Appreciation

Mourning a Canadian icon: The Tragically Hip's beloved singer didn't let cancer stop one last tour

Rather than spending his remaining time peacefully at home with close family and friends, Gord Downie and his bandmates announced they would hit to the road for one last tour.

Facebook/The Tragically Hip

One of the most memorable live show experiences took place on August 20 across Canada and beyond, stretching as far as Houston’s Maple Leaf Pub, favored by Canadian expatriates for its hockey memorabilia decor, Canada Day parties and Stanley Cup playoff and Olympic hockey atmosphere. That night, fans of the seminal Canadian band, The Tragically Hip, gathered to see the band’s very last performance.

There are thousands of Canadians living in Texas, largely due to the energy and healthcare industries. Most in Texas may not know them, but the story of The Hip, as they are affectionately referred to, is a clear lesson in the power music has to bring people together.

Only months earlier, it was announced that the much beloved and electric lead singer and poet laureate, Gord Downie, had an aggressive form of terminal brain cancer called glioblastoma. Rather than spending his remaining time peacefully at home with close family and friends, Downie and his bandmates announced they would hit to the road for one last tour, culminating in one last show in their hometown Kingston, Ontario. The tour, aptly held in hockey barns, sold out almost immediately.

The Tragically Hip, whose career spans three decades, were a household name in Canada. They had trouble finding an audience in the U.S., peaking at a time when alternative and rock radio played much grungier, more middle-of-the-road rock. But that only endeared them even more back home, where they were hugely popular, a majority of their albums hitting No. 1, their name as synonymous to being as Canadian as maple syrup and Tim Horton’s coffee.

For a 12-year-old kid who moved far away from Canada in the early ‘90s, to a place with oppressive heat and conservative climate, leaving friends and family behind, The Tragically Hip — one of the bands my father and I could rock out together to — was a piece of home. Based on the packed crowd gathered at the Maple Leaf that oppressively hot August evening, many felt the same way.

Nearly 12 million people, one-third of Canada’s population, tuned into that final concert at viewing parties in backyards, parks and town squares. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the concert in person, not as a charismatic leader who would go on to negotiate trade deals with the U.S. President, but as a fan, a sign of how far the band’s influence reached.

The performance was emotional, cathartic and celebratory, a three-hour tour-de-force from an artist going out on his own terms. There were cheers and smiles — and few dry eyes — at the Maple Leaf Pub in Houston and across Canada that night, not to mention a lot of Molson beer consumed.

Gord Downie passed away Tuesday night, but not before he used his remaining months fighting for indigenous rights and environmental issues, courageous until the very end. Prime Minister Trudeau tearfully spoke of Downie’s passing on Wednesday morning from the Parliament building, in an act that would seem downright foreign to any other world leader. That’s the power The Hip had over Canadians, who affectionately referred to them as “our band.”

"Music brings people together,” Downie told my hometown paper, The Winnipeg Free Press, in 2014. “So my function in anything I do is to help bring people closer in."

Mission accomplished. We will miss you, Gord.

Top Five Albums by The Tragically Hip you should listen to:
1. Fully Completely (1992)
2. Day For Night (1994)
3. Up To Here (1989)
4. Road Apples (1991)
5. Phantom Power (1998)

concerts music

Movie Review

An all-star cast delivers clever laughs in new comedy The Invite

Photo courtesy of A24

Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton in The Invite.

Once upon a time, well before scandal embroiled him, Woody Allen made great comedies aimed at adults. That type of film — which is different from the raunchy, R-rated comedies of the 21st century — has fallen out of favor in Hollywood, but as the new film The Invite proves, when done well it can be as funny as anything else out there.

Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) are an unhappily married couple living in San Francisco. As we meet them, Joe has arrived home to Angela preparing for a visit from their upstairs neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz), who have moved in relatively recently. Their impending arrival starts a new round of arguing between Joe and Angela, something they can barely contain once the other couple comes to their door.

What proceeds is a getting-to-know-you process that is mostly awkward as Joe and Angela continue sniping at each other while Hawk and Piña put in their two cents in a much calmer manner. A sticking point between the two couples — the loud sex Hawk and Piña have on an almost nightly basis — turns the film on its head with an unexpected invitation.

Directed by Wilde and written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the film is a fast-paced chamber piece that takes place almost entirely in Joe and Angela’s apartment. Wilde, the writers, and the actors speed the story along not with action but through almost non-stop dialogue that often has the characters overlapping each other’s lines. The rapidity of the speech fuels the humor of the situation and establishes the differing personalities of each person.

Sex is very much top of mind for each of the characters for most of the film, but the filmmakers approach the topic in such a way that it never feels salacious. Each of the characters is a rational adult who can talk about sex in a mature manner while also acknowledging their unique feelings on the matter. And it’s the discoveries each of them makes along the way that brings about the most comedy.

But, like any comedy for adults, the film also has a dramatic tilt to it, and Wilde edges the story back-and-forth between the two tones extremely well. Joe and Angela fighting is played for laughs at times, but the sadness of their relationship comes through loud and clear. Hawk and Piña are much more intimate with each other, but the funniness of their openness is juxtaposed with a depth that arises through their conversations.

In the 2020s, Rogen has managed to make the transition from goofy stoner to stoner with real acting chops. In a stacked cast, he is the one who sells every moment the best. That’s not to say that Wilde, Norton, and Cruz don’t measure up, though; each of them inhabits their respective roles magnificently. The four actors play off each other as if they had been working together for years.

While The Invite will likely play better to those who have experience with long term relationships, its insights — and occasional bawdiness — make it a comedy that can be appreciated universally. With four actors at the top of their games and a razor-sharp script made even better by some well-done improv, it proves that you don’t need to go low to get great laughs.

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The Invite is now playing in theaters.

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