At The Quinte Hotel

[chrook]

Yes, being from Picton, I spent a few night at the Quinte 30+ yrs back.

[1962RJP]

"Life is serious but art is fun"

J. Irving

[HeerBadkuip]

QUINTE BRATISLAVA!

[TheVindec]

Al Purdy was nominated as "The Voice of the Land" by the Canadian League of Poets.

Al passed away Apr 21, 2001, date now known as Al Purdy day. Gord Downie honours an important Canadian poet, so he too is a senstive man. Al and his wife Eurithe hosted many poets and writers at their Ameliasburg home. Art transcends, love rules!

[elanmak]

Shoulda been Martin Tielli

[stayhip]

Gord id my God!

[trevorduvall]

I really enjoy Al Purdy's humor he had such a wonderful way with words and was a great poet with insight but it is his sense of humor that will be missed most.

I know I'll get slack for the next comment, hey it YouTube! But Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip eh, not so much I don't see the connection. Sure they were alright in 90's blazing through the charts and I admit I listened to and even liked a few of the songs. But feel they are overrated now, most of all Downie, but they are all right.

[jcobaltss2005]

ever listen to nautical disaster? most likely not if you made that comment

[trevorduvall]

No never heard it. I stopped listening to music well most music around 1994...

[KidAmnesiac12]

@trevorduvall

I was going to give your previous comment a thumbs up, until i read the other half. Not that there's anything wrong with having an opinion but i quite like the hip. What made you stop listening to music?

[trevorduvall]

Well I am sorry to have missed out on the thumbs up...No nothing wrong with an opinion. Well I am glad that you can enjoy their music, that's great!

Well what made me stop listening to most music is when it lost it's magic, pretty much that's all it took....

Peace

[stewarthass14]

gord is awsome

[casamugan]

This is one of my favourate short films of all time... a great poem, a great envisioning of it. ...and Gord is damned funny.

[petcowpronto]

there's a better one. Animated. I think it was part of the ottawa animation fest. Can't find it though.

[Koda007]

I grew up in Trenton in the 70/80's. Most of the bad influences on us was because of the Quinte Hotel. The first time I drank a beer was at the Quinte, I was 15. Saw my first stripper at the Quinte. Saw Varouge, Helix, Max Webster and many more at the Q. I even had a gun pointed at my head one cold January night in '79/80 by a undercover police officer. They were getting ready for the first of many big raids in Trenton. It didn't seem like it then but looking back it was a scary fucking place.

[motors69]

hahah thats awesome dude!!!

[billaroyamaha2]

@Koda007 great story,,,, tell us more please!

[MediaPoet]

Al Purdy grew up in Trenton. Canada doesn't need an answer to Charles Bukowski, thank Christ. This is a lovely homage to our "voice of the land."

[rrtodd95]

This isn't Gord, this is Alan Purdy.

Canada's answer to Charles Bukowski.

[therealsw00p]

This isn't Gord and it isn't Alan Purdy: the poet in question is Alfred Wellington Purdy, better known and published as "Al Purdy".

[rousejeremy]

I've spent many nights at The Quinte. I've played gigs at The Quinte. The Quinte is still there. It's in Trenton Ontario. And I am a sensitive man.

[GrlLeastLikelyTo]

This video gets all artsy and poignant and thus detracts from the humour of the actual poem.

It would be better to just have Purdy's voice reading the poem, the rest is fair horseshit.

[superninja13]

Maybe you can make a better one?

[GrlLeastLikelyTo]

Maybe I could!

But being a lazy twunter I can't be arsed.

[superninja13]

Accidently looking over at your profile; one of your "favorites" is a masturbating bear.

You don't know good shit from bad chocolate.

[GrlLeastLikelyTo]

"Accidently"

Suuure... PERVERT

HAHA, I know what you're thinking "This coming from the one who favourite-ed the masturbating bear"... and on that note: Conan O'brien is a genius! Don't knock him.

[sunshineandrage]

I think her point is that it doesn't need a video at all.

[superninja13]

Well, I enjoyed it and probably would have never heard the poem otherwise.

It's okay by me to make art from existing art. Gord and friends have my A OK to make a well production that showcases the talent of Purdy. I don't think it was artsy, it think it was modest and is centered around the poem.

[rrtodd95]

I read Splinter in the Heart when I was a kid and fell in love with Alan Purdy's poetry and this was always my favourite poem.

Gord brings it to life perfectly.

[psychobollox]

Robbie Baker's in there too!!!

[Julianhache]

is he the guy getting dragged?

[psychobollox]

i don't think so but i'll watch the vid again in a bit...

[custardthedragon]

"At The Quinte Hotel" is a poem written by the late Al Purdy, a Canadian poet who lived in Ameliasburg on the Isle of Quinte. It was first published in "Poems For All The Annettes" in 1962. The voice that starts at 2:06 of the video is Purdy's own voice reading his work. It's a unique voice and a great one. Thanks for sharing it.

[starshollow]

I always thought this was referring to the Quinte hotel in Trenton (that is now a 'gentleman's club').

[seth454]

a penny for your thoughts?

[lemonadegrave]

i come back to watch this video every 6 months or so. it's just so good. it fills my soul.

[sportsportsport]

amazing. !

[queenpoisonapple]

I adore this poem and this telling of it. What can poetry buy you?

[Cincotta82]

Gord still amazes me with his appreciation for poetry (see 'Cooking in Wartime' and 'What Does Umm Mean' off Hipeponymous). Transecends himself to another level above your common frontman.

[motors69]

hahaha olny in gords world.. too funny. Olny in CANADA

[kidtronic]

I knew him, Canada's great poet & friend of Bukowski. His poem about holding her hand in the dark room still makes me weep. Batoche -- that's too long, pause...and then that bullet through the buffalo grass --Canada's second greatest war poem after the poppies (flanders and Afghanistan). The arctic poems, wow. Cuba: the bloody severed fingers of Che he thought of as he shook hands with Fidel. And purple butt wine etc. I loved to hear him read. Real, Rare, Ameliasburg-- Al.

[jayscott49]

yeah, the one about the broken Eskimo artifacts, the bad charms that didn't do what they were supposed to do and so were thrown into the forest hundreds of years ago, that he collected and sent to museums who sent them back because they were damaged. he's maybe the best poet, as perhaps Bukowski thought.

[apetit1979]

That was bloody awesome!

[Snarlpu]

this is great...

[hipfan13]

wow. gordie is gifted in poetry. half fart half horse piss. funny line....

[darko1234]

this isn't gord's poetry.

[doIdaretoeatapeach]

My husband, young daughter and I had the opportunity to meet with Al Purdy a number of times. His voice, in conversation and readings, was sonorous and commanding. I was in awe of him, and a little in love with him too. You couldn't help it. One of my best memories. I can't believe he's gone.

[kap66]

I love this short. I like the fact it's the older Al Purdy talking, almost adds a new dimention like he's thinking back to his youth. But this is one of my favorite poems and it's great to see Gord from the Hip likes it too.

[highonthehog]

Great duo, mix and match. If you want to hear more Al Purdy speaking, check out his CD "Necropsy of Love". The stone bird flies through the centre of the earth, listen lady.

[therealsw00p]

Hey, I have that CD. The only thing I don't like about it is that his voice is very frail and hesitant. I also have a tape of him reading his poems, too, and it's a much earlier Purdy ("The Collected Poems of Al Purdy" by M&S) where his voice is stronger. Doesn't have Necropsy on it, though...

[highonthehog]

I find beautiful aged tranquility in the quivering voice of Al the old man. But I have to agree with you about the dissonant difficulties of his voice on the CD "Necropsy of Love". I have tried listening to the CD with a few of my friends, only to have them become very agitated upon hearing Al's unnerving resonations. I thought they were somehow missing the point of the CD; that is to say if there is one. But maybe it's just the old guy's voice that's annoying.

[therealsw00p]

It was the hesitation that got me - I guess since I've read the poems and knew what was coming next, well, I expected him to also. :D But I like your take on it; another listen seems in order - maybe with a different ear.

[canuck234]

The Hip really are something. This was an amazing video. The poem, somehow, just cried "Canada". Good stuff!

[therealsw00p]

A couple of some of the best things discovered in my 15 years in Canada, together in one film - Al Purdy's poetry and Gord Downie and the Hip. Well, ok maybe universal healthcare is up there, somewhere, too. ;-)

Does anyone have the link to the high quality version of this? It was available a while back somewhere, but I lost my copy (IIRC it was from a film festival).