Sally Cole - The Guardian, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island:
In touch with his music
>
> Preparing for a new musical tribute to Gordon Lightfoot has made performer
> realize that the original tunes were once an important part of his life
> By Sally Cole
> The Guardian
> When Terry Hatty started rehearsals for If You Could Read My Mind: The
> Music of Gordon Lightfoot, he didn't realize how much of the music was
> etched in his memory.
> "As I got into the tunes, I started to see different scenes of my own
> life," says the former lead singer of The Guess Who, one of the performers
> in the musical tribute that will run June 24 to Sept. 7 at the MacKenzie
> Theatre in Charlottetown.
> For Hatty, it was like stepping back in time.
> Whether it was the piercing pangs of a long-ago heartache or the
> new-found freedom of his first year at university, each tune switched on a
> flood of memories for this Saint John, N.B., native who starred in last
> season's tribute to Stan Rogers.
> "The first thing I thought of was my first year at St. Xavier University
> and my roommate, Locky MacDonald, who had one of his early albums.
> "We just had this little room. And I had just heard Canadian Railroad
> Trilogy. I was listening to the Beatles then, but you couldn't help but be
> affected emotionally by this song that was sweeping this country in 1966,"
> he says.
> When he plays If You Could Read My Mind, he thinks of a certain
> relationship breakup.
> "I was blown away by the amount of emotion that these songs pulled out of
> me. I wasn't ready for it. I didn't think it was going to happen that way,"
> says Hatty who will be joined on stage by Marlane O'Brien, who starred for
> several seasons in A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, as well as Gab Desmond,
> Zipporah Peddle and Jean-Francois Poulin.
> After the waves of nostalgia began to dissipate, he realized what had
> happened.
> "Lightfoot had wheedled his way into the corners of my life far more than
> I thought. And I realized how much more of an emotional grip he had on
> certain parts of my soul that I hadn't realized.
> "As I was growing up, he was there, a lot of times just in the
> background," he says.
> And he's got a hunch that he's not alone.
> "Like so many things, Gordon Lightfoot is the part of the history of this
> country and a soundtrack for a generation. And these days there's been a new
> wave of excitement in his music," he says.
> Co-creator Michael Lewis MacLennan couldn't agree more.
> "I think Terry is right. There is a resurgence of appreciation for this
> guy. But what was so surprising to me (when we wrote the musical) is how
> much Canada is in everything that he is singing about.
> "Even in the love songs, there are images of the Canadian landscape,
> nature and animals woven in. And while on the surface they appear universal,
> they couldn't be written by somebody who didn't deeply connect with this
> place," he says.
> Lightfoot tells a truly Canadian story.
> "And it wasn't just a Lake Superior Place. There was an Alberta Place, an
> East Coast Place < a completely national sense of the country," he says.
> The Lightfoot musical, a cabaret-style show featuring 25 songs, was
> co-created by MacLennan and artistic director Duncan McIntosh, who will also
> direct.
> Lightfoot will be in Charlottetown for a concert on Sept. 18 at the Civic
> Centre.

thanks to Sally Cole.

Char
>
>

Sally Cole - The Guardian, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island:
In touch with his music
>
> Preparing for a new musical tribute to Gordon Lightfoot has made performer
> realize that the original tunes were once an important part of his life
> By Sally Cole
> The Guardian
> When Terry Hatty started rehearsals for If You Could Read My Mind: The
> Music of Gordon Lightfoot, he didn't realize how much of the music was
> etched in his memory.
> "As I got into the tunes, I started to see different scenes of my own
> life," says the former lead singer of The Guess Who, one of the performers
> in the musical tribute that will run June 24 to Sept. 7 at the MacKenzie
> Theatre in Charlottetown.
> For Hatty, it was like stepping back in time.
> Whether it was the piercing pangs of a long-ago heartache or the
> new-found freedom of his first year at university, each tune switched on a
> flood of memories for this Saint John, N.B., native who starred in last
> season's tribute to Stan Rogers.
> "The first thing I thought of was my first year at St. Xavier University
> and my roommate, Locky MacDonald, who had one of his early albums.
> "We just had this little room. And I had just heard Canadian Railroad
> Trilogy. I was listening to the Beatles then, but you couldn't help but be
> affected emotionally by this song that was sweeping this country in 1966,"
> he says.
> When he plays If You Could Read My Mind, he thinks of a certain
> relationship breakup.
> "I was blown away by the amount of emotion that these songs pulled out of
> me. I wasn't ready for it. I didn't think it was going to happen that way,"
> says Hatty who will be joined on stage by Marlane O'Brien, who starred for
> several seasons in A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, as well as Gab Desmond,
> Zipporah Peddle and Jean-Francois Poulin.
> After the waves of nostalgia began to dissipate, he realized what had
> happened.
> "Lightfoot had wheedled his way into the corners of my life far more than
> I thought. And I realized how much more of an emotional grip he had on
> certain parts of my soul that I hadn't realized.
> "As I was growing up, he was there, a lot of times just in the
> background," he says.
> And he's got a hunch that he's not alone.
> "Like so many things, Gordon Lightfoot is the part of the history of this
> country and a soundtrack for a generation. And these days there's been a new
> wave of excitement in his music," he says.
> Co-creator Michael Lewis MacLennan couldn't agree more.
> "I think Terry is right. There is a resurgence of appreciation for this
> guy. But what was so surprising to me (when we wrote the musical) is how
> much Canada is in everything that he is singing about.
> "Even in the love songs, there are images of the Canadian landscape,
> nature and animals woven in. And while on the surface they appear universal,
> they couldn't be written by somebody who didn't deeply connect with this
> place," he says.
> Lightfoot tells a truly Canadian story.
> "And it wasn't just a Lake Superior Place. There was an Alberta Place, an
> East Coast Place < a completely national sense of the country," he says.
> The Lightfoot musical, a cabaret-style show featuring 25 songs, was
> co-created by MacLennan and artistic director Duncan McIntosh, who will also
> direct.
> Lightfoot will be in Charlottetown for a concert on Sept. 18 at the Civic
> Centre.

thanks to Sally Cole.

Char
>
>

I have to concur with everything written here. I am English, born and bred. However my late father was from Newfoundland, and I feel this very strong affinity with Canada, for obvious reasons. I first became aware of Gordon way back in the 60s and was hooked from then on. I admire singer/songwriters, and this guy was outstanding, still is. "Long before the whiteman and long before the wheel" those 9 words say so much. I could go on and on, but will curb the desire. I have seen Gordon in concert twice and have been lucky enough to meet him. My wife and I will be traveling to Orillia to see both his concerts there in September. Looking forward to it.
DCH.

I have to concur with everything written here. I am English, born and bred. However my late father was from Newfoundland, and I feel this very strong affinity with Canada, for obvious reasons. I first became aware of Gordon way back in the 60s and was hooked from then on. I admire singer/songwriters, and this guy was outstanding, still is. "Long before the whiteman and long before the wheel" those 9 words say so much. I could go on and on, but will curb the desire. I have seen Gordon in concert twice and have been lucky enough to meet him. My wife and I will be traveling to Orillia to see both his concerts there in September. Looking forward to it.
DCH.