OK who here went??? Rona I believe for one I wonder if she bumped into Derek "Zippo" Kidd
a great review of our hero writen to cover this concert is at:-
http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08....foot-0634.html
Example phrase that got me laffing:-
""Everything you had is gone, as you can see/ That's what you get for loving me," he sings dismissively to his naive lover,
but the subtext is that's what I get for being an asshole"
http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08....tfoot-0634.jpg
Hip to be Square: A rare photo of Gordon Lightfoot, posing with a guitar.

OK who here went??? Rona I believe for one I wonder if she bumped into Derek "Zippo" Kidd
a great review of our hero writen to cover this concert is at:-
http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08....foot-0634.html
Example phrase that got me laffing:-
""Everything you had is gone, as you can see/ That's what you get for loving me," he sings dismissively to his naive lover,
but the subtext is that's what I get for being an asshole"
http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08....tfoot-0634.jpg
Hip to be Square: A rare photo of Gordon Lightfoot, posing with a guitar.

All I know of is Rona, the concert starts in 11 min., maybe "zippo" can catch her at intermission.

Just back-FABULOUS!!!!!

Here's the list (I am amazed I can actually read it-I was guessing where on the page to write each new song since I couldn't see.)

1.Cotton Jenny
2.Carefree Highway
3.Sea of Tranquility
4.Never Too Close
5.14 Karat Gold
6.In My Fashion
7.A Painter Passing Through
8.Spanish Moss
9.Shadows
10.The Watchman
11.Ribbon of Darkness
12.Sundown
13.The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
14.Sit Down Young Stranger
15.Minstrel of the Dawn
16.Clouds of Loneliness
17.Let it Ride
18.Blackberry Wine
19.If You Could Read My Mind
20.Don Quixote
21.Early Morning Rain
22.Baby Step Back
23.Restless
24.Old Dan's Records
25.Canadian Railroad Trilogy

John, you're right about Sit Down Young Stranger. He did most of it as a solo tonight also. It was beautiful.
Fashion review: He looked REALLY GOOD, ladies. Black jeans, light blue long-sleeved shirt with a dark vest for the first half, black and white shirt for the second.
The one thing that concerned me: I was looking forward to hearing more songs from Harmony. He introduced Clouds of Loneliness, which I love, and said there were other songs from the album that he likes, but he doesn't sing them because he has trouble remembering the words. That made me sad in an othewise wonderful evening.

Just back-FABULOUS!!!!!

Here's the list (I am amazed I can actually read it-I was guessing where on the page to write each new song since I couldn't see.)

1.Cotton Jenny
2.Carefree Highway
3.Sea of Tranquility
4.Never Too Close
5.14 Karat Gold
6.In My Fashion
7.A Painter Passing Through
8.Spanish Moss
9.Shadows
10.The Watchman
11.Ribbon of Darkness
12.Sundown
13.The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
14.Sit Down Young Stranger
15.Minstrel of the Dawn
16.Clouds of Loneliness
17.Let it Ride
18.Blackberry Wine
19.If You Could Read My Mind
20.Don Quixote
21.Early Morning Rain
22.Baby Step Back
23.Restless
24.Old Dan's Records
25.Canadian Railroad Trilogy

John, you're right about Sit Down Young Stranger. He did most of it as a solo tonight also. It was beautiful.
Fashion review: He looked REALLY GOOD, ladies. Black jeans, light blue long-sleeved shirt with a dark vest for the first half, black and white shirt for the second.
The one thing that concerned me: I was looking forward to hearing more songs from Harmony. He introduced Clouds of Loneliness, which I love, and said there were other songs from the album that he likes, but he doesn't sing them because he has trouble remembering the words. That made me sad in an othewise wonderful evening.

Thanks for the mini review of the concert, I was taken aback that he says he has trouble remembering the words to the songs off Harmony.

I'm not going to speculate as to the reasons why other than to suggest perhaps the whole CD is a dark reminder to him he almost passed away... who knows.

Perhaps if somebody from the media interviews him, some light will be shed on this matter. :)

Hey Rona, Thanks on my part for the update. Kind of sad or weird, that he forgets the words to the new songs, Doesn't perform them often enough, I guess...Jesse. :)

Hey Rona, Thanks on my part for the update. Kind of sad or weird, that he forgets the words to the new songs, Doesn't perform them often enough, I guess...Jesse. :)

Many times after a traumatic medical event, the short term memory is affected, especially an event that involves the flow of blood. It takes awhile to get over. In fact, I'm not sure that some patients get over it 100%. We just learn ways to live with it.
It happened to me on Wednesday night. I was performing IYCRMM, a song I've sung thousands of times, and I forgot three words in the last verse. I just kind of mumbled my way past it.

Happens to all of us. I've sweated blood over an article of maybe 500 words, edited and re-edited it until I'm mumbling it in my sleep then come across it a year or two later and not recognize it as my own. Most stuff, yes, I know the rhythms of my writing style, turns of phrase, etc. but every once in a while I sort through old columns and wonder if maybe I was channeling somebody else, or they got the byline wrong. Considering the enormous body of work he's created, it's easy to understand blanking on lyrics now and then. Even great actors "go up" (as they say) while performing on stage words they've said hundreds of times before, night after night. If your concentration falters momentarily or a cough distracts, the train of thought jumps the track.

Happens to all of us. I've sweated blood over an article of maybe 500 words, edited and re-edited it until I'm mumbling it in my sleep then come across it a year or two later and not recognize it as my own. Most stuff, yes, I know the rhythms of my writing style, turns of phrase, etc. but every once in a while I sort through old columns and wonder if maybe I was channeling somebody else, or they got the byline wrong. Considering the enormous body of work he's created, it's easy to understand blanking on lyrics now and then. Even great actors "go up" (as they say) while performing on stage words they've said hundreds of times before, night after night. If your concentration falters momentarily or a cough distracts, the train of thought jumps the track.

I think the most likely reason that Gord has trouble remembering some of these songs is that he's hardly, if ever, done them on stage. I borrowed this from thinkquest...

rehearsal
Repeating information to oneself silently in one's mind over and over again. A method for retaining information in short term memory, also a method for encoding information, transferring it from short term to long term memory

Now if he were to start forgetting Early Morning Rain, IYCRMM, Rainy Day People, etc. then that would be a different story entirely. I spend quite a bit of time in an Alzheimer's assisted living/retirement home (visiting Mom) and I have read and spoken to a lot of Doctors regarding memory loss. In this case I don't think he's losing anything I just don't think he ever had it to lose.

Bill :)

It IS harder to lay down new information as we age than when we're kids.

It IS harder to lay down new information as we age than when we're kids.

I don't know......I saw him in concert around the time of the "Sundown" release, and he fumbled the words to IYCRMM. His response......."S**T". But he kept going.

RMD

I was at the Montalvo Fox Theater show with Derek, Roy and Maureen and we thoroughly enjoyed the show. Ran into Kathy from San Francisco, too, plus a few other people that don't post here on a regular basis.

Gord’s got his groove back. Most all the arrangements have been changed and the tempo is a bit slower, which I think may have attributed to a very nice quality return in his voice. I may even say that I thought his voice was better than the 2 years before he fell ill. It seemed more full, more tonal range, at least to my untrained ears. I was so happy for him.

At the end of the long pause in Canadian Railroad Trilogy, he says "It would be a great time for a train to go by." Which cracked me up, because the theater is only a block away from the CalTrain which runs a regular schedule and if he had planned it, possibly it could have roared on through.

A few pictures from the show can be seen here: http://homepage.mac.com/bykimberly.m...toAlbum72.html
Kimberly

I'm having withdrawl...

When I moved to Sweden in 1999, I spent a few months in school in an advanced language course to pick up conversational and written Swedish. Our teacher told us that our biggest learning hurdle was that we are adults. We are too set in our ways and our minds are not open enough anymore (not to mention my own perspective of millions of my brain cells that have died from abuse over the years!). The teacher went on to say that kids generally need to be told something 3 times before they retain the info, yet adults need to be told somewhere between 10-12 times! And now, seven years later, my memory retention is even worse!

I will add another comment. Everyone has made very valid points on this topic, whether it be medical, or age, or sweating over words, or just not playing the songs enough. We also have to remember that Gord is a perfectionist, and if something is not up to his very high standards, he is not going to improvise or take the risk in front of an audience. So if he feels he cannot pull off the Harmony songs note-for-note and word-for-word, he likely will stick with the stuff he knows second nature. Gord's concerts are an experience of a lifetime, but unless Gord changes a song for a very good reason, the band plays the songs note perfect as we know them with little, if no, experimentation. The eggs do not fall far from the nest.

Right On For The perfectionist. He is indeed. Its been stated many times by different people through out his carrer... ;) :)

Right On For The perfectionist. He is indeed. Its been stated many times by different people through out his carrer... ;) :)