REVIEW BY: ROB GOSSMAN
Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI
Saturday, December 2, 2000

Wow! What can I say. 30 years after that brave six year old stood up to his dad and proclaimed his destiny, to become a famous videographer, he has finally reached his goal. All I can think of now is, "Holy crap! I should have had more then one goal. I'm 36 and my life has just peaked."

Okay so videography was never really my dream. Here's the truth. Eight or nine years ago, in the dead of winter, in the basement of a church, in Wasaga Beach, I paid a couple of bucks to see a cover band called "Strictly Hip". They were great and with every song I found myself saying, "I didn't know the Hip sang this. This is one of theirs too?" So on that day I became a fan, realizing I already was a fan, I just didn't know all these great songs were coming from the same band. Then I started buying CD's and was even further impressed to find out that they had even better songs that weren't getting played on the radio.

Tonight's show may be the greatest memory of my lifetime. ( Ya okay, there's our wedding, and witnessing the birth of our kids, but that's different, you can end up with memories like that just from getting too drunk one night, not that I'm saying . . . ) anyway, this is more like winning a lottery, or winning a contest or something. I have to admit, when I won this contest, I felt a bit guilty. Although I am a big fan, and have all but one of their CD's ( missing "Live Between Us" ironically enough ) I did not know each band members name. I love the music. Their names, appearance, personal beliefs, political views were not of my concern. So I studied for the last few weeks just to get up to fanatic fan status.

A day in the life of the Tragically Hip. I'm convinced that their music is so awesome, because they are extremely happy doing what they are doing. There a no egos, no gimmicks or costumes, it's five fellas ( and 2 friends ) having the time of their lives, and luckily for the rest of us, entertaining is what makes them most happy. They seem more down-to-earth human then you would think possible. Like a group of guys you might play pick-up hockey with. And for those who keep asking why they haven't made a bigger impact on the US, I think it's because they haven't gone commercial. Instead of The Hip becoming more American, they seem to be making the rest of the world more Canadian. So be patient because penetrating the US market may happen relatively quickly, but moving the Canadian border south takes a little longer, but it's happening . . . an inch an hour.

Highlight of the evening:

Seeing Gord Downie throw his mike stand down, step on the base to bring it back up ( the rake trick ) and get whacked in the face with it. Not that seeing him get whacked was that funny, but seeing how he improvised and added it into the show. He seemed to actually have an argument with his mis-behaving equipment. It looked like a common occurrence. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a brief discussion with it again after the show.

Ross is an excellent host and we even met a fellow F1- Ferrari fan ( Dave ). I hope everyone enjoys the video ( Long Time Running ) I did my best. I ain't no videographer, but I can get behind anything.

Thanks everyone,
Rob

All my life I have dreamt of becoming a videographer.

I remember when i was 6 years old telling my dad, "Dad I don't want to be a toolmaker like you, I'm going to be a famous videographer one day".

My dad looked at me and said, "Son, this is 1970, what the hell is a videographer? Have your older brothers been giving you drugs? So now I'm a toolmaker, what the hell went wrong.

Honestly, I just really enjoy your music, I have listened to it so often, that hearing certain songs spark great memories like camping in our Microbus at Cyprus Lake near Tobermory this summer.

And if you pick me, I promise to remember to remove the lens cap.

-- Rob Gossman