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Working with FasCat for over a decade, former professional cyclist Phil Gaimon continues to set and achieve massive goals for himself, like nabbing the KOM on monster climbs like Haleakala. This summer, Phil is setting out to WIN THE TOUR DE FRANCE. Okay, not exactly win the actual Tour de France. But instead, go to France, rip up some mountains, and win at the experience because he's bringing his wife and they'll enjoy the countryside, the food and the wine. You know, winning at life while touring France... and maybe getting a KOM or two for good measure along the way. Want to win your own Tour? Have balanced success on the bike and enjoy a healthy life off the bike? Sign up for CoachCat or a FasCat Coach today! - Try CoachCat Free for a month - with no credit card required ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/47rr7em4
Severe weather on Maui causes power outages, school closures, and even snow on Haleakala. The latest from California as two large wildfires ripping through the Los Angeles area are now among the top five most destructive in the state's history. A group of Hawaii volunteers is on the ground in L.A. helping fire survivors in their time of need. And we're getting our first look at the six Aliamanu explosion survivors receiving treatment in Arizona.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Akamai Broadcasting bought six radio stations (2 AM & 4 FM) plus a number of translators on Maui. Russell Laferty has been building new facilities, and your TWiRT host, Kirk Harnack, is helping with the final wiring and configurations. In addition to a new rack room and (so far) one studio, Russell is moving several studio-transmitter link (STL) systems and installing new ones. One highlight of the work has been improvements to two tower sites on Mt. Haleakala. We visit the upper site at close to 10,000 feet above sea level where Russell gives us a video tour of the building. Plus, learn how a defective Ethernet switch earned Kirk a trip to this transmitter site above the clouds. Show Notes:Mt. Haleakala Observatory: Science CityAxia StudioCore is a new I/O and Mix Engine from Telos AllianceWe’ve installed some of the first Axia xNode2 units in our rack room.The Axia xSelector is key to monitoring our multiple stations.The Axia StudioEdge handles plenty of analog and AES/EBU connections to our AoIP network.Omnia MPX Nodes are getting perfect FM MPX signals to our FM transmitters and translators. Guest:Russell Laferty - Broadcast Contract Engineer Host:Kirk Harnack - Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, Akamai Broadcasting, & South Seas BroadcastingFollow TWiRT on Twitter and on FacebookTWiRT is brought to you by:Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console. The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output. Subscribe to Audio:iTunesRSSStitcherTuneInSubscribe to Video:iTunesRSSYouTube
Akamai Broadcasting bought six radio stations (2 AM & 4 FM) plus a number of translators on Maui. Russell Laferty has been building new facilities, and your TWiRT host, Kirk Harnack, is helping with the final wiring and configurations. In addition to a new rack room and (so far) one studio, Russell is moving several studio-transmitter link (STL) systems and installing new ones. One highlight of the work has been improvements to two tower sites on Mt. Haleakala. We visit the upper site at close to 10,000 feet above sea level where Russell gives us a video tour of the building. Plus, learn how a defective Ethernet switch earned Kirk a trip to this transmitter site above the clouds.
Space Nuts #459Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this intriguing episode of Space Nuts, where they delve into fascinating cosmic phenomena and challenge established theories. From mapping the sun's corona to the arrival of a mini moon, this episode is packed with stellar insights and astronomical wonders.Episode Highlights:- Mapping the Sun's Corona: Discover how scientists have successfully mapped the magnetic fields in the sun's corona, offering new insights into solar physics and potential advancements in Space weather forecasting.- Earth's New Mini Moon: Explore the phenomenon of Earth's temporary mini moon, a near-Earth asteroid that will orbit our planet before being expelled by gravitational forces.- Challenging the Big Bang: Dive into a new study that revisits the tired light theory, questioning the conventional understanding of the universe's expansion and its implications on the Big Bang theory.00:00 - Andrew Dunkley: Coming up on space nuts is a new study02:01 - Magnetic fields in the sun's corona have been successfully mapped06:37 - Inuya telescope uses light to measure magnetic fields in the sun's corona15:14 - What would a ten metre rock do to Earth, uh, or the moon21:12 - A new study challenging the big bang theory is based on 100-year-old dataFor more Space Nuts, including our continually updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Explore our shop for exclusive Space Nuts merchandise, including t-shirts, mugs, and more.Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on facebook, X, YouTube Music, Instagram, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favourite platform.For more Space and Astronomy News Podcasts, visit our HQ at www.bitesz.com.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts/support.Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.This episode is brought to you with the support of NordVPN...it's the one we use and so should you. To get our deal as a listener of Space Nuts visit www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts
Crater Road is back open on Maui after as crews continue to battle the brush fire burning on the slopes of Haleakala. The blaze forced the road to close for the past two weeks. The fire in Upper Kula is ongoing and at last check has burned about 574-acres.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The wind-whipped Crater Road Fire on the slopes of Haleakala remains at 80% containment and terrain is proving to be a challenging factor in completely putting out the blaze, Maui County said in a press conference on Monday. MFD said the blaze has burned 574 acres.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Maui fire crews continue to battle a wildfire on the slopes of Haleakala that has scorched at least 420 acres and prompted a multi-agency response. As of 5:45 p.m., the Crater Road Fire — which is at the 7,000-foot elevation — was 50% contained and forward progress has been stopped, according to the Maui Fire Department. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Strong winds are fanning the flames of a wildfire on the slopes of Haleakala that has scorched at least 420 acres and prompted a multi-agency response. While no evacuation orders are in place, residents in Upper Kula are being urged to prepare to quickly leave their homes if needed. The areas under that possible evacuation advisory include homes above Kekaulike and Haleakala Highways between Upper Kimo and Waipoli roads.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Buckle in because this is a personal album we're discussing on today's episode of Discovering Downie. A mere 10 days following Gord's death fans were gifted the posthumous diary, Introduce Yerself. Craig, Justin, and Kirk have little experience with this record. Things get raw!Thanks for clicking.Follow us on social media @gorddowniepodTranscript: Track 6:[0:00] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Long Slice Brewery presents a live event celebration of Gord Downie July 19th at The Rec Room in Toronto. Join the hosts of the podcast Discovering Downie as they record their finale with special guest Patrick Downie. A silent auction with items from the hip and many others will take place along with live entertainment from the almost hip. All proceeds will benefit the Gord Downie Fund for brain cancer research. For more information and tickets, please visit discoveringdowney.com. How it all works. Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downey.Track 1:[1:15] Hey, it's JD here. Welcome to Discovering Downey, an 11-part project with a focus on the music and poetry of Mr. Gord Downey. The late frontman of the Tragically Hip gave to the world an extensive solo discography on top of the hip's vocal acrobatics that awed us for years. So far, he's released eight records in total, three of them posthumously. You might be the biggest fan of the hip out there, but have you heard these records? Because I'm an inquisitive podcaster, I enlisted my friends Craig, Justin, and Kirk, giant fans in their own right to discover downy with me jd as their host every week we get together and listen to one of gourd's records starting with coke machine glow and working from there in chronological order we discuss and dissect the album the production the lyrics and we break it down song by fucking song this week we're dealing with the challenging introduce Introduce yourself. Craig, how are you doing this week, my friend?Track 2:[2:20] I'm doing well.Track 1:[2:21] That's good to hear.Track 2:[2:22] Can't complain.Track 1:[2:23] Gigging?Track 2:[2:24] Yeah, I had a big show on the weekend and it was sold out and we had played about 30 tunes and it was a great time.Track 1:[2:32] Oh man, I wish I had a teleport device. Yeah. So I could go to your gigs. You too, Kirk. How are you doing, man?Track 4:[2:40] I'm doing well. Thank you. Yeah. Had a gig last week and got some travel coming up. So just been kind of finishing up on some graduation things with the kids. And, you know, like I said, some work stuff, obviously spending lots of time with this, this little project we got going on, but yeah, doing well.Track 1:[2:59] It's a lot. It's a lot, but it's been a lot of fun so far. And part of the fun is Mr. Justin St. Louis. How are you doing, sir?Track 3:[3:08] I'm good, dude. It's hardcore, hardcore here in this house right now, but things are good, man. Things are good.Track 1:[3:16] Well, that's great. Just off the top, I want to say that we're starting to get some items rolling in for the silent auction for the fundraising event that we're hosting in July. We've got the PWHL Toronto franchise has given us a really cool donation that we'll be sharing online in the days and weeks to come. We also got a donation from the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tragically Hip themselves have donated something. We've got a great restaurant, Mighty Bird, that is donating. And there's lots of other stuff as well, like lots of great artwork and shit. So get your tickets.Track 4:[3:56] Hey, we have some beers too, right?Track 1:[3:58] We do have some beers. Yeah, Podcast Pilsner. It's got our logo on the can.Track 3:[4:03] Let's go.Track 1:[4:04] That right? Yeah. And it should be a decent price. It's made by our title sponsor, Long Slice, of course. So go to discoveringdowney.com and click on fundraising tickets. Bob's your uncle. So there's that.Track 4:[4:17] Bob's your uncle. Love it. I love it. That's like six one way, half a dozen the other. I tell that to anyone that's under 40 and they look at me like, what are you talking about? Like, just figure it out. ticks one way, half a dozen the other. That's very confusing.Track 1:[4:35] Yeah. It is.Track 3:[4:39] Every time I hear Bob's your uncle, I think of 101 Dalmatians. When the bad guys break in and steal the pups from the nanny, he says, well, be out faster than you can say Bob's your uncle. And that was the first time I ever heard it. Anyway.Track 1:[4:54] I found out it's not an American phrase. It's a Canadian and UK phrase. So I told a bunch of people this and they were like, I've never heard of this in my life.Track 3:[5:03] What do you mean? No. Yeah. Right.Track 1:[5:06] All right, time to get a bit heavy here, because on October 17th, 2017, we said goodbye to the man who walks among the stars. This was truly one of the more emotional days in my nearly 50 years on this plane. Only losing family and close friends has ever cut as deeply as sending Gord off to the abyss. Less than two weeks later though on october 27th 2017, gourd released a posthumous effort called introduce yourself, where do you start with this one in my mind there are elements from each of the previous five albums on display here i hear secret path on coco chanel number five to name one off the top of my head the sparse production handled deftly by kevin drew gourd's partner in creating this double record. I have to imagine the production and limited instrumentation could have been a result of Gord's condition at the time of recording. However, as sick as he was, he persevered through two sessions in putting this album together.Track 1:[6:15] The liner notes indicate that Gord took on the bulk of the guitar work while handling vocals, some synth, and a bit of percussion to boot. Mr. Drew handled piano, bass, organs, keyboard, and percussion. This album does also feature some great guest performers, notably Dave Hamelin, with some work on the drums, as well as synth, and finally, on Nancy, he plays a frickin' B-3. David Billy Ray Koster offered some additional drum work and background vocals, while Patrick Downey contributed background vocals and percussion on Safe is Dead. Jillian Weiss also added vocals to that track. Lastly, engineer and bathhouse resident Niles Spencer has his fingerprints on several songs, playing keys, creating beats, samples, and a Morse code sound on the 19th track, The Road. From the get-go, this album has been scoured by fans to try and determine who each song is about. You see, this album has a premise. Each of the 23 songs is about someone from Gord's life. This is clearly the most personal record Gord, or the hip for that matter, has ever released. I'm going to leave you with one more date that is significant to me with regards to Introduce Yourself. May 30th, 2024.Track 1:[7:35] This was the day I peeled the cellophane off my copy of the vinyl and finally listened to the album in its entirety. Prior to that Thursday in May, I just didn't have the stamina or emotional wherewithal to make a dent in what I now know is a celebration of the music, the man, and the legend, Gord Downie. Justin, what are your initial thoughts on this one?Track 3:[8:00] I could not handle this album when it came out. I tried it and I had to abort after five songs maybe. And I'll tell you, and maybe I should save it for the song, but there was one, this all happened when, when my daughter was a newborn, there was, there's one song that just wrecks me and, uh, still does. Um, there's several that do, but one particular, and I just had to put it away until this, this project came around. So, you know, I sat on it for seven years. I had tried it and I wasn't ready.Track 1:[8:31] Me too, man. Me too. I'm either going to apologize for this project or be thanked for this project to find out what Justin's thoughts were on some of these songs. Kirk, I want to hear from you.Track 4:[8:44] Yeah. Well, for me, this came after us doing Secret Path, and that was such an emotional...Track 4:[8:56] Couple of weeks. I mean, it really was because we'd already become so close to Gord before we even started this project. Then when we started this project, you just became intimately familiar and then secret path happens and you're just, and I needed a break. I needed a break from, I'll say Gord Downie solo and I needed to fall in love with the hip again. I think I got that record store day hip album and i put that on and then i just went on a journey and just kind of fell in love with the hip again but i took a long break to prepare myself for this and there's no amount to break or anything that could really prepare you for it and every listen no matter what the device was whether it was on my record whether it was in the car whether it was out walking the dog. It was just obviously beautiful when you think about these letters and that he had the opportunity to do it, but also just so extremely heartbreaking at the same time, right? And then one final thing for me, my wife and I had also just recently watched the new documentary that came out on Jim Henson, right? And we're big Muppets fans. And of course they had a little bit on, you know, on Craig and I's favorite Emmett Otter.Track 4:[10:20] But yeah, it's just real quick, you know, but the point I wanted to make was.Track 4:[10:27] The Muppets, Sesame Street, everything that Jim Henson created, right? And he passed when he was 53. And Gord passed when he's 53. And I'm 53.Track 4:[10:39] And I'll be honest with you, gents, I have been on this. I'm 53. And these two gentlemen created this body of artwork that has been so incredibly moving for so many people for so many generations. And it just really stopped me in my tracks and went, wow, I'm 53. If I went right now, what would my story be and what impact would I have? And how thankful, even though it was, and I say this because I'm 53, that we lost those two gentlemen so young. Thank goodness we have this to go back and listen and watch and read and discuss and record podcasts. And I'm just so thankful. So sorry, a very long-winded answer, but I needed to share that with you because I think all of us are gonna have these emotional moments throughout this recording today. And just thinking about like, if I had a chance to write letters to everyone before I went, like, I don't know that I could do that. So um so that every listen has just been that thought wow can you imagine you had to write a letter to all the people that you know you cared for just.Track 1:[12:02] Take a moment brother we appreciate you man hell yeah best 53 year old on this podcast by by a country mile i.Track 4:[12:13] Will i will accept that sorry i'll accept that thank you as i cry thank you all right.Track 1:[12:22] Craig no i always i always start my questions with like for some reason i'm like mclaughlin of the mclaughlin group uh i don't know if you remember that sketch on snl but i feel like what justin you know and it's like this episode is a lot more stark and i don't want to be like scaring the shit out of you as i'm asking you a question but craig i want i'm curious about your experience now yeah.Track 2:[12:51] Well really quickly just before we um get into that uh kirk um not sure if you knew this this will probably just make things worse but um jim henson at his funeral they actually used a song from emmett otter as the um as the song that played during his um ceremony so yeah So you know how much it meant to him? Yeah.Track 3:[13:11] He also wrote his own goodbye letter and just stored it away.Track 2:[13:15] Oh, wow.Track 3:[13:15] In case of emergency, right? Yeah.Track 2:[13:19] It's crazy. Yeah. So, J.D., much like yourself –, I bought this album when it came out, and it remained unopened. And I actually remember watching a video that was like a promotional video that came out around the time the album was released. And it was a black and white. I put it on for about 30 seconds, and I just, I had to turn it off. And I actually just, for the first time since then, watched it last night. And it made sense why it hit me that hard it was the north the very last song which we'll get to at the very very end of i guess next week's podcast and that is a heavy tune and gourd was, not looking his best during the recording of that and it was just sort of like a rehearsal take they were showing it was just heartbreaking to watch and it was such a sad song i didn't know what it was about at the time, but I just knew I could not listen to this album. And yeah, so when this podcast opportunity came up, that was my first thought was like, I've had, I've been waiting to crack this open and I was looking for the opportunity to, you know, the right time. And that time is here. And to build off what Kirk was saying, like this, this album is a gift.Track 3:[14:46] Yeah.Track 2:[14:49] To his loved ones who were the subjects of the songs, to his bandmates, to his fans. And it's beautiful. The fact that he got this out there, like Kirk said so well, how many people get, number one, the opportunity to do something like this, and number two, can bring themselves to write those hard words.Track 1:[15:15] Absolutely. Yeah.Track 2:[15:16] Yeah.Track 6:[15:17] And, and when you consider the condition that he was in when he recorded these things, it's absolutely mind blowing for heaven's sake.Track 1:[15:26] This isn't somebody who was fully operational. And there's songs that are just so well thought out and gorgeous and, and so gored, you know?Track 3:[15:38] Well, and he wrote it in two stages too. And, you know, I would say that the second stage was probably in worse condition, right?Track 1:[15:47] You're likely right.Track 3:[15:49] He was gone six months after, you know, wild.Track 4:[15:55] One thing, because this is a blanket statement for all of it, is in any of the, you know, quick research that you do, like most of these songs were recorded in one to two takes. You know, for multiple reasons, one, they didn't have the time and neither did he or the energy. And so when you, you know, when you thought about when I went through and listened to every song and just went like, you got this amount of time, you're going to do this. And, you know, and they end up, I mean, one to two takes on some of these albums, just some of these songs. Sorry.Track 3:[16:34] And that's all they needed to.Track 1:[16:37] Yeah, I think that rawness really adds another layer to the context in a certain way, doesn't it? Because it is raw emotionally, and then it's raw musically as well.Track 4:[16:48] Yeah, very much so, but still incredible. Like on a majority of those songs, you wouldn't know. I mean, the one thing I read, and I would agree, is it's a piano forward album. There's very much a piano keys. There's some great guitar lines, but, um, so that helps obviously from a production standpoint in, in getting your, your tone tonality and, but I also think that it just really added to the, the, the emotion that the points, I'm sorry, I'm, no.Track 3:[17:30] But you're right.Track 4:[17:31] It's just incredible that they were able to get some of this production down in the manner that they did. And as a whole, going back to 53, I could hear so many decades in the songs, in the musicality that he was trying to experience. There's literal 80s synth pop songs on this. There's ballads. And there's all of these. You know, for me, I reflected born in the seventies, you know, really experienced that music eighties, nineties, two thousands. And then obviously the stuff you were influenced before that. And that instrumentation, in my opinion, came through in a lot of these songs. And again, one in two takes blows me away. Yeah.Track 1:[18:18] Yeah. Yeah. Drew, Kevin drew deserves, uh, a heap of, uh, of credit for pulling this together. And Niles Spencer was the engineer on the project. So hopefully later this summer, you guys get to meet Niles and we get to look around the bathhouse. That would be tremendous.Track 2:[18:40] Yeah. That would be amazing.Track 3:[18:41] Yeah.Track 1:[18:42] So we'll see what we can do there. Should we get into this song by song?Track 2:[18:45] Yeah.Track 3:[18:45] Let's do it.Track 1:[18:46] Okay. Craig, we're going to start with you in first person.Track 2:[18:51] So i decided early on when i started listening to this album i i felt like i didn't want to dig too deeply into what you know who each song was about right but some are just so obvious so first person you know it's a song to his mother you know the first person that you know he sees the first person to bring him to life just a really great song to start the album with very emotional um, Yeah. And I don't know, I didn't look up if his mother is still alive or was alive when this was released. So, you know, at the end he's saying goodbye.Track 3:[19:30] He addressed her in the final Kingston concert.Track 2:[19:34] Okay.Track 3:[19:34] Yeah. And she was there for that. I mean, they were only a year apart, so I don't know this, but I would assume she was still alive at that point. And I don't know if she's now or not.Track 2:[19:44] Yeah just the you know again the chance to say goodbye to his mom and yeah it's not really, how things are supposed to go i guess but um not at all yeah and that yeah the last thing i'll say is just there's that you know the vocalizations after the word goodbye i talked about them last week on secret path but there's these like raw just emotional you know screams and like emotes that he makes um in in the secret path concert and on the album and on this album as well that you know just that i don't know guttural just raw human emotion that it's really cool, what'd you guys think yeah.Track 1:[20:25] We saw a lot of that on the final tour for sure that raw guttural emotion.Track 2:[20:29] And uh.Track 1:[20:31] It's mirrored on this record absolutely crystallized uh on vinyl and cd cassette i don't know if it's on cassette justin um where do you stand on first person.Track 3:[20:43] Can't add a whole lot more but there's one thing that is very consistent in this song and the second song and it's that quarter note bass drum heartbeat boom boom boom boom to the whole thing and it's, not by accident for sure yeah yeah.Track 2:[21:01] And that was a feature of secret path to a lot of other songs without heartbeat.Track 4:[21:06] And a clock too is what I heard. Yes. I heard it as an underlying heartbeat, but it was also- click it was also time moving yeah oh that's good yeah it it really hit me in.Track 4:[21:22] Fact i think it was last night on one of the one of the tunes i don't remember exactly which one it was but it was fitting and it was very much a clock and a heartbeat again love love the opportunity that we had the chance to to to listen to this and to listen to those thoughts you know that was one One of the things I was thinking of, and we can say this about all of them is sometimes it's hard to really express your feelings at any moment, face-to-face writing it down, you know, after the fact. And so often it's after the fact, you know, this entire album, but of course this song right away, acknowledging his mom, but just that I'm going to go through and I'm going to give everyone that I've been in touch with or that I've loved, you know, I'm going to express some feelings to them. And a lot of the times those things sometimes people feel might be appropriate to be private, but for me, I love that Gord was very open about those feelings and emotions. So just incredible. Absolutely incredible.Track 1:[22:28] Incredible yeah i couldn't agree with you more it's so heartbreaking and i don't know whether we should have put a trigger warning at the top of this episode uh as we did with secret path this is some heavy shit so let's move on to wolf's home, All I want is you, All I want is you.Track 3:[26:05] And the heartbeat, you know, it really just, that's the other half, right? This is a decidedly more upbeat tune. It's really catchy. It's kind of fun. And it really, you know, the track that follows this is heavy too, but it does set the tone for kind of the rest of the album. The context of this whole thing, like we talked about over and over, is heavy, but the songs are kind of fun, you know? And Wolf's home is, all right, kids, stop the nonsense and the bullshit. Dad's home. Everybody cut it out. There's two lines that really stuck out to me. One was, I don't do what I hate, which is a spin on I do what I hate from Man, from the Man Machine poem album, which is the first track on that. And then at the very end is, all I want is you. you know and you know all the all the references to to edgar downey throughout the the hips catalog and and everything that gore did and you know lonely end of the rank and all those things it's um yeah i just these first two songs really kind of wrap your arms around the entire album with with what you're going to get out of this and um it's nice that it was his parents that, were the the opening numbers you know it was really a touching couple of tracks there.Track 4:[27:25] Yeah absolutely it's a tribute really it is and a tribute to obviously what an upbringing to, be able to you know have this individual that again has left us with such amazing art but yeah mom and dad right off the the bat i don't know if you guys noticed this or not and i think craig was trying to show it i have lucky enough to have the vinyl of this but on all the it's all handwritten the lyrics that are in here but in each one i'm fairly certain it's the who the song's about but it's it's covered up and it's a different color and it's on every single song in both you know close the first and the second album craig.Track 3:[28:04] You referenced that black and white video and in that video the only bits of color are where they overlay they kind of superimpose gray uh, gourd's handwriting in red and blue and he's got that four color pen that he's always using on.Track 4:[28:20] All the interviews. Yep.Track 3:[28:21] And I also was super happy to figure out that he's a lefty in that video because they show him making a note. And I'm like, all right.Track 4:[28:30] Right on, left-handers.Track 2:[28:31] My daughter is going to love that. Yeah, so this song, Wolf's Home, again, yeah, definitely about his father. And it's such a catchy song. The melody in the chorus, the ascending melody and the way the timbre of his voice just, changes as he's going up to those high notes and just such a nice quality like, he's such a versatile vocalist i don't think he gets enough credit for the just the different voices he uses on on different styles of tracks.Track 3:[29:03] There was something that i read a few years ago about how gourd just stayed in the pocket with the hip and i'm like what the frig are you talking about like the guy will go until he doesn't have a voice on the low end and then he blows it out on the top, Mariah Carey style. Like, it's unbelievable, his range.Track 1:[29:21] Ha ha ha ha ha ha.Track 2:[29:23] Some interest interesting percussion sounds almost like on on the two and four there's some kind of a where the snare would be there's some kind of i don't know what it is almost sounds like toy drums or something or just something random in the studio they were hitting but, but yeah i have nothing really more to add just just a great song.Track 4:[29:40] Yeah and i'll pick up on bedtime the next one which is to one of the kids i'm not sure if it's specific or if it's just to his children in general or you know again just going through that the theme that we've been talking about is knowing you know and it really doesn't matter who it's to that does add to obviously the level of seriousness but for me it was I think Craig mentioned this as well it's like yeah there was something you could pick out right away but it really didn't matter at some points again just breaking down that these were the very personal letters that were going out and doing it in a manner of he gets to add the instrumentation to it and as as we've talked about on several of the different albums and different tunes then again this one is more of the piano ford as they had mentioned the emotion that can be evoked from from that backing music to it and and knowing looking at very few i think there was only like four or five of these tunes that were solely gourd so you had some of the other you know drew that was involved, and niles and some of the other that helped i think a little bit with some of the i mean i don't know what their breakdown was if they were more instrumentation if they were more the uh um the lyric side of it but but just uh again i think a masterpiece put considering everything and having kids we all went through this or i went through this with all my kids.Track 4:[31:06] Multiple times in a different manner and and but how important that was and how with each of my kids, I have those memories of that connection, right? And that was a way that you could help your spouse was putting the help and putting the kids to bed. So it evokes some, some, very direct and deep memories and then saddens you when you know that these are memories that his children are going to read and hopefully appreciate.Track 1:[31:36] Oh, I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine.Track 2:[31:41] Yeah. Definitely brought back memories for me of, of those early years with kids and the, the struggle of bedtime and just the, the passage of time, you know, the way that those nights would just seem to last forever. And you were just, Then you wake up the next day and do it all over again. And then yet the years just start flying by. And that's what struck me during this song is that just the passage of time and how strange the days are so long and the years are so short. So, Justin, what do you think?Track 3:[32:18] Like I said, this album was released, Gord Died, and this album was released when my daughter was four months old. and we still have her gray rocking chair upstairs that, um, why would I would rock her to sleep in? And when this album came out, I think I listened on the first day, this song came on as I was rocking her to sleep and I bawled like a frigging toddler. And, uh you know the the line um as if from a bomb backing up like whoa and the floor with the creaks of time and we're living in this old apartment above a barn you know that's you can't breathe without the floor creaking and then you get to the door and she wakes up like are you really like leaving like what do you get back here you know and like so this song i it totally destroyed me and as I'm trying to get her calm I'm losing it and so I had this is this was it I heard three songs on this album and I stopped for seven years until we started this project I do love this song very much but man did it hit home and I was already raw from from having lost Gord you know my musical hero ten days before and then shit this happens come on yeah.Track 4:[33:40] I wanted to speak about JD when you were talking in the intro. When Gord passed, it was as deep as any friend or family member that I can recall. I mean, it was a deep fetal position kind of cry. And especially having seen and just a break, we've already talked about it before in a prior episode, but on the long time running when on the last tour, when he would kiss everyone on the lips before they went out on stage, you just were overwhelmed by the amount of love this one individual had. And that, you know, to this day, it's still permeates in this discussion. So amazing.Track 1:[34:29] Well, let's stick with you, Kirk. Let's talk a bit about introduce yourself.Track 4:[34:33] Introduce yourself. Well, title track to the album. I'm sorry. I got to get this out of the way. I need to know so much more, or I need to visit the Danforth because some of my favorite songs always mentioned the Danforth. And I just have to imagine it's some beautiful place near Toronto because it's in like old apartment from bare naked lady, which is a song that I love. Several other Canadian bands mentioned the Danforth. So that was the thing that snuck that stuck out right because everything had been so emotional i needed some sort of brevity and so when i got to danforth the line danforth so i need to ask jd give me info on the danforth so the danforth is the.Track 1:[35:18] Other side of bluer street the eastbound corridor of the street we call bluer street in midtown yeah it's not down it's the roof of downtown is bluer street and it cuts across the Bloor Viaduct, the Prince Edward Viaduct, which has the luminous veil on it that we spoke.Track 2:[35:36] Of in another episode.Track 1:[35:38] Then the Danforth was traditionally Greek town. It had oodles of Greek restaurants. There was lots of Greek variety stores and that sort of thing. And in the early nineties, it became a very popular place to start a family. You buy a house pretty reasonably. Now it's, you know, just as it's, as is want to happen. And it's pushing further and further and further East because the original Danforth area is now, you know, like $3 million homes, $4 million homes. Uh, and then there's some areas that there are way more than that. And I'd be glad to take you on a mini tour when I'm here because that's where I live. You know, maybe a soda pop at my local. We'll see.Track 3:[36:23] Yeah. Love it. Let's do that.Track 4:[36:25] Yeah. So that was my, that was my takeaway on this, this particular one. And again, that just overwhelmed my thought process was needing to know more about the Danforth. So I appreciate you helping, helping me with that. So, yeah.Track 2:[36:41] So this song was, um, was written about Billy Ray, Billy Ray Koster, the longtime hip roadie. And so, um, it's really just a thank you. And at the end of the song, just, you know, I thank you for your help. Help. Such a simple line, but such a beautiful goodbye to this lifelong friend who, from what I remember reading years ago, is that Billy Ray just as a young man or someone in his late teens just wrote the hip saying, I want a job, I'll do anything, and just worked his way up. And he really became almost like a member of the band by the end. And just the story of of this song is hilarious. Like it's a, it's a emotional song, but it's also so funny. Like the, you know, the not it isn't, it isn't because, you know, maybe some of the reason he, he, you know, the story being that he needs to write, introduce yourself on his hand to show to Billy Ray. So he'll introduce himself to the driver of the car that he, that Gord should know the name of, but has forgotten. So, you know, was that because of, you know, the cancer maybe? And I think I know what Justin's going to talk about here. What was your first thought?Track 3:[37:56] I can picture them in the back of a car or the cab or whatever. And Gord's like, oh shit, you know, like, what do I do here? Yeah. I mean, there's not much more that I could peel back on this, but I do remember in the interim of deciding to put the album down when it came out. And now I do remember watching the live performance that Sarah Harmer, Kevin Hearn, right, did it. And it was awesome. It was really, really, really good. And I was like, oh, okay, that's, and I had no idea what it was about at that time. So I was like, oh, this is a really sweet song.Track 2:[38:29] The Junos.Track 3:[38:30] Obviously emotional, but, um, you know, hearing the, hearing the lyrics, I was like, Oh, okay. And I've referenced it a few times here, the interview, the sit down with Peter Mansbridge and yeah. And he's like, well, I've got your name here, so I don't call you Doug or whatever, you know? Um, yeah. So, uh, yeah.Track 1:[38:57] Right.Track 2:[38:59] That's what I was going for. Yeah.Track 4:[39:02] Hey, I got to say with Billy Ray, because most of the shows that I saw were in small clubs, he was just as much a member of the band as anyone else for all of my crew. We almost enjoyed seeing him more, right? He always had that kind of crooked cowboy hat. And he always had like either a roll of duct tape or a wrench or there was art, you know, there was always something that says I'm the tech guy like reminded you of Tom Hanks when he did that Saturday Night Live skit when he was a roadie for Aerosmith or whatever, but he was so much he was the flavor of it. It was like he had to come out and put the mic stand back up because Gord knocked it down, you know. And then I love the fact as well that on this album, as well as I think the last or a couple of the others, he plays drums on a few of them. So how fantastic is that from Craig, as you mentioned, like a letter, just this, hey, I want to do something for you. And then he becomes this lifelong friend. And now he's part of, you know, part of introduce yourself in the title track song and, uh, just such a character.Track 3:[40:11] So it also, uh, it reminded me of the roadie by tenacious D. Sebastian bringing this, you know, 55 year old groupie into the dressing room.Track 4:[40:23] Love it.Track 3:[40:25] Love it.Track 4:[40:25] Love it. Love it.Track 2:[40:28] As someone who is terrible with names, definitely made, made me laugh. And if I ever get a tattoo, maybe that's what it'll have to be. Cause man, I'm in my job. It's not the best quality.Track 3:[40:39] It's a good story though.Track 1:[40:41] Coco Chanel five. That's what I think, yeah.Track 3:[43:49] So this, I mean, it's got to be about Laura, right? And yeah, and the thing that made me doubt that was that there's a song later in the album about his first girlfriend. So maybe he's singing about all of them. But the thing that drove it home for me was the line when I was recording in Memphis, which is the Up To Here album. That would put the timeline about right. I, I feel awkward listening to the song, the song and the one about the girlfriend. Like I shouldn't, I shouldn't be in this room right now, you know? Yeah.Track 2:[44:20] That, that, that was my thing off the top was like, I didn't want to dive too deep into who these songs are about, but sometimes it's, yeah, that this, that's what I thought about this one. And, but you know, Gord put this out in the world, so we, it is okay for us to do this. It is, is um yeah.Track 4:[44:37] And i agree that it definitely could have been on secret path like it has very much that same feel musically right instrumentation musically that was very much and there was even a moment on this particular song where it it was an mvp for for me for a while oh interesting yeah i just i think because again secret path was so impactful and for me after like the great build buildup from Coke machine glow, you know, just that amazing buildup and you hit secret path and you're just, it was hard to go on. So it was, I, you know, I was glad to hear something to kind of wake me up out of that funk. So, uh, but just a great song, but yes, difficult to listen to at times that the line was very uncomfortable for me. It really was. It's so good.Track 3:[45:27] Don't even say it.Track 4:[45:28] I'm not, but it's very uncomfortable for me. And that's That's probably the reason why I didn't end up as my MVP. I'll be honest.Track 1:[45:38] Just a little too inside baseball, Gord. Let's go with Ricky, please. And we'll start with Craig this time.Track 2:[45:47] This is a song I don't have a lot of notes about. It's just a nice upbeat song that was needed at this point. And it's nice and short. Gave me, I've said this a number of times on this pod, but Ben Folds kind of vibes you know and I have no idea who Ricky is I really didn't look at the lyrics too closely in this one so.Track 1:[46:13] Okay. Anybody else got anything?Track 3:[46:15] So I had asked in the group chat if this was about Patrick, his brother Patrick. And I know that You, Me, and the Bees is about him too, but I was thinking Ricky might be a nickname for Patrick. But the reason why I asked that was one of the lines is, you got me to the only door I've got. And Gord references the door in interviews and at the end of his life. And I know that Patrick was very close to him and was kind of his caretaker at the end. Um, so that's where I was thinking that maybe this is maybe Patrick got two songs. I don't know. I really don't know, but it's obviously somebody who's been very close with him forever and, you know, dating back before the illness, of course, too. But yeah, I don't know who it's about, but that was my initial thought. And I, I don't know. I have no idea, but it is a very fun listen.Track 1:[47:06] Well, if you out there listening, no, send us an email, discovering downy at gmail.com. we'd love to hear from you kirk what do you got.Track 4:[47:15] This one it gets a little more upbeat and so the clock is going a little faster i i agree with you justin that there definitely has a a feel to this sounds like a brother at least from that that standpoint i love i love the instrumentation the repetitiveness the i i i did that was something that i have in my memory as far as a note for this so this.Track 3:[47:40] Song and and a few others sound like a marriage between now for plan a and man machine poem like they could be hip songs 100 from those two.Track 4:[47:49] Great agreed i would wild okay.Track 1:[47:51] I gotta think about this in a different way safe is dead is our next track and i think we'll start with justin this time yeah.Track 3:[48:01] So i guess i'm gonna say it again this sounds like it could be from Not For Plan A or Man Machine Poem. And I don't know... It's probably more like man-machine poem, I think, but I couldn't even tell you who this is about. But, you know, it's certainly previewing death or reliving somebody else's. I don't know. But the dark preview, who'd miss this fear, a damn silence, exiles meet. And then the dark brochure, full dark soon, and then the rise of a scarred moon. So, like, I wonder if the brochure is a literal brochure. Like, here's what to expect in your next year and a half with glioblastoma, you know? Like, good luck, read this, and you've got information.Track 1:[48:42] God.Track 4:[48:43] That's, I mean, honestly, that's very much the way I took it. Safe is dead. Like, there's no good information on here. So it was stark to me, even in the music. And then if you read in some of the liner notes, this was one of the only ones with some backing vocals, and I think Patrick was one of them. And I think Billy Ray was another one. I have to look that up. But so interesting when you think about who was involved in this song. And then, again, just that premise or thought, like whether it's a pamphlet or like his doctor saying, hey, this is what's up. So you're just like safe as dead. Yeah. That was my uh.Track 2:[49:31] Yeah justin you mentioned man machine poem and i have a note right here that says remind the vocals remind me of insarnia from that album and musically i was really drawn to this song it reminds me so much of a band called future islands and specifically there's a song called fall from grace on the singles album which was the album that broke them and i heard that.Track 3:[49:56] Song today on the drive home.Track 2:[49:57] Really yeah.Track 3:[49:58] It's funny it.Track 2:[49:59] Is so similar yeah and i love i love that's my one of my very favorite songs by future islands so this one really stuck with me just the the drum beat the repetitive notes in the piano if it was future islands it would be more of a synth sound but it's a very similar idea just this repetitive groove that just goes for the entire song the nice echoing at the end the vocals that you mentioned and the way the beat drops out there's like a single hand clap to end the song it's one of my favorites i think on the album tremendous and sorry and last thing what wait what like what such a gourd thing to say what what wait what like just awkward and but not from him when he says it it's just when you when.Track 4:[50:49] You hear it for the first time it doesn't sound like he's saying that i had a completely different phrase.Track 2:[50:54] In my brain.Track 4:[50:55] You know when you hear something you're rocket man burning up his when you hear that that's what i heard was.Track 2:[51:01] Something completely.Track 4:[51:02] Different until i read it and i.Track 2:[51:03] Went excuse me while i kiss this guy wait.Track 4:[51:05] What what yeah exactly there's a bathroom on the right on the right.Track 2:[51:10] Do we.Track 3:[51:15] Have to pay rights fees for these now jay no.Track 1:[51:17] No we're fine we're fine we got big podcast lawyers yeah well we go upbeat again with the next song uh in a celebratory sort of way kirk what do you think is spoon.Track 4:[54:10] I'm just going to ask this question up front. In the band Spoon, we had had some discussions about them on our exchange, and I didn't look deep enough. Are they a Canadian band? They're not, no. No? But popular up there, obviously, and is that who he's referring to when you go down to the bottom?Track 1:[54:32] It definitely is that band. in terms of popularity middling you know they're not a superstar band by any stretch but they sell you know they sell they sell records similar to what they are in the u.s they're still sort of underground you know to a lot of people even though they've had at least three breakout albums great indie band yes but.Track 3:[54:52] They're only an indie band you know they're.Track 1:[54:53] Not mainstream yeah.Track 2:[54:56] Yeah relating to the story i just told actually it was driving me nuts i i knew i had a ticket to spoon but i have no memory of the concert and it was just driving me nuts i actually pulled up my concert tickets yesterday and went through them all until i finally finally figured out what it was was that i just mentioned future islands they were playing a show at stanley park in downtown vancouver the you know the park and um spoon was headlining future islands was opening so i went for future islands they sold out of beer like in the opening band they may and not Not that I was there for beer, but the timing worked out perfectly though, because I actually had a second concert ticket that same night to see War on Drugs in downtown Vancouver. So we had to like run down the street, catch a bus down to downtown Vancouver and made it to the Vogue to see War on Drugs. This is, I don't know, nine years ago, I think. And so I missed Spoon. So I didn't even get to see five songs.Track 4:[55:54] You missed Spoon. I was going to ask if you had both. No. Okay. You missed Spoon.Track 3:[55:58] I haven't seen them, but I love them. And in particular, the album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga that is referenced on here. You don't even have to know that it's Spoon to know Don't You Ever or The Underdog or Cherry Bomb from that album. I know that if you heard them, you would recognize them instantly. They're radio hits. But Spoon's a freaking great band. And I'm jealous of the five-year-old kid who's in this song, which has got to be his youngest son, right? I would imagine.Track 1:[56:27] Well, he talks about recording in Maui with Bob.Track 3:[56:29] In Maui with Bob, yeah.Track 1:[56:31] So that would be what? That would be 2011?Track 2:[56:34] I think so.Track 3:[56:35] That would be the luster part of it, wouldn't it?Track 1:[56:37] That's what I've, that's what I've thought.Track 2:[56:38] I assume it's talking about either We Are The Same or World Container because he talks about we. He says we as in the band, like we were recording with Bob. Job so yeah and Maui is a place that um you know it's it's it's the destination for people in in Vancouver for vacation it's you know five hours away and so I've been there multiple times and so when he when I first heard the song and he starts dropping you know Haleakala the volcano Baby Beach is a place where when my son was just just a baby we took him to Baby Beach which is a a place where there's a like a natural barrier i believe it's natural there's no waves so you can actually take your toddler into the water they can just kind of play around in six inches of water and it goes out for for many meters and and i have these distinct memories and a great set of photos of my son on that beach talks about anthony's which is a little restaurant up in the in paella I believe, which is on the, if you're taking the road to Hana, very famous drive around the east side of the island, which I recommend to anyone who goes there. Brought back all these memories of my trips out there. And he even talks about his, I think his leg was broken or something. And one of my early trips to Maui, I was there on crutches. I had a hockey injury.Track 2:[58:03] So I had to cancel a bunch of my plans for that trip. And my son was very young. I think it was seven, eight months. And I remember the first day just taking the stroller for a walk and I'd go, you know, to the cinnamon roll place. And then I'd go back to the condo. And then the next day I'd go a bit further by the end. Within a week, I was walking for hours every morning. Like, you know, with the time change, I was up at 5.30 a.m. And taking him for just the longest walk. And just such a great memory. And I was fully healed by the end of that trip. That's great.Track 3:[58:35] There is the opening lines I just wanted to mention. You're transcendent. You taught me so many things. You taught me that help is all we to this dumb planet bring. What a nice compliment to give somebody.Track 2:[58:45] Right? And don't read the Apple Music translation because it says hell instead of help.Track 3:[58:51] That would change the song.Track 2:[58:52] You know, I've noticed on some of my listens.Track 4:[58:56] I'll look up a lyric because you can look on Spotify or whatever. And what you're hearing or what he's saying does not correlate with what the lyrics are so i noticed that on a few tunes i didn't write the specific ones down but uh that's interesting that you know it it translates it however it wants so i'm like he didn't just say what.Track 3:[59:17] It's for what it's worth i've had good luck on the website genius um when i when i can't find yeah and there's usually some notes some reference notes but they'll also capitalize words like like the album, the liner notes would have, as opposed to if you're listening to Spotify or YouTube or something that just doesn't take, you know, have that nuance. Right. Um, and I can add a lot of meaning.Track 2:[59:43] Yeah, and Kirk, you asked about Spoon being Canadian. While they're not, the band Deer Hunter, who Gord mentions in the song as the opener, they are from out east, I believe, Montreal maybe?Track 1:[59:55] Do you know, JD? I think it's in Quebec. Yeah, I think so.Track 3:[59:59] I think they are.Track 2:[1:00:00] I feel like I've seen them.Track 4:[1:00:01] Are they still active? Because I feel like I've just seen them recently, like opening up for Barenaked Ladies, which would make sense if they're Canadian.Track 3:[1:00:08] They have, they have a little bit of a following around where I live. Um, I haven't, I haven't seen them and I don't know much about them, but I know that the local station out of Albany, New York mentions deer hunter often. So yeah, there's still, I think there's still around.Track 4:[1:00:23] And I feel like I just saw them with bare naked ladies and, uh, what's the band that does closing time? Semi Sonic.Track 1:[1:00:30] Yeah.Track 4:[1:00:31] They were on the same, same bell.Track 1:[1:00:33] I went on a scavenger hunt in setlist.fm trying to find a show in Toronto that Deer Hunter opened for Spoon, and I couldn't track it down. That would definitely help us with the date in terms of figuring it out. I'm pretty sure they even say the venue in the song, don't they? In the lyric?Track 4:[1:00:58] Deer Hunter opened the show. The headliner was introduced. We did our best. We'd have to go soon. We got a t-shirt and we cut five tunes. Just enough to say that the first show for us, too, was Spoon. So anything else on Spoon?Track 3:[1:01:15] I listened to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga several times because of this song. Yeah.Track 1:[1:01:24] Next up, Craig, is A Natural.Track 2:[1:01:29] Yeah, this song is the... Okay, so I'm in Seattle. This is... What year was this album? 2017? And this would have been, I'm guessing, a couple of weeks after gourd passed and i was in a 10 days i was in a clothing store or something i think a vintage clothing store in seattle and my wife was shopping and i was just sort of hanging out and i heard this song i was it was kind of like lightly in the background i couldn't i wasn't paying attention to who it was but they always play great music in seattle on in these types of stories i find and then the chorus came on and that powerful voice of his with all that reverb and it hit me like like a ton of bricks like i was like yeah it was like gourd from beyond the grave um and i was just i was in the u.s i was i was just it was amazing and i remember thinking like what is this is this like a hip song that i somehow don't know is this a you know some other artist where he just sings the chorus and i you know tracked it down when i got home and realized it was on the album that i had unopened um and so this was one song that i did listen to over the years, yeah what'd you guys think of this one.Track 4:[1:02:54] Just this was one of those that was the kind of the synth pop you know feel behind it which i loved again because again correlating back to the ages is like, gord probably had an affinity for the 80s and certain aspects of it in certain songs and whether you like it or not you're still influenced by it because you get that kind of that's again the the keyboard the synth sent the type music there but yeah again as craig mentioned the um powerfulness in the voice during the chorus is it creates goosebumps it just fills you up and and again makes you thankful that you have a variety of different you know opportunities to listen to the voice you know whether it's a solo stuff for the hip and so you were you just you were thankful for it and just the imagery in this song you know just sitting there and it's soaking and wet you know bathing suit with a bb gun and just kind of iron you know you you've experienced that or you've seen it and so you just felt connected to the song right away but it was so intense and then just the song the course itself is just a praise you are a natural if you say that about someone they're just you know they're beyond special so very much a song that made an impression, especially with his vocal abilities, as we've all mentioned and commented on how phenomenal it is and how varied, which I think Craig mentioned as well, or Justin as well.Track 3:[1:04:23] I wondered if this was about his sister or one of his daughters. I don't know why, but just the scene, the way that it's set, it seems like he's singing about a female.Track 4:[1:04:35] I would not disagree with that.Track 3:[1:04:36] Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Well, and I was thinking that as they were kids, he's telling this story from his own childhood. Yeah. Don't know.Track 2:[1:04:47] That was my first thought too, but yeah, it could be. I feel like it is probably a child with one of his children.Track 3:[1:04:53] It also sounds a lot like a couple of songs in Secret Path.Track 2:[1:04:57] Yeah. The way he sings at the end though, I am the lucky one. That made me think I think maybe it was him as a father saying that line. And also to add to the 80s vibe, the bass, it really takes a lead in this song, very much like a Peter Hook style New Order.Track 4:[1:05:17] Yeah, great observation, Greg. I don't disagree with that at all.Track 1:[1:05:22] Well, let's wrap things up for this week with faith, faith. And we'll start with you, Mr. St. Louis.Track 3:[1:05:31] This one got me. Jesus, about the dog. I mean, I assume it's a dog. What else would be getting scratched under the chin? But, oh, my gosh, my puppy is just, well, the puppy is two years old. But, you know, I mean, what's nicer than the love that you get from your dog? and um very.Track 1:[1:05:54] Little in this world.Track 3:[1:05:55] Faith yeah but i mean just this song too is crushing take this take the dog out of it this is this is a masterpiece of a song and you can get emotional without lyrics with a song it's pretty damn amazing um so a couple of a couple of weeks ago, my mentor ken squire and you can google him he he's the one that got nascar on tv he's he's from around the way here and i worked for him for 20 years and he kind of took me up under his wing as the annoying kid who wouldn't stop asking for a job you know he's he's a legendary figure in the world of motorsport around the world so he he passed back in november and a few weeks ago they had his memorial service at his racetrack here in Vermont. And the most poignant part of the whole thing was they read a poem called The Sweetness of Dogs. This song brought me back to that moment where I welled up at his service and how the person and the dog are sitting under the moonlight. The person looks up at the moon and thinks, what could be more beautiful? And And the dog looks up to the person and thinks the same thing. And I'm just like, whoa. And the song just drains me. Yeah. Yeah. Ferguson, Ferguson's going to get this song the rest of his life.Track 4:[1:07:22] Yeah. It's, uh, it's, it's overwhelming. The, the passion that you feel when he screams the faith, faith, your faith, your faith, your faith. I think it's the Y-E-R, touching the nose every morning, one, two, three times, dark unwavering eyes. And if you have an animal, you know, especially if you have a dog for me, you know, I have my, my little guy, Andy, and we take our walks every day. And I do a lot of my gourd listening when I'm on a walk with my dog, you know, and it's, The dog has an attitude, and it's a great personality. And yeah, there's a love there that I think he captures, obviously, amazingly in the lyrics there.Track 2:[1:08:15] Yeah, I just have a note about the piano playing. So Kevin Drew on the piano, as we learned on the Secret Path album, he plays with a lot of feeling. And he's definitely got like a style to his playing. And I love how at the end he goes up the octave. And it's just, there's a lot of emotion in his playing, which really matches the lyrics. Now, unlike you guys, I'm not a pet person. I'm allergic to dogs. So it's not really my fault. Um so i've never had a dog i did have a cat growing up and i i do have a really great story but i'm gonna i'm gonna save it for when we have more time it feels.Track 4:[1:08:54] Like loving emmett otter craig that's what it feels like.Track 2:[1:08:57] Okay that's what it feels.Track 1:[1:08:59] Like well fellas uh it's been an absolute, pleasure to listen to your thoughts on the first half sort of i know it's not divisible the way the records are, but that's what we're going to cover this week. Let's bid adieu to our listeners and encourage you out there to shoot us an email, discoverydowney at gmail.com if you're enjoying what you're here. We'd love for you to join our community on Facebook, and of course we want to see you on July 19th at the Rec Room here in toronto tickets are available now at discovering downy.com.Track 4:[1:09:47] That's going to be a fun night i.Track 1:[1:09:51] Think so right.Track 4:[1:09:52] Really fun and do.Track 2:[1:09:55] People know like we've never actually met no i don't i guess i guess they.Track 1:[1:09:59] Wouldn't know that yeah.Track 2:[1:10:00] I mean i've i've met jd and kirk i guess in person very briefly yes uh kirk um a couple times and justin yeah yeah not not yet i haven't met you yet but But yeah.Track 4:[1:10:09] It'll be the first time for all four of us. Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:12] But we're all going to see each other on the night.Track 2:[1:10:15] It's going to be awesome.Track 3:[1:10:16] Yeah. Actually, we're going to see each other on the 18th too, aren't we?Track 2:[1:10:20] Road trip.Track 3:[1:10:21] Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:21] Yeah. Yeah. If you're out there and you're.Track 4:[1:10:24] We got to go to the.Track 1:[1:10:25] If you're out there, we got to see the dance tonight and you feel like meeting up with four dudes and you want to give us a tragically hip tour. That's a perfect opportunity. You guys are discovering Downey at gmail.com email. We would love that we would love nothing more than that so we'll have a film crew with us we can shoot some cool stuff and it'll be a lot of fun, pick up your shit.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/fully-and-completely/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Buckle in because this is a personal album we're discussing on today's episode of Discovering Downie. A mere 10 days following Gord's death fans were gifted the posthumous diary, Introduce Yerself. Craig, Justin, and Kirk have little experience with this record. Things get raw!Thanks for clicking.Follow us on social media @gorddowniepodTranscript: Track 6:[0:00] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Long Slice Brewery presents a live event celebration of Gord Downie July 19th at The Rec Room in Toronto. Join the hosts of the podcast Discovering Downie as they record their finale with special guest Patrick Downie. A silent auction with items from the hip and many others will take place along with live entertainment from the almost hip. All proceeds will benefit the Gord Downie Fund for brain cancer research. For more information and tickets, please visit discoveringdowney.com. How it all works. Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downey.Track 1:[1:15] Hey, it's JD here. Welcome to Discovering Downey, an 11-part project with a focus on the music and poetry of Mr. Gord Downey. The late frontman of the Tragically Hip gave to the world an extensive solo discography on top of the hip's vocal acrobatics that awed us for years. So far, he's released eight records in total, three of them posthumously. You might be the biggest fan of the hip out there, but have you heard these records? Because I'm an inquisitive podcaster, I enlisted my friends Craig, Justin, and Kirk, giant fans in their own right to discover downy with me jd as their host every week we get together and listen to one of gourd's records starting with coke machine glow and working from there in chronological order we discuss and dissect the album the production the lyrics and we break it down song by fucking song this week we're dealing with the challenging introduce Introduce yourself. Craig, how are you doing this week, my friend?Track 2:[2:20] I'm doing well.Track 1:[2:21] That's good to hear.Track 2:[2:22] Can't complain.Track 1:[2:23] Gigging?Track 2:[2:24] Yeah, I had a big show on the weekend and it was sold out and we had played about 30 tunes and it was a great time.Track 1:[2:32] Oh man, I wish I had a teleport device. Yeah. So I could go to your gigs. You too, Kirk. How are you doing, man?Track 4:[2:40] I'm doing well. Thank you. Yeah. Had a gig last week and got some travel coming up. So just been kind of finishing up on some graduation things with the kids. And, you know, like I said, some work stuff, obviously spending lots of time with this, this little project we got going on, but yeah, doing well.Track 1:[2:59] It's a lot. It's a lot, but it's been a lot of fun so far. And part of the fun is Mr. Justin St. Louis. How are you doing, sir?Track 3:[3:08] I'm good, dude. It's hardcore, hardcore here in this house right now, but things are good, man. Things are good.Track 1:[3:16] Well, that's great. Just off the top, I want to say that we're starting to get some items rolling in for the silent auction for the fundraising event that we're hosting in July. We've got the PWHL Toronto franchise has given us a really cool donation that we'll be sharing online in the days and weeks to come. We also got a donation from the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tragically Hip themselves have donated something. We've got a great restaurant, Mighty Bird, that is donating. And there's lots of other stuff as well, like lots of great artwork and shit. So get your tickets.Track 4:[3:56] Hey, we have some beers too, right?Track 1:[3:58] We do have some beers. Yeah, Podcast Pilsner. It's got our logo on the can.Track 3:[4:03] Let's go.Track 1:[4:04] That right? Yeah. And it should be a decent price. It's made by our title sponsor, Long Slice, of course. So go to discoveringdowney.com and click on fundraising tickets. Bob's your uncle. So there's that.Track 4:[4:17] Bob's your uncle. Love it. I love it. That's like six one way, half a dozen the other. I tell that to anyone that's under 40 and they look at me like, what are you talking about? Like, just figure it out. ticks one way, half a dozen the other. That's very confusing.Track 1:[4:35] Yeah. It is.Track 3:[4:39] Every time I hear Bob's your uncle, I think of 101 Dalmatians. When the bad guys break in and steal the pups from the nanny, he says, well, be out faster than you can say Bob's your uncle. And that was the first time I ever heard it. Anyway.Track 1:[4:54] I found out it's not an American phrase. It's a Canadian and UK phrase. So I told a bunch of people this and they were like, I've never heard of this in my life.Track 3:[5:03] What do you mean? No. Yeah. Right.Track 1:[5:06] All right, time to get a bit heavy here, because on October 17th, 2017, we said goodbye to the man who walks among the stars. This was truly one of the more emotional days in my nearly 50 years on this plane. Only losing family and close friends has ever cut as deeply as sending Gord off to the abyss. Less than two weeks later though on october 27th 2017, gourd released a posthumous effort called introduce yourself, where do you start with this one in my mind there are elements from each of the previous five albums on display here i hear secret path on coco chanel number five to name one off the top of my head the sparse production handled deftly by kevin drew gourd's partner in creating this double record. I have to imagine the production and limited instrumentation could have been a result of Gord's condition at the time of recording. However, as sick as he was, he persevered through two sessions in putting this album together.Track 1:[6:15] The liner notes indicate that Gord took on the bulk of the guitar work while handling vocals, some synth, and a bit of percussion to boot. Mr. Drew handled piano, bass, organs, keyboard, and percussion. This album does also feature some great guest performers, notably Dave Hamelin, with some work on the drums, as well as synth, and finally, on Nancy, he plays a frickin' B-3. David Billy Ray Koster offered some additional drum work and background vocals, while Patrick Downey contributed background vocals and percussion on Safe is Dead. Jillian Weiss also added vocals to that track. Lastly, engineer and bathhouse resident Niles Spencer has his fingerprints on several songs, playing keys, creating beats, samples, and a Morse code sound on the 19th track, The Road. From the get-go, this album has been scoured by fans to try and determine who each song is about. You see, this album has a premise. Each of the 23 songs is about someone from Gord's life. This is clearly the most personal record Gord, or the hip for that matter, has ever released. I'm going to leave you with one more date that is significant to me with regards to Introduce Yourself. May 30th, 2024.Track 1:[7:35] This was the day I peeled the cellophane off my copy of the vinyl and finally listened to the album in its entirety. Prior to that Thursday in May, I just didn't have the stamina or emotional wherewithal to make a dent in what I now know is a celebration of the music, the man, and the legend, Gord Downie. Justin, what are your initial thoughts on this one?Track 3:[8:00] I could not handle this album when it came out. I tried it and I had to abort after five songs maybe. And I'll tell you, and maybe I should save it for the song, but there was one, this all happened when, when my daughter was a newborn, there was, there's one song that just wrecks me and, uh, still does. Um, there's several that do, but one particular, and I just had to put it away until this, this project came around. So, you know, I sat on it for seven years. I had tried it and I wasn't ready.Track 1:[8:31] Me too, man. Me too. I'm either going to apologize for this project or be thanked for this project to find out what Justin's thoughts were on some of these songs. Kirk, I want to hear from you.Track 4:[8:44] Yeah. Well, for me, this came after us doing Secret Path, and that was such an emotional...Track 4:[8:56] Couple of weeks. I mean, it really was because we'd already become so close to Gord before we even started this project. Then when we started this project, you just became intimately familiar and then secret path happens and you're just, and I needed a break. I needed a break from, I'll say Gord Downie solo and I needed to fall in love with the hip again. I think I got that record store day hip album and i put that on and then i just went on a journey and just kind of fell in love with the hip again but i took a long break to prepare myself for this and there's no amount to break or anything that could really prepare you for it and every listen no matter what the device was whether it was on my record whether it was in the car whether it was out walking the dog. It was just obviously beautiful when you think about these letters and that he had the opportunity to do it, but also just so extremely heartbreaking at the same time, right? And then one final thing for me, my wife and I had also just recently watched the new documentary that came out on Jim Henson, right? And we're big Muppets fans. And of course they had a little bit on, you know, on Craig and I's favorite Emmett Otter.Track 4:[10:20] But yeah, it's just real quick, you know, but the point I wanted to make was.Track 4:[10:27] The Muppets, Sesame Street, everything that Jim Henson created, right? And he passed when he was 53. And Gord passed when he's 53. And I'm 53.Track 4:[10:39] And I'll be honest with you, gents, I have been on this. I'm 53. And these two gentlemen created this body of artwork that has been so incredibly moving for so many people for so many generations. And it just really stopped me in my tracks and went, wow, I'm 53. If I went right now, what would my story be and what impact would I have? And how thankful, even though it was, and I say this because I'm 53, that we lost those two gentlemen so young. Thank goodness we have this to go back and listen and watch and read and discuss and record podcasts. And I'm just so thankful. So sorry, a very long-winded answer, but I needed to share that with you because I think all of us are gonna have these emotional moments throughout this recording today. And just thinking about like, if I had a chance to write letters to everyone before I went, like, I don't know that I could do that. So um so that every listen has just been that thought wow can you imagine you had to write a letter to all the people that you know you cared for just.Track 1:[12:02] Take a moment brother we appreciate you man hell yeah best 53 year old on this podcast by by a country mile i.Track 4:[12:13] Will i will accept that sorry i'll accept that thank you as i cry thank you all right.Track 1:[12:22] Craig no i always i always start my questions with like for some reason i'm like mclaughlin of the mclaughlin group uh i don't know if you remember that sketch on snl but i feel like what justin you know and it's like this episode is a lot more stark and i don't want to be like scaring the shit out of you as i'm asking you a question but craig i want i'm curious about your experience now yeah.Track 2:[12:51] Well really quickly just before we um get into that uh kirk um not sure if you knew this this will probably just make things worse but um jim henson at his funeral they actually used a song from emmett otter as the um as the song that played during his um ceremony so yeah So you know how much it meant to him? Yeah.Track 3:[13:11] He also wrote his own goodbye letter and just stored it away.Track 2:[13:15] Oh, wow.Track 3:[13:15] In case of emergency, right? Yeah.Track 2:[13:19] It's crazy. Yeah. So, J.D., much like yourself –, I bought this album when it came out, and it remained unopened. And I actually remember watching a video that was like a promotional video that came out around the time the album was released. And it was a black and white. I put it on for about 30 seconds, and I just, I had to turn it off. And I actually just, for the first time since then, watched it last night. And it made sense why it hit me that hard it was the north the very last song which we'll get to at the very very end of i guess next week's podcast and that is a heavy tune and gourd was, not looking his best during the recording of that and it was just sort of like a rehearsal take they were showing it was just heartbreaking to watch and it was such a sad song i didn't know what it was about at the time, but I just knew I could not listen to this album. And yeah, so when this podcast opportunity came up, that was my first thought was like, I've had, I've been waiting to crack this open and I was looking for the opportunity to, you know, the right time. And that time is here. And to build off what Kirk was saying, like this, this album is a gift.Track 3:[14:46] Yeah.Track 2:[14:49] To his loved ones who were the subjects of the songs, to his bandmates, to his fans. And it's beautiful. The fact that he got this out there, like Kirk said so well, how many people get, number one, the opportunity to do something like this, and number two, can bring themselves to write those hard words.Track 1:[15:15] Absolutely. Yeah.Track 2:[15:16] Yeah.Track 6:[15:17] And, and when you consider the condition that he was in when he recorded these things, it's absolutely mind blowing for heaven's sake.Track 1:[15:26] This isn't somebody who was fully operational. And there's songs that are just so well thought out and gorgeous and, and so gored, you know?Track 3:[15:38] Well, and he wrote it in two stages too. And, you know, I would say that the second stage was probably in worse condition, right?Track 1:[15:47] You're likely right.Track 3:[15:49] He was gone six months after, you know, wild.Track 4:[15:55] One thing, because this is a blanket statement for all of it, is in any of the, you know, quick research that you do, like most of these songs were recorded in one to two takes. You know, for multiple reasons, one, they didn't have the time and neither did he or the energy. And so when you, you know, when you thought about when I went through and listened to every song and just went like, you got this amount of time, you're going to do this. And, you know, and they end up, I mean, one to two takes on some of these albums, just some of these songs. Sorry.Track 3:[16:34] And that's all they needed to.Track 1:[16:37] Yeah, I think that rawness really adds another layer to the context in a certain way, doesn't it? Because it is raw emotionally, and then it's raw musically as well.Track 4:[16:48] Yeah, very much so, but still incredible. Like on a majority of those songs, you wouldn't know. I mean, the one thing I read, and I would agree, is it's a piano forward album. There's very much a piano keys. There's some great guitar lines, but, um, so that helps obviously from a production standpoint in, in getting your, your tone tonality and, but I also think that it just really added to the, the, the emotion that the points, I'm sorry, I'm, no.Track 3:[17:30] But you're right.Track 4:[17:31] It's just incredible that they were able to get some of this production down in the manner that they did. And as a whole, going back to 53, I could hear so many decades in the songs, in the musicality that he was trying to experience. There's literal 80s synth pop songs on this. There's ballads. And there's all of these. You know, for me, I reflected born in the seventies, you know, really experienced that music eighties, nineties, two thousands. And then obviously the stuff you were influenced before that. And that instrumentation, in my opinion, came through in a lot of these songs. And again, one in two takes blows me away. Yeah.Track 1:[18:18] Yeah. Yeah. Drew, Kevin drew deserves, uh, a heap of, uh, of credit for pulling this together. And Niles Spencer was the engineer on the project. So hopefully later this summer, you guys get to meet Niles and we get to look around the bathhouse. That would be tremendous.Track 2:[18:40] Yeah. That would be amazing.Track 3:[18:41] Yeah.Track 1:[18:42] So we'll see what we can do there. Should we get into this song by song?Track 2:[18:45] Yeah.Track 3:[18:45] Let's do it.Track 1:[18:46] Okay. Craig, we're going to start with you in first person.Track 2:[18:51] So i decided early on when i started listening to this album i i felt like i didn't want to dig too deeply into what you know who each song was about right but some are just so obvious so first person you know it's a song to his mother you know the first person that you know he sees the first person to bring him to life just a really great song to start the album with very emotional um, Yeah. And I don't know, I didn't look up if his mother is still alive or was alive when this was released. So, you know, at the end he's saying goodbye.Track 3:[19:30] He addressed her in the final Kingston concert.Track 2:[19:34] Okay.Track 3:[19:34] Yeah. And she was there for that. I mean, they were only a year apart, so I don't know this, but I would assume she was still alive at that point. And I don't know if she's now or not.Track 2:[19:44] Yeah just the you know again the chance to say goodbye to his mom and yeah it's not really, how things are supposed to go i guess but um not at all yeah and that yeah the last thing i'll say is just there's that you know the vocalizations after the word goodbye i talked about them last week on secret path but there's these like raw just emotional you know screams and like emotes that he makes um in in the secret path concert and on the album and on this album as well that you know just that i don't know guttural just raw human emotion that it's really cool, what'd you guys think yeah.Track 1:[20:25] We saw a lot of that on the final tour for sure that raw guttural emotion.Track 2:[20:29] And uh.Track 1:[20:31] It's mirrored on this record absolutely crystallized uh on vinyl and cd cassette i don't know if it's on cassette justin um where do you stand on first person.Track 3:[20:43] Can't add a whole lot more but there's one thing that is very consistent in this song and the second song and it's that quarter note bass drum heartbeat boom boom boom boom to the whole thing and it's, not by accident for sure yeah yeah.Track 2:[21:01] And that was a feature of secret path to a lot of other songs without heartbeat.Track 4:[21:06] And a clock too is what I heard. Yes. I heard it as an underlying heartbeat, but it was also- click it was also time moving yeah oh that's good yeah it it really hit me in.Track 4:[21:22] Fact i think it was last night on one of the one of the tunes i don't remember exactly which one it was but it was fitting and it was very much a clock and a heartbeat again love love the opportunity that we had the chance to to to listen to this and to listen to those thoughts you know that was one One of the things I was thinking of, and we can say this about all of them is sometimes it's hard to really express your feelings at any moment, face-to-face writing it down, you know, after the fact. And so often it's after the fact, you know, this entire album, but of course this song right away, acknowledging his mom, but just that I'm going to go through and I'm going to give everyone that I've been in touch with or that I've loved, you know, I'm going to express some feelings to them. And a lot of the times those things sometimes people feel might be appropriate to be private, but for me, I love that Gord was very open about those feelings and emotions. So just incredible. Absolutely incredible.Track 1:[22:28] Incredible yeah i couldn't agree with you more it's so heartbreaking and i don't know whether we should have put a trigger warning at the top of this episode uh as we did with secret path this is some heavy shit so let's move on to wolf's home, All I want is you, All I want is you.Track 3:[26:05] And the heartbeat, you know, it really just, that's the other half, right? This is a decidedly more upbeat tune. It's really catchy. It's kind of fun. And it really, you know, the track that follows this is heavy too, but it does set the tone for kind of the rest of the album. The context of this whole thing, like we talked about over and over, is heavy, but the songs are kind of fun, you know? And Wolf's home is, all right, kids, stop the nonsense and the bullshit. Dad's home. Everybody cut it out. There's two lines that really stuck out to me. One was, I don't do what I hate, which is a spin on I do what I hate from Man, from the Man Machine poem album, which is the first track on that. And then at the very end is, all I want is you. you know and you know all the all the references to to edgar downey throughout the the hips catalog and and everything that gore did and you know lonely end of the rank and all those things it's um yeah i just these first two songs really kind of wrap your arms around the entire album with with what you're going to get out of this and um it's nice that it was his parents that, were the the opening numbers you know it was really a touching couple of tracks there.Track 4:[27:25] Yeah absolutely it's a tribute really it is and a tribute to obviously what an upbringing to, be able to you know have this individual that again has left us with such amazing art but yeah mom and dad right off the the bat i don't know if you guys noticed this or not and i think craig was trying to show it i have lucky enough to have the vinyl of this but on all the it's all handwritten the lyrics that are in here but in each one i'm fairly certain it's the who the song's about but it's it's covered up and it's a different color and it's on every single song in both you know close the first and the second album craig.Track 3:[28:04] You referenced that black and white video and in that video the only bits of color are where they overlay they kind of superimpose gray uh, gourd's handwriting in red and blue and he's got that four color pen that he's always using on.Track 4:[28:20] All the interviews. Yep.Track 3:[28:21] And I also was super happy to figure out that he's a lefty in that video because they show him making a note. And I'm like, all right.Track 4:[28:30] Right on, left-handers.Track 2:[28:31] My daughter is going to love that. Yeah, so this song, Wolf's Home, again, yeah, definitely about his father. And it's such a catchy song. The melody in the chorus, the ascending melody and the way the timbre of his voice just, changes as he's going up to those high notes and just such a nice quality like, he's such a versatile vocalist i don't think he gets enough credit for the just the different voices he uses on on different styles of tracks.Track 3:[29:03] There was something that i read a few years ago about how gourd just stayed in the pocket with the hip and i'm like what the frig are you talking about like the guy will go until he doesn't have a voice on the low end and then he blows it out on the top, Mariah Carey style. Like, it's unbelievable, his range.Track 1:[29:21] Ha ha ha ha ha ha.Track 2:[29:23] Some interest interesting percussion sounds almost like on on the two and four there's some kind of a where the snare would be there's some kind of i don't know what it is almost sounds like toy drums or something or just something random in the studio they were hitting but, but yeah i have nothing really more to add just just a great song.Track 4:[29:40] Yeah and i'll pick up on bedtime the next one which is to one of the kids i'm not sure if it's specific or if it's just to his children in general or you know again just going through that the theme that we've been talking about is knowing you know and it really doesn't matter who it's to that does add to obviously the level of seriousness but for me it was I think Craig mentioned this as well it's like yeah there was something you could pick out right away but it really didn't matter at some points again just breaking down that these were the very personal letters that were going out and doing it in a manner of he gets to add the instrumentation to it and as as we've talked about on several of the different albums and different tunes then again this one is more of the piano ford as they had mentioned the emotion that can be evoked from from that backing music to it and and knowing looking at very few i think there was only like four or five of these tunes that were solely gourd so you had some of the other you know drew that was involved, and niles and some of the other that helped i think a little bit with some of the i mean i don't know what their breakdown was if they were more instrumentation if they were more the uh um the lyric side of it but but just uh again i think a masterpiece put considering everything and having kids we all went through this or i went through this with all my kids.Track 4:[31:06] Multiple times in a different manner and and but how important that was and how with each of my kids, I have those memories of that connection, right? And that was a way that you could help your spouse was putting the help and putting the kids to bed. So it evokes some, some, very direct and deep memories and then saddens you when you know that these are memories that his children are going to read and hopefully appreciate.Track 1:[31:36] Oh, I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine.Track 2:[31:41] Yeah. Definitely brought back memories for me of, of those early years with kids and the, the struggle of bedtime and just the, the passage of time, you know, the way that those nights would just seem to last forever. And you were just, Then you wake up the next day and do it all over again. And then yet the years just start flying by. And that's what struck me during this song is that just the passage of time and how strange the days are so long and the years are so short. So, Justin, what do you think?Track 3:[32:18] Like I said, this album was released, Gord Died, and this album was released when my daughter was four months old. and we still have her gray rocking chair upstairs that, um, why would I would rock her to sleep in? And when this album came out, I think I listened on the first day, this song came on as I was rocking her to sleep and I bawled like a frigging toddler. And, uh you know the the line um as if from a bomb backing up like whoa and the floor with the creaks of time and we're living in this old apartment above a barn you know that's you can't breathe without the floor creaking and then you get to the door and she wakes up like are you really like leaving like what do you get back here you know and like so this song i it totally destroyed me and as I'm trying to get her calm I'm losing it and so I had this is this was it I heard three songs on this album and I stopped for seven years until we started this project I do love this song very much but man did it hit home and I was already raw from from having lost Gord you know my musical hero ten days before and then shit this happens come on yeah.Track 4:[33:40] I wanted to speak about JD when you were talking in the intro. When Gord passed, it was as deep as any friend or family member that I can recall. I mean, it was a deep fetal position kind of cry. And especially having seen and just a break, we've already talked about it before in a prior episode, but on the long time running when on the last tour, when he would kiss everyone on the lips before they went out on stage, you just were overwhelmed by the amount of love this one individual had. And that, you know, to this day, it's still permeates in this discussion. So amazing.Track 1:[34:29] Well, let's stick with you, Kirk. Let's talk a bit about introduce yourself.Track 4:[34:33] Introduce yourself. Well, title track to the album. I'm sorry. I got to get this out of the way. I need to know so much more, or I need to visit the Danforth because some of my favorite songs always mentioned the Danforth. And I just have to imagine it's some beautiful place near Toronto because it's in like old apartment from bare naked lady, which is a song that I love. Several other Canadian bands mentioned the Danforth. So that was the thing that snuck that stuck out right because everything had been so emotional i needed some sort of brevity and so when i got to danforth the line danforth so i need to ask jd give me info on the danforth so the danforth is the.Track 1:[35:18] Other side of bluer street the eastbound corridor of the street we call bluer street in midtown yeah it's not down it's the roof of downtown is bluer street and it cuts across the Bloor Viaduct, the Prince Edward Viaduct, which has the luminous veil on it that we spoke.Track 2:[35:36] Of in another episode.Track 1:[35:38] Then the Danforth was traditionally Greek town. It had oodles of Greek restaurants. There was lots of Greek variety stores and that sort of thing. And in the early nineties, it became a very popular place to start a family. You buy a house pretty reasonably. Now it's, you know, just as it's, as is want to happen. And it's pushing further and further and further East because the original Danforth area is now, you know, like $3 million homes, $4 million homes. Uh, and then there's some areas that there are way more than that. And I'd be glad to take you on a mini tour when I'm here because that's where I live. You know, maybe a soda pop at my local. We'll see.Track 3:[36:23] Yeah. Love it. Let's do that.Track 4:[36:25] Yeah. So that was my, that was my takeaway on this, this particular one. And again, that just overwhelmed my thought process was needing to know more about the Danforth. So I appreciate you helping, helping me with that. So, yeah.Track 2:[36:41] So this song was, um, was written about Billy Ray, Billy Ray Koster, the longtime hip roadie. And so, um, it's really just a thank you. And at the end of the song, just, you know, I thank you for your help. Help. Such a simple line, but such a beautiful goodbye to this lifelong friend who, from what I remember reading years ago, is that Billy Ray just as a young man or someone in his late teens just wrote the hip saying, I want a job, I'll do anything, and just worked his way up. And he really became almost like a member of the band by the end. And just the story of of this song is hilarious. Like it's a, it's a emotional song, but it's also so funny. Like the, you know, the not it isn't, it isn't because, you know, maybe some of the reason he, he, you know, the story being that he needs to write, introduce yourself on his hand to show to Billy Ray. So he'll introduce himself to the driver of the car that he, that Gord should know the name of, but has forgotten. So, you know, was that because of, you know, the cancer maybe? And I think I know what Justin's going to talk about here. What was your first thought?Track 3:[37:56] I can picture them in the back of a car or the cab or whatever. And Gord's like, oh shit, you know, like, what do I do here? Yeah. I mean, there's not much more that I could peel back on this, but I do remember in the interim of deciding to put the album down when it came out. And now I do remember watching the live performance that Sarah Harmer, Kevin Hearn, right, did it. And it was awesome. It was really, really, really good. And I was like, oh, okay, that's, and I had no idea what it was about at that time. So I was like, oh, this is a really sweet song.Track 2:[38:29] The Junos.Track 3:[38:30] Obviously emotional, but, um, you know, hearing the, hearing the lyrics, I was like, Oh, okay. And I've referenced it a few times here, the interview, the sit down with Peter Mansbridge and yeah. And he's like, well, I've got your name here, so I don't call you Doug or whatever, you know? Um, yeah. So, uh, yeah.Track 1:[38:57] Right.Track 2:[38:59] That's what I was going for. Yeah.Track 4:[39:02] Hey, I got to say with Billy Ray, because most of the shows that I saw were in small clubs, he was just as much a member of the band as anyone else for all of my crew. We almost enjoyed seeing him more, right? He always had that kind of crooked cowboy hat. And he always had like either a roll of duct tape or a wrench or there was art, you know, there was always something that says I'm the tech guy like reminded you of Tom Hanks when he did that Saturday Night Live skit when he was a roadie for Aerosmith or whatever, but he was so much he was the flavor of it. It was like he had to come out and put the mic stand back up because Gord knocked it down, you know. And then I love the fact as well that on this album, as well as I think the last or a couple of the others, he plays drums on a few of them. So how fantastic is that from Craig, as you mentioned, like a letter, just this, hey, I want to do something for you. And then he becomes this lifelong friend. And now he's part of, you know, part of introduce yourself in the title track song and, uh, just such a character.Track 3:[40:11] So it also, uh, it reminded me of the roadie by tenacious D. Sebastian bringing this, you know, 55 year old groupie into the dressing room.Track 4:[40:23] Love it.Track 3:[40:25] Love it.Track 4:[40:25] Love it. Love it.Track 2:[40:28] As someone who is terrible with names, definitely made, made me laugh. And if I ever get a tattoo, maybe that's what it'll have to be. Cause man, I'm in my job. It's not the best quality.Track 3:[40:39] It's a good story though.Track 1:[40:41] Coco Chanel five. That's what I think, yeah.Track 3:[43:49] So this, I mean, it's got to be about Laura, right? And yeah, and the thing that made me doubt that was that there's a song later in the album about his first girlfriend. So maybe he's singing about all of them. But the thing that drove it home for me was the line when I was recording in Memphis, which is the Up To Here album. That would put the timeline about right. I, I feel awkward listening to the song, the song and the one about the girlfriend. Like I shouldn't, I shouldn't be in this room right now, you know? Yeah.Track 2:[44:20] That, that, that was my thing off the top was like, I didn't want to dive too deep into who these songs are about, but sometimes it's, yeah, that this, that's what I thought about this one. And, but you know, Gord put this out in the world, so we, it is okay for us to do this. It is, is um yeah.Track 4:[44:37] And i agree that it definitely could have been on secret path like it has very much that same feel musically right instrumentation musically that was very much and there was even a moment on this particular song where it it was an mvp for for me for a while oh interesting yeah i just i think because again secret path was so impactful and for me after like the great build buildup from Coke machine glow, you know, just that amazing buildup and you hit secret path and you're just, it was hard to go on. So it was, I, you know, I was glad to hear something to kind of wake me up out of that funk. So, uh, but just a great song, but yes, difficult to listen to at times that the line was very uncomfortable for me. It really was. It's so good.Track 3:[45:27] Don't even say it.Track 4:[45:28] I'm not, but it's very uncomfortable for me. And that's That's probably the reason why I didn't end up as my MVP. I'll be honest.Track 1:[45:38] Just a little too inside baseball, Gord. Let's go with Ricky, please. And we'll start with Craig this time.Track 2:[45:47] This is a song I don't have a lot of notes about. It's just a nice upbeat song that was needed at this point. And it's nice and short. Gave me, I've said this a number of times on this pod, but Ben Folds kind of vibes you know and I have no idea who Ricky is I really didn't look at the lyrics too closely in this one so.Track 1:[46:13] Okay. Anybody else got anything?Track 3:[46:15] So I had asked in the group chat if this was about Patrick, his brother Patrick. And I know that You, Me, and the Bees is about him too, but I was thinking Ricky might be a nickname for Patrick. But the reason why I asked that was one of the lines is, you got me to the only door I've got. And Gord references the door in interviews and at the end of his life. And I know that Patrick was very close to him and was kind of his caretaker at the end. Um, so that's where I was thinking that maybe this is maybe Patrick got two songs. I don't know. I really don't know, but it's obviously somebody who's been very close with him forever and, you know, dating back before the illness, of course, too. But yeah, I don't know who it's about, but that was my initial thought. And I, I don't know. I have no idea, but it is a very fun listen.Track 1:[47:06] Well, if you out there listening, no, send us an email, discovering downy at gmail.com. we'd love to hear from you kirk what do you got.Track 4:[47:15] This one it gets a little more upbeat and so the clock is going a little faster i i agree with you justin that there definitely has a a feel to this sounds like a brother at least from that that standpoint i love i love the instrumentation the repetitiveness the i i i did that was something that i have in my memory as far as a note for this so this.Track 3:[47:40] Song and and a few others sound like a marriage between now for plan a and man machine poem like they could be hip songs 100 from those two.Track 4:[47:49] Great agreed i would wild okay.Track 1:[47:51] I gotta think about this in a different way safe is dead is our next track and i think we'll start with justin this time yeah.Track 3:[48:01] So i guess i'm gonna say it again this sounds like it could be from Not For Plan A or Man Machine Poem. And I don't know... It's probably more like man-machine poem, I think, but I couldn't even tell you who this is about. But, you know, it's certainly previewing death or reliving somebody else's. I don't know. But the dark preview, who'd miss this fear, a damn silence, exiles meet. And then the dark brochure, full dark soon, and then the rise of a scarred moon. So, like, I wonder if the brochure is a literal brochure. Like, here's what to expect in your next year and a half with glioblastoma, you know? Like, good luck, read this, and you've got information.Track 1:[48:42] God.Track 4:[48:43] That's, I mean, honestly, that's very much the way I took it. Safe is dead. Like, there's no good information on here. So it was stark to me, even in the music. And then if you read in some of the liner notes, this was one of the only ones with some backing vocals, and I think Patrick was one of them. And I think Billy Ray was another one. I have to look that up. But so interesting when you think about who was involved in this song. And then, again, just that premise or thought, like whether it's a pamphlet or like his doctor saying, hey, this is what's up. So you're just like safe as dead. Yeah. That was my uh.Track 2:[49:31] Yeah justin you mentioned man machine poem and i have a note right here that says remind the vocals remind me of insarnia from that album and musically i was really drawn to this song it reminds me so much of a band called future islands and specifically there's a song called fall from grace on the singles album which was the album that broke them and i heard that.Track 3:[49:56] Song today on the drive home.Track 2:[49:57] Really yeah.Track 3:[49:58] It's funny it.Track 2:[49:59] Is so similar yeah and i love i love that's my one of my very favorite songs by future islands so this one really stuck with me just the the drum beat the repetitive notes in the piano if it was future islands it would be more of a synth sound but it's a very similar idea just this repetitive groove that just goes for the entire song the nice echoing at the end the vocals that you mentioned and the way the beat drops out there's like a single hand clap to end the song it's one of my favorites i think on the album tremendous and sorry and last thing what wait what like what such a gourd thing to say what what wait what like just awkward and but not from him when he says it it's just when you when.Track 4:[50:49] You hear it for the first time it doesn't sound like he's saying that i had a completely different phrase.Track 2:[50:54] In my brain.Track 4:[50:55] You know when you hear something you're rocket man burning up his when you hear that that's what i heard was.Track 2:[51:01] Something completely.Track 4:[51:02] Different until i read it and i.Track 2:[51:03] Went excuse me while i kiss this guy wait.Track 4:[51:05] What what yeah exactly there's a bathroom on the right on the right.Track 2:[51:10] Do we.Track 3:[51:15] Have to pay rights fees for these now jay no.Track 1:[51:17] No we're fine we're fine we got big podcast lawyers yeah well we go upbeat again with the next song uh in a celebratory sort of way kirk what do you think is spoon.Track 4:[54:10] I'm just going to ask this question up front. In the band Spoon, we had had some discussions about them on our exchange, and I didn't look deep enough. Are they a Canadian band? They're not, no. No? But popular up there, obviously, and is that who he's referring to when you go down to the bottom?Track 1:[54:32] It definitely is that band. in terms of popularity middling you know they're not a superstar band by any stretch but they sell you know they sell they sell records similar to what they are in the u.s they're still sort of underground you know to a lot of people even though they've had at least three breakout albums great indie band yes but.Track 3:[54:52] They're only an indie band you know they're.Track 1:[54:53] Not mainstream yeah.Track 2:[54:56] Yeah relating to the story i just told actually it was driving me nuts i i knew i had a ticket to spoon but i have no memory of the concert and it was just driving me nuts i actually pulled up my concert tickets yesterday and went through them all until i finally finally figured out what it was was that i just mentioned future islands they were playing a show at stanley park in downtown vancouver the you know the park and um spoon was headlining future islands was opening so i went for future islands they sold out of beer like in the opening band they may and not Not that I was there for beer, but the timing worked out perfectly though, because I actually had a second concert ticket that same night to see War on Drugs in downtown Vancouver. So we had to like run down the street, catch a bus down to downtown Vancouver and made it to the Vogue to see War on Drugs. This is, I don't know, nine years ago, I think. And so I missed Spoon. So I didn't even get to see five songs.Track 4:[55:54] You missed Spoon. I was going to ask if you had both. No. Okay. You missed Spoon.Track 3:[55:58] I haven't seen them, but I love them. And in particular, the album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga that is referenced on here. You don't even have to know that it's Spoon to know Don't You Ever or The Underdog or Cherry Bomb from that album. I know that if you heard them, you would recognize them instantly. They're radio hits. But Spoon's a freaking great band. And I'm jealous of the five-year-old kid who's in this song, which has got to be his youngest son, right? I would imagine.Track 1:[56:27] Well, he talks about recording in Maui with Bob.Track 3:[56:29] In Maui with Bob, yeah.Track 1:[56:31] So that would be what? That would be 2011?Track 2:[56:34] I think so.Track 3:[56:35] That would be the luster part of it, wouldn't it?Track 1:[56:37] That's what I've, that's what I've thought.Track 2:[56:38] I assume it's talking about either We Are The Same or World Container because he talks about we. He says we as in the band, like we were recording with Bob. Job so yeah and Maui is a place that um you know it's it's it's the destination for people in in Vancouver for vacation it's you know five hours away and so I've been there multiple times and so when he when I first heard the song and he starts dropping you know Haleakala the volcano Baby Beach is a place where when my son was just just a baby we took him to Baby Beach which is a a place where there's a like a natural barrier i believe it's natural there's no waves so you can actually take your toddler into the water they can just kind of play around in six inches of water and it goes out for for many meters and and i have these distinct memories and a great set of photos of my son on that beach talks about anthony's which is a little restaurant up in the in paella I believe, which is on the, if you're taking the road to Hana, very famous drive around the east side of the island, which I recommend to anyone who goes there. Brought back all these memories of my trips out there. And he even talks about his, I think his leg was broken or something. And one of my early trips to Maui, I was there on crutches. I had a hockey injury.Track 2:[58:03] So I had to cancel a bunch of my plans for that trip. And my son was very young. I think it was seven, eight months. And I remember the first day just taking the stroller for a walk and I'd go, you know, to the cinnamon roll place. And then I'd go back to the condo. And then the next day I'd go a bit further by the end. Within a week, I was walking for hours every morning. Like, you know, with the time change, I was up at 5.30 a.m. And taking him for just the longest walk. And just such a great memory. And I was fully healed by the end of that trip. That's great.Track 3:[58:35] There is the opening lines I just wanted to mention. You're transcendent. You taught me so many things. You taught me that help is all we to this dumb planet bring. What a nice compliment to give somebody.Track 2:[58:45] Right? And don't read the Apple Music translation because it says hell instead of help.Track 3:[58:51] That would change the song.Track 2:[58:52] You know, I've noticed on some of my listens.Track 4:[58:56] I'll look up a lyric because you can look on Spotify or whatever. And what you're hearing or what he's saying does not correlate with what the lyrics are so i noticed that on a few tunes i didn't write the specific ones down but uh that's interesting that you know it it translates it however it wants so i'm like he didn't just say what.Track 3:[59:17] It's for what it's worth i've had good luck on the website genius um when i when i can't find yeah and there's usually some notes some reference notes but they'll also capitalize words like like the album, the liner notes would have, as opposed to if you're listening to Spotify or YouTube or something that just doesn't take, you know, have that nuance. Right. Um, and I can add a lot of meaning.Track 2:[59:43] Yeah, and Kirk, you asked about Spoon being Canadian. While they're not, the band Deer Hunter, who Gord mentions in the song as the opener, they are from out east, I believe, Montreal maybe?Track 1:[59:55] Do you know, JD? I think it's in Quebec. Yeah, I think so.Track 3:[59:59] I think they are.Track 2:[1:00:00] I feel like I've seen them.Track 4:[1:00:01] Are they still active? Because I feel like I've just seen them recently, like opening up for Barenaked Ladies, which would make sense if they're Canadian.Track 3:[1:00:08] They have, they have a little bit of a following around where I live. Um, I haven't, I haven't seen them and I don't know much about them, but I know that the local station out of Albany, New York mentions deer hunter often. So yeah, there's still, I think there's still around.Track 4:[1:00:23] And I feel like I just saw them with bare naked ladies and, uh, what's the band that does closing time? Semi Sonic.Track 1:[1:00:30] Yeah.Track 4:[1:00:31] They were on the same, same bell.Track 1:[1:00:33] I went on a scavenger hunt in setlist.fm trying to find a show in Toronto that Deer Hunter opened for Spoon, and I couldn't track it down. That would definitely help us with the date in terms of figuring it out. I'm pretty sure they even say the venue in the song, don't they? In the lyric?Track 4:[1:00:58] Deer Hunter opened the show. The headliner was introduced. We did our best. We'd have to go soon. We got a t-shirt and we cut five tunes. Just enough to say that the first show for us, too, was Spoon. So anything else on Spoon?Track 3:[1:01:15] I listened to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga several times because of this song. Yeah.Track 1:[1:01:24] Next up, Craig, is A Natural.Track 2:[1:01:29] Yeah, this song is the... Okay, so I'm in Seattle. This is... What year was this album? 2017? And this would have been, I'm guessing, a couple of weeks after gourd passed and i was in a 10 days i was in a clothing store or something i think a vintage clothing store in seattle and my wife was shopping and i was just sort of hanging out and i heard this song i was it was kind of like lightly in the background i couldn't i wasn't paying attention to who it was but they always play great music in seattle on in these types of stories i find and then the chorus came on and that powerful voice of his with all that reverb and it hit me like like a ton of bricks like i was like yeah it was like gourd from beyond the grave um and i was just i was in the u.s i was i was just it was amazing and i remember thinking like what is this is this like a hip song that i somehow don't know is this a you know some other artist where he just sings the chorus and i you know tracked it down when i got home and realized it was on the album that i had unopened um and so this was one song that i did listen to over the years, yeah what'd you guys think of this one.Track 4:[1:02:54] Just this was one of those that was the kind of the synth pop you know feel behind it which i loved again because again correlating back to the ages is like, gord probably had an affinity for the 80s and certain aspects of it in certain songs and whether you like it or not you're still influenced by it because you get that kind of that's again the the keyboard the synth sent the type music there but yeah again as craig mentioned the um powerfulness in the voice during the chorus is it creates goosebumps it just fills you up and and again makes you thankful that you have a variety of different you know opportunities to listen to the voice you know whether it's a solo stuff for the hip and so you were you just you were thankful for it and just the imagery in this song you know just sitting there and it's soaking and wet you know bathing suit with a bb gun and just kind of iron you know you you've experienced that or you've seen it and so you just felt connected to the song right away but it was so intense and then just the song the course itself is just a praise you are a natural if you say that about someone they're just you know they're beyond special so very much a song that made an impression, especially with his vocal abilities, as we've all mentioned and commented on how phenomenal it is and how varied, which I think Craig mentioned as well, or Justin as well.Track 3:[1:04:23] I wondered if this was about his sister or one of his daughters. I don't know why, but just the scene, the way that it's set, it seems like he's singing about a female.Track 4:[1:04:35] I would not disagree with that.Track 3:[1:04:36] Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Well, and I was thinking that as they were kids, he's telling this story from his own childhood. Yeah. Don't know.Track 2:[1:04:47] That was my first thought too, but yeah, it could be. I feel like it is probably a child with one of his children.Track 3:[1:04:53] It also sounds a lot like a couple of songs in Secret Path.Track 2:[1:04:57] Yeah. The way he sings at the end though, I am the lucky one. That made me think I think maybe it was him as a father saying that line. And also to add to the 80s vibe, the bass, it really takes a lead in this song, very much like a Peter Hook style New Order.Track 4:[1:05:17] Yeah, great observation, Greg. I don't disagree with that at all.Track 1:[1:05:22] Well, let's wrap things up for this week with faith, faith. And we'll start with you, Mr. St. Louis.Track 3:[1:05:31] This one got me. Jesus, about the dog. I mean, I assume it's a dog. What else would be getting scratched under the chin? But, oh, my gosh, my puppy is just, well, the puppy is two years old. But, you know, I mean, what's nicer than the love that you get from your dog? and um very.Track 1:[1:05:54] Little in this world.Track 3:[1:05:55] Faith yeah but i mean just this song too is crushing take this take the dog out of it this is this is a masterpiece of a song and you can get emotional without lyrics with a song it's pretty damn amazing um so a couple of a couple of weeks ago, my mentor ken squire and you can google him he he's the one that got nascar on tv he's he's from around the way here and i worked for him for 20 years and he kind of took me up under his wing as the annoying kid who wouldn't stop asking for a job you know he's he's a legendary figure in the world of motorsport around the world so he he passed back in november and a few weeks ago they had his memorial service at his racetrack here in Vermont. And the most poignant part of the whole thing was they read a poem called The Sweetness of Dogs. This song brought me back to that moment where I welled up at his service and how the person and the dog are sitting under the moonlight. The person looks up at the moon and thinks, what could be more beautiful? And And the dog looks up to the person and thinks the same thing. And I'm just like, whoa. And the song just drains me. Yeah. Yeah. Ferguson, Ferguson's going to get this song the rest of his life.Track 4:[1:07:22] Yeah. It's, uh, it's, it's overwhelming. The, the passion that you feel when he screams the faith, faith, your faith, your faith, your faith. I think it's the Y-E-R, touching the nose every morning, one, two, three times, dark unwavering eyes. And if you have an animal, you know, especially if you have a dog for me, you know, I have my, my little guy, Andy, and we take our walks every day. And I do a lot of my gourd listening when I'm on a walk with my dog, you know, and it's, The dog has an attitude, and it's a great personality. And yeah, there's a love there that I think he captures, obviously, amazingly in the lyrics there.Track 2:[1:08:15] Yeah, I just have a note about the piano playing. So Kevin Drew on the piano, as we learned on the Secret Path album, he plays with a lot of feeling. And he's definitely got like a style to his playing. And I love how at the end he goes up the octave. And it's just, there's a lot of emotion in his playing, which really matches the lyrics. Now, unlike you guys, I'm not a pet person. I'm allergic to dogs. So it's not really my fault. Um so i've never had a dog i did have a cat growing up and i i do have a really great story but i'm gonna i'm gonna save it for when we have more time it feels.Track 4:[1:08:54] Like loving emmett otter craig that's what it feels like.Track 2:[1:08:57] Okay that's what it feels.Track 1:[1:08:59] Like well fellas uh it's been an absolute, pleasure to listen to your thoughts on the first half sort of i know it's not divisible the way the records are, but that's what we're going to cover this week. Let's bid adieu to our listeners and encourage you out there to shoot us an email, discoverydowney at gmail.com if you're enjoying what you're here. We'd love for you to join our community on Facebook, and of course we want to see you on July 19th at the Rec Room here in toronto tickets are available now at discovering downy.com.Track 4:[1:09:47] That's going to be a fun night i.Track 1:[1:09:51] Think so right.Track 4:[1:09:52] Really fun and do.Track 2:[1:09:55] People know like we've never actually met no i don't i guess i guess they.Track 1:[1:09:59] Wouldn't know that yeah.Track 2:[1:10:00] I mean i've i've met jd and kirk i guess in person very briefly yes uh kirk um a couple times and justin yeah yeah not not yet i haven't met you yet but But yeah.Track 4:[1:10:09] It'll be the first time for all four of us. Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:12] But we're all going to see each other on the night.Track 2:[1:10:15] It's going to be awesome.Track 3:[1:10:16] Yeah. Actually, we're going to see each other on the 18th too, aren't we?Track 2:[1:10:20] Road trip.Track 3:[1:10:21] Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:21] Yeah. Yeah. If you're out there and you're.Track 4:[1:10:24] We got to go to the.Track 1:[1:10:25] If you're out there, we got to see the dance tonight and you feel like meeting up with four dudes and you want to give us a tragically hip tour. That's a perfect opportunity. You guys are discovering Downey at gmail.com email. We would love that we would love nothing more than that so we'll have a film crew with us we can shoot some cool stuff and it'll be a lot of fun, pick up your shit.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gettinghiptothehip/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Buckle in because this is a personal album we're discussing on today's episode of Discovering Downie. A mere 10 days following Gord's death fans were gifted the posthumous diary, Introduce Yerself. Craig, Justin, and Kirk have little experience with this record. Things get raw!Thanks for clicking.Follow us on social media @gorddowniepodTranscript: Track 6:[0:00] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Long Slice Brewery presents a live event celebration of Gord Downie July 19th at The Rec Room in Toronto. Join the hosts of the podcast Discovering Downie as they record their finale with special guest Patrick Downie. A silent auction with items from the hip and many others will take place along with live entertainment from the almost hip. All proceeds will benefit the Gord Downie Fund for brain cancer research. For more information and tickets, please visit discoveringdowney.com. How it all works. Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downey.Track 1:[1:15] Hey, it's JD here. Welcome to Discovering Downey, an 11-part project with a focus on the music and poetry of Mr. Gord Downey. The late frontman of the Tragically Hip gave to the world an extensive solo discography on top of the hip's vocal acrobatics that awed us for years. So far, he's released eight records in total, three of them posthumously. You might be the biggest fan of the hip out there, but have you heard these records? Because I'm an inquisitive podcaster, I enlisted my friends Craig, Justin, and Kirk, giant fans in their own right to discover downy with me jd as their host every week we get together and listen to one of gourd's records starting with coke machine glow and working from there in chronological order we discuss and dissect the album the production the lyrics and we break it down song by fucking song this week we're dealing with the challenging introduce Introduce yourself. Craig, how are you doing this week, my friend?Track 2:[2:20] I'm doing well.Track 1:[2:21] That's good to hear.Track 2:[2:22] Can't complain.Track 1:[2:23] Gigging?Track 2:[2:24] Yeah, I had a big show on the weekend and it was sold out and we had played about 30 tunes and it was a great time.Track 1:[2:32] Oh man, I wish I had a teleport device. Yeah. So I could go to your gigs. You too, Kirk. How are you doing, man?Track 4:[2:40] I'm doing well. Thank you. Yeah. Had a gig last week and got some travel coming up. So just been kind of finishing up on some graduation things with the kids. And, you know, like I said, some work stuff, obviously spending lots of time with this, this little project we got going on, but yeah, doing well.Track 1:[2:59] It's a lot. It's a lot, but it's been a lot of fun so far. And part of the fun is Mr. Justin St. Louis. How are you doing, sir?Track 3:[3:08] I'm good, dude. It's hardcore, hardcore here in this house right now, but things are good, man. Things are good.Track 1:[3:16] Well, that's great. Just off the top, I want to say that we're starting to get some items rolling in for the silent auction for the fundraising event that we're hosting in July. We've got the PWHL Toronto franchise has given us a really cool donation that we'll be sharing online in the days and weeks to come. We also got a donation from the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tragically Hip themselves have donated something. We've got a great restaurant, Mighty Bird, that is donating. And there's lots of other stuff as well, like lots of great artwork and shit. So get your tickets.Track 4:[3:56] Hey, we have some beers too, right?Track 1:[3:58] We do have some beers. Yeah, Podcast Pilsner. It's got our logo on the can.Track 3:[4:03] Let's go.Track 1:[4:04] That right? Yeah. And it should be a decent price. It's made by our title sponsor, Long Slice, of course. So go to discoveringdowney.com and click on fundraising tickets. Bob's your uncle. So there's that.Track 4:[4:17] Bob's your uncle. Love it. I love it. That's like six one way, half a dozen the other. I tell that to anyone that's under 40 and they look at me like, what are you talking about? Like, just figure it out. ticks one way, half a dozen the other. That's very confusing.Track 1:[4:35] Yeah. It is.Track 3:[4:39] Every time I hear Bob's your uncle, I think of 101 Dalmatians. When the bad guys break in and steal the pups from the nanny, he says, well, be out faster than you can say Bob's your uncle. And that was the first time I ever heard it. Anyway.Track 1:[4:54] I found out it's not an American phrase. It's a Canadian and UK phrase. So I told a bunch of people this and they were like, I've never heard of this in my life.Track 3:[5:03] What do you mean? No. Yeah. Right.Track 1:[5:06] All right, time to get a bit heavy here, because on October 17th, 2017, we said goodbye to the man who walks among the stars. This was truly one of the more emotional days in my nearly 50 years on this plane. Only losing family and close friends has ever cut as deeply as sending Gord off to the abyss. Less than two weeks later though on october 27th 2017, gourd released a posthumous effort called introduce yourself, where do you start with this one in my mind there are elements from each of the previous five albums on display here i hear secret path on coco chanel number five to name one off the top of my head the sparse production handled deftly by kevin drew gourd's partner in creating this double record. I have to imagine the production and limited instrumentation could have been a result of Gord's condition at the time of recording. However, as sick as he was, he persevered through two sessions in putting this album together.Track 1:[6:15] The liner notes indicate that Gord took on the bulk of the guitar work while handling vocals, some synth, and a bit of percussion to boot. Mr. Drew handled piano, bass, organs, keyboard, and percussion. This album does also feature some great guest performers, notably Dave Hamelin, with some work on the drums, as well as synth, and finally, on Nancy, he plays a frickin' B-3. David Billy Ray Koster offered some additional drum work and background vocals, while Patrick Downey contributed background vocals and percussion on Safe is Dead. Jillian Weiss also added vocals to that track. Lastly, engineer and bathhouse resident Niles Spencer has his fingerprints on several songs, playing keys, creating beats, samples, and a Morse code sound on the 19th track, The Road. From the get-go, this album has been scoured by fans to try and determine who each song is about. You see, this album has a premise. Each of the 23 songs is about someone from Gord's life. This is clearly the most personal record Gord, or the hip for that matter, has ever released. I'm going to leave you with one more date that is significant to me with regards to Introduce Yourself. May 30th, 2024.Track 1:[7:35] This was the day I peeled the cellophane off my copy of the vinyl and finally listened to the album in its entirety. Prior to that Thursday in May, I just didn't have the stamina or emotional wherewithal to make a dent in what I now know is a celebration of the music, the man, and the legend, Gord Downie. Justin, what are your initial thoughts on this one?Track 3:[8:00] I could not handle this album when it came out. I tried it and I had to abort after five songs maybe. And I'll tell you, and maybe I should save it for the song, but there was one, this all happened when, when my daughter was a newborn, there was, there's one song that just wrecks me and, uh, still does. Um, there's several that do, but one particular, and I just had to put it away until this, this project came around. So, you know, I sat on it for seven years. I had tried it and I wasn't ready.Track 1:[8:31] Me too, man. Me too. I'm either going to apologize for this project or be thanked for this project to find out what Justin's thoughts were on some of these songs. Kirk, I want to hear from you.Track 4:[8:44] Yeah. Well, for me, this came after us doing Secret Path, and that was such an emotional...Track 4:[8:56] Couple of weeks. I mean, it really was because we'd already become so close to Gord before we even started this project. Then when we started this project, you just became intimately familiar and then secret path happens and you're just, and I needed a break. I needed a break from, I'll say Gord Downie solo and I needed to fall in love with the hip again. I think I got that record store day hip album and i put that on and then i just went on a journey and just kind of fell in love with the hip again but i took a long break to prepare myself for this and there's no amount to break or anything that could really prepare you for it and every listen no matter what the device was whether it was on my record whether it was in the car whether it was out walking the dog. It was just obviously beautiful when you think about these letters and that he had the opportunity to do it, but also just so extremely heartbreaking at the same time, right? And then one final thing for me, my wife and I had also just recently watched the new documentary that came out on Jim Henson, right? And we're big Muppets fans. And of course they had a little bit on, you know, on Craig and I's favorite Emmett Otter.Track 4:[10:20] But yeah, it's just real quick, you know, but the point I wanted to make was.Track 4:[10:27] The Muppets, Sesame Street, everything that Jim Henson created, right? And he passed when he was 53. And Gord passed when he's 53. And I'm 53.Track 4:[10:39] And I'll be honest with you, gents, I have been on this. I'm 53. And these two gentlemen created this body of artwork that has been so incredibly moving for so many people for so many generations. And it just really stopped me in my tracks and went, wow, I'm 53. If I went right now, what would my story be and what impact would I have? And how thankful, even though it was, and I say this because I'm 53, that we lost those two gentlemen so young. Thank goodness we have this to go back and listen and watch and read and discuss and record podcasts. And I'm just so thankful. So sorry, a very long-winded answer, but I needed to share that with you because I think all of us are gonna have these emotional moments throughout this recording today. And just thinking about like, if I had a chance to write letters to everyone before I went, like, I don't know that I could do that. So um so that every listen has just been that thought wow can you imagine you had to write a letter to all the people that you know you cared for just.Track 1:[12:02] Take a moment brother we appreciate you man hell yeah best 53 year old on this podcast by by a country mile i.Track 4:[12:13] Will i will accept that sorry i'll accept that thank you as i cry thank you all right.Track 1:[12:22] Craig no i always i always start my questions with like for some reason i'm like mclaughlin of the mclaughlin group uh i don't know if you remember that sketch on snl but i feel like what justin you know and it's like this episode is a lot more stark and i don't want to be like scaring the shit out of you as i'm asking you a question but craig i want i'm curious about your experience now yeah.Track 2:[12:51] Well really quickly just before we um get into that uh kirk um not sure if you knew this this will probably just make things worse but um jim henson at his funeral they actually used a song from emmett otter as the um as the song that played during his um ceremony so yeah So you know how much it meant to him? Yeah.Track 3:[13:11] He also wrote his own goodbye letter and just stored it away.Track 2:[13:15] Oh, wow.Track 3:[13:15] In case of emergency, right? Yeah.Track 2:[13:19] It's crazy. Yeah. So, J.D., much like yourself –, I bought this album when it came out, and it remained unopened. And I actually remember watching a video that was like a promotional video that came out around the time the album was released. And it was a black and white. I put it on for about 30 seconds, and I just, I had to turn it off. And I actually just, for the first time since then, watched it last night. And it made sense why it hit me that hard it was the north the very last song which we'll get to at the very very end of i guess next week's podcast and that is a heavy tune and gourd was, not looking his best during the recording of that and it was just sort of like a rehearsal take they were showing it was just heartbreaking to watch and it was such a sad song i didn't know what it was about at the time, but I just knew I could not listen to this album. And yeah, so when this podcast opportunity came up, that was my first thought was like, I've had, I've been waiting to crack this open and I was looking for the opportunity to, you know, the right time. And that time is here. And to build off what Kirk was saying, like this, this album is a gift.Track 3:[14:46] Yeah.Track 2:[14:49] To his loved ones who were the subjects of the songs, to his bandmates, to his fans. And it's beautiful. The fact that he got this out there, like Kirk said so well, how many people get, number one, the opportunity to do something like this, and number two, can bring themselves to write those hard words.Track 1:[15:15] Absolutely. Yeah.Track 2:[15:16] Yeah.Track 6:[15:17] And, and when you consider the condition that he was in when he recorded these things, it's absolutely mind blowing for heaven's sake.Track 1:[15:26] This isn't somebody who was fully operational. And there's songs that are just so well thought out and gorgeous and, and so gored, you know?Track 3:[15:38] Well, and he wrote it in two stages too. And, you know, I would say that the second stage was probably in worse condition, right?Track 1:[15:47] You're likely right.Track 3:[15:49] He was gone six months after, you know, wild.Track 4:[15:55] One thing, because this is a blanket statement for all of it, is in any of the, you know, quick research that you do, like most of these songs were recorded in one to two takes. You know, for multiple reasons, one, they didn't have the time and neither did he or the energy. And so when you, you know, when you thought about when I went through and listened to every song and just went like, you got this amount of time, you're going to do this. And, you know, and they end up, I mean, one to two takes on some of these albums, just some of these songs. Sorry.Track 3:[16:34] And that's all they needed to.Track 1:[16:37] Yeah, I think that rawness really adds another layer to the context in a certain way, doesn't it? Because it is raw emotionally, and then it's raw musically as well.Track 4:[16:48] Yeah, very much so, but still incredible. Like on a majority of those songs, you wouldn't know. I mean, the one thing I read, and I would agree, is it's a piano forward album. There's very much a piano keys. There's some great guitar lines, but, um, so that helps obviously from a production standpoint in, in getting your, your tone tonality and, but I also think that it just really added to the, the, the emotion that the points, I'm sorry, I'm, no.Track 3:[17:30] But you're right.Track 4:[17:31] It's just incredible that they were able to get some of this production down in the manner that they did. And as a whole, going back to 53, I could hear so many decades in the songs, in the musicality that he was trying to experience. There's literal 80s synth pop songs on this. There's ballads. And there's all of these. You know, for me, I reflected born in the seventies, you know, really experienced that music eighties, nineties, two thousands. And then obviously the stuff you were influenced before that. And that instrumentation, in my opinion, came through in a lot of these songs. And again, one in two takes blows me away. Yeah.Track 1:[18:18] Yeah. Yeah. Drew, Kevin drew deserves, uh, a heap of, uh, of credit for pulling this together. And Niles Spencer was the engineer on the project. So hopefully later this summer, you guys get to meet Niles and we get to look around the bathhouse. That would be tremendous.Track 2:[18:40] Yeah. That would be amazing.Track 3:[18:41] Yeah.Track 1:[18:42] So we'll see what we can do there. Should we get into this song by song?Track 2:[18:45] Yeah.Track 3:[18:45] Let's do it.Track 1:[18:46] Okay. Craig, we're going to start with you in first person.Track 2:[18:51] So i decided early on when i started listening to this album i i felt like i didn't want to dig too deeply into what you know who each song was about right but some are just so obvious so first person you know it's a song to his mother you know the first person that you know he sees the first person to bring him to life just a really great song to start the album with very emotional um, Yeah. And I don't know, I didn't look up if his mother is still alive or was alive when this was released. So, you know, at the end he's saying goodbye.Track 3:[19:30] He addressed her in the final Kingston concert.Track 2:[19:34] Okay.Track 3:[19:34] Yeah. And she was there for that. I mean, they were only a year apart, so I don't know this, but I would assume she was still alive at that point. And I don't know if she's now or not.Track 2:[19:44] Yeah just the you know again the chance to say goodbye to his mom and yeah it's not really, how things are supposed to go i guess but um not at all yeah and that yeah the last thing i'll say is just there's that you know the vocalizations after the word goodbye i talked about them last week on secret path but there's these like raw just emotional you know screams and like emotes that he makes um in in the secret path concert and on the album and on this album as well that you know just that i don't know guttural just raw human emotion that it's really cool, what'd you guys think yeah.Track 1:[20:25] We saw a lot of that on the final tour for sure that raw guttural emotion.Track 2:[20:29] And uh.Track 1:[20:31] It's mirrored on this record absolutely crystallized uh on vinyl and cd cassette i don't know if it's on cassette justin um where do you stand on first person.Track 3:[20:43] Can't add a whole lot more but there's one thing that is very consistent in this song and the second song and it's that quarter note bass drum heartbeat boom boom boom boom to the whole thing and it's, not by accident for sure yeah yeah.Track 2:[21:01] And that was a feature of secret path to a lot of other songs without heartbeat.Track 4:[21:06] And a clock too is what I heard. Yes. I heard it as an underlying heartbeat, but it was also- click it was also time moving yeah oh that's good yeah it it really hit me in.Track 4:[21:22] Fact i think it was last night on one of the one of the tunes i don't remember exactly which one it was but it was fitting and it was very much a clock and a heartbeat again love love the opportunity that we had the chance to to to listen to this and to listen to those thoughts you know that was one One of the things I was thinking of, and we can say this about all of them is sometimes it's hard to really express your feelings at any moment, face-to-face writing it down, you know, after the fact. And so often it's after the fact, you know, this entire album, but of course this song right away, acknowledging his mom, but just that I'm going to go through and I'm going to give everyone that I've been in touch with or that I've loved, you know, I'm going to express some feelings to them. And a lot of the times those things sometimes people feel might be appropriate to be private, but for me, I love that Gord was very open about those feelings and emotions. So just incredible. Absolutely incredible.Track 1:[22:28] Incredible yeah i couldn't agree with you more it's so heartbreaking and i don't know whether we should have put a trigger warning at the top of this episode uh as we did with secret path this is some heavy shit so let's move on to wolf's home, All I want is you, All I want is you.Track 3:[26:05] And the heartbeat, you know, it really just, that's the other half, right? This is a decidedly more upbeat tune. It's really catchy. It's kind of fun. And it really, you know, the track that follows this is heavy too, but it does set the tone for kind of the rest of the album. The context of this whole thing, like we talked about over and over, is heavy, but the songs are kind of fun, you know? And Wolf's home is, all right, kids, stop the nonsense and the bullshit. Dad's home. Everybody cut it out. There's two lines that really stuck out to me. One was, I don't do what I hate, which is a spin on I do what I hate from Man, from the Man Machine poem album, which is the first track on that. And then at the very end is, all I want is you. you know and you know all the all the references to to edgar downey throughout the the hips catalog and and everything that gore did and you know lonely end of the rank and all those things it's um yeah i just these first two songs really kind of wrap your arms around the entire album with with what you're going to get out of this and um it's nice that it was his parents that, were the the opening numbers you know it was really a touching couple of tracks there.Track 4:[27:25] Yeah absolutely it's a tribute really it is and a tribute to obviously what an upbringing to, be able to you know have this individual that again has left us with such amazing art but yeah mom and dad right off the the bat i don't know if you guys noticed this or not and i think craig was trying to show it i have lucky enough to have the vinyl of this but on all the it's all handwritten the lyrics that are in here but in each one i'm fairly certain it's the who the song's about but it's it's covered up and it's a different color and it's on every single song in both you know close the first and the second album craig.Track 3:[28:04] You referenced that black and white video and in that video the only bits of color are where they overlay they kind of superimpose gray uh, gourd's handwriting in red and blue and he's got that four color pen that he's always using on.Track 4:[28:20] All the interviews. Yep.Track 3:[28:21] And I also was super happy to figure out that he's a lefty in that video because they show him making a note. And I'm like, all right.Track 4:[28:30] Right on, left-handers.Track 2:[28:31] My daughter is going to love that. Yeah, so this song, Wolf's Home, again, yeah, definitely about his father. And it's such a catchy song. The melody in the chorus, the ascending melody and the way the timbre of his voice just, changes as he's going up to those high notes and just such a nice quality like, he's such a versatile vocalist i don't think he gets enough credit for the just the different voices he uses on on different styles of tracks.Track 3:[29:03] There was something that i read a few years ago about how gourd just stayed in the pocket with the hip and i'm like what the frig are you talking about like the guy will go until he doesn't have a voice on the low end and then he blows it out on the top, Mariah Carey style. Like, it's unbelievable, his range.Track 1:[29:21] Ha ha ha ha ha ha.Track 2:[29:23] Some interest interesting percussion sounds almost like on on the two and four there's some kind of a where the snare would be there's some kind of i don't know what it is almost sounds like toy drums or something or just something random in the studio they were hitting but, but yeah i have nothing really more to add just just a great song.Track 4:[29:40] Yeah and i'll pick up on bedtime the next one which is to one of the kids i'm not sure if it's specific or if it's just to his children in general or you know again just going through that the theme that we've been talking about is knowing you know and it really doesn't matter who it's to that does add to obviously the level of seriousness but for me it was I think Craig mentioned this as well it's like yeah there was something you could pick out right away but it really didn't matter at some points again just breaking down that these were the very personal letters that were going out and doing it in a manner of he gets to add the instrumentation to it and as as we've talked about on several of the different albums and different tunes then again this one is more of the piano ford as they had mentioned the emotion that can be evoked from from that backing music to it and and knowing looking at very few i think there was only like four or five of these tunes that were solely gourd so you had some of the other you know drew that was involved, and niles and some of the other that helped i think a little bit with some of the i mean i don't know what their breakdown was if they were more instrumentation if they were more the uh um the lyric side of it but but just uh again i think a masterpiece put considering everything and having kids we all went through this or i went through this with all my kids.Track 4:[31:06] Multiple times in a different manner and and but how important that was and how with each of my kids, I have those memories of that connection, right? And that was a way that you could help your spouse was putting the help and putting the kids to bed. So it evokes some, some, very direct and deep memories and then saddens you when you know that these are memories that his children are going to read and hopefully appreciate.Track 1:[31:36] Oh, I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine.Track 2:[31:41] Yeah. Definitely brought back memories for me of, of those early years with kids and the, the struggle of bedtime and just the, the passage of time, you know, the way that those nights would just seem to last forever. And you were just, Then you wake up the next day and do it all over again. And then yet the years just start flying by. And that's what struck me during this song is that just the passage of time and how strange the days are so long and the years are so short. So, Justin, what do you think?Track 3:[32:18] Like I said, this album was released, Gord Died, and this album was released when my daughter was four months old. and we still have her gray rocking chair upstairs that, um, why would I would rock her to sleep in? And when this album came out, I think I listened on the first day, this song came on as I was rocking her to sleep and I bawled like a frigging toddler. And, uh you know the the line um as if from a bomb backing up like whoa and the floor with the creaks of time and we're living in this old apartment above a barn you know that's you can't breathe without the floor creaking and then you get to the door and she wakes up like are you really like leaving like what do you get back here you know and like so this song i it totally destroyed me and as I'm trying to get her calm I'm losing it and so I had this is this was it I heard three songs on this album and I stopped for seven years until we started this project I do love this song very much but man did it hit home and I was already raw from from having lost Gord you know my musical hero ten days before and then shit this happens come on yeah.Track 4:[33:40] I wanted to speak about JD when you were talking in the intro. When Gord passed, it was as deep as any friend or family member that I can recall. I mean, it was a deep fetal position kind of cry. And especially having seen and just a break, we've already talked about it before in a prior episode, but on the long time running when on the last tour, when he would kiss everyone on the lips before they went out on stage, you just were overwhelmed by the amount of love this one individual had. And that, you know, to this day, it's still permeates in this discussion. So amazing.Track 1:[34:29] Well, let's stick with you, Kirk. Let's talk a bit about introduce yourself.Track 4:[34:33] Introduce yourself. Well, title track to the album. I'm sorry. I got to get this out of the way. I need to know so much more, or I need to visit the Danforth because some of my favorite songs always mentioned the Danforth. And I just have to imagine it's some beautiful place near Toronto because it's in like old apartment from bare naked lady, which is a song that I love. Several other Canadian bands mentioned the Danforth. So that was the thing that snuck that stuck out right because everything had been so emotional i needed some sort of brevity and so when i got to danforth the line danforth so i need to ask jd give me info on the danforth so the danforth is the.Track 1:[35:18] Other side of bluer street the eastbound corridor of the street we call bluer street in midtown yeah it's not down it's the roof of downtown is bluer street and it cuts across the Bloor Viaduct, the Prince Edward Viaduct, which has the luminous veil on it that we spoke.Track 2:[35:36] Of in another episode.Track 1:[35:38] Then the Danforth was traditionally Greek town. It had oodles of Greek restaurants. There was lots of Greek variety stores and that sort of thing. And in the early nineties, it became a very popular place to start a family. You buy a house pretty reasonably. Now it's, you know, just as it's, as is want to happen. And it's pushing further and further and further East because the original Danforth area is now, you know, like $3 million homes, $4 million homes. Uh, and then there's some areas that there are way more than that. And I'd be glad to take you on a mini tour when I'm here because that's where I live. You know, maybe a soda pop at my local. We'll see.Track 3:[36:23] Yeah. Love it. Let's do that.Track 4:[36:25] Yeah. So that was my, that was my takeaway on this, this particular one. And again, that just overwhelmed my thought process was needing to know more about the Danforth. So I appreciate you helping, helping me with that. So, yeah.Track 2:[36:41] So this song was, um, was written about Billy Ray, Billy Ray Koster, the longtime hip roadie. And so, um, it's really just a thank you. And at the end of the song, just, you know, I thank you for your help. Help. Such a simple line, but such a beautiful goodbye to this lifelong friend who, from what I remember reading years ago, is that Billy Ray just as a young man or someone in his late teens just wrote the hip saying, I want a job, I'll do anything, and just worked his way up. And he really became almost like a member of the band by the end. And just the story of of this song is hilarious. Like it's a, it's a emotional song, but it's also so funny. Like the, you know, the not it isn't, it isn't because, you know, maybe some of the reason he, he, you know, the story being that he needs to write, introduce yourself on his hand to show to Billy Ray. So he'll introduce himself to the driver of the car that he, that Gord should know the name of, but has forgotten. So, you know, was that because of, you know, the cancer maybe? And I think I know what Justin's going to talk about here. What was your first thought?Track 3:[37:56] I can picture them in the back of a car or the cab or whatever. And Gord's like, oh shit, you know, like, what do I do here? Yeah. I mean, there's not much more that I could peel back on this, but I do remember in the interim of deciding to put the album down when it came out. And now I do remember watching the live performance that Sarah Harmer, Kevin Hearn, right, did it. And it was awesome. It was really, really, really good. And I was like, oh, okay, that's, and I had no idea what it was about at that time. So I was like, oh, this is a really sweet song.Track 2:[38:29] The Junos.Track 3:[38:30] Obviously emotional, but, um, you know, hearing the, hearing the lyrics, I was like, Oh, okay. And I've referenced it a few times here, the interview, the sit down with Peter Mansbridge and yeah. And he's like, well, I've got your name here, so I don't call you Doug or whatever, you know? Um, yeah. So, uh, yeah.Track 1:[38:57] Right.Track 2:[38:59] That's what I was going for. Yeah.Track 4:[39:02] Hey, I got to say with Billy Ray, because most of the shows that I saw were in small clubs, he was just as much a member of the band as anyone else for all of my crew. We almost enjoyed seeing him more, right? He always had that kind of crooked cowboy hat. And he always had like either a roll of duct tape or a wrench or there was art, you know, there was always something that says I'm the tech guy like reminded you of Tom Hanks when he did that Saturday Night Live skit when he was a roadie for Aerosmith or whatever, but he was so much he was the flavor of it. It was like he had to come out and put the mic stand back up because Gord knocked it down, you know. And then I love the fact as well that on this album, as well as I think the last or a couple of the others, he plays drums on a few of them. So how fantastic is that from Craig, as you mentioned, like a letter, just this, hey, I want to do something for you. And then he becomes this lifelong friend. And now he's part of, you know, part of introduce yourself in the title track song and, uh, just such a character.Track 3:[40:11] So it also, uh, it reminded me of the roadie by tenacious D. Sebastian bringing this, you know, 55 year old groupie into the dressing room.Track 4:[40:23] Love it.Track 3:[40:25] Love it.Track 4:[40:25] Love it. Love it.Track 2:[40:28] As someone who is terrible with names, definitely made, made me laugh. And if I ever get a tattoo, maybe that's what it'll have to be. Cause man, I'm in my job. It's not the best quality.Track 3:[40:39] It's a good story though.Track 1:[40:41] Coco Chanel five. That's what I think, yeah.Track 3:[43:49] So this, I mean, it's got to be about Laura, right? And yeah, and the thing that made me doubt that was that there's a song later in the album about his first girlfriend. So maybe he's singing about all of them. But the thing that drove it home for me was the line when I was recording in Memphis, which is the Up To Here album. That would put the timeline about right. I, I feel awkward listening to the song, the song and the one about the girlfriend. Like I shouldn't, I shouldn't be in this room right now, you know? Yeah.Track 2:[44:20] That, that, that was my thing off the top was like, I didn't want to dive too deep into who these songs are about, but sometimes it's, yeah, that this, that's what I thought about this one. And, but you know, Gord put this out in the world, so we, it is okay for us to do this. It is, is um yeah.Track 4:[44:37] And i agree that it definitely could have been on secret path like it has very much that same feel musically right instrumentation musically that was very much and there was even a moment on this particular song where it it was an mvp for for me for a while oh interesting yeah i just i think because again secret path was so impactful and for me after like the great build buildup from Coke machine glow, you know, just that amazing buildup and you hit secret path and you're just, it was hard to go on. So it was, I, you know, I was glad to hear something to kind of wake me up out of that funk. So, uh, but just a great song, but yes, difficult to listen to at times that the line was very uncomfortable for me. It really was. It's so good.Track 3:[45:27] Don't even say it.Track 4:[45:28] I'm not, but it's very uncomfortable for me. And that's That's probably the reason why I didn't end up as my MVP. I'll be honest.Track 1:[45:38] Just a little too inside baseball, Gord. Let's go with Ricky, please. And we'll start with Craig this time.Track 2:[45:47] This is a song I don't have a lot of notes about. It's just a nice upbeat song that was needed at this point. And it's nice and short. Gave me, I've said this a number of times on this pod, but Ben Folds kind of vibes you know and I have no idea who Ricky is I really didn't look at the lyrics too closely in this one so.Track 1:[46:13] Okay. Anybody else got anything?Track 3:[46:15] So I had asked in the group chat if this was about Patrick, his brother Patrick. And I know that You, Me, and the Bees is about him too, but I was thinking Ricky might be a nickname for Patrick. But the reason why I asked that was one of the lines is, you got me to the only door I've got. And Gord references the door in interviews and at the end of his life. And I know that Patrick was very close to him and was kind of his caretaker at the end. Um, so that's where I was thinking that maybe this is maybe Patrick got two songs. I don't know. I really don't know, but it's obviously somebody who's been very close with him forever and, you know, dating back before the illness, of course, too. But yeah, I don't know who it's about, but that was my initial thought. And I, I don't know. I have no idea, but it is a very fun listen.Track 1:[47:06] Well, if you out there listening, no, send us an email, discovering downy at gmail.com. we'd love to hear from you kirk what do you got.Track 4:[47:15] This one it gets a little more upbeat and so the clock is going a little faster i i agree with you justin that there definitely has a a feel to this sounds like a brother at least from that that standpoint i love i love the instrumentation the repetitiveness the i i i did that was something that i have in my memory as far as a note for this so this.Track 3:[47:40] Song and and a few others sound like a marriage between now for plan a and man machine poem like they could be hip songs 100 from those two.Track 4:[47:49] Great agreed i would wild okay.Track 1:[47:51] I gotta think about this in a different way safe is dead is our next track and i think we'll start with justin this time yeah.Track 3:[48:01] So i guess i'm gonna say it again this sounds like it could be from Not For Plan A or Man Machine Poem. And I don't know... It's probably more like man-machine poem, I think, but I couldn't even tell you who this is about. But, you know, it's certainly previewing death or reliving somebody else's. I don't know. But the dark preview, who'd miss this fear, a damn silence, exiles meet. And then the dark brochure, full dark soon, and then the rise of a scarred moon. So, like, I wonder if the brochure is a literal brochure. Like, here's what to expect in your next year and a half with glioblastoma, you know? Like, good luck, read this, and you've got information.Track 1:[48:42] God.Track 4:[48:43] That's, I mean, honestly, that's very much the way I took it. Safe is dead. Like, there's no good information on here. So it was stark to me, even in the music. And then if you read in some of the liner notes, this was one of the only ones with some backing vocals, and I think Patrick was one of them. And I think Billy Ray was another one. I have to look that up. But so interesting when you think about who was involved in this song. And then, again, just that premise or thought, like whether it's a pamphlet or like his doctor saying, hey, this is what's up. So you're just like safe as dead. Yeah. That was my uh.Track 2:[49:31] Yeah justin you mentioned man machine poem and i have a note right here that says remind the vocals remind me of insarnia from that album and musically i was really drawn to this song it reminds me so much of a band called future islands and specifically there's a song called fall from grace on the singles album which was the album that broke them and i heard that.Track 3:[49:56] Song today on the drive home.Track 2:[49:57] Really yeah.Track 3:[49:58] It's funny it.Track 2:[49:59] Is so similar yeah and i love i love that's my one of my very favorite songs by future islands so this one really stuck with me just the the drum beat the repetitive notes in the piano if it was future islands it would be more of a synth sound but it's a very similar idea just this repetitive groove that just goes for the entire song the nice echoing at the end the vocals that you mentioned and the way the beat drops out there's like a single hand clap to end the song it's one of my favorites i think on the album tremendous and sorry and last thing what wait what like what such a gourd thing to say what what wait what like just awkward and but not from him when he says it it's just when you when.Track 4:[50:49] You hear it for the first time it doesn't sound like he's saying that i had a completely different phrase.Track 2:[50:54] In my brain.Track 4:[50:55] You know when you hear something you're rocket man burning up his when you hear that that's what i heard was.Track 2:[51:01] Something completely.Track 4:[51:02] Different until i read it and i.Track 2:[51:03] Went excuse me while i kiss this guy wait.Track 4:[51:05] What what yeah exactly there's a bathroom on the right on the right.Track 2:[51:10] Do we.Track 3:[51:15] Have to pay rights fees for these now jay no.Track 1:[51:17] No we're fine we're fine we got big podcast lawyers yeah well we go upbeat again with the next song uh in a celebratory sort of way kirk what do you think is spoon.Track 4:[54:10] I'm just going to ask this question up front. In the band Spoon, we had had some discussions about them on our exchange, and I didn't look deep enough. Are they a Canadian band? They're not, no. No? But popular up there, obviously, and is that who he's referring to when you go down to the bottom?Track 1:[54:32] It definitely is that band. in terms of popularity middling you know they're not a superstar band by any stretch but they sell you know they sell they sell records similar to what they are in the u.s they're still sort of underground you know to a lot of people even though they've had at least three breakout albums great indie band yes but.Track 3:[54:52] They're only an indie band you know they're.Track 1:[54:53] Not mainstream yeah.Track 2:[54:56] Yeah relating to the story i just told actually it was driving me nuts i i knew i had a ticket to spoon but i have no memory of the concert and it was just driving me nuts i actually pulled up my concert tickets yesterday and went through them all until i finally finally figured out what it was was that i just mentioned future islands they were playing a show at stanley park in downtown vancouver the you know the park and um spoon was headlining future islands was opening so i went for future islands they sold out of beer like in the opening band they may and not Not that I was there for beer, but the timing worked out perfectly though, because I actually had a second concert ticket that same night to see War on Drugs in downtown Vancouver. So we had to like run down the street, catch a bus down to downtown Vancouver and made it to the Vogue to see War on Drugs. This is, I don't know, nine years ago, I think. And so I missed Spoon. So I didn't even get to see five songs.Track 4:[55:54] You missed Spoon. I was going to ask if you had both. No. Okay. You missed Spoon.Track 3:[55:58] I haven't seen them, but I love them. And in particular, the album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga that is referenced on here. You don't even have to know that it's Spoon to know Don't You Ever or The Underdog or Cherry Bomb from that album. I know that if you heard them, you would recognize them instantly. They're radio hits. But Spoon's a freaking great band. And I'm jealous of the five-year-old kid who's in this song, which has got to be his youngest son, right? I would imagine.Track 1:[56:27] Well, he talks about recording in Maui with Bob.Track 3:[56:29] In Maui with Bob, yeah.Track 1:[56:31] So that would be what? That would be 2011?Track 2:[56:34] I think so.Track 3:[56:35] That would be the luster part of it, wouldn't it?Track 1:[56:37] That's what I've, that's what I've thought.Track 2:[56:38] I assume it's talking about either We Are The Same or World Container because he talks about we. He says we as in the band, like we were recording with Bob. Job so yeah and Maui is a place that um you know it's it's it's the destination for people in in Vancouver for vacation it's you know five hours away and so I've been there multiple times and so when he when I first heard the song and he starts dropping you know Haleakala the volcano Baby Beach is a place where when my son was just just a baby we took him to Baby Beach which is a a place where there's a like a natural barrier i believe it's natural there's no waves so you can actually take your toddler into the water they can just kind of play around in six inches of water and it goes out for for many meters and and i have these distinct memories and a great set of photos of my son on that beach talks about anthony's which is a little restaurant up in the in paella I believe, which is on the, if you're taking the road to Hana, very famous drive around the east side of the island, which I recommend to anyone who goes there. Brought back all these memories of my trips out there. And he even talks about his, I think his leg was broken or something. And one of my early trips to Maui, I was there on crutches. I had a hockey injury.Track 2:[58:03] So I had to cancel a bunch of my plans for that trip. And my son was very young. I think it was seven, eight months. And I remember the first day just taking the stroller for a walk and I'd go, you know, to the cinnamon roll place. And then I'd go back to the condo. And then the next day I'd go a bit further by the end. Within a week, I was walking for hours every morning. Like, you know, with the time change, I was up at 5.30 a.m. And taking him for just the longest walk. And just such a great memory. And I was fully healed by the end of that trip. That's great.Track 3:[58:35] There is the opening lines I just wanted to mention. You're transcendent. You taught me so many things. You taught me that help is all we to this dumb planet bring. What a nice compliment to give somebody.Track 2:[58:45] Right? And don't read the Apple Music translation because it says hell instead of help.Track 3:[58:51] That would change the song.Track 2:[58:52] You know, I've noticed on some of my listens.Track 4:[58:56] I'll look up a lyric because you can look on Spotify or whatever. And what you're hearing or what he's saying does not correlate with what the lyrics are so i noticed that on a few tunes i didn't write the specific ones down but uh that's interesting that you know it it translates it however it wants so i'm like he didn't just say what.Track 3:[59:17] It's for what it's worth i've had good luck on the website genius um when i when i can't find yeah and there's usually some notes some reference notes but they'll also capitalize words like like the album, the liner notes would have, as opposed to if you're listening to Spotify or YouTube or something that just doesn't take, you know, have that nuance. Right. Um, and I can add a lot of meaning.Track 2:[59:43] Yeah, and Kirk, you asked about Spoon being Canadian. While they're not, the band Deer Hunter, who Gord mentions in the song as the opener, they are from out east, I believe, Montreal maybe?Track 1:[59:55] Do you know, JD? I think it's in Quebec. Yeah, I think so.Track 3:[59:59] I think they are.Track 2:[1:00:00] I feel like I've seen them.Track 4:[1:00:01] Are they still active? Because I feel like I've just seen them recently, like opening up for Barenaked Ladies, which would make sense if they're Canadian.Track 3:[1:00:08] They have, they have a little bit of a following around where I live. Um, I haven't, I haven't seen them and I don't know much about them, but I know that the local station out of Albany, New York mentions deer hunter often. So yeah, there's still, I think there's still around.Track 4:[1:00:23] And I feel like I just saw them with bare naked ladies and, uh, what's the band that does closing time? Semi Sonic.Track 1:[1:00:30] Yeah.Track 4:[1:00:31] They were on the same, same bell.Track 1:[1:00:33] I went on a scavenger hunt in setlist.fm trying to find a show in Toronto that Deer Hunter opened for Spoon, and I couldn't track it down. That would definitely help us with the date in terms of figuring it out. I'm pretty sure they even say the venue in the song, don't they? In the lyric?Track 4:[1:00:58] Deer Hunter opened the show. The headliner was introduced. We did our best. We'd have to go soon. We got a t-shirt and we cut five tunes. Just enough to say that the first show for us, too, was Spoon. So anything else on Spoon?Track 3:[1:01:15] I listened to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga several times because of this song. Yeah.Track 1:[1:01:24] Next up, Craig, is A Natural.Track 2:[1:01:29] Yeah, this song is the... Okay, so I'm in Seattle. This is... What year was this album? 2017? And this would have been, I'm guessing, a couple of weeks after gourd passed and i was in a 10 days i was in a clothing store or something i think a vintage clothing store in seattle and my wife was shopping and i was just sort of hanging out and i heard this song i was it was kind of like lightly in the background i couldn't i wasn't paying attention to who it was but they always play great music in seattle on in these types of stories i find and then the chorus came on and that powerful voice of his with all that reverb and it hit me like like a ton of bricks like i was like yeah it was like gourd from beyond the grave um and i was just i was in the u.s i was i was just it was amazing and i remember thinking like what is this is this like a hip song that i somehow don't know is this a you know some other artist where he just sings the chorus and i you know tracked it down when i got home and realized it was on the album that i had unopened um and so this was one song that i did listen to over the years, yeah what'd you guys think of this one.Track 4:[1:02:54] Just this was one of those that was the kind of the synth pop you know feel behind it which i loved again because again correlating back to the ages is like, gord probably had an affinity for the 80s and certain aspects of it in certain songs and whether you like it or not you're still influenced by it because you get that kind of that's again the the keyboard the synth sent the type music there but yeah again as craig mentioned the um powerfulness in the voice during the chorus is it creates goosebumps it just fills you up and and again makes you thankful that you have a variety of different you know opportunities to listen to the voice you know whether it's a solo stuff for the hip and so you were you just you were thankful for it and just the imagery in this song you know just sitting there and it's soaking and wet you know bathing suit with a bb gun and just kind of iron you know you you've experienced that or you've seen it and so you just felt connected to the song right away but it was so intense and then just the song the course itself is just a praise you are a natural if you say that about someone they're just you know they're beyond special so very much a song that made an impression, especially with his vocal abilities, as we've all mentioned and commented on how phenomenal it is and how varied, which I think Craig mentioned as well, or Justin as well.Track 3:[1:04:23] I wondered if this was about his sister or one of his daughters. I don't know why, but just the scene, the way that it's set, it seems like he's singing about a female.Track 4:[1:04:35] I would not disagree with that.Track 3:[1:04:36] Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Well, and I was thinking that as they were kids, he's telling this story from his own childhood. Yeah. Don't know.Track 2:[1:04:47] That was my first thought too, but yeah, it could be. I feel like it is probably a child with one of his children.Track 3:[1:04:53] It also sounds a lot like a couple of songs in Secret Path.Track 2:[1:04:57] Yeah. The way he sings at the end though, I am the lucky one. That made me think I think maybe it was him as a father saying that line. And also to add to the 80s vibe, the bass, it really takes a lead in this song, very much like a Peter Hook style New Order.Track 4:[1:05:17] Yeah, great observation, Greg. I don't disagree with that at all.Track 1:[1:05:22] Well, let's wrap things up for this week with faith, faith. And we'll start with you, Mr. St. Louis.Track 3:[1:05:31] This one got me. Jesus, about the dog. I mean, I assume it's a dog. What else would be getting scratched under the chin? But, oh, my gosh, my puppy is just, well, the puppy is two years old. But, you know, I mean, what's nicer than the love that you get from your dog? and um very.Track 1:[1:05:54] Little in this world.Track 3:[1:05:55] Faith yeah but i mean just this song too is crushing take this take the dog out of it this is this is a masterpiece of a song and you can get emotional without lyrics with a song it's pretty damn amazing um so a couple of a couple of weeks ago, my mentor ken squire and you can google him he he's the one that got nascar on tv he's he's from around the way here and i worked for him for 20 years and he kind of took me up under his wing as the annoying kid who wouldn't stop asking for a job you know he's he's a legendary figure in the world of motorsport around the world so he he passed back in november and a few weeks ago they had his memorial service at his racetrack here in Vermont. And the most poignant part of the whole thing was they read a poem called The Sweetness of Dogs. This song brought me back to that moment where I welled up at his service and how the person and the dog are sitting under the moonlight. The person looks up at the moon and thinks, what could be more beautiful? And And the dog looks up to the person and thinks the same thing. And I'm just like, whoa. And the song just drains me. Yeah. Yeah. Ferguson, Ferguson's going to get this song the rest of his life.Track 4:[1:07:22] Yeah. It's, uh, it's, it's overwhelming. The, the passion that you feel when he screams the faith, faith, your faith, your faith, your faith. I think it's the Y-E-R, touching the nose every morning, one, two, three times, dark unwavering eyes. And if you have an animal, you know, especially if you have a dog for me, you know, I have my, my little guy, Andy, and we take our walks every day. And I do a lot of my gourd listening when I'm on a walk with my dog, you know, and it's, The dog has an attitude, and it's a great personality. And yeah, there's a love there that I think he captures, obviously, amazingly in the lyrics there.Track 2:[1:08:15] Yeah, I just have a note about the piano playing. So Kevin Drew on the piano, as we learned on the Secret Path album, he plays with a lot of feeling. And he's definitely got like a style to his playing. And I love how at the end he goes up the octave. And it's just, there's a lot of emotion in his playing, which really matches the lyrics. Now, unlike you guys, I'm not a pet person. I'm allergic to dogs. So it's not really my fault. Um so i've never had a dog i did have a cat growing up and i i do have a really great story but i'm gonna i'm gonna save it for when we have more time it feels.Track 4:[1:08:54] Like loving emmett otter craig that's what it feels like.Track 2:[1:08:57] Okay that's what it feels.Track 1:[1:08:59] Like well fellas uh it's been an absolute, pleasure to listen to your thoughts on the first half sort of i know it's not divisible the way the records are, but that's what we're going to cover this week. Let's bid adieu to our listeners and encourage you out there to shoot us an email, discoverydowney at gmail.com if you're enjoying what you're here. We'd love for you to join our community on Facebook, and of course we want to see you on July 19th at the Rec Room here in toronto tickets are available now at discovering downy.com.Track 4:[1:09:47] That's going to be a fun night i.Track 1:[1:09:51] Think so right.Track 4:[1:09:52] Really fun and do.Track 2:[1:09:55] People know like we've never actually met no i don't i guess i guess they.Track 1:[1:09:59] Wouldn't know that yeah.Track 2:[1:10:00] I mean i've i've met jd and kirk i guess in person very briefly yes uh kirk um a couple times and justin yeah yeah not not yet i haven't met you yet but But yeah.Track 4:[1:10:09] It'll be the first time for all four of us. Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:12] But we're all going to see each other on the night.Track 2:[1:10:15] It's going to be awesome.Track 3:[1:10:16] Yeah. Actually, we're going to see each other on the 18th too, aren't we?Track 2:[1:10:20] Road trip.Track 3:[1:10:21] Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:21] Yeah. Yeah. If you're out there and you're.Track 4:[1:10:24] We got to go to the.Track 1:[1:10:25] If you're out there, we got to see the dance tonight and you feel like meeting up with four dudes and you want to give us a tragically hip tour. That's a perfect opportunity. You guys are discovering Downey at gmail.com email. We would love that we would love nothing more than that so we'll have a film crew with us we can shoot some cool stuff and it'll be a lot of fun, pick up your shit.
This interview features North Bay vocalist, guitarist, and photographer Brian Byrnes. The Brian Byrnes Band will perform on Friday, July 12, for a free concert at the Cadillac Hotel in San Francisco. In addition to being a respected musician, Brian Byrnes is also a noted photographer, and his work graces the cover of a Jimi Hendrix album. Six weeks before Hendrix died in London in September 1970, Brian Byrnes caught his penultimate United States concerts, a couple of free outdoor shows on a hastily erected stage in a livestock pasture below the Haleakala volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Two color photos he shot that day are on the front and back covers of a new album, “Live in Maui,” released on vinyl and as a boxed set of CDs. Other shots of his are all over the liner notes and the CD booklet and were also used in a feature-length documentary, “Music, Money Madness … Jimi Hendrix in Maui,” released on Blu-ray. Byrnes is shown in the film, saying seeing Hendrix “was like a gift from God for me.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/backstagejazz/message
Today's West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy Podcast for our especially special Daily Special, Metro Shrimp & Grits Thursdays, is now available on the Spreaker Player!Starting off in the Bistro Cafe, Aileen Cannon issued a new tactic to delay Trump's espionage trial.Then, on the rest of the menu, a state ethics panel ruled an Oregon lawmaker who suggested non-Christians are ill-suited for elected office did not violate House rules; Local officials on the Hawaiian island of Maui voted to oppose a US military proposal to build new telescopes on the summit of Haleakala volcano; and, a hail stone the size of a pineapple found in Texas will likely set a state record.After the break, we move to the Chef's Table where the Emirati leader met with a Taliban official facing a $10 million US bounty over attacks on US citizens; and, the Netherlands is the first to kick off four days of European Union elections across twenty-seven nations.All that and more, on West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy with Chef de Cuisine Justice Putnam.Bon Appétit!The Netroots Radio Live PlayerKeep Your Resistance Radio Beaming 24/7/365!“Everyone in this good city enjoys the full right to pursue his own inclinations in all reasonable and, unreasonable ways.”-- The Daily Picayune,New Orleans, March 5, 1851Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/west-coast-cookbook-speakeasy--2802999/support.
A cruise ship stokes public concern when it appeared to come too close to the Na Pali Coast. The warning from the DLNR for *all cruise lines. Maui's County Council considers a resolution against a new telescope proposal on Haleakala. How you can voice your opinion. The government will start distributing Wi-Fi hotspots to customers of Sandwich Isles Communications. Why those residents went weeks without internet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
If you haven't been to Hawaii in a few years, there's one big change waiting for you here: reservation requirements at parks and beaches. It began as a way to control crowds and guarantee spots at high-demand attractions. Now the program has grown and spread throughout the state. You'll see at select national, county, and state parks in Hawaii – but not all of them (not yet, anyway!). What does that mean for your vacation? Well, you can no longer come to Hawaii and just “wing it.” Not without some disappointments, anyway. You'll want to plan your itinerary with a little more care. And it all starts with knowing which attractions require reservations. Let's learn about Hawaii's reservation requirements and get an idea of how to plan for it as you look forward to your vacation. What to know About Hawaii Reservations at Park Many parks and areas in Hawaii now require reservations to visit, and more will likely be added to the list in the next year or two. This is to help keep crowds down, reserve space for residents, and help maintain some environmental balance. Also, some areas have become off-limits except to approved tour companies. So though Waipio Valley on Hawaii Island isn't a park and doesn't have a public reservation system, you do need to book a tour in advance to visit that area. But for now, reservations are just required at a handful of parks and locations that have been overwhelmed with visitors – especially since the post-COVID visitor surge. In most cases, these aren't make-or-break fees. Instead, it's a few bucks that you need to pay online to secure your spot. Here's what to look for as you reserve your Hawaii activities: What Are You Paying For When You Make a Reservation? Some reservation systems require you to pay a full entry fee when you sign up online. Others (like Haleakala National Park Sunrise Reservations) require you to pay a couple of dollars online and then pay your remaining entry fee at the gate. Review what you're paying for as you make your reservations so there are no surprises later. How Far In Advance Can You Reserve? Most parks have a revolving window where you can make reservations. For example, you can make Pearl Harbor reservations up to 8 weeks in advance, with additional tickets becoming available the day before. It's Worth Checking for Last-Minute Hawaii Reservations For peak days and times, reservations get booked up quickly. If you are planning a spur-of-the-moment outing, check on the reservation site to see if there happen to be any openings. It could be your lucky day. If not, head to a park that doesn't require reservations. Sunrise at Haleakala and Throughout Hawaii It was always an early start if you wanted to watch the sunrise at Haleakala National Park. But we used to have to plan to get there even earlier than necessary because of crowds. When I took visitors up to the peak of Haleakala to watch the sunrise, we were always worried about the parking lots becoming full, and us getting turned away at the gate. But then, in 2017, the park introduced a reservation system. For $1.50, you secured your spot in the park, allowing you to drive up without worrying about getting turned away. The reservations weren't optional – you had to have one to access the park during sunrise hours. Now, years later, the reservation requirement endures. And while some hopeful sunrise spectators see it as an obstacle to accessing Haleakala, I appreciate the assurance of it. You have your reservation, you're all set, and you know you're not risking getting turned away after waking up early and driving up to the mountaintop. And, if you can't secure a pass for sunrise access, you can always watch the (often equally) stunning Haleakala sunset without reservation. Post-Covid Tourism Surge During Covid, some parks began requiring reservations to control gathering sizes. But the real regulation happened post-covid,
If you haven't been to Hawaii in a few years, there's one big change waiting for you here: reservation requirements at parks and beaches. It began as a way to control crowds and guarantee spots at high-demand attractions. Now the program has grown and spread throughout the state. You'll see at select national, county, and state parks in Hawaii – but not all of them (not yet, anyway!). What does that mean for your vacation? Well, you can no longer come to Hawaii and just “wing it.” Not without some disappointments, anyway. You'll want to plan your itinerary with a little more care. And it all starts with knowing which attractions require reservations. Let's learn about Hawaii's reservation requirements and get an idea of how to plan for it as you look forward to your vacation. What to know About Hawaii Reservations at Park Many parks and areas in Hawaii now require reservations to visit, and more will likely be added to the list in the next year or two. This is to help keep crowds down, reserve space for residents, and help maintain some environmental balance. Also, some areas have become off-limits except to approved tour companies. So though Waipio Valley on Hawaii Island isn't a park and doesn't have a public reservation system, you do need to book a tour in advance to visit that area. But for now, reservations are just required at a handful of parks and locations that have been overwhelmed with visitors – especially since the post-COVID visitor surge. In most cases, these aren't make-or-break fees. Instead, it's a few bucks that you need to pay online to secure your spot. Here's what to look for as you reserve your Hawaii activities: What Are You Paying For When You Make a Reservation? Some reservation systems require you to pay a full entry fee when you sign up online. Others (like Haleakala National Park Sunrise Reservations) require you to pay a couple of dollars online and then pay your remaining entry fee at the gate. Review what you're paying for as you make your reservations so there are no surprises later. How Far In Advance Can You Reserve? Most parks have a revolving window where you can make reservations. For example, you can make Pearl Harbor reservations up to 8 weeks in advance, with additional tickets becoming available the day before. It's Worth Checking for Last-Minute Hawaii Reservations For peak days and times, reservations get booked up quickly. If you are planning a spur-of-the-moment outing, check on the reservation site to see if there happen to be any openings. It could be your lucky day. If not, head to a park that doesn't require reservations. Sunrise at Haleakala and Throughout Hawaii It was always an early start if you wanted to watch the sunrise at Haleakala National Park. But we used to have to plan to get there even earlier than necessary because of crowds. When I took visitors up to the peak of Haleakala to watch the sunrise, we were always worried about the parking lots becoming full, and us getting turned away at the gate. But then, in 2017, the park introduced a reservation system. For $1.50, you secured your spot in the park, allowing you to drive up without worrying about getting turned away. The reservations weren't optional – you had to have one to access the park during sunrise hours. Now, years later, the reservation requirement endures. And while some hopeful sunrise spectators see it as an obstacle to accessing Haleakala, I appreciate the assurance of it. You have your reservation, you're all set, and you know you're not risking getting turned away after waking up early and driving up to the mountaintop. And, if you can't secure a pass for sunrise access, you can always watch the (often equally) stunning Haleakala sunset without reservation. Post-Covid Tourism Surge During Covid, some parks began requiring reservations to control gathering sizes. But the real regulation happened post-covid,
In Waikiki. The city is making emergency repairs along a stretch of Kuhio Avenue for the next 3 weeks. Our Lacy Deniz will be keeping an eye on the roads this morning. On Maui. The summit of Haleakala national park is closed due to an incoming winter storm. More details on the freezing conditions expected there. What if it happens again? Five months after the Lahaina wildfire tragedy, the state still does not have an emergency action plan for wildfires. The response from emergency management officials. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Are you exhausted? Can you no longer find joy in your life or relationships? It's time for a change or maybe a transition. Listen to how Dr. Radhika Sharma Curtis, and her hubby, both OB/GYNs, decided to take control of their lives and recreate the joy they craved and how you can too. And if you are looking to spice up your love life, come on Honeymoon 2.0 with your hunny. Save the date now! October 7-11, 2024 at the Four Seasons in Maui. An unforgettable couples retreat where desires will be fulfilled. Haleakala magical mountain bike ride through a cloud, surfing, hula dancing, couples coaching, intimacy challenges and more!
Auf dem Vulkan Haleakala der Hawaii-Insel Maui befindet sich das größte Sonnenteleskop der Welt. Andere Instrumente dort suchen den Himmel nach sich bewegenden Objekten ab – erdnahen Asteroiden, Kometen und Satelliten.Lorenzen, Dirkwww.deutschlandfunk.de, SternzeitDirekter Link zur Audiodatei
Kaniela Ing and Kahala Johnson talk about the connection between colonialism and the fires devastating Maui. But first Katie is joined by comedian & historian Justin Williams to go over recent news stories. Kaniela Ing is a former member of the Hawaii House of Representatives representing Maui, currently national director of the Green New Deal Network. Kahala Johnson (He/They/Oia/Siya) is a Hawaiian-Filipinx organizer from Waiehu, Maui and a Kiai of Haleakala and Mauna Kea. ***Please support The Katie Halper Show *** For bonus content, exclusive interviews, to support independent media & to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow Get your Katie Halper Show Merch here! https://katiehalper.myspreadshop.com/all Follow Katie on Twitter: @kthalps
A unique blend of world instruments, gongs, crystal singing bowls, chants and mantras, tribal drums create the soundscape for your journey. This sound healing was created at the foot of Haleakala, Maui . For more information visit https://www.mauisoundhealing.comFor more information about my services and private retreats please visit https://www.mauisoundhealing.com
Hawaii's Best - Guide to Travel Tips, Vacation, and Local Business in Hawaii
Aloha, fellow adventurers! Have you ever wondered which Hawaiian island would be the best fit for your next dream vacation? Join us as we embark on a captivating journey exploring the unique offerings of Hawaii's four major islands - Hawaii (the Big Island), Maui (the Valley Isle), Oahu (the Gathering Place), and Kauai (the Garden Island). We'll also give you the scoop on the four smaller islands - Molokai (the Friendly Isle), Lanai (the Pineapple Isle), Ni'ihau (the Forbidden Isle), and Kaho'olawe (the Target Isle). No matter your travel goals or stage in life, we've got you covered in finding the perfect island escape. But wait, there's more! In this episode, we dive deeper into the pros and cons of Oahu and Maui, revealing why they are the top picks for young families, bachelor and bachelorette parties, budget travelers, solo adventurers, and first-time visitors. Be mesmerized by the best whale watching spots on Maui and the awe-inspiring sunrise at Haleakala, and get the lowdown on luxury resorts. Whether you're seeking the hustle and bustle of Honolulu or the serenity of Kauai, our expert insights will help you find the authentic Hawaiian experience you've been craving. So, grab your headphones, slap on some sunscreen, and let's escape to paradise together!-> Learn More
We had the pleasure of welcoming our friends, Dean and Maria Showalter, on their first trip to Maui this past month. Their trip lasted two weeks, and it was a working vacation for Dean as he served the Fly Maui flight school with airplane maintenance. When not working at the hangar, Dean and Maria enjoyed all that Maui has to offer… from one coast to the other, and from the sea to the summit of Haleakala. Dean is the host of a popular aviation podcast, and this episode is a replay of his own podcast episode where he debriefs their Maui adventure. There's lots of great travel information, so enjoy! Dean hosts the Airplane Owner Maintenance podcast. He is also an accomplished commercial pilot and flight instructor. Check out Dean's website here: https://airplaneownermaintenance.com/ Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ Check out our 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps/SUV on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/volkswagen/taos/1651888 Turo vehicles not available? Get the best deal on a rental car with our partner Discount Hawaii Car Rental. https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/?referral_code=rwgcsnczif Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a scenic tour flight with Fly Maui and see the island from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. Special pricing for our visiting pilots! Fill out the contact form to inquire about booking! https://www.flymauihi.com/contact Find Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
Haleakala is a dormant shield volcano that makes up nearly 75% of Maui island. It's the home of Haleakala National Park, and its summit district is a place that you don't want to miss visiting on your Maui vacation. On this episode, we will share how we personally incorporate a visit to the summit when we have family come to visit. We make a whole day of it, from breakfast in Makawao, to a “warm-up” hike in Olinda, visiting the summit, then ending the day at one of our favorite Maui restaurants. Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ Mentioned on this episode: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/hawaii/maui/waihou-spring-trail https://www.nps.gov/hale/index.htm https://kulabistro.com/ https://kulamarketplace.com/ Check out our 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps/SUV on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/volkswagen/taos/1651888 Turo vehicles not available? Get the best deal on a rental car with our partner Discount Hawaii Car Rental. https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/?referral_code=rwgcsnczif Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a scenic tour flight with Fly Maui and see the island from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. Special pricing for our visiting pilots! Fill out the contact form to inquire about booking! https://www.flymauihi.com/contact Find Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
The nation's top military leaders, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, met to discuss the situation at Red Hill and Haleakala.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The US Geological Survey operates five different volcano observatories around the country. These observatories monitor real-time volcanic, hydrothermal, and earthquake activity in Alaska, the Cascade Mountains, California's Long Valley Caldera, Yellowstone National Park, and the State of Hawaii. There are virtual partnerships between federal and state agencies, university-based researchers, and scientists. Their work involves monitoring, measuring, and analyzing data, all helping to increase our understanding of these powerful and fascinating geologic forces. This week Lynn Riddick catches up with Matt Patrick, a research geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. He and his colleagues have seen quite a bit of awe-inspiring volcanic action recently, with eruptions from Mauna Loa and Kīlauea within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
The Space Force says a bolt of lightning likely triggered a fuel spill on Haleakala just over a week ago. On Oahu, the Board of Water Supply is opposing a draft consent order for Red Hill. They say the EPA should not approve it. Officials say they'll need to close Kamehameha Highway at Waimea Bay again to reduce the threat of rockfalls. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The military will be holding a press conference after about 700 gallons of diesel fuel spilled at Haleakala last week. Two men on Hawaii island are dead after a fiery crash in South Kohala. On Maui, the firefighter who was swept away in a storm drain last month has died. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
New questions this morning about the military's stewardship of Hawaii's precious places. We'll share what we've learned about a large diesel fuel leak at the summit of Haleakala. PLUS: Treacherous weather. Snow and ice have led to hundreds of crashes on the continent in just the last couple days. We have a look at the dangerous conditions and which states are impacted. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Officials say about 700 gallons of diesel spilled at a U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific complex atop Haleakala. The public will have a chance to weigh in on the future of the Red Hill fuel facility. And the Aloha Stadium swap meet will continue at the site even as construction of the new facility begins. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Heavy showers have triggered a flash flood warning for Maui on Friday. Emergency management officials said South Kihei Road has been closed at Kulanihakoi Gulch while Piilani Highway was closed near Nuu. Several stream gauges along the windward side of Haleakala also indicated rapid rises in water levels.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Haleakala is one of the top destinations on Maui. As a U.S. National Park, there are many activities available from adventurous to educational. On this episode we'll share information on popular hiking trails, sunrise reservations, sunset viewing, and stargazing on Haleakala. Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ https://www.nps.gov/hale/index.htm https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/253731 Check out our new 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps/SUV on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr Rent our 2022 VW Taos on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/volkswagen/taos/1651888 Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a flight with an experienced instructor and see Maui from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. All the while gaining practical insight and instruction on over water operations, mountain flying, Class C operations, and challenging crosswind landings. Fill out the inquiry form at: https://www.flymauihi.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
Haleakala National Park is not only one of the most incredible places you can visit on Maui, it ranks as one of the most breathtaking experiences on the planet. The Haleakala summit is at 10,023 feet above sea level, and is a highly popular destination if you're visiting Hawaii. There are so many activities such as hiking, stargazing, bird watching, or simply watching a beautiful sunset. On tis episode we'll share some unique facts and planning advice for your trip to the House of the Sun. Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ https://www.nps.gov/hale/index.htm https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/253731 Check out our new 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps/SUV on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr Rent our 2022 VW Taos on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/volkswagen/taos/1651888 Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a flight with an experienced instructor and see Maui from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. All the while gaining practical insight and instruction on over water operations, mountain flying, Class C operations, and challenging crosswind landings. Fill out the inquiry form at: https://www.flymauihi.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
Have you ever played the board game “Would You Rather” or engaged in a “This or That” Instagram story? We are having our own Maui version of this-or-that on this episode. For instance: Would you rather visit Haleakala for sunrise or sunset? We'll share our answers and why we chose them! Also, this is our last episode for 2022. We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! We are so grateful for every download, follow, lei greeting, and message you've supported us with this year. Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ ***************** Check out our new 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps/SUV on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr Rent our 2022 VW Taos on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/volkswagen/taos/1651888 Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Order fresh Maui Gold pineapples, coffees, tropical flowers and more from The Aloha 360! It's a piece of paradise delivered to your front door and supports local Maui businesses. https://www.thealoha360.com/shop Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a flight with an experienced instructor and see Maui from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. All the while gaining practical insight and instruction on over water operations, mountain flying, Class C operations, and challenging crosswind landings. Fill out the inquiry form at: https://www.flymauihi.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
We hope everyone had a good holiday season! We are back with our states! First, Kenzie tells us all about the MacKenzie State Park, look at that spelling, and the haunting history it holds. Then, Lauren tells us all about Pele, her past and even her curse. As the Hawaiians *and Google translate* say, “Noho makaʻu, noho palekana” (stay scary, stay safe).-Anyone with tips on any of the cases are asked to call Hawaii Island CrimeStoppers at (808) 961-8300.-If you are someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.--Follow us on Social Media and find out how to support A Scary State by clicking on our Link Tree: https://instabio.cc/4050223uxWQAl--Have a scary tale or listener story of your own? Send us an email to ascarystatepodcast@gmail.com! We can't wait to read it!--Thinking of starting a podcast? Thinking about using Buzzsprout for that? Well use our link to let Buzzsprout know we sent you and get a $20 Amazon gift card if you sign up for a paid plan!https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1722892--Works cited!https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gSXDohZ7l06jo0pzNn6viWqkkBeZscN89QCd7LBip3o/edit?usp=sharing--Intro and outro music thanks to Kevin MacLeod. You can visit his site here: http://incompetech.com/. Which is where we found our music!
Tune in tomorrow at 7 a.m. for everything you need to know, with KHON 2Go.
Curious about driving the backside of Haleakala, beyond Hana? You can find many opinions on social media whether this is a drive not to be missed or something that shouldn't even be considered regardless of circumstances. On this episode we'll share what to expect should you decide to take that route and some options to experience beyond Hana without driving through the “sketchy” parts of the road. Of course, we focus most on choosing to fly! Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ Here's the link to our new coffee roasting business, PNW Coffee Roasters! https://www.pnwcoffeeroasters.com/ Check out our new 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps/SUV on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr Rent our 2022 VW Taos on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/volkswagen/taos/1651888 Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Order fresh Maui Gold pineapples, coffees, tropical flowers and more from The Aloha 360! It's a piece of paradise delivered to your front door and supports local Maui businesses. https://www.thealoha360.com/shop Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a flight with an experienced instructor and see Maui from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. All the while gaining practical insight and instruction on over water operations, mountain flying, Class C operations, and challenging crosswind landings. Fill out the inquiry form at: https://www.flymauihi.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
Spending a day in Upcountry Maui is hands-down one of our favorite things to do! You can take part in something adventurous like hiking or ziplining, stroll through various farmers markets, and dine at some of the best restaurants on the island. And the views? From 3,000 feet on the slopes of Haleakala, the bi-coastal views are breathtaking! Get ready to take notes… this episode is full of information and advice! Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ Mentioned in this episode: https://sacredgardenmaui.com/ https://mauipineappletour.com/ http://www.upcountryfarmersmarket.com/ https://mauiteafarm.com/ http://kulacountryfarmsmaui.com/ https://mauibees.com/ https://oofarm.mybigcommerce.com/ https://www.aliikulalavender.com/ https://mauiwine.com/ https://hgsmaui.com/ https://freshiesmaui.com/ https://www.espressomafiamaui.com/ https://www.pollismexicanrestaurant.com/ https://www.restaurantmarlow.com/ https://www.mahaloaleworks.com/thetaproom https://www.upcountrysausageco.com/ http://kulabistro.com/ https://ulupalakuaranch.com/ Here's the link to our new coffee roasting business, PNW Coffee Roasters! https://www.pnwcoffeeroasters.com/ Check out our new 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps/SUV on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr Rent our 2022 VW Taos on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/volkswagen/taos/1651888 Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Order fresh Maui Gold pineapples, coffees, tropical flowers and more from The Aloha 360! It's a piece of paradise delivered to your front door and supports local Maui businesses. https://www.thealoha360.com/shop Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a flight with an experienced instructor and see Maui from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. All the while gaining practical insight and instruction on over water operations, mountain flying, Class C operations, and challenging crosswind landings. Fill out the inquiry form at: https://www.flymauihi.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
Jared joins us for a final summer trip episode to debrief his 8 day trip to visit us on Maui. Although we managed to fit in a few favorite activities such as Haleakala summit and Iao Valley State Park, most of our week was spent spending quality time together at home and across the dinner table. Jared does a great job reviewing Maui's food scene, so if you're planning your Maui itinerary, this episode will be very helpful! Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ Learn more about Mala Ocean Tavern and make a reservation: https://malatavern.com/ Here's the link to our new coffee roasting business, PNW Coffee Roasters! https://www.pnwcoffeeroasters.com/ Check out our new 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Order fresh Maui Gold pineapples, coffees, tropical flowers and more from The Aloha 360! It's a piece of paradise delivered to your front door and supports local Maui businesses. https://www.thealoha360.com/shop Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a flight with an experienced instructor and see Maui from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. All the while gaining practical insight and instruction on over water operations, mountain flying, Class C operations, and challenging crosswind landings. Fill out the inquiry form at: https://www.flymauihi.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
This past week I went to Maui with my good friend, Angela on a bit of an informal retreat. We had an absolute blast together - not just because we share so much in common and can laugh until we almost pee ourselves, but also because we both realized what we could change and what we couldn't.We chose happy. A lot. Over and over.On one of our last days, we hiked up to a small peak at Haleakala for a super early sunrise and perched ourselves on a rocky outcrop between two boulders with only a handful of other people nearby.I asked Angela if we could sit and watch the sunrise in silence. I love sunrise meditations and this would be an epic session. She agreed and we cozied up together in a bundle of layers in silence.Now, sitting in silence on a silent retreat is one thing, and it's a very unique experience. But when you sit in silence and others aren't doing the same, you can really notice other things, specifically, what other people talk about. And let me tell y'all something:Most of what I heard didn't need to be said.It didn't build a sense of connection to help anyone contribute to intimacy. It wasn't funny, entertaining, or informating. It was a lot of :“This rock is hard.”“I wish I had worn my blue shirt instead.”“My spit feels gross.”And it was all so disjointed. No one actually responded to the comments, they just said something else unrelated. People just telling each other their thoughts.But not in a way that was sincerely relating or deeping or growing closer.I know a lot of people think this small talk helps people connect, but today, I'd love to invite you to question that.The next time you're out at a store or standing in line to purchase something, listen to people's day-to-day conversations. What do you hear? Are they really deepening connections, or just filling a space?This is important because we need this space often to simply be in, to become aware of what's actually going on.Angela and I sat in silence. We share a look during certain parts of the sunrise or when we got really cold and needed to warm up a bit, and we still felt seen and understood by each other.When people hear about my silent retreats, their immediate response is, “I could never do that!” Or they're shocked I can do it because I do like to talk a lot.But one of the things I really love about silent retreats is that it becomes really obvious how much we can communicate without talking, and how much we actually DON'T need to day.I've also noticed there's a lot less drama and suffering when humans aren't constantly sharing what's going on in their heads. Go figure!So, this week, while I'm on another one of my awesome silent retreats, I want to invite you all to join me in your own way.Try to notice when you want or attempt to make the silence go away.When you're with someone and there's silence, do you become uncomfortable and want to say something to fill the space? Or maybe you turn on the radio as soon as you get in the car or turn the TV on when you arrive home, even though you're not actually listening to it.Now, try to play with trying NOT to fill that space. Because when we ask ourselves why we do anything, we can usually get the answer by not doing it… and noticing what arises.Whatever that feeling is - anxiety, restlessness - just notice it for now. Maybe you can see what happens when you don't react to those feelings.When you're ready, you can try not talking for a half-day or even a whole day. Or don't turn on the music or TV for a day.Trust me: you'll survive and learn a thing or two about your own inner landscape!In this Episode, you will learn:// Things you can experiment with to get more comfortable with silence// How to know if something is really worth saying// What's possible when we open up to silenceResources:// Right speech// Gossip// If you want to start integrating all of you into this one precious life we have, apply for the Adventure Mastermind. It's Soul Work. Deep work. Important, necessary, and essential to what the world needs right now. Be a part of it.If you're remotely curious, apply. It will help you get clear, and then we can chat to see if it's actually a good fit. Trust me – it's an intense 6 months so I am just as invested as you are in making sure it's an amazing match. Head over to AdventureMastermind.com and apply for the Summer cohort. We have 2 altered states retreats, weekly coaching, virtual retreats, and more. I've got you!// If you're new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You'll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist FB group, and tune in weekly when I go live on new topics.// Want to dive into this work on a deeper level on your own time? To study it and practice it together with a group of people with the same goals of freedom, adventure and purpose? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out.
Have you ever met anyone that created wealth with stocks? I haven't. Why not? Inflation, emotion, taxes, fees and volatility are the reasons. I break this down. The Rule of 72 is what traditional advisers cite as a wealth-builder. I describe why this does not work. Learn why returns from stock and mutual funds are often less than zero. What really creates wealth? Leverage. Learn trade-offs between long-term rentals and short-term rentals. Zach Lemaster joins us. A licensed optometrist and captain for the US Air Force, he's become financially-free through real estate. We discuss the pros and cons of owning “Build-To-Rent” new construction income properties. It takes patience during the build process. Find Build-To-Rent income properties by e-mailing GRE's Investment Coach: naresh@getricheducation.com Resources mentioned: Show Notes: www.GetRichEducation.com/399 Get income properties by e-mailing GRE's Investment Coach: naresh@getricheducation.com When I interviewed the 401(k) inventor: https://www.getricheducation.com/episode/197-inventor-of-401k-ted-benna-joins-us/ Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 877-74-RIDGE JWB's available Florida income property: CashFlowAndGrowth.com To learn more about eQRPs: text “GRE” to 307-213-3475 or: eQRP.co By texting “GRE” to 307-213-3475 and opting in, you will receive periodic marketing messages from eQRP Co. Message & data rates may apply. Reply “STOP” to cancel. Make passive income with apartment and other syndications: www.imaccredited.com Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our free, wealth-building “Don't Quit Your Daydream Letter”: www.GetRichEducation.com/Letter Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Top Properties & Providers: GREmarketplace.com Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Keith's personal Instagram: @keithweinhold Partial transcript: Welcome to GRE! Why Don't Stocks Create Wealth? After answering that, learn about some tradeoffs between LTRs and STRs, and the pros & cons of getting a construction loan and new-build rental properties. Today, on Get Rich Education. ____________________ Welcome to GRE! From Hialeah, FL to Haleakala, HI and across 188 nations worldwide - that's almost all of them - I'm Keith Weinhold. This is Get Rich Education. I find it interesting that there are still smart people out there who think that stocks create wealth. Everyday people could create wealth just by investing in stocks or mutual funds or ETFs? I'll tell ya. I have never met anyone in my entire life that has become wealthy from investing in these vehicles. Now, that's something that shouldn't offend stock adherents. That has been my personal experience. Just asking around here at GRE a bit, I found that our Content Manager, Matthew… he said that he once knew just one person that did get wealthy with stocks… and that is because that person's company IPO'ed. OK, well that's worth knowing. But as for everyday investors, what one might call a retail investor that buys and owns Apple stock or Amazon stock or bought the S&P 500 Index fund from a big mutual fund company… I mean… do you know anyone that ever created wealth from stocks? Or do you even know anyone that ever knew someone that created wealth with stocks. I'm talking about creating wealth. For example, someone that started at a level of either "just getting by" or starting at a level of "middle class" and then transitioned to "wealthy", simply through shrewd and savvy stock investing. I think a lot of people invest in stocks just because that's what the herd does. But they never ask themselves at all… "Have I actually met anyone that's ever created wealth from stocks?" And if you run with the herd, you don't get ahead. So why is this? How come virtually no one gets wealthy with stocks? Well, look. We all learn and understand the world through different lenses. I'm about to share the thought paradigm that shifted my own personal journey… and why I have not personally - or through an LLC - or in any way, owned any stock, or mutual fund, or ETF since the year 2014. Right now, major stock indices are flirting with bear market territory. This means a value loss of 20% from a recent peak. Recently, the Dow Jones posted its eighth straight weekly loss. That's its longest weekly losing streak since 1923. Could we say that misery loves companies? Big Tech has shrunk to Medium Tech. Even staid reliables like Apple, Target, and Walmart are tanking. Other than a one-month virus "flash crash" in March of 2020, many Millennials and Gen Zers have zero experience with a sustained bear market. None have occurred for thirteen years, which is an unusually long time frame. Perhaps these investors will "sell low"; maybe they'll stay the course. Now, investing in the stock market is so common - and so herdlike - that if you're talking in a general conversation and say: “the market” - people just assume that you mean the stock market. Well, shouldn't “the market” be creating wealth for people. After all, the S&P 500 has averaged a 10% annual return over time. In order to emphasize compounded returns, something that traditional, old school advisers often cite is "The Rule of 72". You've probably heard of it. What you do is take the number 72, divide it by your annual percent return (10), and that's how many years it takes your money to double. Therefore, an S&P 500 investor should double their money every 7.2 years. Well, that sounds pretty good to most people.. Then over the decades, several doublings should ensure a fantastic retirement and perhaps even a taste of wealth. But why doesn't it? Why doesn't it provide a fantastic retirement most times? And why doesn't it put people on that wealthy echelon… ever? This is due to five chief drags—inflation, emotion, taxes, fees, and volatility. I've glossed over that before. But lets see how this all negates what so many investors think is some kind of good return. Let's subtract each one from this 10% unadjusted stock return. Inflation Many experts agree that the CPI, currently 8%+, understates the true rate of inflation. It could be 15% now. But let's just say that long-term, true inflation averages 5%. Yes, you could make the case that it's more. But let's just use 5% inflation. Well then... …your long-term 10% stock return minus 5% inflation = 5% inflation-adjusted return. Emotion Everyone knows you're supposed to "buy low" and "sell high". But many do the opposite. Why? One has difficulty buying low because prices have often fallen for a long period of time before the dip. The predominant emotion is discouragement. When stock prices have gone down, down, down, like they have this year, so many people get emotional and sell low… and they justify that by saying… I'm sick of losing money… and if I sell, I guarantee that I'll stop losing money. So many sell low. But on the flip side, why isn't everyone selling high? It's because prices have grown. It's hard to sell out of upward momentum. Up, up, up, up, up, friends are making money. You've got FOMO. This emotion is euphoria. This makes people buy - maybe not at the peak - buy they often buy higher that what they sold for. But despite all this, most people believe that they're above-average investors—despite the statistical impossibility. This effect is called illusory superiority. It's like how 7 out of 10 people believe that they are above-average drivers. People often sell lower & buy higher. We'll just say this takes one's 5% inflation-adjusted stock return down to 4%. That's being kind. Taxes & Fees Long-term capital gains taxes start at 15%. The highest ordinary income tax rate is 37%, which is the short-term capital gains tax equivalent. Those percentages are what get taken out of your profit - that's what eats into the entire 10% return that we started out with here. Even if your funds are sheltered in a 401(k) or many retirement account types, yes, you could get tax-deferred growth. But you must begin paying taxes in retirement. Fees are something that vary quite widely. So… an S&P 500 investor's return adjusted for: inflation, emotion, taxes, and fees is often below 2%. Maybe far below 2%. We're not done. Volatility So many people miss this. The Rule of 72 and other projections are based on a fixed annual rate of interest. It's called the compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Our example… with this Rule Of 72 assumed a smooth, exact 10% return every single year. This is irresponsibly quixotic. The real world doesn't work this way. Let's say that a price falls 20%—which again is a bear market. Now, you must gain 25% to get back to "even". That's just math. Now, if it falls 40%, it must gain 66.7% just to return to sea level. Using a smoothed CAGR diminishes the damaging effect of return volatility. So let's take our 2% return that's already been adjusted for: inflation, emotion, taxes, fees. Now subtract out this volatility. And now, you can see why real rates of return are often less than 0% for stock, mutual fund, and ETF investors. Maybe they're minus 3%. Maybe they're minus 12%. Real stock returns often crumble faster than a Nature Valley granola bar. They're not good for you either—full of sugar and canola oil. Note that I even used what many consider "good times" in my example—where we started with a 10% unadjusted return. This is an audio format here on GRE Podcast Episode #399 so my analysis wasn't deeply technical nor replete with formulas for pinpoint accuracy. You might remember when we had Garrett Gunderson here on the show a few times. He really goes deep on how stock & mutual fund investors typically lose prosperity year-after-year and Garrett thinks that I'm being kind when I say that a stock investor's real return is “0”. It helps you begin to understand why you rarely—if ever—met anyone that acquired wealth with these vehicles. About ten years ago, while working at the state Department of Transportation in an 8' x 10' blue cubicle, I began to realize some things: Investing in retirement plans makes me safe and normal. I don't want a life that's safe and normal. That's not extraordinary at all. Every dollar invested in stocks and mutual funds is a dollar that cannot leverage other people's money. Retirement plans provide zero income until I'm old. I won't get ahead by following the herd. Later, I interviewed the actual man that invented the 401(k) plan, Ted Benna. Benna told me directly that the plans don't serve people the way they were intended. This helped complete my catharsis. And my interview with Ted Benna is recorded. You might remember that episode. That was GRE Podcast Episode 197… if you haven't heard it. Yeah, the guy that actually invented the 401(k) in the late 1970s. That's here on Episode 197. So, now you understand much of why I haven't owned any stock, mutual fund, or ETF-based investment at all since 2014. This show is called “Get Rich Education”. So I could talk about anything related to wealth-building and stay on-point. But now you understand why I don't discuss stocks. Real estate has some drags too. For example, investors often underestimate their maintenance and repair costs. Ultimately, the fact that Real Estate Pays 5 Ways™ is why it's superior. It's how anything less than a 20% to 25% fully-adjusted rate of return is disappointing (learn more). Because real estate is an illiquid asset, this acts as a healthy barrier against "panic" buying or selling. Illiquidity diminishes the deleterious effects of emotion and volatility. I do know investors who have created financial freedom through real estate, a lot of them, and I'm one. If I can distill it down into one word for you, the short story about why I've met countless people that have graduated from middle class to wealthy through real estate is leverage. Some of this is natural bias because I hang out in real estate circles, so I just tend to meet more of these people. To stock investors, leverage is only available to more sophisticated types. Even then, it often comes with margin call risk. It's in a more limited measure than its wide availability in real estate. Bear markets… like we have right now in stocks make people re-evaluate things. To a younger investor that's potentially experiencing their first sustained stock bear market now, it's important to understand that... ...generally, stocks are not a game designed to build wealth for everyday people anyway. Times like these make people revert to fundamentals. Ultimately, your success as an investor hinges upon your ability to provide others with value. Be a person of value in the world. There have been few times in modern history when owning real estate demonstrates more intrinsic value than it does today. You're providing others with what has increased in usefulness and is historically scarce in supply… at the same time. Wealth comes down to your ability to be valuable. When it comes to residential real estate, there are so many ways that we can segment it. Later on today, we'll discuss new-build properties vs. existing properties and what's going on in those markets today. We can also parse the space with LTRs vs. STRs. When we define that, of course, as the name would allude to, it is based on the duration of resident stay. Depending on the jurisdiction and more, a rental period of under 30 days could be considered a STR (some people refer to these as AirBNBs or VRBOs)… or even up to lease periods of less than 6 months could be considered STR. LTRs have more predictable long-term income… because a tenant often signs on for a lease period of one year or more… and LTRs are also more recession-resilient. STRs have lower occupancy - but because the daily rate is so much higher, they can be more profitable than LTRs. When you look at any investment, it's so fundamental to understand who you serve. Back to my point about stocks, it helps you understand how you can be a person of value. In LTRs, you serve families, roommates, and everyday mom & pops. Until just five years ago, STRs principally served two groups of people - Vacationers & business travelers. With what happened in the world starting in 2020 with the virus, the STR community was concerned that the business traveler would go away & not come back. But it didn't seem to matter, because increasingly, over the last 5+ year, you have more & more digital nomads and WFA-types that rent STRs. LTRs - Midwest & South, away from city center STR Location - resorts, beach communities, ski resorts HOA limits are something that you have more of with STRs. STR lodging or rental tax to the resident, you also get to charge the resident with the cleaning fee Property Mgmt. costs tend to be 8-10% of each month's for the owner of LTRs. For STRs, you'll often pay 20% or more since there are more resident turns & more advertising & listings to manage. When it comes to financing, you'll often find LTRs to have more availability than STRs. This is huge… since leverage is what really creates wealth. Damages: STRs tenants pay upfront and usually place a CC on file to cover any damages. So there is some more protection that way. One great piece of REI guidance is that the best STRs are the property types where if that market dried up, you could fall back onto them and use that same property as a viable LTRs. To summarize what you've learned so far today… The definition of a bear market is when a market has lost 20% or more of its value from a recent high. Stocks don't create wealth due to inflation, emotion, taxes, fees, and volatility. A lot of people miss that until it's too late and it's nearly retirement time - or when they thought they could retire. LTRs and STRs have a lot of trade-offs. LTRs are easier to finance and have more recession resistance. STRs can provide more income when its dialed in just right. LTRs have the longer track record. Coming up, a guest & I are going to discuss today's opportunity on brand new construction rental property. That's straight ahead. I'm Keith Weinhold. This is Get Rich Education. ______________________ Oh, yeah. Some good content from our guest on the pros and cons of using a construction loan with these new-build rental properties. You sure don't have to go that route if you don't want to. For this batch of properties, and it is an ongoing batch of constantly refreshing properties, if you want to get to the front of the line, go ahead and e-mail our investment coach Naresh. You not only get access to available properties - SFHs up to four-plex & sometimes larger, existing build & new-build, some properties conducive to STRs at times - though most are LTRs… some really inexpensive properties, at times less than $150K - they would tend to be existing, renovated properties, not new ones. For access to all those property types and free coaching, contact Naresh here. You can do that at: naresh@getricheducation.com Coming up here on the show… next week, for milestone episode 400 - it is Miracle Morning author Hal Elrod & I, discussing investor mindset and relationship-building in real estate. Yes, it look longer than I expected to get Hal & I together at the same time. That finally happens next week. Our Operations Lead here at GRE, Aundrea, is expected to be here with you & I for that show next week too. The week after Hal Elrod, the “International Man”, Doug Casey joins us. Last time he was here, we discussed ideals like liberty & freedom. This time, it's going to be about economics & it's usually pretty gloomy commentary with Doug… but he keeps it real. Then, down the road, Rich Dad Tax Advisor Tom Wheelwright is back on the show with us yet again to help you cut your taxes toward zero. So with Hal Elrod, Doug Casey, and Tom Wheelwright coming up… I'd say that one inspires you, one depresses you, and one informs you. Hal being the inspiration Doug being the source of the depression - he knows that I kid, I was joking with Doug Casey about that last time And then, Tom Wheelwright being informative with… seemingly… some new tax plan that he has to tell you about. Then after that, negotiation expert Chris Voss returns to the show. You might have seen his masterclass course. So… GRE is so stacked with great shows in the near future here. In inflationary times, there is no better place to invest than in real estate. I mean, even if you bought a property with no loan & with no tenant in it, real estate would be an inflation hedge just based on that alone… just based on it's capital price tracking inflation. But then you get the leverage where you can 4X or 5X inflation… while also having your debt debased… while also having your cash flow OUTPACE inflation since your biggest expense - the mortgage - stays fixed. This is just one of so many reasons why real estate is what's made more ordinary people wealthy than anything else. I really encourage you to get started… not only do we have this new coaching service steeped in GRE principles… but it's also free… and we also have available properties. I encourage you to reach out to our friendly GRE Investment Coach, Naresh at naresh@getricheducation.com Until next week for Episode 400, I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. DQYD!
In episode 5, Natasha and Wyatt introduce you to one of Hawaii's national parks and a park that encompasses some of the oldest mountains on Earth.
How can you see all of the highlights of Maui, Molokai and Lanai islands in just 2 hours? The only way to do this is in the air! On today's episode we will take you on a virtual flight from Kahului Airport and work our way through Maui County. See the Road to Hana, Haleakala crater, Molokini, the shipwreck at Lanai, Kalaupapa settlement, the tallest waterfalls in Hawaii, Nakalele blowhole… and more! A flight is a great way to get your bearings on the first part of your trip, or a great way to end an amazing vacation. Whether you're new to flying, a student pilot, or an experienced commercial pilot – this will be a flight you'll never forget. Tell us you heard about this flight on the podcast for $25 off the 2 hour Maui County flight lesson. Call or text Leslie to schedule: (808) 280-3290 https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://www.thealoha360.com/ Gain the knowledge you need to pass your Private or Instrument FAA written exam, plus “whole picture” learning that will make you a lifelong, safe aviator. Pass your checkride with flying colors with Checkride Ace. Check out Angle of Attack online ground school: https://angleofattack.com/ Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a flight with an experienced instructor and see Maui from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. All the while gaining practical insight and instruction on over water operations, mountain flying, Class C operations, and challenging crosswind landings. Fill out the inquiry form at https://www.flymauihi.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.flymauihi.com FOLLOW us on social media at @flymauihi, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! john@caubble.com or leslie@caubble.com
How can you see all of the highlights of Maui, Molokai and Lanai islands in just 2 hours? The only way to do this is in the air! On today's episode we will take you on a virtual flight from Kahului Airport and work our way through Maui County. See the Road to Hana, Haleakala crater, Molokini, the shipwreck at Lanai, Kalaupapa settlement, the tallest waterfalls in Hawaii, Nakalele blowhole… and more! A flight is a great way to get your bearings on the first part of your trip, or a great way to end an amazing vacation. No experience necessary! To book your flying experience: Visit https://www.flymauihi.com/vacationflying Or text 808-280-3290 & tell us you want to book the flight lesson you heard about on the podcast. Resources http://thealoha360.com/ https://www.flymauihi.com/ https://ther2h.com/ https://ultimateairmaui.com/ Mentioned in this episode: https://hioceansafety.com/ https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Here's the link to our new coffee roasting business, PNW Coffee Roasters! https://www.pnwcoffeeroasters.com/ Check out our new 2BR/2BA Kihei Condo for rent on Airbnb! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51586659?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f2e3f3ca-4ec4-4382-a460-b437d955da7a Rent our Jeeps on Turo: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1285492 https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/766475?searchId=LDAk7-zm https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/932262?searchId=ZgRvI82a https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/kahului-hi/jeep/wrangler-unlimited/1069862?searchId=v2sOffqr Book a helicopter tour with Maverick Helicopters and get The Aloha 360 discount! https://www.maverickhelicopter.com/tour-listing?bc=ALOHA360 Want to visit Wai'anapanapa State Park & Black Sand Beach? Reservations are required! https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/ Order fresh Maui Gold pineapples, coffees, tropical flowers and more from The Aloha 360! It's a piece of paradise delivered to your front door and supports local Maui businesses. https://www.thealoha360.com/shop Road to Hana audio guide: Use the discount code R2HALOHA360 at checkout for $2 off! https://ther2h.com/ Vacationing in Hawaii? Book a flight with an experienced instructor and see Maui from above! Follow beautiful coastlines, spot hidden waterfalls, and see majestic humpback whales breach before your eyes. All the while gaining practical insight and instruction on over water operations, mountain flying, Class C operations, and challenging crosswind landings. Fill out the inquiry form at: https://www.flymauihi.com/ Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you'll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885 What's Next? COMMENT on www.thealoha360.com FOLLOW us on social media at @thealoha360, @johncaubble, @lesliecaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider EMAIL US! info@thealoha360.com
Website for this episode: https://ordinarysherpa.com/072Will you leave Written Review on Apple Podcasts: https://ordinarysherpa.com/review/ Join the Ordinary Sherpa Facebook Group to interact with other listeners. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ordinarysherpa Brown signs: defines a local attraction, used universally around the world as I have a listener @amyrunskncoffee on IG who has shared brown signs in South Korea. (Referenced in Episode 041 | Adventure Potential of Brown Signs https://ordinarysherpa.com/041/ My daughter is 10 and has a goal to visit all the national parks before she graduates high school. Here is the list of the parks she has visited and highlights from each. Even though National Park week has past I imagine many are still planning summer park visits so I thought I'd dedicate this episode to “best of national parks” ten year old edition. Below are the parks my daughter visited, when we visited, and her favorite memory from that visit. 1. Gateway Arch, St. Louis (July 2013): she was asleep for the views from the top, but fireworks under the arch was a highlight 2. Yosemite, California (June 2016) all the waterfalls and climbing on the rocks 3. Cuyahoga, Ohio (June 2018) biking the towpath 4. Smoky Mountains (August 2019) the “llamas” at Roaring Forks 5. Mammoth Caves (August 2019) the squirrel that fell from the tree after our cave tour 6. Saguaro, AZ (Nov 2019) horse camp but was a little scary too when her horse took off 7. Lassen Volcanic, CA (June 2020) hike to boiling lake 8. Crater Lake, OR (June 2020) our June snowball fight 9. Red Woods, CA (June 2020) hiking fern canyon and Lady Bird woods at sunset 10. Kenai Fjords, AK (August 2020) climbing the bluffs and memorable was the massive shift in weather…soaked! 11. Grand Tetons, Wy (Dec 2020) Seeing the moose fighting 12. Congaree, SC (March 2021) the junior ranger scavenger hunt on the boardwalks 13. Hawai'i Volcanoes (June 2021) climbing on lava beds 14. Haleakala, Maui (June 2021) walking in the clouds 15. Channel Islands (June 2021) playing tag in the Eucalyptus grove, seeing dolphins on the boat ride 16. Theodore Roosevelt NP (August 2021) the prairie dogs and sliding down the rocks 17. Wind Cave (August 2021) didn't tour, the buffalo 18. Badlands National Park (August 2021) climbing up and down the cable ladder on the hike 19. Rocky Mountain National Park (Sept 2021) The baby moose who kept running after us, and all the elk 20. White Sands National Park (Dec 2021) jumping/sliding down the dunes at sunset. The sand was really cold! Key Takeaways While National Parks are well-known brown signs, a brown sign is a locally designated attraction worth checking out. The 4th grade pass is a great excuse to let you children determine your national park trip. Since it provides free entrance for the entire car for any one with the Every Kid Every Park pass from September 1- August 31st, you can even make an entire year of it. There are other National Park pass benefits for veterans, and seniors, in addition to the yearlong America the Beautiful Pass. How do you or your kids document their adventures? As mentioned my daughter has a tradition of taking a picture with the entrance sign, has a postcard of all of the national parks (Link on Amazon to the pack) and writes a point in time memory from her experience. Not all of her highlights were planned. Make sure during an experience you take time to allow things to develop. Don't overlook the simple things. The highlight of Yosemite for Heidi's daughter was climbing on the rocks. Consider more than checking the box. What are some lesser known aspects to the park? What makes this park unique? No need to correct their memories. They experience things through their own filter, let that memory be theirs. If my daughter wants to remember the llamas. Let them “Walk in Clouds” Wildlife in the winter is a very different experience. Consider off-season to discover elements of the park that shine during different seasons. Slow down and smell the eucalyptus trees. Memories are not always based on what you are “doing” all of your senses contribute to the overall experience. Nature is a built in playground, but kids don't see it that way unless you nurture it. Wild animals are still wild animals and all safety considerations are there for a reason. Moose are not ho-hum animals. Feel free to join the conversation in the Ordinary Sherpa Facebook Group to learn from others or share some of your favorite National Park experiences. I want to close this episode by saying thank you and highlighting a written review. I have not read a written review in a while and thought this was a great example of what to write. If you have not left a written review, please do. I have an entire tutorial on how to leave a written review on apple podcasts at ordinarysherpa.com/review This review comes from Hitix006 and it states “Inspirational, down to earth and energizing Love the focus on adventure big and small. Heidi is sooo authentic and energizing as she shares her families adventure journey and brings great guests to her passionate community.” Thank you for those kind words, for tuning in each week and sharing these episodes. It's what makes this work so energizing. I can't wait to read your written review next week!
It's official, Emily was wrong; and by wrong we mean epically wrong! Fresh off of her first visit to Hawaii she shares with us what sets this tropical paradise apart from others and why everyone needs to visit at least once in their lifetimes. *PLUS* - Toilet paper races are a great way to pass the time - Characters are back! - Tips for getting around Maui ... So pack your bags, tune in, and let the adventure begin!
You guys. I have something BIG to share with you today!I have just released my newest offering into the world. This is something that has been incubating in my meditations, my dreams and my daily walks for a full year, and I am so delighted to finally share this with you! Elemental Awakening is an exploration of the elements and 6 corresponding sacred practices. This program will run from the Spring Equinox to the Fall Equinox, and it is a chance for 12 of you to study in-depth with me over the course of the next 7 months. This is not a workshop, a training or an intensive. This is an invitation. An invitation to go deeper with me; to gather in an engaged, curious community; to explore together; and to weave a tapestry of our own magic.I'm so excited to share a bit about this opportunity with you guys, AND I'm releasing one of my newest meditations from my newly redesigned nature-based meditation app - Roots. This practice is one I've been using daily for weeks, and I think you might enjoy it too -A while ago, I had the opportunity to hike to the top of Haleakala - a dormant volcano on Maui, Hawaii. The summit lies at 10,023 feet above sea level. We were above the clouds, and although it was summer time, it was bitterly cold as the wind whipped around us. The landscape felt desert-like, but what was most noticeable was the way it seemed like you were closer to the sky than the earth. It felt like we were quite literally ‘hanging in the void' or the liminal space between the solid ground we call home and the expansive universe that wraps around us. It was a moment of both/and - of being connected to the life we live on a daily basis and equally connected to the greater expanse that reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously or to worry too much. In this practice, we hear the wind whipping from the top of a volcano as recorded by Gordon Hempton. We imagine ourselves at the edge, the void between earth and the universe, between the mundane and universal consciousness.Let's practice balancing on this edge.Native Hawaiians, also known as Kanaka Maoli, are the first people to have heard the sounds of this particular landscape. You can learn more about Elemental Awakening here: merylarnett.com/elemental-awakening-2022Special thanks to today's sponsor:Baronfig - Baronfig's line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself here: https://baronfig.com/These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.Join my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Learn more about my:***Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20**Roots: my nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to support the growth of this labor of love. Your monthly donation will aid in keeping this show sponsor-free, employing additional small businesses AND funding the ongoing creative growth I invest in.Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minuteYou can also grab my FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com. It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/#meditatewithmeryl
Meet Mi Duole team member, Dr. Dan Thunell, and enjoy his bio from his wife Meg