's true and worth saying. But the thing that actually pulled me up wasn't the band. It was you lot, telling each other stories about the band. The songs are the excuse. The community is the point.
If somebody in your orbit has gone quiet lately, send them the note. It matters more than you'd guess.
ANNIVERSARIES AND NODS
Ten years ago this month, the Man Machine Poem tour was in its final stretch.
It opened on July 22, 2016 in Victoria and it ended on August 20, 2016 in Kingston, which means almost the entire back half of that run falls inside this month. Every second night, another city, another sold-out room, another crowd that knew what it was watching. I'm not going to list the dates here, because we're covering them one at a time on Reflections and each one deserves its own night rather than a line in a summary.
What I'll say instead is this. Ten years on, the shape of that month still gets me. A band that could have gone quietly chose to go loud, in public, across the whole country, for a month. We're spending August with it.
THAT'S ALL FOLKS
That's the month, and it's a big one. Thank you for last month. Thank you for this month. Thank you for reading a newsletter from a guy who mostly wants to talk about a band with you.
Two asks before you go:
• If you're not in it yet, join the community Facebook group. That's where the live streams get announced, the polls go up, and the Kingston details land first.
• And if Yer Letter and the shows are worth something to you, drop a caribou in the hat. I'm passing it around again to keep the machine well oiled and running smooth. No pressure, ever. It just helps.
Until next month, yer pal. -jD.
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