y'all beat me to it... i meant to post: Gordon Downie, frontman for the Tragically Hip, indigenous rights activist, and Canada's poet laureate, died today at age 53.
EDITED: i started to write a diatribe about how much his music meant to me, to that weird country up north, but it isn't coming out right, and let's face it, a lot of folks will have no idea what i'm rambling on about. so check out
http://theglobeandmail.com for some more coherent musings.
there is now talk of him receiving a state funeral. unbelievable that a rock musician would unite an entire country this way.
The Tragically Hip - Full Concert - 07/24/99 - Woodstock 99 East Stage