What a GREAT day with das hip yesterday in Rochester! First off, we left
Niagara Falls early in the day to head over to Rochester to be at the radio
station for The Hip's live 1:30 radio gig. So we get into there in record
time, and The Hip weren't on air as scheduled, they were running late - they
got into Rochester a few minutes before air time! So with them being late,
they were only allowed enough time to sing two songs, which kinda sucked. We
were the only Hip fans there, so that was great. The guys came out and we
all sat there and talked for about ages in the lobby!!!!

I was poking fun at Johnny Fay when came out because he looked like death
warmed over. He was wearing this bright orange jacket - and it was made out
of heavy rubber material. It was somwthing to behold! It was especially
funny because he was walking around with his eyes half closed, and his hair
all over the place. So I said to him as I grabbed his jacket "What are you
trying to do Johnny, glow in the dark".

When our main man Gordie came out, he was his typcial mellow self. So
anyway, the rest of the band had signed my shirt, so I wanted Gordie to
officially "bless" it himself, and he signed it "Kari's blues! G. Downie".
He was dressed like a bum, just the way I love him...with his baseball cap,
jean jacket, khaki colour pants, and t-shirt. Oh, and it was rather amusing
to watch Gord before he left. He started acting like Superman, pretending to
fly around the office.

As for the concert, we had first and second rows for most of it. By the time
The Hip really got into their set, the drunks were out in full force and the
moshing and crowd swaying was a little too much for me, so I grabbed my
boyfriend and moved back about 20 rows where I could breath. After the show,
a bunch of us decided to wait by the Hip's bus to talk to das hip again. Of
course, their one roadie was having a birthday party inside backstage after
the show. They brought in like 8 boxes of pizza, and a huge birthday
cake...so we knew they were going to be at least a while. Security was being
pretty anal for a while, and then The Hip's manager came out and said it was
fine for the fans to wait. We were like "NA NA NA NA NA NA" to the security
guy! But I mean come on, there were maybe 20 people waiting, not much at
all. All the guys eventually strolled out and stopped for pics and auto's.
So Gord Downie comes strolling out and he's instantly crowded. He looked
like a mugger last night after the show - all dressed in black, with a dark
blue toque on (for my American friends...it's a hat that you'd wear on your
head in the winter months, LOL). We even pointed out that he looked like he
just robbed a bank, and he had a good laugh over that comment! He said it
was the image he was trying to portray - dark and mysterious, I reckon.
Anyway, he and I had talked earlier in the day as well about how much of a
diehard I am and he must have remembered that conversation, because on my
8x10 he signed "Kari's Hip Museum since 1988. G. Downie". That one is for
sure going on my Hip homepage!

It was worth the trek, totally great day!

Kari