[charlene]

Well...
I guess it was about 7:30 or so and the other "talent" was still performing. There were a couple of groups, a fiddler/dancer and a very good looking folk singer. I don't know if you know who Steve Earle is but his sister is also a performer and she did a few songs. Her music was good and the songs were good but her voice was like Minnie Mouse on helium to me. She did have the cutest twang when she talked. She shore weren't from around these here parts!

Which brings me to something - I have always noticed when Gord does interviews that he has a disjointed way of speaking. It is not a Canadian accent either. He has a different rhythm/cadence to his sentences. He breaks and pauses in odd spots and I think it has to do with his songwriting ability. He just talks like he's writing a song. I found it utterly charming!!! LOL
Well.., oh I already said that.

The sun was setting and the sky was darkening. The mosquitoes were out in all their glory. The temperature had dropped a bit so coats were put on and everyone settled in and got ready for Gord. He started a bit later than scheduled because a couple of the other performers had an encore.

While I was talking to Gord, Barry Harvey (manager) brought a lady over and introduced Ruth Jones McVeigh to us and told Gord the boss wanted to talk to him. She was the lady that started Mariposa 40 years ago. Gord turned to us and said "I'll be right back, the boss wants to tak to me!"

After the last performer the lights were turned on that shone down on the stage and the bugs flying around were incredible! They were huge from where I was sitting!! I said to the guy beside me - "I hope he doesn't get one in his mouth!" I was really concerned about it.

Ruth came on stage and talked about the first time she saw Gord back in the 1961 with Terry Whelan and they didn't make the audition to be performers on the show!. Oh that reminds me - Gord was talking about that with us earlier and said it was because they sounded way too much like the Everly Brothers! He laughed and sang several lines of Bye,Bye Love! He said maybe it didn't help their cause that they even did a few tunes of theirs in the act!! He then scanned each of us with an incredulous look on his face and said "Can you believe that?" He was quite amused by it.

She talked of his history and home in Orillia and how proud Orillia was of their native son who has become a national treasure known all over the world for his voice and songs. It was very moving and I did tear up a bit. I could see Gord standing off-stage with his head bowed throughout her speech. The band had come on as usual prior to Gord and were busy fending off the killer bugs. Gord had changed his shirt to his "Hawaii floral".

As Gord came up the stairs to the stage we all rose and gave him a rousing ovation for several minutes. He bowed and looked proud but humble. It was 10:00 p.m.
He launched right into If You Could Read My Mind without any chit-chat. He sounded fine - no quavering or slip-ups. He was in fine voice.
He went right into the next tune - a favourite of mine - Don Quixote. A bit of clapping along here and there throughout. I found it hard to determine how much and how loud the response was from the audience in an outdoor venue.
He stepped up to the microphone for a bit of a chat after Don Quixote. He said he was glad to be back home and see all of his friends. As he said this he waved his arms through a cloud of bugs and exclaimed - "I love them" "the bugs are my friends!" The band was swatting away too. He talked of the many times he drove the highway to Toronto and back home again. He wished Jess and Gordon Sr. could be here. We all applauded. I got teary again as I am right now typing this.

I am such a suck.
Next up - that bad-girl song - Sundown.
"I borrowed this tune from Steven McKeown (sp) - I Used To Be A Country Singer was next.
A little history now about the Edmund Fitzgerald. - Tonnage, cargo, date, number of crewmen, departure and destination ports. They never knew they would not reach port the next day. It was very sombre and serious and quiet for a few seconds. Then - The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald.

As he was getting a new guitar for the next song a gentleman in the front yelled up a request for his favourite song in the whole wide world. Gord leaned down and asked what it was. The Ghosts of Cape Horn was inserted into the playlist after Gord happily switched guitars. The whistling was barely audible the first time so at the end he didn't even bother to try.

Because I was to the right of the stage and the way sound equipment was set up beside the stage I couldn't see Barry or Terry during the show. There really wasn't any way to get to the front and I didn't want to walk in front of anyone to try to get a pic so the ones before the show of Terry will have to do!

Next song - I'll Prove My Love.
then - In The Early Morning Rain. a soft bit of sing along with the audience off and on. It was nice and not annoying in the outdoor setting. At Massey Hall I would probably be very annoyed because it would drown out Gord's voice indoors.

Gord said they had a toe-tapper coming up and a ballad. I thought of Old Dan's Records and I knew from the interview in the programme he was going to do Pussywillows-Cattails. But he fooled me - the old fart!
Blackberry Wine was next. Sorry but it has never been a favourite of mine - his voice is too high for me. He romped it out though!

Someone called out for the wonderful "A Song For A Winter's Night". Gord looked around and said "But it's summertime!" Which would have been a great lead in to "Summertime Dream" but
Pussywillows-Cattails was next. He started the intro and began to sing - the wrong lyrics! He stepped back with a mournful - Oh-God! He stepped back up and started again.

I lost the image of the Gord I was looking at and saw a beautifully handsome young boy running along the river, his bike on the bank and his fishing pole in his hand. Leading his friends, he was taking them through what truly was to be a Summertime Dream. I thought of what it must have been like in Orillia almost 50 years ago. There are only 27,000 people there now! I imagined the area that I saw earlier in the day as a place of glorious inspiration for the many songs we all love so much. The talent of that young boy with big dreams in the big city became clear images in front of me and I cried in thanks. When he was done he said that was the ballad they had been practising for us. He talked then of exactly the things I had been thinking during the song. How he and his friends would ride out to the mill and fish in the North River and try to catch chub, trout and sunfish. Mostly it was suckers though. He sounded wistful.

He then introduced the boys in the band. Appreciative applause from the audience.
Canadian Railroad Trilogy was welcomed with applause and a standing ovation at the end. He dropped a pick but deftly retrieved one out of his pocket after knocking his guitar front a couple of times on the beat! What a guy!

The band and Gord left the stage to a standing ovation. When they came back on for their encore a presentation of a plaque was made to Gordon thanking him for representing Orillia and helping to bring Mariposa back home. He graciously and humbly received it with thanks. Then he launched in to the toe-tapper I love:
Old Dan's Records. I love that song. I see him and his family in that song many, many years ago.

Another standing ovation, they leave the stage - it's 11:00 p.m. and the ovation goes on for several minutes but they don't come back. I can see them standing around behind the stage talking with their families. I won't go back. I am content and I don't want to leave disappointed in case he wouldn't be available. He spent almost 2 hours before the show with his fans so now it's his private time to be with his people, alone.

We pack up our gear and with one last look I see him smiling and gesturing amongst a crowd of people - his people - but I realize that for a time today while I was in his presence, I was one of Gord's people. I couldn't be prouder.
P.S. While sitting in line to leave the park I turned on the radio and a few minutes later Gord's voice was singing "Rainy Day People" to me. Perfection........................................ ....
Char