am i HIP?

By no means am I a trend setter. I didn't chop and bleach my hair in the platinum phase of the late 90's, I don't have a Luis Vuitton handbag, immitation or the real deal, I never had a Beaver Canoe sweatshirt and I never pinned my pants. Ok lies, I pinned my pants in 1988 and it was horrible!

In my early childhood I was exposed to a rather narrow scope of music. My Father, who has varying educational degrees, studied classical music at U of T, his instrument was the flute and he played it beautifully. He is the biggest classical influence in my life, to this day, and so it was natural that this is what was mostly heard in our household growing up. With the notes of Johann and Amadeus also came jazz and the syncopated rhythm's of George Gershwin, Jimmy Van Heusen and Oscar Peterson. The smooth saxophone tones of Stan Getz, the manipulated keys of Jacques Loussier, the soothing vocals of Ella, the queen. I guess I should clarify, when I say 'narrow' I suppose I really mean narrow in genre, as the world of classical and jazz are two in it's own. We had a limited variety of rock as well, if you consider Barbara Streisand, Barry Manilow and Johnny Mathis ROCK. But also, and these were cottage staples, we had Willie Nelson, ABBA and SuperTramp. That was pretty much it for the non-classical stuff. And in my early world, that was just fine.

However, it started to dawn on me, in about grade 4, that there was more to life then Chopin and Charlie Bird. There were more radio stations on the dial then CJRT. There was more to life then CBC. Something called...music videos? This notion hit me like a ton of bricks one day after school when a girlfriend and I were flipping through tv channels: Scooby Doo, Three's Company, Inspector Gadget...Chum FM 30 minute countdown...What the heck is this?

I lost my music video virginity to Corey Hart's Sunglasses at Night. I was in love. He was hot. He wore sunglasses at NIGHT! And like a dam bursting open, all of a sudden I was introduced to POP! Madonna, True Blue, Michael Jackson, Beat It, Cindy Lauper, Time after Time...

As I grew, as WE grew as a POP culture nation, I stayed tuned in. But still, I was never the girl to run out and buy the first latest HIT. I simply relied on others in whatever 'group' I was hanging out with, to keep me in the loop. Strange, I think it now, as I am such a music lover. All kinds of music, with the exception of 'death metal'. (I don't get it.)

One summer, after highschool, maybe even after University it's all a bit of a blur, I was lounging on a doc up at a cottage near Bobcaygeon and on came a song with the lyrics I'll never forget:

I left your house this morning about a quarter after nine
Coulda been the Willie Nelson coulda been the wine
When I left your house this morning
It was a little after nine
It was in Bobcaygeon I saw the constellations
Reveal themselves one star at a time...

"Who the hell is this?" I asked...
"The Hip Dings...where the hell have you been?"
"The Hip?...The Tragically Hip?"
"Yeah Dings..."
"hmm.....I like them..."

And so I was proudly able to add them to my repertoire of music I considered to be good, cool, hip and Canadian.

But it wasn't until I met my husband that I really started to love the twang of Gord Downie's unmistakable vocals. My husband, similar to my Father's influence in this regard (relax fellow-Freudians!) is also a major musical influence in my life. I soon began to hear music with more openness then before. I was widening my scope once again.

Last week, I was lucky enough to see the HIP in concert on their latest tour at the Commodore in Vancouver. And although mildly disappointed that they didn't play Bobcaygeon, the concert was amazing. Who knew I had a little alternative rock in me? The venue, a favourite to any Vancouverite, is a stand-only bar with a wooden dance floor that would probably be the only thing west of Alberta to withstand 'the big one'. Halfway through the concert, I stopped and stood still in the middle of the crowd, heavy with lingering pot smoke and beer. Surrounded by 20 and 30 somethings with blurry eyes and gleaming smiles they intoxicated me as they chanted the lyrics along with the band. And as I stood there, taking it all in, a thought crossed my mind...am i HIP yet?

Ok, so clearly I was totally stoned, but you get my point.