THE WAY WE FEEL-Tribute show-14th year-Jan.2016-Hugh's Room

[charlene]

THE WAY WE FEEL – YEAR 14 – A celebration of the songs of GORDON LIGHTFOOT
January 15,16,17, 2016 - HUGH’S ROOM – TORONTO

FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2016 – I did not attend the show this night. Gordon and his wife and Rick Haynes and his wife did attend. Scott Shea, son of Red was performing and they wanted to see him. Ron Jones will have a report as he did attend this epic night..

SATURDAY JANUARY 16, 2016

My daughter and I headed into Toronto on the GO train as we always do looking forward to another weekend of stellar performances of Lightfoot tunes. This is the 14th year these shows have been done at Hugh’s Room in Toronto and I have been to them every year since their inception. Jory Nash and Aengus Finnan co-founded them prior to Lightfoot falling ill in Spet.2002 and the felt it even more poignant that they get this celebration onstage after he became ill.

We arrived at Hugh’s around 6:30 and were taken to our seats down near the stage, right beside the two steps the artists come down to get on stage.. I’ve sat in that spot many, many times over the last 14 years… Rick and his wife were attending again this night to see Scott once more and also his mum who was coming. It was lovely to see them and sit with them for another wonderful evening of song.

The venue holds about 225 people and almost all were seated for dinner by 7:00. All three nights were once again STANDING ROOM ONLY.. so amazing!

Right before the show Brian Murphy came in and we spent a few minutes talking with him and caught up a bit since we last saw each other.

At 8:30 the show began with Jory playing emcee to introduce David Newland who was going to start the show with Carefree Highway. David has been the most outstanding emcee for every show and has on occasion graced us with his musical talents. He would then resume his emcee duties until he once again took the stage as a performer later in the show.

It was another night with some mind blowing performances – I took videos and pics of most performances and more on Sunday…

Scott Shea came in specifically for these shows to sing Farewell to Annabelle and when onstage share a couple of stories about his father. It was a real pleasure to meet and spend some time talking with him.

Meredith Moon left the room breathless this year with her cover of The Way We Feel.. wow. She has really matured as an artist – her singing and banjo playing are stellar. It would seem she was meant to play the banjo!

It was fun to see Anne Lindsay back onstage and adding her special touch in the covers that Barney Bentall did.

New artists to the shows were Carlos del Junco and Peter Katz – very different artists but each were very impressive..

It’s so nice to hear the artists sing some of the old tunes we never hear in Lightfoot concerts anymore and for some of us there are tunes we never heard at all in a concert setting.. and for the tunes we still hear Gordon performing the re-imagining by different performers is always a treat.

Check out the artist’s websites and Facebook pages to read about and hear some of their own music and touring schedules.

David Newland – Carefree Highway
David Matheson – Shadows and Summertime Dream
Suzie Vinnick – Sundown and Bend In The Water
Cadence – Beautiful – The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald
Scott Shea – Farewell to Annabelle
Russell deCarle – Long Way Back Home and Same Old Loverman
Coco Love Alcorn – Oh Linda and Baby Step Back
Barney Bentall (with Anne Lindsay) – Talking in Your Sleep and Circle Is Small
David Newland – If You Could Read My Mind
Jason Fowler – Early Morning Rain and All the Lovely Ladies
Meredith Moon – The Way I Feel
Carlos del Junco – Cold On The Shoulder and Ribbon of Darkness
Lori Cullen – Rainy Day People and This Is My Song
Peter Katz – Song For A Winter’s Night and Bitter Green
Jory Nash – Circle of Steel and Cotton Jenny
FINALE – Richman’s Spiritual

[charlene]

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[charlene]

pics (pics not labelled were taken by Pierre Millette)

[charlene]

[charlene]

[charlene]

[charlene]

[charlene]

[charlene]

THE WAY WE FEEL – YEAR 14 – A celebration of the songs of GORDON LIGHTFOOT

January 15,16,17, 2016 - HUGH’S ROOM – TORONTO
SUNDAY JANUARY 17, 2016

After an afternoon of shopping Lisa and I headed to Hugh’s for dinner and another excellent night of music.

We were meeting up with Ron Jones and Brian Murphy was going to be there for his 2nd night…

Hugh’s is not only a perfect spot for seeing live music in an intimate setting but the food is excellent..we had our dinner and spoke with some of the artists for a while as we waiting for the 8:30 start. Gordon was coming and the show began when he came in around 8:40 and found his seat with his wife while he received a tumultuous standing ovation..

The lights went down and the 3rd of 3 nights was underway!

David Newland – Carefree Highway
Jason Fowler – I’ll Tag Along and Early Morning Rain
Carlos del Junco – Cold On The Shoulder and Ribbon of Darkness
Lori Cullen – Rainy Day People and This Is My Song
Peter Katz – Song For A Winter’s Night and Bitter Green
Russell deCarle – Long Way Back Home and Same Old Loverman
Jory Nash – Circle of Steel and Cotton Jenny (no videos posted-Jory had a sore throat and felt he didn’t want them posted.)
Meredith Moon – The Way I Feel
David Newland – If You Could Read My Mind
David Matheson – Summertime Dream and Shadows
Coco Love Alcorn – Oh Linda and Baby Step Back
Scott Shea – Farewell To Annabelle
Cadence – Beautiful and Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald
Suzie Vinnick – Bend In The Water and Sundown
Barney Bentall with Anne Lindsay – Talking In Your Sleep and Circle Is Small
FINALE – Richman’s Spiritual

Breathtaking performances once again – Lightfoot enjoyed every one and because he had stayed quite late after the Friday night show he and Kim scooted out as the last notes of the Finale were still being sung..

I spoke with them during the break and they’re looking forward to the new year of touring and the trip overseas for that tour. I was sitting at their table and while Gordon was signing things and getting pics taken I got up to kneel beside him for a quick photo. I put the Hugh’s calendar on the table and he reached over and signed his name, then he turned to say something to me and said, “OH! It’s you!”..and opened the calendar again and wrote above his name, TO CHAR, LOVE, .. lol.. Gordon rhymed off a list of things he has to do when I asked how he was doing. Lunch with different people, haircut etc. “Always busy, always busy!”… I told him it was ok to say no sometimes..lol. I mentioned we still hadn’t done a Chat since our last one a few years ago and he said “we can do that, we’ll do it!” Then he looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, “see, there’s something else I have to do.” lol

After pics and hugs goodbye to everyone Lisa and I headed out with Ron to his beautiful home where we’d spend the night and awake to another delicious gourmet B&B brekkie prepared by Ron himself. He then graciously dropped us at the train station and we headed home after yet another weekend of magic.

Magic and music and the tunes of Lightfoot – some beautiful old ones many have never heard in concert and some that he still performs, but all given a loving personal sprinkle of magic by the artists onstage at yet another stellar weekend at the 14th annual ‘’The Way We Feel’’ celebration of Lightfoot music.

Can’t wait for year 15 !!

Jory seems to outdo himself every year when booking the talent for these shows and for the 15th year he wants to have a studio CD made featuring around 15 of the artists performing Lightfoot tunes. There is a kickstarter fundraising site with more info. I posted about it earlier this month: http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=28083

[charlene]

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[buzzard]

Char – Thanks for taking the time to post these great videos and photos.

To anyone considering attending the Lightfoot tribute shows, I would strongly encourage you to do it. For several years I had considered going, but decided not to – mainly because it’s always held in the dead of winter. But this year I was determined to make it. I am so glad I did.

I had never been to Hugh’s Room. It is a wonderful place with a very cozy, intimate atmosphere. The staff are very personable and friendly. As you can see from the clips, some of the performances are very true to the original version; some are very unique (my favourite is probably the a cappella version of the Wreck). All of the artists are very talented, and obviously very passionate about the material.

Brian

[lighthead2toe]

Absolutely Brian.
It was great to see you there. I've been trying to put something together on this new computer I have and being the non computer geek I am there are some problems I'm waiting for help to sort out.
Hope to be back soon.

RJ.

[lighthead2toe]

Hope this works folks.
Hello there “superfan!”
That was the greeting that graced my ear as I sauntered into my traditional comfort
zone at the Hugh’s room bar for another monumental weekend of Gordon Lightfoot
Tribute shows.
Seems that Peter, our ever smiling friendly Hugh’s Room bartender has twigged onto
the fact that this Jones guy might just be a fan of of Gordon Lightfoot.
Well, if there was any monumental weekend of Gordon Lightfoot tribute shows this one
has to be up there at the top.
Seated strategically in the room are Gordon Lightfoot and his bass player and close
confidant, Rick Dutkiewictz Haynes, together with their Lovely Ladies.
Jory Nash, the guy who makes it all happen took this particular event to a whole new
level.
This is the first time Scott Shea has appeared in the shows and boy, did he make an
impression.
Scott is the son of Red Shea, the accomplished resident guitarist of the Country
Hoedown and Tommy Hunter Shows which ran on the CBC during the sixties.
Gord appeared on both those shows.
Red Shea later would become an integral part of the Gordon Lightfoot sound.
Scott did just the one tune, “Farewell To Annabel” and he really didn’t have to do
anything else. Or maybe that’s just me. I mean, well, we all have our songs don’t we?
That’s the song alright and Gord even got the names correct.
Yes, her name was Ann and her nickname was Annabel. All true, and throw in the
Carefree Highway even.
And yes, when the snow was on the ground she left and the next day the rain began to
fall and from there on word for word, exactly how the lines progress in that song is a
huge part of what my life’s story carries in it’s basket.
.
Pour me another one there Peter.
Dear friends, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Imagine; the offspring of Gordon Lightfoot and Red Shea performing Gordon Lightfoot
songs on the same stage, with Gord present in the audience.
Hard to top that.
Meredith sang her Dad’s power hitter song “The Way I Feel” and the emotion she
released in that performance with every note, every word in every lyric, she had her
whole audience not only captivated but convinced just exactly the way she felt.
She let it all unleash. This is what it’s all about. It’s a show called “The Way We Feel”
and Meredith bought that feeling to fruition for her audience with that magnificent
outpouring of emotion singing her Dad’s great song in the presence of her Dad.
Peter looks over, I give him the nod and a fresh pint of ale awaits me.
What a fantastic blowout weekend it was here at Hugh’s. It’s Gordon Lightfoot’s Toronto
weekend!
As we see in Char’s videos (that gal is amazing) the slate of entertainers Jory put up
there had the room lit up the whole three nights.
And wonderful folks they all are. Good vibes all around. Very open and friendly and of
course very much appreciative of the works of the “great composer” in our midst.
The Gordon Lightfoot Tribute Weekend event held each year in mid January seems to
sort of shorten the winter, minimize the bleakness and jumpstart things into springtime
and roll it on this year to November when we have the Massey shows scheduled. And of
course there are the little sweeties that happen in between like the Mariposa Folk
Festival and the Orillia Tribute days as well.
What a great feeling to think about life and the joy we derive from this wonderful music.
It makes me reflect on that lyric in Gord’s brilliantly written song, Face of a Thousand
People:
“To taste the pleasures of the night
To know the joy of love’s embrace
To cherish every moment that is mine
To share my laughter with a friend
To sip the wine and not pretend
That there are those less fortunate that I.
Thanks Gord.

[charlene]