Gordon Lightfoot Forums - View Single Post - Mariposa 2010-50th anniversary

charlene · 12-03-2009, 09:47 AM

Lightfoot returns
MARIPOSA FOLK FESTIVAL: Sunday evening lineup features folk music legends
Posted By COLIN MCKIM, THE PACKET AND TIMES
Posted 1 hour ago

Folk icon and local hero Gordon Lightfoot is as central to the Mariposa Folk Festival as Big Chief Island is to Lake Couchiching.

And organizers are ecstatic that the 71-year-old composer of classics such as theWreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald andIf You Could Read My Mind,will wow fans once again at the 50th edition of Canada's most venerable folk music festival next summer.

"People are always excited when they see Lightfoot is playing at Mariposa," said artistic director Mike Hill.

"He's the No. 1 name in folk music in Canada. And he's a hometown boy."

Although Lightfoot's performances have been among the high points of the festival in recent years, he did not burst onto the scene in 1961 when the festival was born.

In fact, the duet he was in at the time with Terry Whalen, called the Tu- Tones, was turned down that inaugural year.

"They were a good duo, but not out of this world," says Ruth Jones, one of the founders of the festival, which was first staged at the Lions Oval.

Ian (Tyson) and Sylvia (Fricker), who are also returning for the festival's 50th consecutive year, topped the bill in 1961, along with the Travellers, Omar Blondahl, Bonny Dobson and Alan Mills.

"We had great people that first year," recalls Jones, now 82.

The Tu-Tones did make the cut the second year, playing country-flavoured folk standards, but weren't anything special, Jones said.

It wasn't until a few years later, when she heard Lightfoot singing his poignant balladEarly Morning Rainon the radio that Jones realized how much she had underestimated the talent of the Orillia-born folky.

12-03-2009, 09:47 AM	#2
charlene Moderator Join Date: May 2000 Posts: 16,001	Re: Mariposa 7-2010-Lightfoot to perform Lightfoot returns MARIPOSA FOLK FESTIVAL: Sunday evening lineup features folk music legends Posted By COLIN MCKIM, THE PACKET AND TIMES Posted 1 hour ago Folk icon and local hero Gordon Lightfoot is as central to the Mariposa Folk Festival as Big Chief Island is to Lake Couchiching. And organizers are ecstatic that the 71-year-old composer of classics such as theWreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald andIf You Could Read My Mind,will wow fans once again at the 50th edition of Canada's most venerable folk music festival next summer. "People are always excited when they see Lightfoot is playing at Mariposa," said artistic director Mike Hill. "He's the No. 1 name in folk music in Canada. And he's a hometown boy." Although Lightfoot's performances have been among the high points of the festival in recent years, he did not burst onto the scene in 1961 when the festival was born. In fact, the duet he was in at the time with Terry Whalen, called the Tu- Tones, was turned down that inaugural year. "They were a good duo, but not out of this world," says Ruth Jones, one of the founders of the festival, which was first staged at the Lions Oval. Ian (Tyson) and Sylvia (Fricker), who are also returning for the festival's 50th consecutive year, topped the bill in 1961, along with the Travellers, Omar Blondahl, Bonny Dobson and Alan Mills. "We had great people that first year," recalls Jones, now 82. The Tu-Tones did make the cut the second year, playing country-flavoured folk standards, but weren't anything special, Jones said. It wasn't until a few years later, when she heard Lightfoot singing his poignant balladEarly Morning Rainon the radio that Jones realized how much she had underestimated the talent of the Orillia-born folky.