Originally Posted by Bev
Forgive me if this is a double post...I was trying to attach a photo and lost everything I had written to that point!
Hi Char...I feel as though you were talking to me. I've been meaning to share my tale, truly! I "post infrequently", and was at the Erie, PA show on June 22.
It. was. wonderful.
I had after-show guest passes, and my husband and I hung back and waited to be last to speak with Mr. Lightfoot. I had dragged along (from NC) the last poster I had that needed to be autographed. It is a large, heavy cardboard poster that can not be rolled up and carried inconspicuously. It was quite the conversation starter during intermission. Anyway, I'm attaching a photo of it to this post....
After I walked up and prefaced that anything stupid or incoherent I might utter was due to nervousness, I told him how happy I was to be there, as Erie is my hometown, and that I love the Warner Theatre (it is stunningly beautiful). I told him I waited a long time and had traveled over 550 miles to be there (his response: "I hope it was worth it!"). I told him that we had held second row seats for the ill-fated show at Seven Springs, PA a few years prior. We then recollected about the terrible thunderstorm that cancelled that evening's concert.
Well, when I presented the poster and asked him to sign it, he looked down at it...looked back up at me and said, "This photograph was taken during a party - at my house. Bob Dylan was there that night. We're good friends, you know..." I recall thanking him for sharing that with me...my hope is that I did it in English and not the fluent gibberish I have spoken in his presence in the past.
I know I "geeked" ...as my 19YO would say...hard as I tried not to. Although I was able to observe while we waited our turn to speak with him, that pretty much everyone does. That made me feel a bit better, and made me respect and admire him even more. He was unfailingly kind and gracious to everyone, and I thought, very generous as well to reveal that to me. I've owned that poster for a number of years, but now I have some backstory! And it's signed to me personally! With Love! - from Gordon Lightfoot!
<swoon!>
As the Erie show was the last until this month, everyone seemed excited about getting home. Gordon said he was catching a plane very shortly and would be home shortly after that. I could tell my time with him was ending (Bbb-b-b-but w-w-w-why? I want to talk with you for hours, if not days! Let's at least have a coffee!!! Come away!) Naturally, I didn't say any of that, much as I wanted to. Because after all, my husband was there and it just wouldn't be decent.
Long story shortened as an act of mercy to those of you reading this:
I knew my time with him was ending, so I related to him as briefly and eloquently as I could how much his music has meant to me lo these many years....and then I watched in horror as he turned away from me with what I was sure was complete dismay...and he turned to my husband and said, "She's really very lovely, isn't she?"
I can die now.
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