Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Sundays 5:30 - I am there!!!

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

4:30 to 6:30 sounds cool (boost their dinner food sales to corfidians too)

we closed the place once...was deaf the following 2 days (amp volume @ 11) YouTube - McVeigh's Irish Rovers EMR


deb, you can do some pre-show reading prep, so you can get in on T.O. topics
http://twitter.com/kenyonwallace
:)


..

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

follow him @ http://www.nationalpost.com/search/i...nyon%20wallace - previous columns

and @ www.nationalpost.com

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

forgot about this slide show/montage...thanks to a variety of folks for the pics

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Nice memories JJ, thanks!

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

thanks deb:) i wish i could recall the pic takers...char? dan? lori? yes, lori!:)

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

It's so great to watch that again and I'm thankful that you have the talent to turn pictures and videos that others have so graciously shared and turn them into such great montages...
I watch the old FOL video from 2001 and am thankful for having found so many people who are uber fans and that have remained such an important part of my life, not only here as "net people" but as personal friends as well.
An admiration for the talents of Gordon Lightfoot have taken us on a magical journey, learning about each other through our shared experiences with and about Lightfoot over the years.
Here's to Massey in May 2011 (and a new video!) and the rest of the 2011 concerts that many will attend in Canada and the U.S.

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

nice words, char...is that Sun article about you and the net crazies;) still online?

the best footage on FOL is right off the bat with Lisa walking toward the lens!

btw, i just found the pic credits from 2008:

char
paul (check out "aplacetohideaway" channel for sharron's A1 pics & edits:))
donnie
cathy
kathyk

all i did was crop/treat/filters on many then find an appropriate RH recording

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Net Crazies - so apropos, oui?

geeze it was 5 years ago yesterday..wowza..time flies!

For those who have never seen it: I'll share it again..it's about The Net People! and our favourit guy with a guitar..

(Please note - Mike bestowed the title in the piece on me when he and the photographer came to my home to chat and I politely asked him NOT to put it in the column...)

Mike Strobel
Thu, December 8, 2005

Fans happy to see Gordon Lightfoot

By MIKE STROBEL

On that awful night, Char Westbrook has a ticket for GG-23 in the right balcony of the Orillia Opera House.

But it will be three years before she takes her seat.

She and other Lightheads mill about in the warm dusk of Saturday, Sept. 7, 2002, waiting for the doors to open.

When they do, it is a concert hall staffer.

"Mr. Lightfoot is ill," he says.

Soon, TVs have shots of medivac choppers and stretchers and doctors saying dire things.

And the Land of the Lightheads topples into shock.

First, let's go back to 1971.

Charlene Westbrook, 15, is in her room in Etobicoke. She has the blues. Boyfriend troubles.

She tunes her transistor to CHUM.

If you could read my mind love

What a tale my thoughts could tell

"I was hooked," Char Westbrook, 50, tells me in the study of her Whitby home.

Photos, autographs, mags, ticket stubs, all 20 albums. Even the 45 rpm she rushed out to buy in 1971. Lightfoot signed it on her 45th birthday backstage at Mariposa.

Back to that dreadful September night in '02. When Char gets home from Orillia, the Lightheads were waiting by their computers for her usual concert report.

She is moderator of corfid.com, where some of Gordon Lightfoot's most loyal fans hang out.

That night, her report is all bad news.

Any real Canadian knows the story:

Lightfoot stricken as he gets ouf of his car for a sound check at the opera house. Stomach aneurysm. Evac to Hamilton. Surgery. Six weeks of coma.

Stunning comeback. Rehab. New album, Harmony.

Benefit concert for the hospital that saved him, McMaster. Return to Massey Hall, the Church of Gord, Char calls it.

One helluva ride for the Lightheads. Worse than the booze years.

The Net People, Gordie calls them.

Charlene is their queen.

They hold conventions for every Massey Hall gig and come from around the world. They tour Orillia, where Lightfoot once sang soprano in the church choir. One year, they barbecued at Char's place, jammed with guitars in her basement.

Some have found love. A fan from Britain wed a Jersey gal. The Lightheads gave them a quilt with Lightfoot themes. Gord signed the middle square.

Some Lightheads remember what they wore for their first concert. Some can tell what song is next just by how Lightfoot rests his fingers on the strings.

"I keep old CHUM charts with his songs on them," Char says. "How pathetic is that?"

Pathetic? No. Passionate.

And I know that you will never stray

Cause ya been that way from day to day

For such a long, long time

Char sends him cards for his birthday (67 last month) and Christmas. No more Get Well cards, thank goodness.

Last Saturday, this one icy, she finally takes her seat, GG-23 in the right balcony, for Lightfoot's make-good concert.

"Sorry I'm late," says Gordie, and sashes into Spanish Moss.

Let go darlin'

I can feel the night wind call

Later, Rainy Day People, for the local docs and nurses. Triangle, Cotton Jenny, Carefree Highway. Is there a greater folk playlist in Canada than Lightfoot's? Or in the world?

Sundown gets Char's attention. Sexier, sultrier than usual.

"It's the music of our lives," says Char.

And as Canadian as wind on a lonely lake.

"Gord didn't go Hollywood. He didn't take the money and run. He stayed true to being a Canadian."

The illness scared all Lightheads.

"I used to think he'd always be there. That I could keep driving down the Don Valley to Massey Hall, buy his CDs, enjoy his songs.

"Now I know how important it is."

In the dark of the Orillia Opera House, Char scribbles pages of notes as the old man sings, for her report to the world's Lightheads.

She puts down her pen for If You Could Read My Mind. Older, wiser and more gravelly than when she first heard it. But note-perfect.

"You're back," she says. "You're home."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• You can call Mike Strobel at (416) 947-2265 or e-mail at mike.strobel@tor.sunpub.com

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

James - your piecing together of the videos and pics for the FOL 2001 was remarkable, paired with the music you added it makes me tear up every time I watch it..Lisa was the young'un back then and she still is! So wwonderful to have such a tangible keepsake made from shared memories.
so sweet...

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

char, remember how WMG wouldn't allow the original music to part 1? (it was the segue from the actual TLFP recording into the 'jam version' that clinched it i suppose, agh

anyhow, i've used audioswap to insert a fave old, recognizable piece (note: NOT my performance) that actually works nicely in places, imo...it reminds me of when folks were having their silent home movie films transferred to vhs with random music added w/slo mo effect, to boot

http://www.youtube.com/user/opus62?f...12/7Kllwa5ivAI

it's also 'almost' the right length for Part 1 ... however it's also disheartening without the actual audio in so many spots ... i especially love that derek and matt and phone call segment ...am glad that the actual master exists here and there

man o' man, that was 114 months ago... anyhow, onward:)

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Wow. I haven't seen that video in such a long time. Brought back a bunch of good memories.

Cathy

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

jj,

Why the somber music ? Refresh my memory.......what is the title of that piece ?

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

oh, that's Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (btw, if any haven't seen the film Immortal Beloved, i would say it's time well spent...speaking of somber)

our good man, Dave can help you along on keys, he's even sporting a festive tie

YouTube - How to Play the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven on Piano - Tutorial

i love his comments and chord notation...to heck with all those dots and clefs


re: 1st question, i just picked a song length that more or less matched the video length, previously there was no sound because youtube police axed the originally blended Too Late For Prayin track (plus the rest of the 'jam' audio)....but TLFP is also also quite somber, eh...maybe it's my nature but i do counter it with some bubbliness (that's a word) on the outside

i guess i could have used CYC but i was saving that for the E(nemies)OL video...that one will be very short, and more likely, non-existent:cool:

but the good news is that Part2 and 3 are uncensored and have the original audio, starting with Cathy's warm version of ROD...rich vocal and guitar tones!

anyhow, that was an analog project...Dan & Sir John :kiss: will be all digital in '11

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

what if you posted the original video/original music at VIMEO or another video site that's available now? Would that matter?

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

oh, i don't have that on the hard drive any longer...i digitized it from the vhs (now back buried in the basement 'hoards', lol) last year and posted in segments... when they stripped the audio from part 1, i noted the members who expressed interest in the thread and then uploaded the original to some LARGE file (i think it was 60 MB) sharing utility site and contacted each one by pm...they seemed to enjoy it

i imagine vimeo and those others are also monitored but the audio might survive a few days longer than it did at youtube

char, i hope you finally got a 'vhs digitizing' device for your own 'hoards'? lol

you could always use the jessie joe (his youtube channel now has zero uploads, eh... ya think he got an EMP scolding, perhaps and it boycotting corfid as a result? we hope he's well) technique of taking one's digital camera and aiming at the tv screen as you play your vhs tapes...innovative

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

I haven't got one of thos digitizing devices yet...just the thought of so many tapes to convert paralyzes me..

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Wow, this sounds like an incredible time and something I would truly love to do. However, since my youngest son graduates from high school on the 28th. a trip to Toronto is not in the offing this year. Maybe in 2012 with an empty nest, we will find our way to join in.

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

What about a partial trip - just a couple of nights. You wouldn't be sorry!

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Again, a couple of nights sounds great, but lots of family coming in that week. I would be looking for a new job, and likely a new wife if I left that week.

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Had a pint (or maybe two) of Guinness with Paul McVeigh yesterday and he's given us the green light to tag on an extra hour and one half plus he will try and book the same band they had last time for some Gord tunes after the Massey concerts. The pub is just a stone's throw form Massey Hall.
So the pub jam will start at 2PM and run till 5:30PM, Friday, May 27th. All aboard!
RJ.

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Hi friends,
Well, interest in the pub jam is heating up and it looks like a fun time is in store for us all.
Emails are coming in regarding the format etc. and it seems that the "open mike" has worked ok in the past although please feel free to send along a private email for suggestions.
Once we have a scope on the numbers and the tunes folks have in mind, we'll work things out.
Simply "accentuate on the positive."
"Love the ones who care to love, be a friend to those in need, and help the weary traveler in the night,
Forgetting not the wasted soul, the beggar man, the con man and the widow and the orphan in the street."
(RJ borrowing from GL)

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Well I think we'll be rolling into town jus' in time. I do needs to see one of these jam things before I can say my life's list is complete. Hope to see you all there.

Bill :)

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Hey Bill.
It will be great to have you there with us.

Having read through your posts and they no doubt reveal very much the same sentiment that is most prevalent here regarding your appreciation of the the works of Gordon Lightfoot, I'm quite comfortable in saying that you're in for a real up close and personal adventure.

The folks who come to this gig are there for an afternoon of socializing in an atmosphere of music and song and connect with many of the same like minded posters who we correspond with here on this site.

The mike is open, and sometimes an opportunity like this is all that is required for that aspiring Gordon Lightfoot fan; that is to climb up there in a non intimidating atmosphere, take that very first initial step up to the mike, and share with us what guys like me once aspired to share with others in an earlier day.

The legend lives on.
RJ.

Re: The Amazing May Massing and the Pub Jam Sandwich
 

Send my thanks to Paul! Will be a fine day listening to all the people we have come to know through Lightfoot. Can't wait!!