10.18.17 Hero of the Day: Gord Downie

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Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.

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A SPECIAL HERO OF THE DAY!

Name: Gord Downie
Age: was 53
Occupation: beloved rock star
Last Seen: in the great beyond
Awarded for: being as Canadian as the maple leaf, hockey and poutine

   

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Two weeks ago, we were shocked when the great Tom Petty died unexpectedly from cardiac arrest at 66. To many, Tom was the true sound of American rock. He was an American icon whose rootsy music cultivated with people of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life.

Now, our neighbors to the north are mourning the loss of a man whose music was kinda like Petty's.

Gord Downie's songs were about Canadian towns and its culture. To some, he was that country's poet laureate. He and his band, The Tragically Hip became Canadian rock radio mainstays around the same time Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam started to invade our country's rock stations. Formed in 1984 in Kingston, ON, the college buddies played several bars before MCA signed them in the late 80s. Together, The Hip - named for a sketch in the 1981 Michael Naismith film "Elephant Parts" - released 13 studio albums and selling millions of copies in their homeland of Canada alone.

Sadly, however, the Hip weren't as popular here in America. Their biggest hit here was 1993's "Courage", which peaked at #16 on both the mainstream and alternative rock charts. The band's two other American rock hits were 1989's "New Orleans is Sinking" (#30 mainstream rock) and 1998's "Poets" (#39 mainstream rock).  

Last year, Canada - and the world - received heartbreaking news that Gord was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Despite this, the group went ahead to promote their 13th studio album, "Man Machine Poem". The final date of their tour was in their hometown of Kingston, ON at the Rogers K-Rock Center, an arena that's on a street named after the band themselves. The CBC aired that final concert and 11.7 million people watched it, or about 1/3 of Canada's population.

Yesterday, the world said their final goodbye to Gord as his brain cancer officially took over his body. He was 53 years old. He left behind four children. So far, there's no word on if The Hip will continue post-Downie, though they do have enough material for four more albums. Tonight before the Detroit Red Wings/Toronto Maple Leafs game in Toronto, they played tribute to Downie with a moment of silence.

Now, granted, I was never a fan of The Tragically Hip. Seeing the tears in his eyes while performing his final concert showed how emotional and dedicated he was to entertaining his fellow citizens. But Gord's passing hit home for me because of another reason: my aunt's current battle with brain cancer. Right now, she's enduring six weeks of chemo and radiation and after that, we will know how her diagnosis will be. If she didn't start treatment sooner, she would have been dead by now. As a result, I feel the pain of the Canadian people losing such an important voice to them.

Thankfully, Canadians have free healthcare and my aunt's bills will be taken care of thanks to her being an employee of the State of Michigan. But I feel terrible for others who have to deal with huge hospital bills and the worry on how to pay them. This is yet another reason why we need to keep fighting for single payer universal healthcare in America. It's sad that America is one of the last nations on Earth that's without it, plus a fake president who's more into gutting the current health plan we have and making it worse. This isn't right.

And the sad thing is, while Drumpf is ripping us apart, it was Gord Downie that brought Canada together.




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