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TIMMINS,Ontario - Aug.26 concert info

Back in TIMMINS after 54 years! http://www.timminspress.com/2015/03/...ing-to-timmins

TIMMINS - Canadian songwriting legend Gordon Lightfoot is coming to Timmins.

The 15-time Juno Award winner and five-time Grammy Award nominee will be bringing his golden voice to the City with a Heart of Gold on Aug. 26. He will also take to the stage in Kirkland Lake on Aug. 27 and North Bay on Aug. 28 as part of his Summer 2015 tour.

The last and only time Lightfoot ever played Timmins was in 1961, when he shared the stage with Zeke Sheppard and the Dovermen.

The only time he played in North Bay was in 1967 for the Centennial Year Celebration, while he has never in his lifetime performed in Kirkland Lake.

These performance mark what is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for longtime fans as well as a new generation of Canadians to experience the legacy of this beloved music icon.

A national treasure, Lightfoot is beloved by music fans around the world. Born Nov. 17, 1938 in Orillia, Lightfoot studied at Los Angeles' Westlake College of Music. He returned to Canada in the early 1960s and began performing at the Riverboat in Toronto and in coffee houses throughout Canada and the United States.

In 1966, his debut album Lightfoot! was released. Tracks such as For Lovin' Me, Early Morning Rain, Steel Rail Blues and Ribbon of Darkness brought him international recognition as a songwriter.

As a result, cover versions of his songs were recorded by artists such as Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand, Johnny Cash, and countless others.

In 1971 Gordon earned his first Top Ten hit when If You Could Read My Mind became an international sensation. In 1974, his classic single, Sundown, went to No. 1 on the American charts, followed two years later by The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, inspired by a Newsweek magazine article; it reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

In 2004, he released his 20th album Harmony, and his iconic Massey Hall residencies are celebrated with the release of his most recent album Massey Hall Moments - All Live, a collection of live recordings of the finest Massey Hall performances, recorded between 1998 and 2001.

Of course, none of his titles are more fitting for Timmins than his 1975 compilation album, Gord's Gold.

Lightfoot has been a featured guest on Canadian Idol. He continues to perform extensively throughout the United States and in Canada, giving approximately 75-80 concerts each year including a headline performance this summer at the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic.

Lightfoot has won 15 Juno Awards and been nominated for 5 Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2001. In May 2003 was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and is also a member of the Order of Ontario. In 2004 was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and, in 2012 into the U.S. Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Lightfoot's performance in Timmins on Aug. 26, 2015 at 8 p.m. will be at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex. Tickets will be priced at $45, $75 and $95, plus taxes and service charges, and will be available through the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre.

Tickets for the Timmins date go on sale Mar. 27.

Lightfoot will be in Kirkland Lake the following night on Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex, with tickets priced at $100. Tickets for Kirkland Lake will go on sale Mar. 20.

TIMMINS venue almost sold out!

TIMMINS venue almost sold out: http://www.timminstimes.com/2015/03/...kly-in-timmins

By LEN GILLIS

The Timmins Times

There was no Early Morning Rain in Timmins on Friday. But it was frosty and windy for the crowd at the front door of the Timmins Museum, waiting to scoop up tickets for the Gordon Lightfoot concert in Timmins, set to take place on Wednesday, August 26, 2015. Museum marketing officer Christina McManus opened the lobby doors to let folks get warm while waiting for the ticket sales to officially begin.

The iconic Canadian folk-rock balladeer has included Timmins, Kirkland Lake and North Bay on his 2015 summer tour. The Timmins show will take place at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex, which has seating for 750. This includes the front-and-centre floor seating, which was sold out by 10:00 a.m. Those tickets were selling for $145.

Amberley Martin of Timmins was first in line at the Timmins Museum at 9:00 a.m. at the doors opened for ticket sales. The Museum gift shop has one credit card / debit card processing machine, but the crowd was good natured and waited their turn. Some folks tried to call in their ticket order over the phone, but the decision was made not to accept phone orders until everyone who was in the line got served first.

Among those waiting at the back of the line for tickets was Timmins mayor Steve Black.

Re: TIMMINS venue almost sold out!

$145 pretty impressive, I have just checked $ Can. to UK £ which =£77. I have tickets to see Jimmy Buffett in Paris (France) in September £52. Well Done Gord.

TIMMINS article/pics/review

http://www.timminspress.com/2015/08/...ightfoot-in-69

TIMMINS - It was a bad winter weather day in Timmins when Gordon Lightfoot landed for his first-ever headlining show in the City with a Heart of Gold.

It was Jan. 25 1969, recalls J.P. Aubé.

“If I recall correctly, they had to circle Timmins airport three times before they could land,” said the well-known area entrepreneur.

“It was cold and stormy and it was going to be their last attempt at a landing and my heart was racing. what will we do now? Why I had not thought to check the weather report I don’t know. I mean, it was the Canadian winter in Timmins,” he added with a twinkle in his eye.

“But here we were, a bunch of teenage students ready to welcome one of Canada’s biggest musical stars who was starting to gain world-wide attention but had not risen to his iconic status.”

Lightfoot has been long regarded by his peers and friends such as Bob Dylan as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation.

The Orillia native hit his commercial peak from 1970 till 1977 with huge international hits such as If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown, Rainy Day People, Cotton Jenny, Carefree Highway,The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Daylight Katy and many others

Since his abdominal artery burst and a six-week coma in 2002 and two years of recovery, Lightfoot has been back out playing to world-wide audiences.

There is genuine excitement knowing Lightfoot will be back in Timmins with his band on Aug. 26th at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex.

It could shape up to be one of the most important and engaging musical events since Jeff Healey packed them at the ’Plex in the ’90s and then topped it off by encoring at the Maple Leaf Hotel with yours truly and the regular weekly touring band.

Lightfoot’s importance to Canadian musicians is massive.

If the Beatles and Rolling Stones made you feel you wanted to start a garage band, then Lightfoot showed you could sit in your room in South Porcupine, Vancouver or St John’s, Nfld., and write songs about Canada or your hometown.

Growing up locally, I picked up my first Lightfoot vinyl albums around 1968 after I heard Early Morning Rain, The Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Go Go Round and the protest song Black Day In July on radio.

The lyrical detail and storytelling was amazing. Even before my own future songwriting started around 1970 with our local band Nustone, I could feed off of those songs as inspiration.

The initial idea of the Lightfoot 1969 concert in Timmins was to raise money for renovation and expansion for La Lanterne, recalled Aubé

“La Laterne was our youth cultural group and we had some contracts in 1968 and had made money hiring this great band from Kirkland Lake called Kristopher Khan.

“Our youth club also was formed with great pride. We had original artwork, a jukebox that featured francophone artists. We hired local artists/bands and it was jam-packed at about 150 people.

“Cut to one day in study class, I picked up Maclean’s magazine with Gordon Lightfoot on the cover. I believe and I sent a note to my twin brother Jean-Francois who was, I should say, more academically inclined than myself and later would became a lawyer, saying, ‘We should book him.’

“He sent a note back saying, ‘You’re crazy it would never work.’

“However, we did do the contract but ran into a major roadblock because we did not have $1,600 which was the 50% required amount of the $3,200.

“We had went to the Royal Bank and J. Conrad Lavigne (Timmins and Canadian media mogul and owner of CFCL TV) who would later mentor us in great ways but they thought the idea was risky.

“Mrs. Guenette, who owned The Timmins Flower Shop and her husband who ran the Guenette funeral home came to our rescue by writing us a cheque.”

Lightfoot would return the favour by actually dropping in at the home of Mrs Guenette while en route via Algonquin Boulevard in Timmins.

“Basically he asked me where she lived and wanted to meet her. We were in disbelief but we did stop and Gordon went in, shook all of the staff’s hands and proceeded to talk to her and thank her for making it possible for him to gig here. It’s a moment I will never forget.”

As I recently witnessed on a Lightfoot concert special, his legendary shows are now with an 18-wheeler full of personal gear, lighting and equipment. Lightfoot’s attention to concert-sound detail is of a high standard many artists would not even bother with.

All that that modern equipment will be on display at the new Timmins show.

This is of course is a much different equipment situation and means of transport than what Aubé’s personal experience was over 45 years ago

In fact, at the 1969 Timmins show, Aubé remembers a unique vehicle to escort Lightfoot to his hotel room at the Senator Hotel and McIntyre Arena

“We used the lead funeral car and hearse with the panels taken off to pick him up on the tarmac,” he said with a smile. “Gordon and his two band members sat in the lead car and the band’s gear, which was minimal, went into the hearse which was like a station wagon. And we may even had the Timmins Flower Shop van.

“There are always unknowns and life experiences that prepare you for things whether you’re 17 or 70. But the fact is, I remember Mr. Lightfoot was very impressed by the whole situation and could not believe we did all this with no management; simply a youth club.”

At 65 years of age, J.P. Aubé still maintains the everyday charm, intelligence and community-minded spirit as he always has as he sits across from me in the boardroom at the Timmins Daily Press.

Aubé’s achievements are many but as a founding member of the Timmins Economic Development Corporation, campaign chairman of the Timmins and District Hospital Foundation, owner of franchises including the local McDonalds, Aubé is almost in sense of a visionary of all things Timmins.

He would later purchase the Escapade Hotel and in the early ’80s hired Longshot featuring Eileen (Shania) Twain, thus giving her her first extended platform to hone her stage skills, long before her global stardom.

And, readers that’s a whole other interesting story.

“Tickets, if you can believe it John, were $3 a piece for the show,” Aubé said as he pointed to an ad from our Daily Press newspaper from 1969.

The ad reads in part See and Hear Canada's top folksinger Gordon Lightfoot. Tickets available Alfies Cigar Store, Esquire Grill, Timmins Flower Shop, $3 in advance, $4 at the door.

Lightfoot had, however, one more special event after the show had sold out to nearly 2,000 people, Aubé recalled.

“We had been invited to a small gathering in his hotel room after the show at the Senator Hotel and were treated to almost one hour of new songs that he had been writing. The songs were so good and I can’t remember the titles but we just sat there in awe.”

By the end of the night, someone noticed that Lightfoot’s famous leather coat was missing. It was recovered by the OPP in Hearst and returned to Lightfoot.

Aubé has been in touch with both promoters and is hoping to meet up again with Lightfoot

“I’m not sure if he will remember myself and his experience in 1969 in Timmins,” Aubé said.

There are still tickets available for this once-in-a-lifetime show. For more information, contact the Timmins Museum where the tickets are being sold.

— John Emms is a local singer/songwriter and long-time writer of Timmins music scene.

Re: TIMMINS article

That is a really cool story. Gordon has been a sincere and gracious man in all his years, and those of us who have known and met him know it. He sure deserves his place in his stardom.

Re: TIMMINS article

I've got family in Timmins - my parents are from there and a cousin was mayor several years ago...haven't been back up in decades tho. I used to spend every summer there as a kid with both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles and many cousins and also in the bush of North Ontario at Gibson Lake at the log cabin my grandfather built not far from Timmins.

Re: TIMMINS article

TIMMINS PRESS: Musical primer on Lightfoot 0
By John Emms, The Daily Press-freelance
Monday, August 24, 2015 10:29:29 EDT PM

TIMMINS - Gordon Lightfoot arrives in the city with a heart of gold this Wednesday for the first time since 1969.

It's a very big deal.

Along with his fellow Canadian iconic songwriters Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Ian Tyson, Robbie Robertson, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Cockburn, Lightfoot is perhaps identified as the artist with a much recognized Canadian musical sensibility in his early work

Through his early lyrical content which reflected Canadian elements in songs such as Early Morning Rain, Canadian Railroad Trilogy and later on Alberta Bound, Lightfoot made history when he was recognized as the first English speaking musician to receive the Order of Canada in 1970.

People should also remember besides his 1968 political hit Black Day In July and possibly The Patriot’s Dream on the album Don Quixote in 1972, his music has relied more on the personal things that have touched his life rather than the political.

Gordon Lightfoot’s music did not get on my radar until mid 1966 or 1967.

But in order to understand that you have to have some background as to why it was important when I and many other Canadians including many in our city first heard it.

In the mid 1960s long before the iPod, portable CD players, the boom box or the Walkman, we had the transistor radio.

Sure my dad had a 1962 Volkswagen Beetle with a small radio, and we had a large tube radio in our house in South Porcupine, but the transistor radio was mine.

Portable sound, small in size and you could carry it anywhere listening to rock n' roll.

What could be better?

After The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the British invasion and pop hits, I started listening to folk rock.

Of course there was Bob Dylan. My brother-in law had the 1963 Bob Dylan vinyl album the Freewheelin’ with Blowin’ In the Wind on it.

The Beatles had not appeared on Ed Sullivan yet, so music and my life of rock ‘n’ roll had not began.

For many of us it was folk rock that got us headed into discovering the singer-songwriters like Lightfoot

I can't remember if it was For Lovin Me or Go Go Round but I was struck by the clarity of the voice and the acoustic guitars even through those tiny speakers.

Before I had bought my first Lightfoot vinyl album “Did She Mention My Name” (later re-issued under the name of the album’s big hit, “If You Could Read My Mind”), I had purchased a few other albums Johnny Rivers Live at the Whisky a Go-Go, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Turtles, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and of course The Doors debut album which my mom hated.

The Beamish store and Uly’s Gift Shop in South Porcupine were the stores where I purchased the albums.

I also visited my grandmother in Orillia, Ontario, which I would learn later was the home of Gordon Lightfoot

It was two weeks of vacation up on 410 Gill St. in Orillia from 1960 or so onward.

My dad had his employment at the Big Dome Mine and those two weeks were the only times he could visit his family.

Even though I was listening to rock artists a lot, I loved all types of popular music.

Around 1967 when my grandmother, uncle and aunt noticed my constant radio companion someone mentioned Orillia had their own singer that everyone was proud of.

To my surprise this guy was the same guy I had heard on the radio a year before — Gordon Lightfoot.

This Gordon Lightfoot musical primer will be a good guide for any age group .

Digitally your best bet would be the United Artists Retrospective — almost 50 songs.

These encompass a big part of of his original three-piece band recordings.

This is essential and includes album tracks and major hits.

For most people, the Gord’s Gold compilation released in 1975 is very popular

It is 22 tracks with re-recordings of songs like Softly, Bitter Green and Early Morning Rain.

The quality is excellent, but it does not contain Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald.

Individually, my single album faves in order of preference are: Summertime Dream (1975), Sundown- (1974), Harmony (2004), Don Quixote (1972), If You Could Read My Mind (1970), the amazing 19-song CD All Live (2012) as well as the album titled Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot featuring The Tragically Hip, Bruce Cockburn, Blue Rodeo and Cowboy Junkies to mention a few of the artists.

— John Emms is a local musician and long-time writer of Timmins’ music scene.

Re: TIMMINS article

TIMMINS news from the afternoon of the show: http://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=689866

Re: TIMMINS article

RICK: Heading North from Toronto yesterday, we pulled in to Timmins, Ontario, Shania's home town, to start our Ontario mini-tour.First time I've ever been here that it wasn't snowing! but that's our North Country. And Yes, as Gord blurted out on stage last nite, I am recovering from Pneumonia, but he failed to mention, so is he!! We didn';t kick the bucket yet, just turned a little pale (or is it pail?)

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...t.aug.2015.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...n.aug.2015.jpg

Re: TIMMINS article

Wow, so Gordon.. and Rick both are getting over Pneumonia, good to hear they are getting better. Down here in Ct. we usually call it Walking Pneumonia when you can still keep somewhat active. I never had it, but from what I heard from friends, it kind of knocks the wind out of you for awhile.

Re: TIMMINS article

that is what they had - Walking Pneumonia.. can set you back for weeks so I hope after this short tour (2 more nights) they take it easy and get healthy...

Re: TIMMINS article

http://www.timminspress.com/2015/08/...s-timmins-fans

GALLERY: Lightfoot delights Timmins fans
By John Emms, The Daily Press-freelance
Thursday, August 27, 2015 12:40:33 EDT PM

TIMMINS - The path that led Gordon Lightfoot back to Timmins may have been over 45 years old but the iconic troubadour and his band mined the gold of his extensive song catalogue at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex last night.

The long winding lineup across the parking lot said it all.

It's one of the biggest concert crowds at the Sportsplex since possibly the Jeff Healey concert in the 1990s.

It was good times, good memories and good vibes.

It was and is the Gordon Lightfoot we know.

Before he sung even one note the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

“The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” he said with a laugh.

The connection is still there.

Great art does not have a shelf life.

And if anyone has written the Canadiana songbook and much more, it’s Lightfoot.

All of us have been Rainy Day People and drove down that old Carefree Highway at one time or another.

Don't get me wrong that strong baritone voice has lived a life and a half.

And there are some notes that are tough to hit this many years down the road

Yet, Lightfoot's voice is never out of tune and at 76 years old, the Orillia native and his band are in sync as Lightfoot counts off the songs — songs that you and he have lived in.

Singing and playing his songs is at his very core.

People love Gordon Lightfoot and the crowd in Timmins came to listen. I mean really listen.

The reason is simple. Many people who never had the chance to see him perform his Yorkville solo shows, his annual Massey Hall performances or his international classic shows from the ’70s when his outstanding songs were being covered by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley saw him last night.

Classic Lightfoot came via a medley “of four shortened songs” as Lightfoot explained at the end if the first set with which included Sundown, and Carefree Highway.

Mega hits The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald (in its 40th anniversary) and If You Could Read My Mind stood on their own and brought instant extended applause in the second set.

The acoustic sound on this night was the best I have ever heard in the Sportsplex.

Lightfoot also talked about his friend Stompin’ Tom Connors and Shania Twain.

" I think Tom wrote a song about every town in this country. You know I was up here on some canoe trips back in the day and got sloshed in some bar but I'm not sure if it was the one where Stompin' Tom carved up his chops.

“As far as Shania Twain goes, I know you guys love her. She wrote some good songs,” he said. “I almost met her once but I think she sent her sister out for the Juno Award. Heck, I didn't know she had a sister,” he said with a chuckle before launching into Couchiching, a song about his home town of Orillia.

It was a stand out song of the evening as was The Canadian Railroad Trilogy with all of its eight-minute lyrical power and beauty.

There were many standouts including superb work by Lightfoot's band, especially lead guitarist Carter Lancaster.

Bassist Rick Haynes, drummer Barry Keane and keyboard man Michael Hefferman put each song into the pocket.

Other highlights included Baby Step Back, Shadows and A Painter Passing Through.

In the end, Early Morning Rain did not make the night's list and neither did Cotton Jenny and Summer Side of Life.

But that is way beyond the point.

Gordon Lightfoot sent everyone home happy.

His music has touched a generation and continues to be real honest thing.

John Emms is a local musician and long-time writer of Timmins music scene.

Re: TIMMINS article

What a lovely review & beautiful pics. Thanks, Char!

Gail