User:Rachel.Wedekind/sandbox

hello! Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

Up until now, as everyone in The Champions (Team Champion?) is living on the same floor in the same University residence, we have been collaborating face-to-face. During that time we went through a number of different possible topics, including the free-style snowboarder Jeremy Jones, and various celebrities on Youtube. Eventually we decided to edit the existing Wikipedia page on Gordon Downie, the lead singer of the Canadian band, The Tragically Hip. Since that decision we have been doing research on him and the band. MattHousehold (talk) —Preceding undated.

Hey, I have done some looking around for his colab stuff. It would be a good idea to link the collaborative artists page to the word. It is up to you guys if you want to add in the album its on and the name of the song. Maybe throw in how Gord got asked to help. Maybe how high up on the charts the song got as well. The Sadies - http://exclaim.ca/News/Gord_Downie_Sheds_Light_on_Collaborative_Album_with_Sadies

Buck 65 (for his 20th reunion) - http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/xN_CGw48nrE     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Bounce

Dallas Green (city and colour) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Sickness_%28song%29

My other issue is that we might not get enough on collaberation, so we might need to find more or cover one of his solo albums... --Bryn.catton (talk)Bryn.catton

iTunes talks a little bit about his first solo album, which he did with some other people. That's reliable, I'd say. MattHousehold (talk) —Preceding undated.

By the way, careful not to get Downie mixed up with this guy. They're both musicians with the same name, but this guy does weird modern music. MattHousehold (talk) —Preceding undated.

Here is an interview of Gordon Downie in Maclean's magazine, which is definitely a reliable source. The only problem is that most of the stuff is pretty trivial, like Downie being a Bruins fan. Is that not important enough to put on the page? Give it a look. MattHousehold (talk)

This article talks about the Tragically Hip going to a small education conference in some far northern town. As far as I can tell, the reason they went there was to raise awareness for first nations students up there. Shows something about Downie's character. Here he talks about singing a song with one of the local bands. It could merit a sentence.MattHousehold (talk) —Preceding undated.

There are a couple of things under "Career" that don't really belong there, like the comparison to Michael Stipe. Doesn't really have anything to do with career, and I'm not even sure if it's relevant. If it is, where should it go? MattHousehold (talk)

Maybe we could make a subtitle for movie/television appearances. A small change, but it would make the article more clear I think. MattHousehold (talk)

I think we could get a lot about him making appearances on television. We could then expand on his impact or contributions to the show, like they asked him to be on the show. Lkamma (talk)

Okay, cool. Do some research on that. I'll make a subheading for that. MattHousehold (talk)

Would that be under career? I'm not so sure. Also, I'm going to call the subheading "In Other Media" MattHousehold (talk)

I used what was there, because it was written well, I thought. I just cited it better, since it wasn't cited at all. MattHousehold (talk)

Hey guys, I was thinking that we could make our main edit collaborations --Bryn.catton (talk) Bryn.catton

That's a good idea, it would make the article more clear. But I don't think that just that will be enough, we'll have to do some more on top of that. So do you think we should have a subtitle for collaborations? Would this be on its own or under "Career?" MattHousehold (talk)

If we are re-writing his career we can talk about how he and his band got together. Here is an article talking a little bit of how the tragically hip formed Lkamma (talk)

Yeah the subheading would be the best way to do it under career. We may need to add more information so it would be best if we could find something else to add. Maybe something about one of his solo albums? --Bryn.catton (talk) Bryn.catton

Yeah we could get quite a bit in about his solo albums. Another subheading? MattHousehold (talk)

We could probably expand on his discography quite a bit, considering there are only three albums in there. Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

Yeah we could easily just list the songs in the albums. MattHousehold (talk)

On second thought, after looking at other artists' discography, just listing the album is alright. MattHousehold (talk)

Also, the information in the career section is quite terribly sourced. I was reading the talk page and a moderator had to cut a lot of the info since it was incredibly biased. Even though most of the information in the career section is fact there is no evidence supporting it. I suggest we rewrite the career section and add in better sources. Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

I agree with this. Here's a source that mentions some of the television/movie appearances.

Let's start writing that here, then. MattHousehold (talk)

Make sure his discography is only his work, not The Tragically Hip as a whole. Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

Should we call him Gord or Gordon? The official website calls him Gord but I feel that is too casual. Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

I think we should probably stick to calling him Gordon. On another note I found a detailed write up about how The Tragically Hip came together. I'll start adding to the career section. Lkamma (talk)

Maybe we should put (also called Gord) at the beginning of the article. I'll do that and see how it looks.MattHousehold (talk)

I found a pretty detailed interview about his environment work, I am going to write a paragraph about it and maybe it can be a sub paragraph in the career section? Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

I've got an idea, how about we title it "Social Work" or something similar, and put Environmental Work under that. Then I can include the bit I mentioned above about the small northern town thing under Social Work as well. MattHousehold (talk)

Added it as The Great Moon Gathering. MattHousehold (talk)

I added more to his environmental work Lkamma (talk)

I added the UTM banner to his page! Rachel.Wedekind (talk) I took a screenshot of the page, and I just noticed the banner is not working no matter what I do. I will try to fix it Rachel.Wedekind (talk) I fixed the banner! It is now displayed on the talk page. Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

Don't worry about citing stuff properly, when we are done i'll go through our work and make sure they abide to the wikipedia guidelines Lkamma (talk)

I edited your paragraph, Bryn. I fixed your grammar in talking about the Sadies. Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

I added in more stuff to the career section Lkamma (talk)

I am going to start adding in links connecting to other wikipedia articles now. Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

I added a bit to career and slightly edited collaborations. MattHousehold (talk)

links will be replaced with proper citations when I finalize the environment paragraph. I will try to dig up more on the money he has donated (if he has donated any), and what other work he has done. Rachel.Wedekind (talk)

Remember, we've got to cite the stuff at the top of the page too. MattHousehold (talk)

Bryn, your link you provided in your second paragraph does not work. Can you place the link there again. Richard Terfry collaborated with Gordon Downie on the song Whispers of the Waves off the album 20 Odd Years''. Richard composed the track and with the help of Charles Austen, his co-writer, decided Gordon's vocals were the best fit for their song. (http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youturEbe/id/xN_CGw48n) '' Lkamma (talk)

We haven't really done anything in the article on his solo albums. I'll try to put some in. MattHousehold (talk)

Just realized The Grand Bounce is not a solo album, and that Downie actually works with a band called Gordon Downie And The Country of Miracles. I'll attempt to implement it. MattHousehold (talk)

Wow I just didn't read the career thing there. My mistake.

Edited career a fair amount, and brought the first blurb over to edit. MattHousehold (talk)

I finished all the citations and I added in some wikipedia links.Lkamma (talk)

Gordon Edgar Downie (born February 6, 1964) is a Canadian rock musician, writer and occasional actor. He is the lead singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. He has released three solo albums, Coke Machine Glow in 2001, Battle of the Nudes in 2003, and The Grand Bounce in 2010. On each album he was backed by The Country of Miracles. The Grand Bounce is credited to Gord Downie and The Country of Miracles.

Career
Gordon Downie (also called Gord Downie) formed The Tragically Hip with Rob Baker, Gordon Downie, Johnny Fay, Davis Manning, and Gord Sinclair in 1983. Saxophone player Davis Manning left the band and guitarist Paul Langlois joined in 1986. Originally, the band started off playing covers songs in bars and quickly became famous once MCA Records president, Bruce Dickinson, saw them performing at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and offered them a record deal. This much-loved Canadian band has won over many fans through the incorporation of Downie’s stories and myths about life in Canada in his songs, and his wild antics and rantings on stage. In 2001, Downie diverted from the band and started his solo career with the release of his album Coke Machine Glow. Along with this release he published his first poetry and prose book named after his solo album. He went on to create a second solo albums, Battle of the Nudes in 2003. After making three more albums with The Tragically Hip, made The Grand Bounce in 2010, which is credited to Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles. The Country of Miracles have backed Downie for each of his solo albums, but this is the first album to be credited this way. This is also the first album to have Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla involved in the production.

Collaborations
Gordon Downie has collaborated with fellow Canadian and international artists. His most famous Canadian collaborations are with Richard Terfry (better known as Buck 65), Dallas Green of City and Colour, and The Sadies. These collaborations do not include the musicians who have helped Gordon Downie to create his solo albums.

Richard Terfry collaborated with Gordon Downie on the song Whispers of the Waves off the album 20 Odd Years. Richard composed the track and with the help of Charles Austen, his co-writer, decided Gordon's vocals would be the best fit for their song. (http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/xN_CGw48nrE)

In his solo project City and Colour, Dallas Green had Gordon Downie sing on the track Sleeping Sickness off City and Colour's hit album Bring Me Your Love. The album debuted at number 11 of the Top Heatseekers chart in March 2008. (• ^ Visakowitz, Susan. "City And Colour". Billboard. March 14, 2008.)

Gordon has begun a new project with The Sadies, a Toronto band most noted for their 2010 Polaris Music Prize nomination. Gordon commented on working with the Sadies, saying, "I enjoy getting together with those guys; it's a whole other universe. They're writing all the music and I'm writing all the lyrics and we're coming up with some neat stuff. You do it for the company but I'm genuinely shocked by the themes and things you touch on based on the music you're singing to. That's really compelling to me". He also says they are planning on creating ten songs together.

In Other Media
Downie has cameo appearances in Men with Brooms, in which The Tragically Hip play a curling team. Downie also made a cameo appearance in the 2008 indie drama Nothing Really Matters, directed by Jean-Marc Piché. Downie also appears in the Trailer Park Boys movie The Big Dirty, in which he and Alex Lifeson play a pair of police officers. More recently, he and other members of the band can be seen in the final episode of Trailer Park Boys, entitled "Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys", in which he is harassed while eating a bologna sandwich at a singles dance. Downie is also featured in the sitcom Corner Gas in the episode "Rock On!" in which The Tragically Hip are shown as a local band practising in the main character's garage. Colin James is also featured in the same episode. Most recently, Downie appeared in Michael McGowan's film, ''One Week'.”.

Environmental Work
Gordon is heavily involved in environmental movements, especially regarding his work concerning water rights. He is an active member of Waterkeeper Alliance and is recognized as a valued member. Although his work can be considered environmentalism he does not consider himself an environmentalist, but a “free market capitalist”. With Waterkeeper Alliance, Gordon helped work on a cause to prevent a cement company from burning tires for fuel. Along with the Waterkeeper Alliance, he is also a part of Swim Drink Fish Music club, which is a project that unites artists and environmentalists in a music club to raise money for Waterkeeper organizations in Canada.

The Great Moon Gathering
Downie, with The Tragically Hip, played at the Great Moon Gathering, a yearly educational conference that takes place in Fort Albany, Ontario. Its focus is on youth learning and combining Cree education with the contemporary world. The venue was small and not typical of the band. Author Joseph Boyden, who invited them, said their motivation was to “initiate a guerrilla act of love for a people who are so thoroughly underrepresented but now, somehow, overexposed for only their shortcomings. A guerrilla act of love to show the rest of the country what strength and artistry, grace and humour the Cree possess.” In addition to the Tragically Hip's performance, Downie sang a song with a local band, Northern Revolution.