Gord Downie

HughFreakingDillon · September 2016

http://www.secretpath.ca/

Gord Downie began Secret Path as ten poems, incited by the story of Chanie Wenjack, a twelve year-old boy who died in flight from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario, fifty years ago, walking home to the family he was taken from over 400 miles away.

The stories Gord’s poems tell were fleshed into the ten songs of Secret Path with producers Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin. Recording took place over two sessions at The Bathouse Recording Studios in Bath, Ontario, November and December 2013. The music features Downie on vocals and guitars, with Drew and Hamelin playing all other instruments. Guest musicians include Charles Spearin (bass), Ohad Benchetrit (lap steel/guitar), Kevin Hearn (piano), and Dave “Billy Ray” Koster (drums).

In winter 2014, Gord and Mike brought the recently finished Secret Path music to graphic novelist Jeff Lemire for his help illustrating Chanie Wenjack’s story, bringing him and the many children like him to life.

The ten song album will be released by Arts & Crafts accompanied by Lemire's graphic novel published by Simon & Schuster Canada. Secret Path will arrive on October 18, 2016, in a deluxe vinyl and book edition, featuring 180 gram vinyl, Lemire’s 88-page novel, a set of ten lyric posters, custom box packaging, and album download.

Proceeds will be donated to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation: https://give.umanitoba.ca/nctr

Release date: October 18, 2016 

Tracklist:

A/
1. The Stranger
2. Swing Set
3. Seven Matches
4. I Will Not Be Struck
5. Son

B/
1. Secret Path
2. Don’t Let This Touch You
3. Haunt Them, Haunt Them, Haunt Them
4. The Only Place To Be
5. Here, Here and Here

May 30th · September 2016

sounds really interesting. can't wait to hear it

PJ_Soul · September 2016

Awesome!! You just recently turned me on to his solo work HFD, and in ways I am enjoying it more than even The Hip, so this is exciting.

Very intense subject for me too. I love that Gord is so invested in that topic/cause.

Ordered the deluxe package, easy purchasing decision. Thanks for the info.

HughFreakingDillon · September 2016

PJ_Soul said:
Awesome!! You just recently turned me on to his solo work HFD, and in ways I am enjoying it more than even The Hip, so this is exciting.
Very intense subject for me too. I love that Gord is so invested in that topic/cause.

Ordered the deluxe package, easy purchasing decision. Thanks for the info.

also:

The Secret Path is an animated film adaptation of Gord Downie's album and Jeff Lemire's graphic novel. Working with Downie's poetry and music, Lemire has created a powerful visual representation of the life of Chanie Wenjack. The film is divided into ten chapters, each a song from Downie's musical retelling of Chanie's story – from his escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School, to his subsequent and heartbreaking death from hunger and exposure to the harsh weather. The final product is a uniquely immersive emotional experience - an insight into the life of a little boy who, as Gord has said, he never knew, "but will always love."

The Secret Path was created, written, and directed by Gord Downie, composed by Gord Downie with Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin, and illustrated by author Jeff Lemire. The film is executive produced by Mike Downie, Patrick Downie, Gord Downie, and Sarah Polley. The Secret Path is produced by Entertainment One (eOne) and Antica Productions Ltd. in association with CBC, with the participation of the Canada Media Fund and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. Jocelyn Hamilton is executive producer for eOne Television and Stuart Coxe is executive producer for Antica Productions. Animation is directed by Justin Stephenson, produced at Solis Animation Inc. and composited by Even Steven Inc.

The Secret Path will be broadcast by CBC in an hour-long commercial-free television special on Sunday, October 23, 2016, at 9pm (9:30 NT).

HughFreakingDillon · October 2016

Thursday october 13th Peter Mansbridge will interview Gord Downie about this project on CBC.

PJ_Soul · October 2016

Looks like this is out for delivery today - that was so quick from announcement to our doorsteps. I wonder how long he was actually working on this?
Really looking forward to listening to it! It's fun when an entire album is a complete mystery until you get it on the turntable.

PJ_Soul · October 2016

HughFreakingDillon said:
Thursday october 13th Peter Mansbridge will interview Gord Downie about this project on CBC.

That was a very touching interview. Tears may have happened.

HughFreakingDillon · October 2016

PJ_Soul said:
Looks like this is out for delivery today - that was so quick from announcement to our doorsteps. I wonder how long he was actually working on this?
Really looking forward to listening to it! It's fun when an entire album is a complete mystery until you get it on the turntable.

What I read was it was completed back in 2013. They were just waiting for the right time to release it.

benjs · October 2016

Going to pick mine up from the downtown Toronto depot tomorrow!

PJ_Soul · October 2016

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:
Looks like this is out for delivery today - that was so quick from announcement to our doorsteps. I wonder how long he was actually working on this?
Really looking forward to listening to it! It's fun when an entire album is a complete mystery until you get it on the turntable.
What I read was it was completed back in 2013. They were just waiting for the right time to release it.

Thanks!
(Have mine in my hands now, as expected. Can't wait to get it home and have a look. That was a very well organized and well executed release. One of the best I've ever seen)

HughFreakingDillon · October 2016

Said to be delivered today. Didnt happen.

Edit: yes it did. Sent it to my work and I'm not there today. Lol

PJ_Soul · October 2016

HughFreakingDillon said:
Said to be delivered today. Didnt happen.

Edit: yes it did. Sent it to my work and I'm not there today. Lol

It's got some weight to it.

weddingparade · October 2016

mine arrived today. this is an incredible package. proceeds going to charity. win win win
good on gord telling this story it has helped me personally understand how we need to make things right there. there is injustice.
and the injustice has been going on since the late 1800's until 1996 and it's still going on.

here's gord quote from the postcard included:
"all of these governments, and all of those churches, for all of those years, misused themselves. they hurt many children. they broke up many families. they erased entire communities. it will take seven generations to fix this. seven. seven is not arbitrary. this is far from over. things up north have never been harder. canada is not canada. we are not the country we think we are"

PJ_Soul · October 2016

It too me awhile to find the download code, lol. There isn't actually anything to complain about with this package, but I'm going to throw out one complaint anyhow, haha, because I didn't like how they included that download code. I feel like I kind of had to ruin the book to get it. I assumed you are supposed to tear it off (maybe I shouldn't have, but I wanted to bring it to work), and it made me feel like I compromised the binding by doing so. I probably didn't, but at the very least, it doesn't look good now where the code was attached inside the back cover. Also, I wish the box was the kind where you lift the top off the bottom, instead of that flimsy flap. Hard to get the stuff in and out, and that flap will get worn real fast. Anyway, that is my little whine/packaging review of the day I guess. It IS a very nice package, with such beautiful intentions behind it.

weddingparade · October 2016

why tear it off when there was a picture of scissors with a dashed cut line right where you were suppose to cut it?
after i followed the instructions, it was very easy to open the 2 pieces to expose the download code.

HughFreakingDillon · October 2016

weddingparade said:
why tear it off when there was a picture of scissors with a dashed cut line right where you were suppose to cut it?
after i followed the instructions, it was very easy to open the 2 pieces to expose the download code.

Yep, scissors (and illustrated instructions!) are your friend, @PJ_Soul .

weddingparade · October 2016

BC BUDS !

weddingparade · October 2016

http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-reviews/downies-secret-path-both-dream-like-heart-wrenching

Downie's Secret Path both dream-like, heart-wrenching
Gord Downie’s Secret Path

Gord Downie brought the tragic story of Chanie Wenjack to life at the National Arts Centre on Tuesday during a beautiful but heart-wrenching concert.
Secret Path, the newly released fifth solo outing by the Tragically Hip singer, is a multimedia concept album inspired by Wenjack’s story. He was the 12-year-old indigenous boy who ran away from a residential school 50 years ago this month, and died trying to walk home, more than 600 kilometres away.

Downie’s project began three years ago, well before he was diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer. After his brother, filmmaker Mike Downie, heard the story of Chanie on the radio and shared it with Gord, the singer wrote a series of poems. They expanded into songs with the help of the production team of Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew and former Stills member Dave Hamelin. Over the next couple of years, the project grew in scope: a graphic novel was created by Canadian cartoonist Jeff Lemire, and then an animated film.

All of the components of the ambitious project found their place during a magical performance in front of a sold-out audience that included members of the Downie and Wenjack families, indigenous leaders and elders, members of the Hip and fans.

Drew and Hamelin were part of Downie’s supergroup of a band, along with Barenaked Ladies’ Kevin Hearn, Skydiggers’ Josh Finlayson and Charles Spearin, of Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think.

The music pulsed with rhythm, but was also brushed into a dream-like soundscape with synthesizers, piano, keyboards and acoustic guitar. In jeans, a buttoned-up jean jacket, wide-brimmed hat and scarf, Downie spoke little, but sang with his usual passion and intensity. He displayed the full range of his distinctive voice, from a whisper to a howl, and even a piercing falsetto.

On a big screen over the musicians’ heads, the animated film depicting Chanie’s journey unfolded as each song was performed. It was a track-by-track reading of the album, from the opening single, The Stranger, when we see Chanie and other students at the school getting their hair cut, being showered and huddling under the covers in a row of beds, to the fade-out of the final song, Here, Here and Here, after Chanie closes his eyes, passing into golden warmth of his home.

The standing ovation that greeted the performance showed the audience was moved. To paraphrase Mike Downie’s words when he addressed the crowd near the end of the evening, listening could be the first true step towards reconciliation.

HughFreakingDillon · October 2016

weddingparade said:
http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-reviews/downies-secret-path-both-dream-like-heart-wrenching

Downie's Secret Path both dream-like, heart-wrenching
Gord Downie’s Secret Path

Gord Downie brought the tragic story of Chanie Wenjack to life at the National Arts Centre on Tuesday during a beautiful but heart-wrenching concert.
Secret Path, the newly released fifth solo outing by the Tragically Hip singer, is a multimedia concept album inspired by Wenjack’s story. He was the 12-year-old indigenous boy who ran away from a residential school 50 years ago this month, and died trying to walk home, more than 600 kilometres away.

Downie’s project began three years ago, well before he was diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer. After his brother, filmmaker Mike Downie, heard the story of Chanie on the radio and shared it with Gord, the singer wrote a series of poems. They expanded into songs with the help of the production team of Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew and former Stills member Dave Hamelin. Over the next couple of years, the project grew in scope: a graphic novel was created by Canadian cartoonist Jeff Lemire, and then an animated film.

All of the components of the ambitious project found their place during a magical performance in front of a sold-out audience that included members of the Downie and Wenjack families, indigenous leaders and elders, members of the Hip and fans.

Drew and Hamelin were part of Downie’s supergroup of a band, along with Barenaked Ladies’ Kevin Hearn, Skydiggers’ Josh Finlayson and Charles Spearin, of Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think.

The music pulsed with rhythm, but was also brushed into a dream-like soundscape with synthesizers, piano, keyboards and acoustic guitar. In jeans, a buttoned-up jean jacket, wide-brimmed hat and scarf, Downie spoke little, but sang with his usual passion and intensity. He displayed the full range of his distinctive voice, from a whisper to a howl, and even a piercing falsetto.

On a big screen over the musicians’ heads, the animated film depicting Chanie’s journey unfolded as each song was performed. It was a track-by-track reading of the album, from the opening single, The Stranger, when we see Chanie and other students at the school getting their hair cut, being showered and huddling under the covers in a row of beds, to the fade-out of the final song, Here, Here and Here, after Chanie closes his eyes, passing into golden warmth of his home.

The standing ovation that greeted the performance showed the audience was moved. To paraphrase Mike Downie’s words when he addressed the crowd near the end of the evening, listening could be the first true step towards reconciliation.

Wow. Sounds amazing.

weddingparade · October 2016

read it was a total weep fest at the end of the show with chanie's family being on stage and them all praying with everyone there....
i'm just FULL UP of gord love and respect over this project and could never begin to articulate how much

PJ_Soul · October 2016

HughFreakingDillon said:

weddingparade said:
why tear it off when there was a picture of scissors with a dashed cut line right where you were suppose to cut it?
after i followed the instructions, it was very easy to open the 2 pieces to expose the download code.
Yep, scissors (and illustrated instructions!) are your friend, @PJ_Soul .

No, I did cut it open you guys, duh. Thanks for the vote of confidence in my intelligence, lol, geez. After I cut it open as instructed I tore the back half off because I needed to take the code with me. Yes, I could have cut that off too, but thought it would be cleaner to take the whole thing off. I was wrong.

Gord Downie

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