Writing GORDON LIGHTFOOT - book excerpt

[charlene]

http://www.mcclelland.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780771012624&view=excerpt

Writing Gordon Lightfoot
The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972
Written by Dave Bidini
Category: Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians
Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
ISBN: 978-0-7710-1262-4 (0-7710-1262-4)

Pub Date: October 18, 2011
Price: $29.99

Hey, Gord. Or Gordon. Or Mr. Lightfoot. No, I’m going to call you Gord, and I hope that’s okay. You don’t know me, but I know you. We all know you. You’re in our heads. You’re in the walls of our hearts. Your melodies hang and swerve over the great open skies and soupy lakes and long highways and your lyrics are printed in old history and geography and humanities textbooks that get passed down from grade to grade to grade. When people say “Lightfoot,” it’s like saying “Muskoka” or “Gretzky” or “Trudeau.” I dunno. “Lightfoot.”

Your name says as much as these things, maybe more. Gord, I am writing this book even though you won’t talk to me. It’s a long story, but this is a long book, so here goes. You won’t talk to me because of a song that my old band covered, a version of your nautical epic, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Back in 1989, we contacted your late manager, Barry Harvey – a good guy; at least he was to us – to ask for approval, and he gave us his blessing. But then he said that he probably wouldn’t play our version of the song for you. What he actually said was, “If I play it for him, it’ll just piss him off.”

A few months later, something else happened, which is maybe the real reason why you won’t talk to me. You see, after coming home from a tour of Ireland – an ill-fated tour; we broke up there, only to re-form and record your song, though you probably wish we’d stayed broken up – a music writer asked about our rendition. Because I was young and dumb and feeling disappointed that you – one of my heroes – refused to recognize our interpretation of what is surely one of Canada’s most famous, and best, songs, I punked out. I told him that, “well, everyone knows that it’s based on an old Irish melody. It’s not his, not really.” What I didn’t tell the writer was that a guy in a bar in Cork had told me this, nor did I tell him that there were several beers involved – in Cork, Gord, this is a given. Later on, when Barry Harvey read what I’d said, he asked me to recant my statement. I might have just grunted and hung up the phone. Barry asked again and again, and, having grown a little older and less punked-out, I said I would, but then the story appeared on the Internet (the goddamned Internet). Barry was gentlemanly about the whole thing, but he said that I’d upset you, which is what I’d wanted to do, at least in the beginning, but not anymore. You were mad and I don’t begrudge you that feeling. After all, the same guy who’d desecrated your song had called you a phony, even if he hadn’t really meant it (Cork plus beer plus being rejected by one’s hero plus an encounter with a drunken storyteller equals impetuous rant. It’s a weak defence, I know, but it’s all I’ve got). I tried taking the story down, then forgot about it. Barry called a third time, then a fourth time, asking nicely. Then he passed away. And now I am writing a book about you. And you won’t talk to me.

Last year, when my publisher asked if I wanted to do this book, I explained the situation. He said, “Do it anyway,” and so we proceeded to figure out a way to create a book without the contribution of its central figure, which is you. At first, I thought about using stories that other people had told about you, but the biographical holes were too great (turns out you’re a bit of a mystery, Gord, although it’s not like you don’t know that). Then, as I started to look back through your life, I came across an event that I remembered reading about years ago in a Peter Goddard-edited seventies Toronto pop magazine called Touch. The event was Mariposa ’72. Because it was a great event – maybe one of the most important in Canadian musical and cultural history – I was given a starting point from which to talk about your life, without actually talking to you. I also thought it might be a way of telling the story of Canada. But I tried not to think too much about it. Instead, I just sat down and started writing.

Gord, I know you know all of this, but, at this point, I should tell the readers a few things. Okay. Readers: the 1972 Mariposa Folk Festival (the sixteenth year of the event) was unlike any that came before it. It took place on a small isthmus at the bottom of Toronto, on Centre Island, now the site of a popular kids’ amusement park. At the time, Mariposa was one of the most progressive festivals of its kind – only the Newport Folk Festival and a similar event in Philadelphia had better reputations – bringing attention to marginalized folk, blues, and traditional music. It steered clear of emerging chart music – pop and rock and even folk-rock – instead scheduling time for forgotten blues masters, Inuit throat singers, and local tubthumpers (Gord, I do not mean to disparage local folksingers by calling them “tub-thumpers,” but it’s kind of what they were. Still, I know that a lot of them are your friends, and I don’t need to piss you off any more than you already are). In 1971, excitement over the event resulted in ticketless fans swimming across the harbour to get to the island, further dissuading organizers from booking big-name talent for fear that the grassroots festival would lose its way. Such was their monastic commitment to a toned-down event that, in 1972, evening performances were cancelled, in keeping with the philosophy established by artistic director Estelle Klein, who, in 1972, was out of the country, holidaying in Greece and taking a break from the festival.

By 1972, the music scene had changed. In Toronto, it had moved from Yorkville’s coffee bar idyll to scabrous Yonge Street, with rock clubs being born every day alongside strip joints, pinball arcades, and gay taverns. These new places catered largely to the younger music fan, blessed by the drinking age in Ontario having been lowered, a year earlier, from twenty-one to eighteen. Also, because of 1971 federal legislation that required radio stations to play 33⅓ per cent Canadian music, the nation’s sonic palette widened and there was room for new bands driven by fuzz-toned guitarists and wild-haired singers who felt empowered after hearing themselves on the radio for the first time. The city’s musical culture moulted. New sounds were being heard everywhere. Everywhere, that is, except at the largest and most stubborn-minded music festival in Canada.

When Mariposa organizers sat down to program the playbill for that year’s festival, they pencilled in Murray McLauchlan and Bruce Cockburn as the de facto headliners. Gord, I’m sure that you would have headlined the festival had you not been suffering through your shittiest year ever. By ’72, you’d stopped touring, and you were dating Cathy Evelyn Smith, the same woman who’d conceived Levon Helm’s love child in the Seahorse Inn on Toronto’s southern Etobicoke lakeshore and who was later charged with murder in the speedball death of John Belushi. You had also suffered the first symptoms of Bell’s palsy during a performance at Massey Hall and, in 1971, had waged a trying battle with Grammy organizers, who demanded that you shorten “If You Could Read My Mind.” Anyway, because of your stasis, the responsibility for headlining the bill fell to two of your Yorkville proteges, both of whom, because of the new CanCon rules, had usurped a musical territory that, before the new law, had been almost exclusively yours. I don’t know if that cheesed you, Gord. I don’t even know whether, because you were lost in a deep fog of booze and drugs and pain, any of this registered. Maybe it did. It’s one of the things I hope to figure out.

part 2 to follow

[charlene]

Anyway, what happened on that island that weekend was an unexpected confluence of the greatest songwriters of their age, each of them – like yourself – emerging from difficult times. That it happened in my city – in your city, in our city – puts me close to the memory, although I would have been way too young to go there myself. Because it’s one of these great events that hasn’t been written about, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Writers live for this sort of thing: an untold story. The same could be said for you, Gord. It’s been over thirty years since anyone wrote a book about you. It is time. Still, the ideas didn’t end there. After poring over newsprint and microfilm about Mariposa ’72 at the Toronto Reference Library and other places, I found that the story grew and grew. What I learned was that, over the seven days leading up to Mariposa, there occurred some of the era’s most memorable and profound moments in music, politics, sports, and culture, both at home and abroad. What happened from July 10 to July 17 eclipsed any single story, including your own. In Canada, the Canada–Russia hockey teams were announced; the largest jailbreak in Canadian history occurred at Kingston’s Millhaven penitentiary; and, through a combination of forces, Trudeau mania fell fast and hard. The summer of 1972 was also when The Rolling Stones staged one of the most important – and notorious – rock and roll tours ever, in support of their important and notorious album, Exile on Main Street. As it turns out, they were also in Toronto during the Mariposa weekend, playing two shows at Maple Leaf Gardens. Stevie Wonder opened and filmmaker Robert Frank and writer Truman Capote were in tow. On Sunday in Montreal, their equipment truck was bombed in a loading bay behind the Forum. Some said the separatists were responsible, but no one knows for sure.

World news of that week is also filled with remarkable events large and small, including the beginning of the Bobby Fischer–Boris Spassky chess summit and the journey of Pioneer 10 towards Jupiter. The week started with a total eclipse of the sun, and when the bells rang out on the evening of December 31, 1972, they ended the longest twelve months in history – three seconds having been added to international time – and something about music, something about Canada, and something about the world was different than it had been before. Gord, before I started writing, I talked to people who know you. I was given advice on how to handle the situation, which proved to be no advice at all. When I announced my intentions, some folks told me to steer clear. “Whatever you do, don’t park outside his house,” said one person. “The last guy who did this had his car pissed on by him. He’s a grumpy old man. He’ll never talk to you.” Others were more encouraging.

“Gord is a beautiful person,” said Dan Hill. “After Paul [Quarrington] died, he really helped me get through my period of grieving.” Eventually, I was left with two impressions. From what I gathered, you were either a loner or you were everybody’s good time. You were either a tough guy or a sweetheart who could break down at a moment’s notice. You were either a shit-kicking cowboy or an angel; a drunk or a saint. You’d either steal someone’s girlfriend or give him the shirt off your back. You were either Canada’s Townes Van Zandt or a Roger Whittaker wannabe in a plaid shirt. You were either hell on your band or loyal to a fault. You either loved Canada or had tried as hard as you could to get the hell out. Your small-town roots were either the driving force of your art, or the small, airless pepper box in which your life was confined. You were either here – showing up at Leafs games or attending industry banquets – or not here – disappearing to go on long canoe trips, or hiding out in a friend’s apartment in Detroit.

Because you won’t talk to me – I’ve called your record company a bunch of times, written emails, all of that, and still nothing – I decided to write you a letter, which, by now, is kind of obvious. I should also tell you that this book alternates between a letter to you and a description of the events of that week in ’72, leading up to Mariposa and a wild prose crescendo that will leave even the crustiest old critic lachrymose and braying from his knees.

There’s one other thing, Gord. It’s actually a big thing.

You see, in the letter sections, I’ve made stuff up. Some of it might have happened; some of it might not. Because you won’t talk to me, I’m left having to imagine your life. Because I’m a musician, too, I wanted to use all that I’ve seen and heard and done in my own rock and roll life to help piece together your story; to understand how you – a small-town choirboy – ended up creating this country’s most formidable body of song. The lawyers don’t want me to write this book, Gord. They think you will come and find me and drag this book down. My wife doesn’t want me to write it. She doesn’t want our car pissed on. But no artist ever did anything based on whether a lawyer liked their idea or not. Well, maybe some did, but not me.

Still, if you won’t talk to me, Gord, I’m going to talk to you. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first conversation that started without both people listening.

So, okay, Gord.

I’ll start.

[Same Old Loverman]

I don't know...but I don't have a good feeling about this. I don't like the idea of someone who says "I've made stuff up" to fill in holes. The book is listed partially as an autobiography, even though it clearly isn't. While I'd welcome a look at Gordon in 1972; I just want the facts, not conjecture. Gordon is mad at this guy for a reason.

[loveabiggibson]

I pre-ordered his book, but I must say, I don't like his tone whatsoever. What an ego.

[Rob1956]

Oh my God! What a pompus ass! Gets his nose all out of joint because Gord won't bend over with is hands in the air saying "I'm not worthy..I'm not worthy." Get over yourself..what a self important little piss ant! Boycott this "book" at all costs!

[GJA]

I've pre-ordered this book also. Hope I don't regret it.

[Wes Steele]

Yikes.... I wouldn't call it a "good start" for ANY kind of book about Lightfoot.

I think I'll pass on this one...

[Bill]

I'll buy it. I like the tone. As much as I admire Gordon Lightfoot, being an artistic loner of sorts, I can surmise that he's rarely had anyone to call him on bullsh*t. That's why the Beatles were better than their solo work -- they had each other to keep it all in check for a while. All in all, I think it's fine to say,"Gordon, we love ya, but sometimes ya irritate the crap out of us!". Kinda like family, which after many decades we all pretty much feel about artists that touch us deeply. But it can't me gushy hero worship...love 'em warts and all, and forgive, and celebrate.

[vlmagee]

It's actually a good book, but of course that is a matter of opinion. Make no mistake about it (pun intended), Dave Bidini has great love and respect for Lightfoot. He wasn't able to make contact with him, so - with his publisher's blessing - he wrote the book without talking to the "lead character", and wove that into the fabric of the book. If you are looking for a full biography of Lightfoot, this isn't it. Yes, there is "fiction", but Bidini always lets you know when he is weaving tales. For biogaphical information, he uses material published previously, and some of it is about Lightfoot's personal life - always a tricky subject. And he interviewed people who know Lightfoot, or crossed paths with him in the music business (like Dan Hill, quoted in the excerpt above). But, for fans like us, who have read the other accounts and understand the sources quoted (like ex-wives and ex-girlfriends), it's easy to put those accounts in perspective. Frankly, I laughed out loud at many of the stories, and marveled at the artistry Bidini exhibited in weaving 3 stories into one good book. I read it in 3 days, and for me that's pretty amazing, as I normally have no time for reading. I couldn't put it down.

I fear that Lightfoot won't like it, but frankly it doesn't say much about his personal life that wasn't said previously, and the love and admiration of Bidini, himself a gifted musician, shine through every page.

Regarding the classification as "autobiography", that isn't what it means. The classification is for books that are either biographies or autobiographies.

PS: My full review is posted at my web site here: Writing Gordon Lightfoot Review (http://gordonlightfoot.com/WritingGordonLightfoot-Review.shtml).

[charlene]

Depending on the weather I may attend the book launch on Thursday night in TOronto.

This is Bidini's 10th book. He has written about music and hockey, had a band "The Rheostatics" and now has "BidiniBand".

I find the approach of this book quite intriguing. The facts of those times and people have been written but as fans of any artist know there are many details we are not privy to. Taking a seminal event in time to anchor a secondary story and tell ones own personal take on them in the form of 'writing/talking' to the main character is very interesting. Whether I like what I read because some of the blanks have been filled in with conjecture/fantasy has yet to be determined because I haven't read the book.

Dave's been upfront about his 'relationship' with Lightfoot and how that has played out over the years and how Lightfoot has reacted to him. Because Lightfoot may still be pissed off with what has occurred is interesting in itself but won't influence whether I like the book or not.
I, personally have written many actual notes/letters/cards to Lightfoot over the last 40 years, several were well before my present relationship (LOL) with him. I well remember many times back in the day wondering if he had received them and if he had would he then respond. When there was no response I wondered why not (duh) but always felt that he was thankful for them. How could someone who wrote such beautiful musical poetry not be a thankful sort of person deep in his soul? Delusional? Perhaps..
Years later I would come to know how he felt. I would hear it from the man himself.

Like all of us I've wondered about his 'real' life, what his days are like, what his opinion are about things other than loving the Toronto Maple Leafs, what his regrets are, what he would do over if given the chance, his greatest highs, his deepest lows. We've formed our opinions about him from various sources, from the perspective of our own lives, some may be true, others patently wrong. For his own reasons he chose to not participate in the writing of this book. The author, wanting to write about music, Mariposa and Lightfoot had to choose between not writing the book or trying it this way with his own imaginings and conjecture actually written down and published. That's pretty brave as far as I'm concerned, putting it 'out there' to be critiqued by not only the reading public but the subject (his hero) of the book and it takes some serious soul searching about whether it's worth it or not. Such is the life of a writer I guess. I don't think it makes him pompous tho.

We all have our own 'conjectures' about the wherefor and why of Lightfoot..We just don't write a book about them and for the most part we avoid dwelling on the 'controversial.'

Is it true that much of the man is truly separate from the music yet much is in the music?
Only he knows that answer and he obviously likes it that way. I think he finds it all quite perplexing and mystifying why anyone gives a shit or not. But I think he also understands that human nature being what it is means this won't be the last book written about his life and his musical legacy. Perhaps that's better than being ignored. Perhaps it will be the impetus for him to write his own story. Perhaps.

[niffer]

It seems to me that Dave, the author, finds himself in a peculiar and painful sort of prison. He felt rejected by his musical hero, and in his anger, lashed out at him, something it sounds like he now, with more maturity and perspective, regrets having done. The problem is, he didn't simply say that he didn't like a particular song. He accused Gord of plagiarism, which, as a writer, is the worst thing that can be said of you. And then he didn't take advantage of the opportunities he had to recant his statement. So I can understand why Gordon would be disinclined to speak with him now, although forgiveness is always a good thing, and it would be wonderful for everyone involved if that could somehow occur.

When I wrote my first column about Gordon, I actually worried about what would happen if he read it and was somehow offended by something I had written, even though it was very complimentary in tone. I imagined how I would feel if I had to go through life knowing I had upset a person I greatly admired, because that seemed like a terrible burden to bear. When it turned out that he had in fact enjoyed and appreciated the article, I almost felt more relieved than happy. (Almost.)

Dave seems like a talented writer, and the subject matter is, of course, fascinating. His approach is very creative. But I have the feeling that this is not going to be an easy read, that there could be painful parts for everyone. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

[charlene]

It certainly will be interesting, on so many levels. We can't always make everyone happy.
Lightfoot himself has written words/lyrics that were true to him at the time but has since changed them after finding that they no longer work for some people.

For me life is about changes, growing and accepting what is. It's not always pleasant but it sure keeps you on your toes..

[banjobench12]

I have skimmed the book and one thing that troubles me is no end of references to Cathy Smith, especially near the end of the book. I would expect some reference to her, especially given the time frame, but it seems odd that she is mentioned so frequently and at such length.

[Unsettled 1]

Petulance + arrogance = narcissism.

I personally wouldn't give you a pinch of piddle for his book.
And...if he parked in front of my house, I'd piss on his car, and of course, I'd apologize later when it suited me.

[Kelly Davis]

Ouch !!!!! Don't think the tone of his writing will do anything to help the past situation with him and Gordon.

After reading some of the responses, not sure if I'll run out and buy this book yet - may wait and see how the overall tone of the Corfidians turns out.

I asked Gordon a few years ago if he was ever going to write his autobiography. His response was, " You get to a point where it just doesn't matter anymore."

From that I gather that it probably won't happen.

Hopefully, I'm wrong.

[jj]

this book could rival this cover (on the self indulgent scale)

Rheostatics - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - YouTube

If you go to iTunes you can hear their live album version. Worse

putting a famous guy's name (instead of Mariposa 1972) in the title of your book seems like a cunning way to sell books. Maybe there will be a sequel: Being Gordon Lightfoot.

if I received a free copy of the boll, I might make it through it

I still haven't got through his cover of the Wreck....

a note/correction: i believe the amusement park existed on centre island sometime before Mariposa did


I thought Gord himself said the Wreck melody came from an old Irish tune/dirge... as CRT was patterned off the Gibson trilogy..and the Sundown hook was lifted from a Whitney song ;)

[Bill]

Doesn't sound far off the song stylings I've heard of other iconic songs when I played nightclubs. I'm mean really...whatcha gonna do?! Be a pale imitation of the original? One of those sad saps singing James Taylor, or John Denver trying to sound like them?

[jj]

Doesn't sound far off the song stylings... of other iconic songs

In the clubs out here you still hear them paying homage to the melody or chord progressions. I'd probably rather have sweet baby james or take me home country roads recited to me by Shatner

Gord strikes me as highly irritable. Bidini as highly irritating.

Dave should do his Wreck cover and read from his book at next Hughs Room tribute. The Saturday night that Gord's usually there. That'd be good fun! ;)

Fyi: This is Dave speaking at a Rush induction:
http://www.rheostatics.ca/bidini/mp3/rushathall.mp3

[charlene]

Unfortunately for the Hugh's Room Lightfoot tribute shows in January 2012 Lightfoot will be out on tour...

;)

[charlene]

Val's take on the book..http://gordonlightfoot.com/WritingGordonLightfoot-Review.shtml
shes right about the pics-they are great pics by Usherson...Having read some of Dave's other books and I've enjoyed his writing quite a lot. I read his daily columns in the National Post as well and like his storytelling style. I've been in touch with him for quite some time and I do know he is a huge Lightfoot fan. Being a professional musician as well as an accomplished and acclaimed writer makes the blending of both genres seem to be something he can pull together in writing this book.
I've been intrigued since the day he told me about the book he was going to write.
If the weather holds out tomorrow I will probably head to the book launch tomorrow night..

[vlmagee]

I do hope the weather gods are with you, Char. I'd love to go to that book launch, and would have driven the 6 3/4 hours from Saratoga. But driving from Colorado would have been a bit much. I kept hoping I'd have a good excuse to go east now, but alas nothing presented itself.

If you do go, please tell us about it!

[charlene]

If I go I shall certainly tell you about it..I got my copy sometime yesterday I guess but just discovered it on the front porch this morning. I popped it open and read a page or two and a familiar name popped out at me..good grief..
lol

[jj]

For those who missed the thread discussing York University acquiring the Mariposa archives, you will have fun browsing the pics and reading summaries from each year.

Not many pics fir 1972 here at this link
http://archives.library.yorku.ca/exhibits/show/mariposa/1972

I wonder if Larry McLean allowed his collection of slides and negatives to be used in the book....what happens at a book launch anyhow? Music performance or reading from book, autographs, free donuts, that sort of thing?

It's perhaps been as wet the past few days here as it was for the '72 swamp fest!

[charlene]

http://allevents.in/Beaumont/writing-gordon-lightfoot-book-launch/220913371302474
No pics from McLean...

previous USHERSON thread @ http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=22557&highlight=usherson

[loveabiggibson]

Oh man, that is a PAINFUL version of that song. Ouch.

[Same Old Loverman]

When I first read the book excerpt, I just skimmed over the text. My reaction was a bit kneejerk. Later, I thought that perhaps my negative feelings toward the book were a bit hasty. I mean, we all love Gordon-that's why we're here. So now, after going back and reading over the excerpt again; my opinion that this book is a hatchet job remains.

Am I the only one that gets the feeling that this author is totally full of himself (or something else)? This guy tries to pass himself off as a fan and can't even apologize for lies he knowingly told- not privately, but publicly. Not only that, but he was given multiple chances to make it right, and flagrantly failed to do so. After reading what he said about Barry Harvey, I respect the job he did for Gordon even more now. It must have been a big headache dealing with people like this stalker- I mean author.

I do not plan to buy the book (although I would like to see the pictures), I just can't justify putting any money into this guy's pocket. I get the impression he twists the facts to suit his agenda. He seems to paint a picture of Gordon nearing the end of the line (career wise) back in '72. He even says that Gordon had stopped touring. Huh? He stopped touring (briefly) because of the medical condition he himself mentions in the very next sentence. From a career standpoint, I think 1972 was one of Gordon's strongest.

According to Wayne's site, Gordon toured throughout 1972. He played two sold out concerts at New York's Philharmonic in February, headlined Massey in March (when he was stricken with the Bell's Palsy) then, after regaining his health, resumed touring, playing the Place Des Arts in Montreal, the United Kingdom in June- were he wowed concert goers at the Royal Albert Hall, plus helped out his friend Ian Tyson by perfoming CRT on his show. Oh, and by the way, he released not one- but two excellent albums: Don Quixote and Old Dan's Records.

I could go on, but I won't. I don't usually get this rankled about things- but I had high hopes for this book. The early 70's was a very special time in Gordon's career and music wise probably my favorite. The thought that someone was actually going to devote a whole book to that era excited me. It's not that I have a problem with Gordon being portrayed as anything less than a saint- I don't. I actually enjoy those stories from the wild and crazy 70's. I love it when Gordon talks about staying up for days at a time partying with guys like Jerry Jeff Walker and Doug Kershaw. Let's face it, those chemicals probably helped fuel a lot of great music, music that has stood the test of time (too bad the chemicals didn't help the author). I've read Manyard Collin's book, I've read Cathy Smith's book. There's nothing in them that surprises me. They only confirmed what I had already suspected...Gordon is human. If anything, I came to respect and like Gordon even more after reading them.

Some may say I should read the entire book before forming an opinion; but I think I've read enough (thanks to Char for posting the warning- I mean excerpt). It all comes back to this guys attitude. It stinks. The sad thing is, I don't think he even sees it. Perhaps if he had written the book in a more fair and even handed way, maybe then Gordon would have taken notice and even given his blessing to do something in the future. Instead, I can't help but feel that the author's ego is bigger than his brain. Sorry, but I think Gordon deserves better.

[charlene]

I've read he book now and had myself quite a few good laffs, a few cringes thinking what Lightfoot would think if he does read it. I dont find the writing self absorbed or arrogant - actually at times it's quite light-hearted with a touch of earnestness that Dave does hope to actually be able to talk with Lightfoot one day as a huge fan, but also as one musician and songwriter to another. Perhaps in person they will discuss apologies.
From the excerpt all is not what it seems...
and even if The Man himself is mightily pissed off doesn't make it a bad book...the details and stories about music, toronto,the world, sports is staggering..It was a damn fine read and regardless of the mentions of some bad times in Lightfoot's life (he had them folks - he had them and they are known) the wy the 'letter writer' speaks to Lightfoot is endearing, charming, funny, irreverant, rude and informative...It's not how I would or have ever talked to him but then again I'm not an author. Dave explain that lifestyle quite nicely too.. I really enjoyed this book and will tell Mr. Bidini exactly that when I see him tonight. Saying that doesn't take anything away from my respect and love for Lightfoot or change what may be fact and what may be fiction...
off to the big city, home of the Leafs, and The Church of Gord..
ta for now..

[charlene]

I'm back! The weather held and was actually quite nice for a trip to TO.
The venue was packed when I arrived at about 6:45.I looked around to see if here were any familiar faces and lo and behold there was my sweet Kenyon and his new and still beautiful new wife Johanna! So I wouldn't have to wander around on my own not knowing anyone.!yay!
A few minutes later Mr. Bernie Fiedler arrived...alone. There would be no Gordon Lightfoot/Dave Bidini show down or love-in tonight. oh well.
Dave circulated through the room and made his way to where Kenyon, Johanna and I were sitting. Kenyon knows Dave through his hockey playing. I told him how I felt about the book and he was quite pleased to hear I really enjoyed it. I told him about some misgivings people had about the content and his attitude and he understood that would happen - he's a writer and not everything a writer puts on paper is everyones cuppa.
He then read several pages to us (22-28) from the first letter he 'wrote' to Lightfoot.

After the reading there were several musicians who performed Lightfoot tunes and their own. The Billie Hollies did a most incredible rendition of "Your Loves Return." I said goodbye to Dave and once again told him that I really liked the book. He wrote a lovely inscription in it when he autographed it for me. I forgot to thank him for the two mentions he gave me in the book! ACK!!

It really was a terrific night and I'm very happy for Dave and hope the book does well. It would have been nice to have Gordon show up but perhaps he didnt' show because he didn't want to make the night all about him even tho the book was 'about' him..lol Or he was still pissed..I'm pretty sure it's the latter..I know it is. That's his choice tho and Dave certainly respects that.

I will be re-reading the book because it is so detail/information heavy on so many diverse subjects that I'm sure I missed stuff. It was an informative read, a very unique read and along with some cringe making moments it had a lot of laughs too. It was terrific to read and recognize so many places, names, events I personally know and re-read so many historical events that happened during that amazing week in July 1972.. and may I add that it started off on July 10 - the day I turned 17.

Mariposa and my birthday have had some amazing intersections in my later life...and they all include Gordon Lightfoot.
Writing Gordon Lightfoot is something i actually have always done..I spent some time wondering if he received my cards and notes, trying to imagine what he might say if he replied, thinking about what his life was like, what made him happy and what hurts he had in his life to elicit such poetry that would make people cry thinking of their own heartache. I never did think of or would have believed that my life now would include him in a way that never ever seemed possible or that he would thank me..Perhaps my writing to him did matter.
My "Writing Gordon Lightfoot" is very different in many ways than Dave Bidini's but it is identical in the respect and love for him and his music and the passion we have about it.

[byKimberly]

Char. You are an author.
Kimberly

[charlene]

:)

[charlene]

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2157262969
A chat with Dave.

[imported_Next_Saturday]

I agree Char, you are an author. But I think you meant to say 'elicit'. (Although the subject matter for Sundown might be considered illicit by some ;)

[charlene]

LOL! thanks..!
fingers too fast for my brain/spelling centre! Or my mind was off where it shouldn't have been...
;)

[niffer]

You're mentioned in the book, Char? Twice? Now I have to read it!!!:)

[charlene]

read it despite my name being in it!
lol

[patybear]

Omg! I just listened to the Retrostatics version of this.
I got as far as,"With a load of iron ore,26 thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerld weighed empty".Thats when I HAD to turn it off.I SIMPLY COULDN'T LISTEN TO ANY MORE of it.I agree,lovesagibbson.This version is AWFUL!

[charlene]

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/gordon-lightfoot-as-imagined-by-dave-bidini-132369668.html
BooksWinnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Gordon Lightfoot as imagined by Dave Bidini
Reviewed by: Jim Millican

Posted: 10/22/2011 1:00 AM |���
Writing Gordon Lightfoot

The Man, the Music and the World in 1972

By Dave Bidini

McClelland & Stewart, 264 pages, $30

TORONTO-BASED musician and writer Dave Bidini lays out the gist of his latest endeavour in the prologue.

He wanted to write about the life and times of Gordon Lightfoot, arguably Canada's most successful folksinger. The artist will have nothing to do him. This leads Bidini to instead address Lightfoot through a series of "letters to Gord."

These letters form alternating chapters -- questions for Lightfoot, supposition about his life, rumour and innuendo picked up by Bidini through his research.

Bidini posits that the year 1972, leading up to the Mariposa Folk Festival in July in Toronto, saw a series of events that would in hindsight transform Canada "politically, psychologically and musically."

That year Mariposa drew Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Lightfoot, although none of these pop-music icons was officially on the bill. Bidini devotes a chapter to the events of each day of the festival.

He provides numerous lists and descriptions of events from '72 to back up his premise that something magical was in the air that year (a jailbreak at Kingston Penitentiary, the Canada-Russia hockey summit, Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky's chess showdown in Iceland, the eclipse of the sun Carly Simon wrote about in You're So Vain).

Founder of the rock band the Rheostatics and author of numerous books on music and sports, Bidini manages to work in large swaths of prose not related to Lightfoot, not related to Mariposa and, for that matter, not related to 1972.

This hallucinogenic blending of fact and fantasy, with Bidini himself often at the centre, reminds one of the late American writer Hunter S. Thompson's so-called gonzo journalism.

The information about Lightfoot is largely contained in the pseudo-letters with Bidini's own skewed take on the man. It paints him as the general sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll-loving stereotype of the era.

This is particularly in the details of Lightfoot's alcohol abuse, broken marriages and his long, troubled affair with Cathy Evelyn Smith, a groupie, his longtime mistress and a drug dealer famously convicted of procuring the drugs that killed John Belushi.

"A deep fog of booze and pain and drugs" is Bidini's description of Lightfoot's life through the period of his greatest success in the late '60s and well into the '70s.

Bidini approaches biographical detail as a chore. He writes that he "should serve the interests of readers who are going to want to know about the mundane particulars of (Lightfoot's) life." He proceeds to list 10 of these details, all trivializing.

The book is, annoyingly, studded with typos, and Bidini even gets the name of one of Lightfoot's most important early songs wrong. It's For Loving Me, not You.

There's very little illumination about the music, although Bidini does have his insights. In one of his letters to Gord, he writes, "In the lyrics -- and in your persona, really -- you create a place where tough and sad meet, where the strong man is weakened by the world's forces."

Lightfoot, who turns 73 in November, deserves a serious all-encompassing overview of his music and life, but this is definitely not it.

Read Writing Gordon Lightfoot as a creatively penned journal centred around its subject rather than as a true biography.

Jim Millican is a Winnipeg writer and music journalist.

[charlene]

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Writing-Gordon-Lightfoot-The-Man-Music/book-U9KqufrrUk2wlcZ08NyhqQ/page1.html

Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972
By Dave Bidini
McClelland & Stewart, October 2011

Synopsis Contents .From acclaimed musician and author Dave Bidini comes a brilliantly original look at a folk-rock legend and the momentous week in 1972 that culminated in the Mariposa Folk Festival. July, 1972. As musicians across Canada prepare for the nation's biggest folk festival, held on Toronto Island, a series of events unfold that will transform the country politically, psychologically--and musically. As Bidini explores the remarkable week leading up to Mariposa, he also explores the life and times of one of the most enigmatic figures in Canadian music: Gordon Lightfoot, the reigning king of folk at the height of his career. Through a series of letters, Bidini addresses Lightfoot directly, questioning him, imagining his life, and weaving together a fascinating, highly original look at a musician at the top of his game. By the end of the week, the country is on the verge of massive change and the '72 Mariposa folk fest--complete with surprise appearances by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and yes, Lightfoot--is on its way to becoming legendary. From the Hardcover edition.

[jj]

Omg! I just listened to the 1st verse of this version,and then I HAD to turn it off.I simply couldn't listen to any more of it.I'd have to agree with you,loveabiggibson.This version is AWFUL!
patybear

You heard the slicker studio version. Go to iTunes to hear sample of it live. lol

I wonder how many people here contributed their stories to his cause.

Bidini also wrote this song called fan letter to Michael jackson.

Dave Bidini, last line by Mark Critchley

(One, two, everybody go...)
(Shut it up.)
(Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Honey's sweet, just like you.)

I have all your records.
I have even bought some of them twice
Even though my friends in school
Think I am wrong to find you cool.
I don't care because I know
You care about who writes to you.
I enjoyed the fan club letter,
But an autograph would be better.

MICHAEL!

I have hear about your bleeding,
But I don't believe in reading
All of those rumors can't be true.
I hope I meet a friend like you.
I play Bad until my parents,
They tell me: "Go to sleep and dream it."
Still I play them soft and low.
I sing the words, the ones I know.

JACKSON!

It feels good to be alive!
Bad! Alive!


Rheostatics TV Tape#2 part 5 of 5 - YouTube

[DellroyGM]

I'm afraid I share your sentiments, Gibson. I tried to keep an open mind, but the vocals sound tentative, the arrangement seems contrived. After about 2-1/2 minutes, I had to jump up and shout "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!?", just to get the bad vibes outta my head.
Even accounting the fact I tend to be a purist (oh, okay - I do play Boathouse a smidge quicker than Gord does - it brightens it up), "painful" seems a good description.
-DellroyGM

[charlene]

re: the Irish connection and The Wreck -
http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/511323.html?nav=5016
and
http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=19597&highlight=irish+melody

[TC]

I was definitely looking forward to a Lightfoot book but I'm going to pass on this one for sure.

[jj]

I tried to keep an open mind, but the vocals sound tentative, the arrangement seems contrived. After about 2-1/2 minutes, I had to jump up and shout "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!?", just to get the bad vibes outta my head.

the vibe they left you with may have been what they were striving for...
ie. erasing the 'jaunty' treatment that Gord apparently created... DB quote:

“Really drag it through the muck, really get it dirty, spray it with mud and blood and fear and angst. It was essentially our punk rock version of that song, really trying to get it as frightful as possible. I think we all realized we could give a new look to this song, maybe reflect sonically some of the lyrics, more so than Gord’s actual treatment, which was very clean and kind of jaunty, when in fact it’s terrifying as hell, that song.”


ya know, if one takes the wealth of the actual interview clips posted by char and others here, plus Wayne's mountain of firsthand tidbits, you actually get a pretty good little bio-type book in itself, once you eliminate the redundancies and try filter out all the contradictory quotes ;) but ya may not learn as much about love child(s)

...char, you could really put something tasty together and add your own first hand bits and pieces that were not shared with you in confidence...i'd buy it:)

[charlene]

I told Dave B. there would be flak about the book contents and him personally from some fans. He said he understood that could happen. I told him I couldn't deal with that and that's why he's an author and I'm not.
He's a writer of books and music. Like all 'artists' they put their work and themselves out there to the public and take what comes in forms of praise and criticisms.
I think I know that first hand too just from some postings I have made here and then been attacked personally for my thoughts.
While there is a re-hashing of stuff in the other two books that Dave references and might have been overdone/needless to some readers it was required for him to use as jumping off points for his own questions and musings in his 7 letters. In those letters are also words of praise and admiration. I don't thin this book was meant to be the 'be-all/know all' story of Lightfoot. It is Bidini's take on the story of Lightfoot. Of course a book without the main characters input can be nothing but that. One persons personal take on the life and music of an icon. Conjecture drawn from what we all have previously read about him and interspersed with world events in a specific time period made for a unique reading experience. Of course I cringed over some parts just as I do when I read a less than favourable concert or album review. Some things could have been left out but that is not how the author felt his book should read. I have felt that way about many books I have read including some of the classics..We all have our own emotional reaction to what we read,see,hear and it's not always favourable. The book was not all sunshine and roses and la-di-da...it was a tough read at times, challenging me to keep reading at times... Quite a few gasps, wows and what the hell was he thinking happened all thru the book as I read it...just as there were some lovely moments in it as I felt the authors admiration for Lightfoot come through. Perhaps I am not enuf of a cynic to think he took so much of his own time to research so much stuff and write a book while still maintaining his fulltime writing job, his career as a musician and his life as a husband and father just to make a few bucks. I do admire his courage to embark on and complete a book that would certainly cause a few ripples of discontent and some full on personal slaggings.
it's probably not on a XMAS gift list at Gord's house...and I certainly won't be asking him to autograph my copy. I respect that he's pissed and he has every right to be so.
Passing on reading the book is a choice if you wanted anything but what this book is. Regardless of how you might feel about the 'stuff' that's not new and is tough to read at times just dismissing it outright doesn't seem fair. If after a full reading and some reflection you still hate it/the author that seems more fair for it/him and you. Life's fullof surprises....a few hours of reading time is all it takes...so much of the book is very informative about that time in history, regardless of the Lightfoot story/connection. I enjoyed that part immensely. To each his own I guess...

[BILLW]

Well I guess I'll just have to buy a copy and see for myself. Thanks for all the info Char!

Bill :)

[jj]

Passing on reading the book is a choice if you wanted anything but what this book is

Good stuff, char... glad you enjoyed it and any new GL bits/facts in there

thanks for the insights also, i didn't realize Bidini did it as a labour of love

i don't think anyone can't question his dedication to/obsession with Gord as he was the one who initiated a petition to have a National Lightfoot Day:)

DB quote: "One of the reasons I wanted to write about Gord was because I feared his amazing story would not get told, and, as a musician, I wanted to write it, having been to many of the same emotional and spiritual places as he had been.”

if Gord's amazing story has finally been told, that is somewhat relieving...
I don't know what spiritual places Gord has been to... it sounds intriguing

i don't think there's anything more personal that I need to know about Gord and family but one day it would be nice to read more about his songwriting and inspirations, more along the lines of the Songbook liner notes...i'm sure DB and so many others, worldwide, would also really enjoy that

[jj]

the lightfoot website continues to disregard this retaliatory text

but it seems to me that it is quite newsworthy in the world of folk music and it's evolution, even if the story of Mariposa has already been told. Even if there were no new Gord tidbits, perhaps there's new Mariposa fun facts and anecdotes

and I dont want to read anything (speculative or not) about team Canada that might make me look at my old hockey cards any differently. Lol. I didn't really enjoy the made for tv movie. Ditto for Trudeau. btw, Maggy is currently doing some good work...the big prison break actually sounds intriguing. the only thing as panicky as prisoners on the loose, is exotic animals

[charlene]

the lightfoot website continues to disregard this retaliatory text

but it seems to me that it is quite newsworthy in the world of folk music and it's evolution, even if the story of Mariposa has already been told. Even if there were no new Gord tidbits, perhaps there's new Mariposa fun facts and anecdotes

and I dont want to read anything (speculative or not) about team Canada that might make me look at my old hockey cards any differently. Lol. I didn't really enjoy the made for tv movie. Ditto for Trudeau. btw, Maggy is currently doing some good work...the big prison break actually sounds intriguing. the only thing as panicky as prisoners on the loose, is exotic animals

"the lightfoot website continues to disregard this retaliatory text" HUH??

[charlene]

excerpt -
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/10/26/book-excerpt-writing-gordon-lightfoot-by-dave-bidini/
National Post · Oct. 26, 2011 | Last Updated: Oct. 26, 2011 3:07 AM ET

Hey, Gord. This is the beginning of the letter. I'm not going to begin where normal biographies begin, because, I dunno, all of those books that go on to describe the legend playing with his toys and burning his hand on the stovetop and how his Grade 3 teacher threw a ruler at him and the time he wet his pants coming home from school and what his dog's name was and how he saw his uncle die in a horrible chipper accident and what he did when he got his first report card; I dunno. Me, I always want the writer to get to the reasons why anyone would write a book about that person in the first place. Which, in your case, is the music and the songs. Guitar playing. Words. Concerts. Radio. Canada. Mariposa. Drugs and love and booze. And other stuff.

So I think we should start with me imagining you being a kid like any other pre-teen kid, sitting on the quilt at the edge of your bed dressed in ill-fitting brown cords that your mom bought for you at the Buy Right, playing a guitar that came out of a long cardboard box, trying to find great sweeping chords to match the fullness of the infinite sky, even though the sound that you made was more like sprrrngggtt! because your hands hurt and the tips of your fingers were sore but screw it: your grandparents and their grandparents and their grandparents before them had dug their mitts deep into the hard rich soil to build a life for their sons and daughters, and because they did, you sat there and you kept on playing: an A chord struck with the E string accidentally opened that released a long wide note at the bottom of the neck which made you think of a tern swallowed by the water's horizon as your mom tapped on the door and told you, "Phone call, son. It's Whelan," (I know your friend's name was Whelan because it was written in that other book about you, the one by Maynard Collins called If You Could Read His Mind, which he published 30 years ago).

You spoke to Whelan, then returned to your room where you leaned your guitar on the cowboywallpapered wall and slipped on your boots and walked over to your friend's house ("Bye, Mom"), where you played board games with him at the kitchen table. Whelan said that he liked that new song by that skinny guy with the goatee, Buddy Knox, but you weren't sure. No gulls. No lakes. No silence. You were 12, I think. Life was moving forward, though damned if you knew where.

You liked to sing and you liked to run. I did, too. Don't all 12year-olds? Well, maybe not Glenn Gould, but still. You went to junior choir practice at St. Paul's United Church in Orillia. I imagine the old pastor dressed in dark robes taking you aside and telling you that you sang like an angel, and just hearing him say the word - angel - gave you a funny feeling: a soft word coming from such a severe man, a word he'd let pass through his lips and over his teeth because your voice had somehow found a place between his rib cage and heart and maybe it was then that you understood how music worked and why it had lasted forever, despite the changing world and dinosaurs and history and war and love and God.

I read somewhere that you sang high - way high - filling neighbourhood churches as the congregation swooned to the sound of your voice twirling about the moulding at the top of the church columns the way Aretha Franklin's or Little Richard's or Sam Cooke's did, although you didn't know the names of those people, not yet. Besides, their voices had been boiled in the dirty heat of the American South while yours had been born in the seizing cold, something you didn't know, either, not yet, and maybe you're realizing this for the first time here, but maybe not, because I have no idea whether you're reading this.

During church service, you could see your mom and dad sitting in the pews - Mom looking proud and Dad, well, Dad just being Dad, as all dads just are - as you raised your chin with your hands hanging like scarves at your sides and you felt your diaphragm fill then empty then fill again the way your uncle worked the bellow raising fire from the hearth. At West Ward public school, they played a recording of you singing An Irish Lullaby over the public address system to your friends and classmates and teachers during Parents' Day; pretty much the whole town standing there listening as your soprano rang through the speaker grills at the front of those dry yellow classrooms.

If your school was anything like mine - or my kids', come to think of it - your principal was named either King or Jenkins or Arnold (they were all English back then, the principals), and what you couldn't see was how his mien softened as he spared a moment to listen to the tune you'd learned from the prized Weavers record that you played three times a day and once at bedtime on your family's four-in-one.

And then, a few years later, you were in Massey Hall. I played there, too. Just saying the name makes me shiver and I wonder if it still makes you shiver, having played it so many times over the years. It was the first time you sang in the big city, wasn't it? Shuter Street. Allan Gardens. The subway. Simpson's. Fran's. Le Coq D'Or. City Hall. You were just down the block from Maple Leaf Gardens, where Teeder Kennedy played and where that woman used to clang her bell and yell "Let's go Teeeeeder!" whenever he cupped the puck on his stick and charged up the ice. I know this meant something to you, Gord, because in 1993, they made you a celebrity captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I also know that you used to go to games all the time in the '70s and '80s because Bill's mom saw you there, just hanging out, no big deal, signing autographs and talking trade. Cathy Evelyn Smith - more on her, lots more, later - also wrote that "hockey games at Maple Leaf Gardens became part of the ritual. Hoarse from cheering, we'd trudge home to the apartment through the snow."

I don't know if you know it, Gord, but I love the Leafs, too. Love. I get flak for it - who doesn't? - especially when I'm on the road playing gigs or doing book tours, but I wonder whether anyone makes fun when you're around, being a legend and everything. Once, this dude came up to me after a show and was all gushing about our songs and our albums and our concerts, and then, before he left, he said, "Shame that you're a Leafs fan, though."

I think he was a Habs fan, but I'm not sure. F--kin' Habs. Do you hate them as much as I hate them, Gord? If you're a real Leafs fan - which, again, according to Bill's mom, you are - then you probably hate 'em, too. Oh yeah: even if you don't want to talk to me about music or your life, Gord, I'd be happy to sit around and bash the Habs silly. That way we could avoid talking about anything real, even though talking about hockey is realer than most things, if you know what I mean.

? Excerpt from Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972. Copyright © 2011 by Dave Bidini. Published by McClelland & Stewart Ltd. All rights reserved.

While watching Battle of The Blades http://www.cbc.ca/battle/(competition with hockey players skating with figure skaters) the other night there was Gordon sitting in the audience enjoying the show....he was introduced from the ice, looking pretty smart in all black..

[jj]

I haven't seen Blades since it was at the Gardens. But seems like Ron and Browning have their schtick in synch during the openings I've seen, lol. Next year they should have Cherry and O'Leary host or perhaps guest judge, lol

Sorry for confusion, I was watching for Wayne's review under the News section but it just slid into the Books section. Do any have all of these books? Impressive

Wow. I just tried reading all that. Has geoSteve's writing style. Hope he's well:)

[charlene]

http://www.aux.tv/2011/10/q-a-dave-bidini-discusses-his-near-biography-of-gordon-lightfoot-and-his-baseball-movie-with-geddy-lee-and-jay-baruchel/

Dave Bidini is a busy dude. He is the author of ten books, most about music, sports, or some combination of the two. He is a National Post columnist and a founding member of the Rheostatics, a band stitched into the very fabric of Canadian musical identity. He plays regularly with his own Bidiniband, adapts his books into movies and mini series, and kind of seems to be everywhere at once.

His latest book is called Writing Gordon Lightfoot. The title is both a red herring and a tilt of the hand; with the subtitle “The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972,” it would be easy to approach Bidini’s latest as a straight biography of one of Canada’s great songwriters. But Writing is about a lot more than that, a fact that becomes immediately apparent through its unorthodox style, structure, and duel narrative. Bouncing between confessional, personal letters to Lightfoot himself (who refused to be interviewed for the book) and the worldwide events leading up to Mariposa folk festival in 1972, it’s a book about Spassky versus Fischer and the formation of the World Hockey Association, a loveletter to ’70s Canadiana and Rolling Stones tour confessional. It’s a lot of different, fascinating things, making it one of Bidini’s most rewarding works.

It also makes an offhanded mention of AUX favourite, Damian Abraham of Fucked Up. When we get Bidini on the phone to talk about his book and future plans, it’s a pre-interview tweet about this fact that launches us into conversation.

Dave Bidini: It’s funny you mentioned that thing about Damian, because that’s the last thing I changed before it went to print. I think I had Diamond Rings in there or something, and my editor didn’t know who it was. So I said, “Do you know who Damiam Abraham is?” And she said no. But I told her to put him in there instead. I had run into him at a Vietnamese restaurant on Bloor Street and I thought he’d get a kick out of it.

AUX: I’m going to go ahead and ask the questions you will be continued to ask every time you talk about this book.

That’s okay.

Has Gord read it?

We had our launch party last night, and one of his best friends came, and was apparently trying to get him out. But if I was Gord, I wouldn’t have come. I would like him to read it. I would like him to come to my house every Friday for dinner, and we could be buddies and shoot pool together and watch hokey, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t really care. You can’t worry about the reactions of whoever you put into your book. You do the best you can do. I think at one point in the book I do appeal to him and say, “Hey, man, you’re lucky I’m writing this book, and not some muckraking journalist, being senstive to the life.”’ I hope he feels like he caught a bit of a break.

Was the idea always to tie these different narratives into a story about Gordon Lightfoot?

I found this Mariposa ’72 episode early on, and I thought I could built the book around a reconstruction of the week and that event, with Lightfoot in the centre. I had done all this research and I had all this raw matter, and I thought I would use it, which is how it became this double-header. The way it’s supposed to work is like a hard-soft, light-dark. The letters are very warm and fleshy, and the alternating chapters of the week are very cold.

Was there a point when you were writing it that you realized it had become about more than just providing context? In some way, Gordon Lightfoot starts to feel like a stand-in for Canadian identity and character.

I think all the books, or any kind of art that you create, you always aspire—the subject is the horse you ride in on—but the scope of the book is what you see in front of you. People have said to me, “I don’t really like hockey, but I like Tropic of Hockey.” The baseball book is the same way. Every book I try to do that. The subject of the book is the vessel through which you explore a greater reality and touch on these universal themes. The Lightfoot thing—I think what you say is an interesting observation. I didn’t want this to be a book where all the fetishistic details of a celebrity’s life were explored. You want it to be about something greater beyond that. I think it will disappoint people who pick it up expecting a biography. And you’re right, by the end, it’s a bit of a Frankenstein. You’ve got Lightfoot, you’ve got me, you’ve got Canada and Bobby Hull and the whole Mariposa crew. At the end you have this wide gallery of figures. You hope the reader is able to enjoy the ride, but you really hope that they can look back and see their own lives reflected in it. I think it was a good time to use Lightfoot as a symbol. Canadian life is very different than it was when he started out. I felt the same about On a Cold Road. It seemed important to keep those stories alive. When those people are gone their stories are gone, but those are the stories on which other lives are built.

To totally change tacks, you’ve been tweeting about working on the Baseballissimo movie. What’s the status of that project?

Jay Baruchel and his writing partner Jesse are working the script now. They’ll have the script delivered to us by Christmas. It’s great. We’ve had tons of interest in terms of getting the film made without actually having a working script. So it looks really positive. Those guys did a 10 page treatment of the film and I feel like they really get it. And Geddy [Lee, as in, of Rush, who is connected to the film] has run a band for 25 years, so he’s a natural producer. He’s a great communicator, and he’s great at gathering people together. We’re hoping for TIFF in 2013, which probably means shooting around the end of next fall. When Baseballissimo came out, it wasn’t that well promoted, but the people who liked the book really liked the book. It’s so neat that it’s had this second life 12 years after it came out. It just goes to show that if you have a good story and you believe in a good story, you never know where it’s going to lead.

[Same Old Loverman]

Last week I posted my thoughts on the "new" book. Admittedly I still haven't read it, although I do read the excerpts and reviews when Char and others post them. Reading over what I wrote, I really hope I didn't offend anyone- including the author himself by my posting. If I did, I apologize. It's just that I feel kind of protective towards the man. I mean, I feel incredibly fortunate that we still have him with us. Let's face it; we could have easily lost him a number of times over the years. Not just from drinking (thankfully he was able to quit when he did) but from the other things that have transpired. Not only is he still alive, but he's still thriving, still performing! For those reasons and more I'm thankful (and I'm not even Canadian-lol)!

I guess that partly explains my frustration with this book; for what it could have been (or at least what I was hoping it would be). I still don't care for the "tone" of some of what I've read. I also don't understand why he felt the need to make some stuff up, ignore other things and include all those details about news events fom 1972 that, to me, just detracts from what I really want to know about: the life and times of Gordon Lightfoot in the year 1972.

I think the fact that no one has ever written a really good, fair, comprehensive book on the man is a crime! Think of it, Gordon Lightfoot the absolute finest singer songwriter of our time (my humble opinion) and we only have a few meager accounts of his life. I really can't fathom that. Take other artists: Elvis, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, even fellow Canandian Neil Young, and you can find many, many books about, and only about them. How can we explain this? He's certainly worthy. In fact I would put Gordon's body of work between 1966 and 1976 up against anyone's (even Dylan's) in terms of quality and consistancy.

Some will say it's because Gordon is so reclusive, and that's true to a point, but not entirely. He does talk, he does interviews and will from time to time reveal some interesting tid bit about his life. As someone else said in this discussion; if you took all the info from this and Wayne's site, along with interviews both with Gordon and people he's known and put it all together- you'd probably have a pretty decent body of work.

I do think Cathy Smith played an important part in Gordon's life in the early 70's, and at times have wondered how many songs she inspired (I suspect quite a few). I think her later troubles in the 80's (we all know what I'm talking about so I'm not going to mention it) may be part of the reason Gordon is reluctant to talk too much about aspects of his life. Writers always bring it up, but the truth is none of her later difficulties had anything to do with Gordon. They had parted long before then. If anything, I think her problems started more along the time she started hanging out with the Stones (they seem to have that kind of effect on people) than anything else.

Will Gordon ever write a book? From what I've gathered here and elsewhere; the idea doesn't seem to excite him. As someone who (at least partly) made his living by writing, I would think the prospect would be kind of fun. At least the pressure is off now- no recording contracts to meet. I suppose (and I think he has even said) that he's also partly thinking of his family and their feelings. But I would guess that by now, they probably have a pretty good idea that their Dad was a little wild in his younger days (weren't we all). I'll leave my thoughts at that, along with the hope that someday Gordon will actually pen his memoirs (and that he'll ask me to assist him- talk about your dream job).

[charlene]

He does not want to write a book and tell things abut his life and name people etc. who were part of the more than 'wonderful' aspects of his career and personal life.
As far as the Bidini book - if you read what the book is about and how it is constructed then you will know it is NOT a biography. Don't expect one and you won't be disappointed. Read it for what it IS. If you can't get past that need to have the grit from the man himself you'll be waiting a long time. As far as people knowing he was wild that's different than it being written down with all the details.
Assuming things about the author and being put off by those assumptions is not the way to go about whether to read a book or not as far as I'm concerned.
Reading this book leads to some interesting details of the times of 1972, the music, the performers etc. It's a good read, some laffs and some new info to ponder on whether you were of age at the time or a kid..I hate this saying but "it is what it is."..
;)

[charlene]

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/music/rocker-dave-bidini-writes-book-about-gordon-lightfoot-without-his-involvement-132730893.html

TORONTO - As soon as Dave Bidini put the word out that he was writing a book about Gordon Lightfoot, the stories started to pour in.

Bidini, the former Rheostatics singer, has plenty of friends in rock 'n' roll, and they had plenty of tangled yarns to spin about the 72-year-old Canuck singer for "Writing Gordon Lightfoot."

Some were flattering, but most were definitely not.

"People would be like: 'I have a great Lightfoot story,' and it would inevitably turn out to be a horrible Lightfoot story," Bidini said in an interview this week at a Toronto cafe.

"There's a book that could come out for sure that would just be about that, just be about him being a mean drunk and a bad husband ... But if you put too many episodes in a book like that, that's all people are going to take away from it, and I wanted people to come away with a fuller impression of who the person was, about this life lived in Canadian music."

"And actually one of the things I say in the book is I sort of approach Gord and I say: 'I hope you're grateful that it's me writing the book and not some muck-raking journalist.'"

That Bidini wanted to protect Lightfoot's legacy — or at least his dignity — might imply some sort of friendly relationship between the two Canadian rockers. But in fact, Bidini says that Lightfoot refused to be interviewed for the book despite his persistent requests.

In the text, Bidini offers a couple of theories for Lightfoot's non-participation. Years ago, the Rheostatics covered "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," and Bidini and his bandmates thought the Orillia, Ont., country-folk legend might have liked their version.

So they directed it to Lightfoot's manager at the time, Barry Harvey, who has since died. Bidini remembers Harvey telling him that he wouldn't give the song to Lightfoot because it would just annoy the singer. The group was disappointed, and some time later, Bidini slighted Lightfoot in an interview, suggesting that the Canuck icon had swiped the melody for "Fitzgerald" from an old Irish folk tune (Bidini himself heard this rumour at a pub in Cork, Ireland). Harvey asked for a retraction and Bidini agreed, but says that once the comments had hit the Internet, it was too late.

So, the two artists weren't exactly friends. Still, Bidini believes the primary reason Lightfoot didn't want to participate in the book is that the songwriting stalwart simply has no interest in revisiting the still-tender wounds of his past.

And "Writing Gordon Lightfoot" does zero in on a particularly difficult period in his career. The book is structured around the events of one week in July 1972, when some of the biggest names in music — including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and, yes, Lightfoot — descended on tiny Toronto Island to make surprise appearances at the Mariposa Folk Festival.

At the time, the book says, Lightfoot had been forced to curtail his touring schedule due to Bell's palsy, which had temporarily left his face partially paralyzed, his first marriage was crumbling (he would divorce in '73), and he was dating Cathy Smith — the same woman who would later serve time in a California prison for injecting actor John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine in 1982.

The tumult that Lightfoot was enduring in his personal life seemed to evaporate for a brief moment at Mariposa, when he showed up unannounced, sat down and quietly strummed an acoustic guitar in the middle of the festival grounds — at a tree stump, or on a rock, or on a picnic table, depending on whose version of events you believe.

"It was this wonderful moment of purity at a time in Gord's life when things were really bad and complicated," said Bidini, 48.

Bidini calls the week of Mariposa the moment that "Canadian culture kind of matured." Yet he admits he was a little bit "neurotic" about writing a book about just one person, so he also found space to venture into other events of the uncommonly momentous week — the selection of Canada's hockey entry to the Summit Series, the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky chess showdown and the Pioneer 10 becoming the first spacecraft to enter Jupiter's asteroid belt, to name a few.

Bidini's interest in Lightfoot, meanwhile, dates back to the '80s, when the Rheostatics tossed off the "Edmund Fitzgerald" cover at a club in Thunder Bay, Ont., and the crowd went into a frenzy. Still, Bidini didn't want to do a straight biography that focused merely on the mundane details — as he puts it — of Lightfoot's life.

Instead, Bidini blended fact and fiction, occasionally giving the text over to his own ruminations on what a certain scene might have looked like. He also wrote a series of letters addressed directly to Lightfoot, which often only barely conceal Bidini's frustration at the singer's refusal to talk to him.

"I was frustrated for a long time, again until I found out I could use the fictional device to kind of build the story," Bidini said. "And once I decided on that, it was quite liberating."

Given the nature of the project, it's perhaps understandable that Bidini found it difficult to assemble a complete, coherent sketch of Lightfoot's personality.

Different accounts from different sources revealed vastly different perceptions of the iconic singer, with some painting him as an irascible chauvinist, and others as a warm, generous soul.

But Bidini believes that Lightfoot has become more social, and less elusive, over time.

"I think he's less difficult to nail down as a person ... as he's gotten older," said Bidini, who's in the process of wrapping a new Bidiniband album entitled "In the Rock Hall."

"People have said he's become a lot more open and a lot more social, he goes out a lot more, a lot more communicative."

Bidini only actually met Lightfoot once, in an elevator in Quebec City in 1987. (Bidini asked how the previous night's performance went, and Lightfoot responded that "'Early Morning Rain' was a little fast." That was it.)

It's not clear what Lightfoot thinks of Bidini's book. A representative for the singer said Thursday he was unavailable to comment because he's preparing for his next tour.

Bidini says mutual friends have pledged to get a copy of to Lightfoot, though the author isn't concerned about whether he reads it.

"People have asked me, what's he going to think of this? And I don't care. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what he thinks in a way. However, I'd love to talk to the guy. It'd be super fun. He can come over for dinner any time."

And what would Bidini ask him if finally afforded the opportunity?

"I'd like to find out if he liked our version of the song, basically," he laughed.

[charlene]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/hey-dave-bidini-gordon-lightfoots-just-not-that-into-you/article2220264/
I’m sorry, and you are?

Dave Bidini was at an authors festival in Banff, Alta. He was chuffed to have been invited, but pretty soon it became clear that none of the other 40 writers there had any idea about his work, which has been mostly in the sports, travel and music milieus.

“They just wouldn’t read a book about Chinese hockey, or baseball in Italy, or music in Africa,” Bidini explained recently, referring to what he calls the greater literati. “It just didn’t seem to penetrate their radar.”

The lead-in to a cover story in this month’s Quill & Quire magazine poses a question: Would Bidini’s 10th and latest book, Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972, “bring him the literary laurels he desires?”

It’s a good question – and one that the article, oddly, doesn’t really address. So, over coffee at Bar Italia on Toronto’s College Street strip, I ask the author-musician about his missing recognition.

“Desire is a little too strong a word,” explains Bidini, a likable fellow with an earthy, hard look somewhere between a fruit vendor and a vintage gumshoe. “Every time I write a book, I think, ‘This is going to be a huge bestseller and it’s going to win all the awards.’ But then, just the achievement of completing it and it being true to the vision with which it started seem to soak up all those aspirations.”

It was Bidini’s need for acknowledgment that inspired the epistolary Writing Gordon Lightfoot. Rebuffed in his efforts to speak to the Canadian folk icon for a planned biography of sorts, Bidini constructed his book uniquely: Each chapter begins as a fan letter from Bidini, who poses questions to his real-life hero, eventually creating a biographical arc.

The book’s first missive addresses the possible reason Lightfoot wasn’t interested in participating in the project: Years ago, after Bidini’s former band, the Rheostatics, recorded a version of Lightfoot’s The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Bidini was informed by Lightfoot’s manager, the late Barry Harvey, that the Sundown singer wouldn’t be interested in listening to the Rheostatics’ cover. Upset that Lightfoot couldn’t be bothered to hear his band’s homage, Bidini spouted off to a journalist that the song’s melody was lifted from a traditional Irish folk song.

Bidini has ever since been on the outs with the Lightfoot camp.

Writing Gordon Lightfoot’s imaginary letters are intercut with another narrative – one that traces the real but fantastical happenings that took place during the second week of July, 1972: the announcement of the Canada-Soviet Union hockey super series; a major jailbreak at Millhaven prison near Kingston; the beginning of the Boris Spassky-Bobby Fischer chess summit; the final leg of the journey of Pioneer 10 toward Jupiter; a total eclipse of the sun; and a storied edition of the Mariposa Folk Festival, that year attended by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Lightfoot.

Before speaking to Bidini, I had asked Bernie Fiedler, a long-time friend and booker of Lightfoot, if the folk singer would ever look at the new book. “He doesn’t read any of them,” Fiedler replied, referring to the 1984 autobiography of Cathy Smith (Lightfoot’s drug-addled former girlfriend, who was later found responsible for John Belushi’s death) and a panned 1988 biography from Maynard Collins. “He’s not interested.”

Bidini says it ultimately doesn’t matter, but acknowledges that he would rather Lightfoot hate the book than ignore it outright. “Listen, I’d love it if he came for dinner every Friday, but I’m not delusional,” he says. “I would like him to read it, though, because I find it to be a friendly book in a lot of ways. And maybe he should be grateful that it’s written by a fellow musician, one who’s been to a lot of places he’s been to, emotionally and geographically.”

So, another snub from Lightfoot, the musician whom Bidini most admires.

As for the greater literati, there’s not much more Bidini can do to gain their recognition, either. “There’s a critical resistance to my work,” he contends, “not from all corners, but sports and rock ’n’ roll are often viewed downwardly.”

Does he foresee some prizes, at least, this time out? “It doesn’t define who I am, but an award would be nice,” he allows. “That said, that the book exists is enough, and that I can stand behind it and be proud of it.”

[GJA]

I just finished the book. He references you, Char? Is the Char he talks about you?
Book wasn't so hard on Gord as I was afraid it might be. Just wish Dylan wasn't on the cover. I never could figure out what people saw in him...He is no Gordon Lightfoot!

[charlene]

yep - that'd be me! I am not keen on Dylan on the cover either..I offered Dave some pics of Gordon and me but he went with Dylan..sheesh!
lol

[charlene]

audio interview--Books On The Radio @ http://booksontheradio.ca/2011/11/06/talking-to-dave-bidini-about-writing-gordon-lightfoot/

[jj]

yep - that'd be me! I am not keen on Dylan on the cover either..I offered Dave some pics of Gordon and me but he went with Dylan..sheesh!
lol


Yeah, I woulda bought if it were you two on the cover. And especially if there was a chapter called The Stuff She Didn't Want Me To Talk About

:)

Hey, Gord said there was never a cover he didn't like and also said he might got the Wreck melody from an old Irish folk song SO maybe there are other reasons that Gord doesn't wanna spoon with Bidini...

maybe it will all work out in the end, and there'll be a sequel? :)

[redhead]

This is INSANELY funny.....

Who writes for you!!!!

"red"

[jj]

T
Who writes for you!!!!

"red"

been a while, red:) Oh, his name is Herb


David looks like he's finally content, eh

whereas Gord looks like he's calling for a Tums

[bwhitman]

After listening to as much of this tripe as I could, I'm left with one lasting impression...this guy sounds like the psycho, bad guy in the first "Dirty Harry" movie, if he'd decided to be a singer in a band....and it's as scattered and disjointed as the above example of his writing...

[charlene]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/Author+Dave+Bidini+weaves+Gordon+Lightfoot+life+st ory+book/5760514/story.html
Dave Bidini says he hopes he didn’t disappoint anyone with his new book.

They are not the first words you would expect to hear from an author on the publicity rounds for his newest book.

“I hope I didn’t disappoint anybody terribly,” says Dave Bidini, settling in for a chat from his home in Toronto. “I’m sure I did.”

It seems the prolific author and musician realizes there are perils to messing with the accepted hallmarks of the unauthorized biography, particularly when dealing with a beloved and enigmatic Canadian icon. More to the point, he was aware that naming a book, Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music and the World in 1972, might lead a few readers to expect something a little more generic than what they will actually be getting.

Later in the interview, Bidini even points out some less-than-flattering reader reviews found on Amazon.ca, and hostile comments that appeared after his latest column for the National Post.

“ ‘Pure garbage’ I think is the headline of one of my entries,” he says with a laugh. “And the National Post site, after my column this week, there’s a bunch of people saying ‘Well, of course this is a terrible article, I read the Lightfoot book and why am I reading about prison breaks?’

So, yeah, unfortunately there are people who have come to it and have been sort of tricked, I guess.”

“But all you have to do is read the inside flap to really know what the book is about.”

Bidini appears to take some solace when reminded that unimaginative readers, like unimaginative listeners of music or unimaginative watchers of films, tend to base their appraisal of something on how closely it resembles everything else they have read, listened to or watched.

And Writing Gordon Lightfoot is anything but typical as a biography or anything else. Loosely, it fits into the growing field of “literary journalism.” But it fits even more snugly into what has become a pet topic of Bidini’s through a good number of his 10 books. (Incidentally, Bidini’s book On A Cold Road, a 1998 road memoir, made the shortlist for CBC’s 2012 Canada Reads contest Wednesday and will be championed by supermodel Stacy McKenzie.)

Yes, Writing Gordon Lightfoot is about “the world in 1972” but it’s also about Canada in 1972. It’s about how Canada viewed the world, and vice versa. So while ostensibly focused on Lightfoot and the week leading up to the iconic 1972 Mariposa Folk Festival on Toronto Island, Bidini also veers into other stranger-than-fiction, seemingly unrelated happenings that were shaping Canada and beyond for those seven days. That includes everything from a prison break at Millhaven penitentiary, to the beginning of the Canada-Russia hockey series, to the fading of Trudeaumania, and a decidedly debauched Exile on Main Street tour by the Rolling Stones, which happened to roll into Toronto at roughly the same time that Lightfoot, Bob Dylan and others took to the Mariposa stage.

“I think it was a very pivotal week in terms of Canada maturing as a country and us maturing as a people,” says Bidini. “The nature of the country was changing for sure, you know, with the flower of ’67 getting trampled to the ground. Rock ’n’ roll and hard rock was dirtying up the Canadian sound. And I think, the Canada-Russia series, that whole ride, I think we were very different at the end of that summer.”

Writing Gordon Lightfoot shares another common thread with other Bidini books, which is his habit of inserting himself into the action.

There are “fan letters” from Bidini to Lightfoot throughout the book. The first is also perhaps the most revealing, a mea culpa of sorts about an incident more than 20 years earlier that Bidini fears may have scuttled any possible relationship with Lightfoot.

After Bidini’s former band, the Rheostatics, covered The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1989, the young musician was offended when his hero refused to acknowledge the interpretation. So he told a British journalist, perhaps after one too many pints, that the melody of the song was in fact stolen from an old Irish tune. This accusation, which isn’t true, eventually got out to the world and greatly annoyed Lightfoot. Getting it off his chest was cathartic, Bidini says. Still, unlike his younger self, he seems torn as to whether he wants the 73-year-old legend to actually acknowledge his work now. Or, for that matter, whether he wants Lightfoot to even read the book at all.

“While I was writing it, yeah, but not so much now,” Bidini says. “If he did read it, that would be swell, I suppose. But I think it’s a bit of a ‘careful-what-you-wish-for’ scenario. If he doesn’t read it, that’s OK too. Ultimately you have to write for yourself really. He’s a guy I think would be really great to sit down and have a beer with him and get to know him.”

But how many people, particularly journalists and writers, really get to know Lightfoot? Last month, Herald music critic Mike Bell asked the singer about Bidini’s book directly. Lightfoot said he didn’t know anything about it and that Bidini was just one of many people who had asked, and been denied, access to his life.

He also said he was the only one who could really write a proper memoir. But even if he did, he would likely keep a lot of the personal details to himself.

That enigma, of course, is part of the appeal and part of what makes Lightfoot such an intriguing case study for any writer.

“Basically, a biography of Bono would probably be really dull,” says Bidini. “He’d be like ‘I’m Bono!’ It’s the ones whose lives are in the shadows. . . . They’re always the most interesting characters.”

evolmers@calgaryherald.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[jj]

"tricked", yes, and I'd say that was the publisher's intent

wonder if Mer filed a signed copy in her people's library?

Leave Occupy Toronto alone!!! - YouTube

Btw, I sobbed like this when my permit to build a small shed on my very own property was denied. These guys will just have meet at one of the many public branches in the area (but check their bongs at the door...)

[charlene]

lolol...
I never felt tricked about what the book was about. He clearly states what it is and what it is not.
Never apply for permits. Never.
lol

[jj]

the talk at the Indigo / Starbucks sitting area (that's where I leafed thru looking for the highly acclaimed photos and anything new at all about Gord's music or life) was how misleading the title was... if you read the articles and fine print then i guess he did give a warning... i think many old timers missed it (and weren't ready for the lack of adverbs and adjectives that didn't begin with "sh" or "fu" ....there should be a contest to count em all... like guessing jelly beans in a jar ...but i dont' mind paying for jelly beans:)

for the average Joe: they see a nice cover pic of Gord and Bob and i mean, what folk or Gord or Bob fan is gonna omit this from their collection?

again, i think it's the tasteless publisher who forced the hand of the author, who is probably likable, ego tone aside ... i hope the author gets a fat recurring cheque for this on-the-side effort but also hope that someone like Kenyon or Wayne is the chosen one to write an authorized bio on the man, including insights into the music and it's influence on them

anyhow, i learned two things this week.... that a distant family member thought they had discovered this book on Gord that I might not be aware of (duh)...and that they were going to surprise me with it as a gift... NOOOO!!! ( i'm obviously on the naughty list, agh )

[charlene]

would it kill you to read it?
lolol

[T.G.]

Well I did read the book after borrowing it from the library and have to agree that I don't know what the point of it was. It struck me as a mish-mash of things that didn't have any kind of cohesion. I sure didn't learn a heck of a lot more about Gord than I knew beforehand. I do have to hand it to Bidini, though, he does have flashes of literary brilliance here and there.

This doesn't obviate from the need for a Lightfoot biography. I know Gord doesn't want to air his old dirty laundry and prefers to leave some things buried in the past (who can blame him?) so how about a musical biography? That's mainly why we love him anyway; it's about the music.

I've pitched this idea to another iconic Canadian rock band and they've expressed interest in that approach: a focus on the music. So how about it, Gord? I know you get three or four requests a week at your office to do a biography, so you say, but this one would be different. I'd do a bang-up job for ya.

[bjm7777]

Well, I just bought the book - and a new Martin D-18V - thoroughly enjoyed the book. Trudeaumania, Bobby Orr, Kingston Pen escape - I remember some of those things back then.

[jj]

Well, I just bought the book - and a new Martin D-18V - thoroughly enjoyed the book. Trudeaumania, Bobby Orr, Kingston Pen escape

glad you enjoyed those parts...just FYI, that escape was from Millhaven (not Kingston Pen)

one of my fave Tragically Hip tunes is fictional but based on that real life escape

The Tragically Hip- 38 years old (lyrics) - YouTube

[bjm7777]

Yeah that's right re: Millhaven - The point seems to me that the book is really not about Gordon Lightfoot at all in any direct sense. I found it clever and entertaining and an interesting premise to write a story about a specific period in Canada's recent history. Not sure what Lightfoot would be really offended with.....and the D-18 sounds awesome...

[LindaWild]

I loved the descriptions of the scene. Mariposa.

Although I was too young for that scene I feel drawn to the idea of a scaled down "unplugged" outdoor event/jam session with a folk music theme. I loved the part of Bidini's book where GL wanders off, sits near a tree and just plays...unplugged.

Do you think there's any appetite for this in Toronto?

....
p.s. (I expect GL even more p.o'd at Dave Bidini, especially the way it ended... & probably going to read Cathy's book because he warned GL off it).

[charlene]

appetite for this in Toronto?? not sure what that means/references?..lol

I was told at the book launch that Gordon wouldn't be reading the Bidini book. Don't know if he has ever read Smith's book..if he never did before he probably wouldn't bother now.

[charlene]

I was too young as well and would have loved to have seen some of the acts back then. It would have been a great spot for Mariposa over on Toronto Island - quite a different skyline of TO than there is now...

[LindaWild]

I meant I'M going to read Cathy's book because Bidini warned GL away from it ;)

I was thinking that a scaled down, less formal than Mariposa folk music jam might be fun in the waterfront park near where I live. No paid tickets, just people who want to get together and play their own music. Sweet. Imagine the authorities would stomp all over the idea though. ;(

[JohninCt.]

I haven't read the book and don't intend to. I don't care for autobiographies unless they are on video. I especially don't like books which are part fiction with fact mixed in. Most of us already know quite a bit about Gordons life, and what is most important about it to me, is his music. In most interviews he does, he talks a bit about his life and his songs. When I have talked with him, I have gained more real facts from him, then I could read anywhere else. I believe what he says, and have deducted my own views on his ways and lifestyles, as they surely have influcenced his music or maybe you could reverse that at times. He is a man of his times and like us all, he has lived his life the way he felt it might be best for the moments. Mistakes, we all make them, it's the waking up and making necessary changes that creates the real character in a person. Gordon has done that more than once and he has come out a sincere and very decent man. I like him, and I don't need some half fiction book to tell me why. If anyone were ever to write a book about Gordon that I might read, it would be his right hand man Rick Haynes. Only because I know Rick would not do anything but tell facts, and he has been there a long time to know Gordon well. As for the Edmond Fitzgerald song by DB when he was a punk rocker, what would you expect? That was the game young punk rockers played, the abstract, and trying to be noticed by getting as much press about their music. He used the various electronic sounds to make it his own, typical and not really done bad in the effects department, if you like electronic music. It fits the era and type of music, his group played. I think they picked the wrong song though. There are plenty of other songs by other writers that would have been better for this treatment, something like; House of the Rising Sun. Gordons way and vision is simply the hauntingly telling of the story, and he does it just fine, as he intended.
Nope, I won't read this book, no big deal.

[charlene]

Well you will miss out on all kinds of other factoids/info/cultural references/stories about TO/Canada on their own as well as how they relate to Lightfoot...it's not an autobiography. In some ways Lightfoot plays a very minimal part of the book.

[JohninCt.]

Ok, seeing you put it that way, if I happen to come across it some day in a cheapo discount bin, I might throw a few bucks into it.

[curiousmoonbeam]

I read the book and was amazed by all of the information about Mariposa, which I knew very little about - also about Dylan. In that respect I thought the book was good. I did not care for the jail break incidents coinciding with Mariposa, fact or fiction, nor the very end where he claims he knows Gord's secret. If he is as great a Gord fan as he claims, he wouldn't have revealed it - but was it true? - Kind of gives him great license when he admits from the start that much of the book is fiction. All in all, I'm glad I read it.

[charlene]

http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2012/5/Whatcha-Readin-Thoughts-on-Writing-Gordon-Lightfoot-by-Dave-Bidini

[jj]

lightfoot website review:

An unauthorized, semi-fictional account of Lightfoot, using the 1972 Mariposa Folk Festival and
events of that year as a backdrop. It's difficult to give this author any credence on the subject matter,
in light of his admission of spreading false rumours of Lightfoot plagiarising, then refusing to retract
his comments when proven wrong. And on top of everything else, pasting Gordon's friend
Bob Dylan on the cover, smacks of cheap exploitation. It's more the kind of book
you'd expect from someone like Kitty Kelley.

[redhead]

This is fascinating. My apologies if it's been posted previously.

The Author Stage | Dave Bidini: Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, & the World in 1972 - YouTube

[charlene]

I don't remember if it was posted but I have seen it .He did a reading at the book launch in TO. It was great and he wrote a really nice inscription in my copy..He has a new book out that I will also get - KEON and Me..- about a former Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player, his tribulations with the big shots owners of the team and how they treated him so badly and how Dave weaves a fight Keon had (one of only 2 in his hockey career I think) and it's impact on his life and the bullying he faced as a kid.. The KEON family were at the book launch a few weeks ago but I didn't get to it..

[jj]

Whitney Houston: "the Greatest Love of All" - the envelope story is no secret

[redhead]

The new book about KEON sounds like an interesting, albeit painful read. There is no excuse for management (or co-workers for that matter), to mistreat anybody in any profession. The fact that he also endured bullying as a child makes it sound even more heartbreaking.

(Glad to see that JJ is still a HUGE fan of the man's work,lol!);)

[charlene]

I don't even know what that means JJ..
THe bullying was what Bidini encountered...an how he dealt with it knowing what Keon was going through..

[jj]

Well you will miss out on all kinds of other factoids/info/cultural references/stories about TO/Canada on their own as well as how they relate to Lightfoot...it's not an autobiography. In some ways Lightfoot plays a very minimal part of the book.

right on, char.... putting the photo of Gord on the cover (why not a page split with Henderson, Trudeau, etc) was a likely lucrative move the the publisher

i had read that the publisher asked him to write it...DB pondered it first (I admire that)...red, don't confuse my unconditional love for exploitive publishers with passionate Canucks like Mr. Bidini ...he's got a nice growing portfolio that included taken on some of the country's most revered persons and topics ... as for journalists, I browse very entertaining and somewhat anonymous blogs and internet comments for no fee... I feel for the industry and am glad authoring books and/or selling their rights helps to better make ends meet for our local, hardworking columnists and reporters

anyhow, don't judge a book by it's cover (i just made that up!) :)

i didn't but many likely did....

as for DB, yeah, i'm probably still partially scorned at his comments about their need to cover The Wreck because Gord's version hadn't sufficed when it came to creating a suitable mood to capture the horrors of that evening... I'm paraphrasing... perhaps even simply speculating... just like the book does:cool:

[jj]

I don't even know what that means JJ..


char, you don't know the old envelope story? re: Gord and the IYCRMM/TGLOA issue

[charlene]

char, you don't know the old envelope story? re: Gord and the IYCRMM/TGLOA issue

remind me...memory is shot..

[jj]

amazing that after a quick search, i cant find it online in a more thorough (less typo filled, lol) response to paste here

and it was also told again in the DB book, no? i dont know why i (or someone prior) called it the envelope story... so after several years, and following the big Whitney Houston hit release, TGLOA, Gord's people take exception and begin lawsuit regarding the similarities in the IYCRMM recurring segment ("never knew i could feel this way and i gotta say that i just don't get it...etc) with what Massor (sp? songwriter) had penned ...when i first heard it i sure thought it was plain as day, but didnt know what the rules were

anyhow, they had asked why Gord waited so long and i think he said he was worried that people would think it was he that had ripped of the Whitney song

at the end of the day, the legend goes, that Gord finally received the favourable ruling and a large cheque ... then he returned it in an envelope with a note saying he had never wanted the $$$ .... just an acknowledgement that they were indeed wrong

i dont know if Gord would welcome the question (rehash of the past? while we're on the topic, lol) but maybe that legend is just myth... tell him to put in in HIS book:)

hey, didnt we hear that a documentary is coming out on Gord in time for the next film festival? i guess i would take that over a book anyhow:) i imagine if there is any talk at all about the 70s lifestyle and Smith stuff, that they will breeze through it and stick to the stuff we adore: his hometown, the upbringing, the training, the discipline, the poetry, the compositions, the legacy... btw, we request more rare music, archival film, videos, photos and songwriting insights, please and thanks you, Gordon :)