Gordon Lightfoot Forums - View Single Post - CHat #3 with CHar and Lightfoot

charlene · 07-15-2012, 01:40 PM

I asked him about the reno work planned for Massey Hall and future Massey dates after this November. If construction is still ongoing that might run into May 2014 and if he runs on his 18 month schedule for appearing there. He said, “we’re going to do that in November 2014, we’re going to go for two years between Massey dates but I found out that they’re probably not even going to be started two years from now possibly. We might have to wait for another couple of years before they start but I would not say that’s the gospel, but you know that’s the internet. If it came to the point we couldn’t do it we’d go to Roy Thompson, or we’d go to The Elgin Theatre or we’d go to The Molson Amphitheatre.” When he mentioned the amphitheatre I said, “oh no! don’t do that!” and he burst out laughing. (I don’t care for the venue altho it is a nice location right on the shore of the lake) He said, “don’t worry about that.” I told him I hated the place and he said it was a horrible place to get in and out of. “We’d do a smaller place where we could do three or four shows, that’s what makes it fun, so we could do better each night as we go along.” I mentioned Convocation Hall at the U. of T., where I have seen Kris Kristofferson perform, would be a nice place too. He said that would be fun, an interesting place.

I asked him if he’d do another full show at Mariposa and he said, ”they asked me if I would do it, my guitar was in the trunk of the car, and I didn’t even decide to do it until after I talked to Jann. I wanted to talk to Jann. I wanted to talk to Jann first before, so I could give her a heads up and let her know what was going on. But she was just so gracious, she was thrilled by the idea and as it turned out all I did was do a couple of ballads. I did RESTLESS and then I did the Bob Dylan song RING THEM BELLS and then I was off there. I got a great reception. I told him there’s a very, very good quality video online of him singing Ring Them Bells. He said he just had a mic and plugged into a direct box. He said he knew they were getting it all down and “you gotta remember that, everything’s doing down for posterity everywhere you go.”

That led me to ask about fans videotaping and taking pictures during the concerts and what his thoughts about that were. He said, “no I don’t mind, what am I gonna do? Walk up and say ‘hey, don’t do that? Ya just let it roll, let it go.” I told him that the longtime fans didn’t have video cameras for the concerts 30-40 years ago so we’re making up for it now knowing that one day you’re going to say to hell with this, I’m not doing it anymore and we’re just trying to grab what we can. He said “yeah, that’s right. That’s how it’s done, it just goes on, carries on year after year, it’s all good.”

“I was very thrilled to receive the Songwriters award, it was a wonderful show, a wonderful evening but I wasn’t able to stick around long because I had to leave for Ottawa to play the next night at The National Arts Centre. We got in there and got it done, we were only there for about 5 or 6 hours altogether. We got the job done, we had a nice feeling on If You Could Read My Mind, that was the song we chose. We had Kenny Rogers doing the Gambler, we had Stevie Nicks doing a wonderful hit, and Ben E. King got the Towering Song award for Stand By Me, and they had a rap kid, very good, very smooth. It was just a wonderful show. And Steve Miller did SUNDOWN. Lyle Lovett was originally going to do it but he had some kind of a health issue going down in his family.” I told Gordon that Lyle would be in Toronto in a couple of weeks and he asked what venue he would be at. I told him @ Roy Thompson and he said ‘oh that’s a good spot.” “I wouldn’t mind playing Roy Thompson Hall at all if Massey was under renovation.” When I reminded him that he played there when it opened and he laughed and said, “I played there a couple of weeks ago!” “That was the third thing I did for the Queen’s medal.” When I told him I ran into Craig Kielburger (another recipient of the medal) at the Montreal airport the day after the show Gordon laughingly said he slept all that day! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Kielburger He said he did a solo and it was one of the biggest meet and greets he ever saw. (There were 600 people receiving the medal from an assortment of people prior to the entertainment portion of the gala) “It was nice, it was good.” “I didn’t have to get there until it was time for me to perform.” I laughed and said it was good he didn’t have to do the 600 person meet and greet. He laughed and said, “I already had my medal from the first engagement.”

I asked Gordon a question from Dave in Melbourne, Australia. Dave wondered if PERTH mentioned in Ecstasy Made Easy was referring to Perth, Australia. (there is a Perth, Ontario but it’s highly unlikely he was singing about it)
(I hope I never lose what belongs to me
By the right of my birth
At midnight sailing out of Perth
Getting under way we turned 'er westward bound
On that southern sea to see what ecstasy was worth)
When I mentioned the song title and before I could say “Perth” Gordon jumped in and said, “midnight sailing out of Perth! Well I sailed all around Perth harbour one time at midnight. I went on a sailing trip with a professional sailing crew so we didn’t have to do anything. All we had to do was get on board and let them do the driving. We were out for about an hour and a half cruising around Perth harbour.

I asked Gordon if there were any awards he would like to get considering he has almost everything there is to get and if he’s comfortable receiving all of these accolades. He laughed and replied, “I’m always busy working and staying prepared so I don’t have time to rest on my laurels too much.” “I do appreciate them and I’m beginning to appreciate them more and this latest one, this Songwriters award is a very important one. I feel very good about it.” I said, ‘there’s only three Canadians out of the almost 400 who have received the award.” Gordon said, “there’s Leonard Cohen, and myself and who’s the third?” I said I couldn’t’ remember and would have to look that info up. Gordon said, “they should put Bryan Adams in..Hey! They should put Stompin’ Tom Connors in!” I said that seeing Stompin’ Tom in Manhattan just might be worth a trip to New York and he laughed. http://www.stompintom.com/

When I inquired about the coming 2013 tour and if he would be out on the road when the annual January Lightfoot tribute shows would be at Hugh’s Room in Toronto he said, “I don’t know, I keep hearing about them and I’ve participated before.” I told him we all missed him last January. He said he had been talking about it at Mariposa. I know my dear David Newland was there performing and emceeing so I will see if he spoke to Gordon about the shows. http://www.davidnewland.com/ He added, “so I’m sure I’ll try to be there.” I said, “that would be great and I know that it means a lot to the performers and to Jory when you do show up regardless if you perform or not. They are going to take the show on the road to Hamilton and Guelph, Meaford and Ottawa besides the four nights at Hugh’s.” He laughed and said, “Wow you guys are gonna go on tour!” I said, “I’ll just be going to the Hugh’s Room shows, I can’t be travelling around like that. I can’t follow you and them too.” He replied, “I’ll just be doing Hugh’s also.” LOL. I told him that Jory has a new CD coming out in November and he said he’d keep a look out for it. http://www.jorynash.com/home.cfm http://hughsroom.com/

We talked about practicing the guitar and how calloused the ends of his fingers can get. He said you have to wait for them to chip off, you have to work around them, you can’t file them off, can’t chew them off, you just have to leave them till they’re ready to go. When they’re ready to go they’re like little mounds and the strings start slipping off the fingers when you’re pressing down.” I asked him if that was painful and he said, “no those days are gone, we used to play all night. A couple of times I played until sunup with Jerry Jeff Walker.” I laughed and said, “that was in a different time Gordon.” After he laughed he said, ‘you’re not kidding!”

07-15-2012, 01:40 PM	#18
charlene Moderator Join Date: May 2000 Posts: 16,001	Re: #3 CHat with CHar and Lightfoot I asked him about the reno work planned for Massey Hall and future Massey dates after this November. If construction is still ongoing that might run into May 2014 and if he runs on his 18 month schedule for appearing there. He said, “we’re going to do that in November 2014, we’re going to go for two years between Massey dates but I found out that they’re probably not even going to be started two years from now possibly. We might have to wait for another couple of years before they start but I would not say that’s the gospel, but you know that’s the internet. If it came to the point we couldn’t do it we’d go to Roy Thompson, or we’d go to The Elgin Theatre or we’d go to The Molson Amphitheatre.” When he mentioned the amphitheatre I said, “oh no! don’t do that!” and he burst out laughing. (I don’t care for the venue altho it is a nice location right on the shore of the lake) He said, “don’t worry about that.” I told him I hated the place and he said it was a horrible place to get in and out of. “We’d do a smaller place where we could do three or four shows, that’s what makes it fun, so we could do better each night as we go along.” I mentioned Convocation Hall at the U. of T., where I have seen Kris Kristofferson perform, would be a nice place too. He said that would be fun, an interesting place. I asked him if he’d do another full show at Mariposa and he said, ”they asked me if I would do it, my guitar was in the trunk of the car, and I didn’t even decide to do it until after I talked to Jann. I wanted to talk to Jann. I wanted to talk to Jann first before, so I could give her a heads up and let her know what was going on. But she was just so gracious, she was thrilled by the idea and as it turned out all I did was do a couple of ballads. I did RESTLESS and then I did the Bob Dylan song RING THEM BELLS and then I was off there. I got a great reception. I told him there’s a very, very good quality video online of him singing Ring Them Bells. He said he just had a mic and plugged into a direct box. He said he knew they were getting it all down and “you gotta remember that, everything’s doing down for posterity everywhere you go.” That led me to ask about fans videotaping and taking pictures during the concerts and what his thoughts about that were. He said, “no I don’t mind, what am I gonna do? Walk up and say ‘hey, don’t do that? Ya just let it roll, let it go.” I told him that the longtime fans didn’t have video cameras for the concerts 30-40 years ago so we’re making up for it now knowing that one day you’re going to say to hell with this, I’m not doing it anymore and we’re just trying to grab what we can. He said “yeah, that’s right. That’s how it’s done, it just goes on, carries on year after year, it’s all good.” “I was very thrilled to receive the Songwriters award, it was a wonderful show, a wonderful evening but I wasn’t able to stick around long because I had to leave for Ottawa to play the next night at The National Arts Centre. We got in there and got it done, we were only there for about 5 or 6 hours altogether. We got the job done, we had a nice feeling on If You Could Read My Mind, that was the song we chose. We had Kenny Rogers doing the Gambler, we had Stevie Nicks doing a wonderful hit, and Ben E. King got the Towering Song award for Stand By Me, and they had a rap kid, very good, very smooth. It was just a wonderful show. And Steve Miller did SUNDOWN. Lyle Lovett was originally going to do it but he had some kind of a health issue going down in his family.” I told Gordon that Lyle would be in Toronto in a couple of weeks and he asked what venue he would be at. I told him @ Roy Thompson and he said ‘oh that’s a good spot.” “I wouldn’t mind playing Roy Thompson Hall at all if Massey was under renovation.” When I reminded him that he played there when it opened and he laughed and said, “I played there a couple of weeks ago!” “That was the third thing I did for the Queen’s medal.” When I told him I ran into Craig Kielburger (another recipient of the medal) at the Montreal airport the day after the show Gordon laughingly said he slept all that day! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Kielburger He said he did a solo and it was one of the biggest meet and greets he ever saw. (There were 600 people receiving the medal from an assortment of people prior to the entertainment portion of the gala) “It was nice, it was good.” “I didn’t have to get there until it was time for me to perform.” I laughed and said it was good he didn’t have to do the 600 person meet and greet. He laughed and said, “I already had my medal from the first engagement.” I asked Gordon a question from Dave in Melbourne, Australia. Dave wondered if PERTH mentioned in Ecstasy Made Easy was referring to Perth, Australia. (there is a Perth, Ontario but it’s highly unlikely he was singing about it) (I hope I never lose what belongs to me By the right of my birth At midnight sailing out of Perth Getting under way we turned 'er westward bound On that southern sea to see what ecstasy was worth) When I mentioned the song title and before I could say “Perth” Gordon jumped in and said, “midnight sailing out of Perth! Well I sailed all around Perth harbour one time at midnight. I went on a sailing trip with a professional sailing crew so we didn’t have to do anything. All we had to do was get on board and let them do the driving. We were out for about an hour and a half cruising around Perth harbour. I asked Gordon if there were any awards he would like to get considering he has almost everything there is to get and if he’s comfortable receiving all of these accolades. He laughed and replied, “I’m always busy working and staying prepared so I don’t have time to rest on my laurels too much.” “I do appreciate them and I’m beginning to appreciate them more and this latest one, this Songwriters award is a very important one. I feel very good about it.” I said, ‘there’s only three Canadians out of the almost 400 who have received the award.” Gordon said, “there’s Leonard Cohen, and myself and who’s the third?” I said I couldn’t’ remember and would have to look that info up. Gordon said, “they should put Bryan Adams in..Hey! They should put Stompin’ Tom Connors in!” I said that seeing Stompin’ Tom in Manhattan just might be worth a trip to New York and he laughed. http://www.stompintom.com/ When I inquired about the coming 2013 tour and if he would be out on the road when the annual January Lightfoot tribute shows would be at Hugh’s Room in Toronto he said, “I don’t know, I keep hearing about them and I’ve participated before.” I told him we all missed him last January. He said he had been talking about it at Mariposa. I know my dear David Newland was there performing and emceeing so I will see if he spoke to Gordon about the shows. http://www.davidnewland.com/ He added, “so I’m sure I’ll try to be there.” I said, “that would be great and I know that it means a lot to the performers and to Jory when you do show up regardless if you perform or not. They are going to take the show on the road to Hamilton and Guelph, Meaford and Ottawa besides the four nights at Hugh’s.” He laughed and said, “Wow you guys are gonna go on tour!” I said, “I’ll just be going to the Hugh’s Room shows, I can’t be travelling around like that. I can’t follow you and them too.” He replied, “I’ll just be doing Hugh’s also.” LOL. I told him that Jory has a new CD coming out in November and he said he’d keep a look out for it. http://www.jorynash.com/home.cfm http://hughsroom.com/ We talked about practicing the guitar and how calloused the ends of his fingers can get. He said you have to wait for them to chip off, you have to work around them, you can’t file them off, can’t chew them off, you just have to leave them till they’re ready to go. When they’re ready to go they’re like little mounds and the strings start slipping off the fingers when you’re pressing down.” I asked him if that was painful and he said, “no those days are gone, we used to play all night. A couple of times I played until sunup with Jerry Jeff Walker.” I laughed and said, “that was in a different time Gordon.” After he laughed he said, ‘you’re not kidding!”