This Week on The Sunday Evening Jam 🎶

Sara J and I are diving into Song #4 the one with Richard from Bright’s Grove. We’ll also be dropping the full list of silent auction items and the website where you can start bidding on October 1st.

And of course, we’ll be talking about the big one — A Celebration of The Hip for ALS happening this Saturday, October 4th.

Join us live, hang out, and let’s get jammin’ 👉

Join jD and Greg every week as they recap the song of the week by exploring the back catalogue of the Fully & Completely episodes

This week’s ride on the Countdown takes us straight back to Kingston, where the Hip story really begins. I’m joined by Mike — a fan whose Hip journey stretches from pub shows in the band’s early days to the heavy resonance of their final bow. Mike’s got a gift for tying his own life’s turning points to the music, and our conversation goes places both unexpected and deeply familiar to anyone who’s ever carried a Hip song in their bones.

We talk about restless youth, chance encounters that reshaped careers, and the strange way music keeps showing up right when you need it most. Mike shares stories from working life, his brush with CBC journalism, and how following the band’s trail across Canada opened him up to adventure. It’s less about nostalgia and more about recognizing how Gord and the boys kept nudging us to live a little bigger, a little braver.

This episode is a reminder that Hip fandom isn’t just about the music — it’s about where those songs take us. Sometimes that’s a sweaty Kingston bar, sometimes a mine in Northern Ontario, sometimes it’s right back home, realizing how much has changed and how much hasn’t.

“It was this sense of adventure — like Gord was off having all the fun, and I thought, maybe I need to find some of my own.”

About Our Guest

Mike is a Kingston native, longtime Hip fan, and veteran storyteller. His professional path wound through economics, CBC journalism, and documentary film — but the Hip have always been a compass point. His stories carry the grit, humour, and tenderness of someone who’s lived through the same soundtrack we all share.

Get Involved

We’re counting down to A Celebration of The Hip for ALS on October 4th at The Rec Room in Toronto. Silent auction, The Strictly Hip live, and the grand finale of this very countdown. Grab your tickets: bit.ly/TTHALSOct4th.

Follow + Stream

📲 Instagram: @tthtop40

📺 YouTube: @dewvre1974

🌐 Website: dewvre.com/tthtop40

Support

Every ticket, every donation, every listen pushes us closer to raising money for the ALS Society of Canada in honour of our friend Matt Rona. Chip in, share, or just show up — it all matters.

Kingston’s own Mike shares his Hipstory with jD — a journey through music, work, and life shaped by The Tragically Hip.

Sara J and jD are fresh off a Toronto adventure, swapping stories and laughs while gearing up for A Celebration of The Hip for ALS. We dropped some big reveals on silent auction items, checked in with the membersHIP, and gossiped about all things Hipland. With October 4th closing in, the energy was high, the chatter was loose, and the vibes were pure fan-forward. If you missed it live, grab a replay and hang out—it’s like pulling up a stool with friends who can’t stop talking about the band we love most.

Join jD and Greg every week as they recap the song of the week by exploring the back catalogue of the Fully & Completely episodes

Join jD and Greg as we revisit Day for Night on it's 31st anniversary.

Intro

Hey friends, jD here. I’m coming to you a little heavy today — because I’ve just put the final “regular” episode of the Countdown to bed. It’s all edited, all stitched together, and out of my hands now. And that’s a trip. When I started this whole thing last August with nothing more than a wild idea, an abacus, and a bunch of fan lists, I had no clue what it would become. Now we’re here — and damn, it feels equal parts surreal, emotional, and downright beautiful.

This episode isn’t just about ticking off another slot. It’s about reflecting on the journey, the people I’ve met, and the stories that have come pouring out along the way. Somewhere along the line, it stopped being about the rankings and started being about us. About the community. About the way these songs stitch into our lives and memories. That’s what’s really hit me in the gut as I wrapped this one up.

Next Week

Of course, this thing ain’t really done. We’ve still got the live finale waiting for us — October 4th at The Rec Room in Toronto. That night we find out what stands tall at number one. The Strictly Hip will be there to blow the roof off. Tara Slone will be there. Richard Beland will be there. And most importantly, you can be there too. I want to see you in the room, repping your pick, belting it out, celebrating the band we all love.

“Somewhere around episode two I realized — this was never really about the countdown at all. It was about the stories.”

About the Guest

This one’s a solo reflection, just me in your ears — but you’ll hear shoutouts to so many folks who’ve carried me through: Sara J, the membersHIP, the Discovering Downie crew, and everyone who’s shared their Hipstory along the way. You’re all part of this episode.

Get Involved

🎟️ Tickets for A Celebration of The Hip for ALS are going fast. Join us in Toronto on October 4th — all proceeds support the ALS Society of Canada. Get your tickets here.

🧠 Want to chip in but can’t make the show? Donations are open — every dollar helps us push closer to our goal.

🪙 And hey, the silent auction kicks off October 1st. Bid from anywhere, score some unreal Hip treasures, and make an impact.

Follow + Stream

📲 Instagram: @tthtop40

📘 Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/tthtop40

🎧 Stream the Countdown and all our Hip podcasts: dewvre.com/tthtop40

Support

This show exists because of the community around it. If you’ve found meaning here, consider joining the membersHIP, sharing the podcast with friends, or just showing up October 4th and making it loud.

This week, the Countdown goes visual. Joining me is Richard Beland, concert and music photographer, Hip historian, and all-around good dude from Bright’s Grove. Richard’s camera has been a witness to some of the most iconic moments in The Hip’s career — from sweaty club gigs at Fanshawe Pub, to international festival stages alongside Metallica and Neil Young, to that final August 20th show in Kingston. He’s shot Gord, Rob, Paul, Johnny, and Sinclair from every angle, and he’s here to share his Hipstory.

Richard takes us through his early days sneaking into pubs on a scratched-up license, the serendipitous connections that led him to London and Europe with a camera in hand, and the near-miss that almost kept his work out of the book and the doc. He shares the story behind his most iconic photograph of Gord Downie — the toque shot that’s since been tattooed on bodies, blasted on TSN, and memorialized in magazines. And yes, he tells us about the time Rob Baker rode shotgun on a milk crate while the band’s own song played on the radio. (Waffle butt confirmed.)

From the Grateful Dead to The Hip, from fish-eye lenses to stage risers, from Sudbury snowstorms to late-night alleyway portraits — Richard’s journey is a reminder of how music, photography, and fandom intersect to tell stories bigger than any one of us.

And then comes the big reveal: Song #4 on the Countdown. It’s a track that swells with atmosphere, memory, and melody — one Richard says feels like “warm water filling a cold glass.” It’s the song that can soundtrack both a snowy walk into Sudbury Arena and a lazy summer night at the cottage, arm around a friend, eyes to the stars. You know it. You love it. And now, you know where it landed.

This episode is loaded with Hip history, fan parallels to the Dead, and stories you’ve never heard before. And if you want even more, Richard will be joining us live on October 4th at A Celebration of The Hip for ALS at The Rec Room in Toronto, opening the night with a special photo presentation before The Strictly Hip take the stage.

We head into the Top 3. One more regular episode before the live finale. Get ready.

Get Involved:

• 🎟 Tickets for Oct 4th – A Celebration of The Hip for ALS
• 🎧 Email your Hipstory or Top 20 list: tthtop40@gmail.com
• 🏒 Enter the Hockey Night in Canada Raffle: Leafs vs Oilers, Dec 13

Follow + Stream:

• Instagram: @tthtop40
• Facebook: facebook.com/groups/tthtop40
• YouTube: Dewvre1974
• Podcast feed: The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown
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Support:

This show is powered by community. Become part of the membersHIP, grab raffle squares, or bid in the silent auction. Together, we’re raising money for the ALS Society of Canada.