Ken Abell blog-Lightfoot/Summer Side of Life at 78

[charlene]

http://hubpages.com/hub/Lightfoot-Summer-Side-Age

read post at link. pics/videos and comments also at link.

[johnfowles]

http://hubpages.com/hub/Lightfoot-Summer-Side-Age

read post at link. pics/videos and comments also at link.

Thank you Madam for finding and posting such a good read
It took ages to get that web page to load but it was worth it.
Mr Abell is a "transplanted Canadian" now in Ohio
I liked
"Now I’ve come full circle. On the autumn side of life "
Not being an American he did not of course err by saying "fall"
hence he also said
"life has no guarantees. It is a short, shaky, surreal kick at the can. The autumn side of life is merely the natural flipside of the summer side tempered by wisdom and the creaking aches of age."
very perceptive. Oh my creaking knees!!
sad really to realise that for me the autumn of my Life is possibly fast approaching winter

[johnfowles]

Whilst on the hubpages website I used the search box to search for "lighfoot" there were several results including another by Mr Abell at:-
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Fitz-Lightfoot-A-Question

http://s3.hubimg.com/u/2043406_f260.jpg
again he referred to his sister...
"My sister Janice could not have expressed any better. She is the Bard of Orillia’s biggest fan. Her enthusiasm for him is matched only by a near fixation with Wizard Of Oz memorabilia; I digress, but did so because this essay is a birthday present for her."
Ken also embedded this Fitz youtube video that has probably been shown here before but IMHO bears watching again
YouTube - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
It begins with the television news report that Gord has recently been crediting as being the inspiration for writing the song rather than the Newsweek article that is usually cited
at the end is a roll call of the 29 crew members who have gone and I noticed that three are desccribed as "watchman"

[Morgaine]

Thank you for sharing that - oddly enough, it reflected exactly how I've been feeling the past few days. I've been a huge fan (well, now I'm huge, back then I was much thinner) for 35 years and have seen Gord in concert over 20 times. The last time I saw him in concert was 1997, he doesn't seem to come to Northern California very often (or I haven't been paying good enough attention). Haven't been listening to music as much as I use to and dug out all my Lightfoot cd's. Today I was listening to Don Quixote, which might be my favorite. Those songs really took me back to my "summer side of life". I remember seeing Gord in Los Angeles when I was probably 19 - fantastic concert. I have a visual memory of how he looked, sounded, what he said, the audience, magic! It's too bad time can't be frozen. Since it has been 13 years since I've seen him live, am playing with the idea of going to a Massey Hall concert next year (if he won't come to me, I guess I'll need to go to him). I think that might be a fun thing to do!

[johnfowles]

welcome to the Forums Morgaine
(from your member name it sounds like you just might be responsible for our esteemed moderator's headaches!!)
Whist I am only a poor boy from the UK
I do believe that Santa Rosa counts as being in Northern California
Yes my trusty Randy McNallys confirms that fact
In which case you obviously have not been paying enough attention to where Gord has been
because you obviously missed

Gordon Lightfoot
Wells Fargo Center For The Arts
Santa Rosa, California
August 23rd, 2006
Very Good Audience Recording
you can actually see the setlist at
http://www.lightfoot.ca/060823.htm
and amazingly somebody in attendance made a bootleg which you could download from
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5C48FO5Y
Or
http://hotfile.com/dl/56423719/f686aa5/GLSRC06.rar.html
Another Northerrn CA bootleg is available
Bob Hope Theater
Stockton, California
October 15th, 2008
Very Good Audience Recording
where Stockton is almost as far North
Again there is a bootleg from
http://rapidshare.com/files/307098830/GLSC08Part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/307111692/GLSC08Part2.rar
setlist from
http://www.lightfoot.ca/081015.htm
the above download links will need to be used in conjunction with my previously suggested method to burn CDs as presented in my posting to another current thread

follow the guidelines that I described so eloquently a while ago in my postings at
http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showpost.php?p=161246&postcount=2
http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showpost.php?p=154456&postcount=3
plus the most complete one at:-
http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showpost.php?p=161247&postcount=8

However if you prefer to just listen to a streaming version only and not get the high quality (192KBPS or higher) mp3s to burn a CD look at:-
http://tela.sugarmegs.org/alpha/g.html
scroll down to the entries for GL one of which is
http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/GordonLightfoot2008-10-15BobHopeTheaterStocktonCA.asx
you can also download the audio file but bear in mind that it may well be a rather low quality WMA format file sampled at the derisory low rate of 40KBPS
Whatever these will undoubtedly help you adjust to the inevitably weaker voice that Gord now has, but his stage presence is still formidable
You say that you are contemplating attending Massey next May
I will not be the only one to encourage you to do so.
There is always a great family atmosphere and Ron Jones from Vancouver has already put in train plans for the third annual jam sesson at McVeighs Irish pub
Tickets have been on sale for a while now so if you are serious about heading west I would strongly suggest that you make a decision as soon as possible. and send a Private Message to Moderator Charlene (left click on her name in any posting in just about every thread then select "send a private message to Charlene" from the drop down menu) to see if she could help get you decent seats.Otherwise its the Ebay scalpers (currently $201.25 for 1 up to $851.00 for 4 tickets)
Keep us all informed. I Hope to meet you there.

[Morgaine]

Thank you, John - I sincerely appreciate the links to the concerts. Am looking forward to watching them!

Yes, I really was not paying attention. I live in Sonoma County, about 15 minutes from Santa Rosa. How embarrassing - I don't know how I missed it. That is the same venue that I saw Gord in 1997 - somehow I managed to wrangle front row seats (went down to the box office the minute tickets were on sale?).

I will send Char a message regarding the Massey Hall tickets. I did go to their website to see what was available. On the Thursday night, they had row G in the center orchestra. And the tickets were maybe $90? But another site that I looked at yesterday was quoting $230?

Thanks again for the links!

Mariah