Canucks "house band" the Odds joined by Don Cherry and the Tragically Hip's Rob Baker

by Steve Newton on May 15, 2011 at 5:20 pm

Hockey fans tuning in to tonight's Canucks vs. Sharks game on CBC-TV got a bit of a surprise just before the puck dropped.

As the familiar riff of the Tragically Hip's "Little Bones" reverberated over the airwaves, local pop legends the Odds were pictured in Rogers Arena performing the opening track of the Hip's 1991 album Road Apples. Along for the ride on guitars were Hip lead player Rob Baker and someone not normally recognized for his fancy fretwork, Hockey Night in Canada loudmouth Don Cherry. I don't think Grapes was plugged in, though.

In the parlance of the Hip, here's hoping the Canucks make short work of their San Jose rivals: fully completely.

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Comments (7) Add New Comment
Colleen Cole
May 15, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Robby, not Bobby Baker.
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Steve Newton
May 15, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Nope, it's Bobby. I checked the Road Apples liner notes.
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Steve Newton
May 16, 2011 at 10:06 am
On further research, Colleen, it looks like Bobby Baker changed his name to Rob Baker (not Robby Baker) ages ago, but I never got the official press release announcing it. The correction has been made to the blog. Still not sure if the singer's name is Gord Downie or Gordon Downie, though; will let you know as soon as that breaking news arrives.
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the Chairman
May 17, 2011 at 9:30 am
Steve, Don WAS Plugged in. He's really quite a Telecaster master.
I think he's really into the early era of Dwight Yoakum as it sounded like Pete Anderson was up there with us.!!!
Thanks Steve,
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Steve Newton
May 17, 2011 at 9:55 am
No kidding?! It was hard to tell with the camera moving around so much. I never took Don Cherry for a rocker, but I've been wrong before. Hopefully he'll be jammin' again before tomorrow's game. Go Canuckleheads!
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Andrew Fleming
May 18, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Actually, no. Check the clip at around the 4:30 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ8sNzrSZ50

He may have been plugged in, but he sure wasn't playing. Presumably you can't put a seven-second tape-delay on live music.

Ron McLean probably knows how to play though...
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Steve Newton
May 18, 2011 at 3:42 pm
yer right, Andy, he was fakin' it on the Hip tune. Maybe he only plays country, as the Chairman suggests. Anyway, I'm glad I wasn't the only so-called journalist to get Baker's first name wrong. I've heard him called Bobby, Robby, and Rob, but never Robert before.
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