Writing GORDON LIGHTFOOT - book excerpt

[Same Old Loverman]

When I first read the book excerpt, I just skimmed over the text. My reaction was a bit kneejerk. Later, I thought that perhaps my negative feelings toward the book were a bit hasty. I mean, we all love Gordon-that's why we're here. So now, after going back and reading over the excerpt again; my opinion that this book is a hatchet job remains.

Am I the only one that gets the feeling that this author is totally full of himself (or something else)? This guy tries to pass himself off as a fan and can't even apologize for lies he knowingly told- not privately, but publicly. Not only that, but he was given multiple chances to make it right, and flagrantly failed to do so. After reading what he said about Barry Harvey, I respect the job he did for Gordon even more now. It must have been a big headache dealing with people like this stalker- I mean author.

I do not plan to buy the book (although I would like to see the pictures), I just can't justify putting any money into this guy's pocket. I get the impression he twists the facts to suit his agenda. He seems to paint a picture of Gordon nearing the end of the line (career wise) back in '72. He even says that Gordon had stopped touring. Huh? He stopped touring (briefly) because of the medical condition he himself mentions in the very next sentence. From a career standpoint, I think 1972 was one of Gordon's strongest.

According to Wayne's site, Gordon toured throughout 1972. He played two sold out concerts at New York's Philharmonic in February, headlined Massey in March (when he was stricken with the Bell's Palsy) then, after regaining his health, resumed touring, playing the Place Des Arts in Montreal, the United Kingdom in June- were he wowed concert goers at the Royal Albert Hall, plus helped out his friend Ian Tyson by perfoming CRT on his show. Oh, and by the way, he released not one- but two excellent albums: Don Quixote and Old Dan's Records.

I could go on, but I won't. I don't usually get this rankled about things- but I had high hopes for this book. The early 70's was a very special time in Gordon's career and music wise probably my favorite. The thought that someone was actually going to devote a whole book to that era excited me. It's not that I have a problem with Gordon being portrayed as anything less than a saint- I don't. I actually enjoy those stories from the wild and crazy 70's. I love it when Gordon talks about staying up for days at a time partying with guys like Jerry Jeff Walker and Doug Kershaw. Let's face it, those chemicals probably helped fuel a lot of great music, music that has stood the test of time (too bad the chemicals didn't help the author). I've read Manyard Collin's book, I've read Cathy Smith's book. There's nothing in them that surprises me. They only confirmed what I had already suspected...Gordon is human. If anything, I came to respect and like Gordon even more after reading them.

Some may say I should read the entire book before forming an opinion; but I think I've read enough (thanks to Char for posting the warning- I mean excerpt). It all comes back to this guys attitude. It stinks. The sad thing is, I don't think he even sees it. Perhaps if he had written the book in a more fair and even handed way, maybe then Gordon would have taken notice and even given his blessing to do something in the future. Instead, I can't help but feel that the author's ego is bigger than his brain. Sorry, but I think Gordon deserves better.

[charlene]

I've read he book now and had myself quite a few good laffs, a few cringes thinking what Lightfoot would think if he does read it. I dont find the writing self absorbed or arrogant - actually at times it's quite light-hearted with a touch of earnestness that Dave does hope to actually be able to talk with Lightfoot one day as a huge fan, but also as one musician and songwriter to another. Perhaps in person they will discuss apologies.
From the excerpt all is not what it seems...
and even if The Man himself is mightily pissed off doesn't make it a bad book...the details and stories about music, toronto,the world, sports is staggering..It was a damn fine read and regardless of the mentions of some bad times in Lightfoot's life (he had them folks - he had them and they are known) the wy the 'letter writer' speaks to Lightfoot is endearing, charming, funny, irreverant, rude and informative...It's not how I would or have ever talked to him but then again I'm not an author. Dave explain that lifestyle quite nicely too.. I really enjoyed this book and will tell Mr. Bidini exactly that when I see him tonight. Saying that doesn't take anything away from my respect and love for Lightfoot or change what may be fact and what may be fiction...
off to the big city, home of the Leafs, and The Church of Gord..
ta for now..

[charlene]

I'm back! The weather held and was actually quite nice for a trip to TO.
The venue was packed when I arrived at about 6:45.I looked around to see if here were any familiar faces and lo and behold there was my sweet Kenyon and his new and still beautiful new wife Johanna! So I wouldn't have to wander around on my own not knowing anyone.!yay!
A few minutes later Mr. Bernie Fiedler arrived...alone. There would be no Gordon Lightfoot/Dave Bidini show down or love-in tonight. oh well.
Dave circulated through the room and made his way to where Kenyon, Johanna and I were sitting. Kenyon knows Dave through his hockey playing. I told him how I felt about the book and he was quite pleased to hear I really enjoyed it. I told him about some misgivings people had about the content and his attitude and he understood that would happen - he's a writer and not everything a writer puts on paper is everyones cuppa.
He then read several pages to us (22-28) from the first letter he 'wrote' to Lightfoot.

After the reading there were several musicians who performed Lightfoot tunes and their own. The Billie Hollies did a most incredible rendition of "Your Loves Return." I said goodbye to Dave and once again told him that I really liked the book. He wrote a lovely inscription in it when he autographed it for me. I forgot to thank him for the two mentions he gave me in the book! ACK!!

It really was a terrific night and I'm very happy for Dave and hope the book does well. It would have been nice to have Gordon show up but perhaps he didnt' show because he didn't want to make the night all about him even tho the book was 'about' him..lol Or he was still pissed..I'm pretty sure it's the latter..I know it is. That's his choice tho and Dave certainly respects that.

I will be re-reading the book because it is so detail/information heavy on so many diverse subjects that I'm sure I missed stuff. It was an informative read, a very unique read and along with some cringe making moments it had a lot of laughs too. It was terrific to read and recognize so many places, names, events I personally know and re-read so many historical events that happened during that amazing week in July 1972.. and may I add that it started off on July 10 - the day I turned 17.

Mariposa and my birthday have had some amazing intersections in my later life...and they all include Gordon Lightfoot.
Writing Gordon Lightfoot is something i actually have always done..I spent some time wondering if he received my cards and notes, trying to imagine what he might say if he replied, thinking about what his life was like, what made him happy and what hurts he had in his life to elicit such poetry that would make people cry thinking of their own heartache. I never did think of or would have believed that my life now would include him in a way that never ever seemed possible or that he would thank me..Perhaps my writing to him did matter.
My "Writing Gordon Lightfoot" is very different in many ways than Dave Bidini's but it is identical in the respect and love for him and his music and the passion we have about it.

[byKimberly]

Char. You are an author.
Kimberly

[charlene]

[charlene]

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audiopl...pid=2157262969
A chat with Dave.

[imported_Next_Saturday]

I agree Char, you are an author. But I think you meant to say 'elicit'. (Although the subject matter for Sundown might be considered illicit by some

[charlene]

LOL! thanks..!
fingers too fast for my brain/spelling centre! Or my mind was off where it shouldn't have been...

[niffer]

You're mentioned in the book, Char? Twice? Now I have to read it!!!

[charlene]

read it despite my name being in it!
lol

[patybear]

Omg! I just listened to the Retrostatics version of this.
I got as far as,"With a load of iron ore,26 thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerld weighed empty".Thats when I HAD to turn it off.I SIMPLY COULDN'T LISTEN TO ANY MORE of it.I agree,lovesagibbson.This version is AWFUL!

[charlene]

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/art...132369668.html
BooksWinnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Gordon Lightfoot as imagined by Dave Bidini
Reviewed by: Jim Millican

Posted: 10/22/2011 1:00 AM |���
Writing Gordon Lightfoot

The Man, the Music and the World in 1972

By Dave Bidini

McClelland & Stewart, 264 pages, $30

TORONTO-BASED musician and writer Dave Bidini lays out the gist of his latest endeavour in the prologue.

He wanted to write about the life and times of Gordon Lightfoot, arguably Canada's most successful folksinger. The artist will have nothing to do him. This leads Bidini to instead address Lightfoot through a series of "letters to Gord."

These letters form alternating chapters -- questions for Lightfoot, supposition about his life, rumour and innuendo picked up by Bidini through his research.

Bidini posits that the year 1972, leading up to the Mariposa Folk Festival in July in Toronto, saw a series of events that would in hindsight transform Canada "politically, psychologically and musically."

That year Mariposa drew Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Lightfoot, although none of these pop-music icons was officially on the bill. Bidini devotes a chapter to the events of each day of the festival.

He provides numerous lists and descriptions of events from '72 to back up his premise that something magical was in the air that year (a jailbreak at Kingston Penitentiary, the Canada-Russia hockey summit, Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky's chess showdown in Iceland, the eclipse of the sun Carly Simon wrote about in You're So Vain).

Founder of the rock band the Rheostatics and author of numerous books on music and sports, Bidini manages to work in large swaths of prose not related to Lightfoot, not related to Mariposa and, for that matter, not related to 1972.

This hallucinogenic blending of fact and fantasy, with Bidini himself often at the centre, reminds one of the late American writer Hunter S. Thompson's so-called gonzo journalism.

The information about Lightfoot is largely contained in the pseudo-letters with Bidini's own skewed take on the man. It paints him as the general sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll-loving stereotype of the era.

This is particularly in the details of Lightfoot's alcohol abuse, broken marriages and his long, troubled affair with Cathy Evelyn Smith, a groupie, his longtime mistress and a drug dealer famously convicted of procuring the drugs that killed John Belushi.

"A deep fog of booze and pain and drugs" is Bidini's description of Lightfoot's life through the period of his greatest success in the late '60s and well into the '70s.

Bidini approaches biographical detail as a chore. He writes that he "should serve the interests of readers who are going to want to know about the mundane particulars of (Lightfoot's) life." He proceeds to list 10 of these details, all trivializing.

The book is, annoyingly, studded with typos, and Bidini even gets the name of one of Lightfoot's most important early songs wrong. It's For Loving Me, not You.

There's very little illumination about the music, although Bidini does have his insights. In one of his letters to Gord, he writes, "In the lyrics -- and in your persona, really -- you create a place where tough and sad meet, where the strong man is weakened by the world's forces."

Lightfoot, who turns 73 in November, deserves a serious all-encompassing overview of his music and life, but this is definitely not it.

Read Writing Gordon Lightfoot as a creatively penned journal centred around its subject rather than as a true biography.

Jim Millican is a Winnipeg writer and music journalist.

[charlene]

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Writi...hqQ/page1.html

Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972
By Dave Bidini
McClelland & Stewart, October 2011

Synopsis Contents .From acclaimed musician and author Dave Bidini comes a brilliantly original look at a folk-rock legend and the momentous week in 1972 that culminated in the Mariposa Folk Festival. July, 1972. As musicians across Canada prepare for the nation's biggest folk festival, held on Toronto Island, a series of events unfold that will transform the country politically, psychologically--and musically. As Bidini explores the remarkable week leading up to Mariposa, he also explores the life and times of one of the most enigmatic figures in Canadian music: Gordon Lightfoot, the reigning king of folk at the height of his career. Through a series of letters, Bidini addresses Lightfoot directly, questioning him, imagining his life, and weaving together a fascinating, highly original look at a musician at the top of his game. By the end of the week, the country is on the verge of massive change and the '72 Mariposa folk fest--complete with surprise appearances by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and yes, Lightfoot--is on its way to becoming legendary. From the Hardcover edition.

[jj]

Originally Posted by patybear

Omg! I just listened to the 1st verse of this version,and then I HAD to turn it off.I simply couldn't listen to any more of it.I'd have to agree with you,loveabiggibson.This version is AWFUL!
patybear

You heard the slicker studio version. Go to iTunes to hear sample of it live. lol

I wonder how many people here contributed their stories to his cause.

Bidini also wrote this song called fan letter to Michael jackson.

Dave Bidini, last line by Mark Critchley

(One, two, everybody go...)
(Shut it up.)
(Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Honey's sweet, just like you.)

I have all your records.
I have even bought some of them twice
Even though my friends in school
Think I am wrong to find you cool.
I don't care because I know
You care about who writes to you.
I enjoyed the fan club letter,
But an autograph would be better.

MICHAEL!

I have hear about your bleeding,
But I don't believe in reading
All of those rumors can't be true.
I hope I meet a friend like you.
I play Bad until my parents,
They tell me: "Go to sleep and dream it."
Still I play them soft and low.
I sing the words, the ones I know.

JACKSON!

It feels good to be alive!
Bad! Alive!

Rheostatics TV Tape#2 part 5 of 5 - YouTube

[DellroyGM]

I'm afraid I share your sentiments, Gibson. I tried to keep an open mind, but the vocals sound tentative, the arrangement seems contrived. After about 2-1/2 minutes, I had to jump up and shout "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!?", just to get the bad vibes outta my head.
Even accounting the fact I tend to be a purist (oh, okay - I do play Boathouse a smidge quicker than Gord does - it brightens it up), "painful" seems a good description.
-DellroyGM

[charlene]

re: the Irish connection and The Wreck -
http://www.sungazette.com/page/conte....html?nav=5016
and
http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread...t=irish+melody

[TC]

I was definitely looking forward to a Lightfoot book but I'm going to pass on this one for sure.

[jj]

Originally Posted by DellroyGM

I tried to keep an open mind, but the vocals sound tentative, the arrangement seems contrived. After about 2-1/2 minutes, I had to jump up and shout "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!?", just to get the bad vibes outta my head.

the vibe they left you with may have been what they were striving for...
ie. erasing the 'jaunty' treatment that Gord apparently created... DB quote:

“Really drag it through the muck, really get it dirty, spray it with mud and blood and fear and angst. It was essentially our punk rock version of that song, really trying to get it as frightful as possible. I think we all realized we could give a new look to this song, maybe reflect sonically some of the lyrics, more so than Gord’s actual treatment, which was very clean and kind of jaunty, when in fact it’s terrifying as hell, that song.”


ya know, if one takes the wealth of the actual interview clips posted by char and others here, plus Wayne's mountain of firsthand tidbits, you actually get a pretty good little bio-type book in itself, once you eliminate the redundancies and try filter out all the contradictory quotes but ya may not learn as much about love child(s)

...char, you could really put something tasty together and add your own first hand bits and pieces that were not shared with you in confidence...i'd buy it

[charlene]

I told Dave B. there would be flak about the book contents and him personally from some fans. He said he understood that could happen. I told him I couldn't deal with that and that's why he's an author and I'm not.
He's a writer of books and music. Like all 'artists' they put their work and themselves out there to the public and take what comes in forms of praise and criticisms.
I think I know that first hand too just from some postings I have made here and then been attacked personally for my thoughts.
While there is a re-hashing of stuff in the other two books that Dave references and might have been overdone/needless to some readers it was required for him to use as jumping off points for his own questions and musings in his 7 letters. In those letters are also words of praise and admiration. I don't thin this book was meant to be the 'be-all/know all' story of Lightfoot. It is Bidini's take on the story of Lightfoot. Of course a book without the main characters input can be nothing but that. One persons personal take on the life and music of an icon. Conjecture drawn from what we all have previously read about him and interspersed with world events in a specific time period made for a unique reading experience. Of course I cringed over some parts just as I do when I read a less than favourable concert or album review. Some things could have been left out but that is not how the author felt his book should read. I have felt that way about many books I have read including some of the classics..We all have our own emotional reaction to what we read,see,hear and it's not always favourable. The book was not all sunshine and roses and la-di-da...it was a tough read at times, challenging me to keep reading at times... Quite a few gasps, wows and what the hell was he thinking happened all thru the book as I read it...just as there were some lovely moments in it as I felt the authors admiration for Lightfoot come through. Perhaps I am not enuf of a cynic to think he took so much of his own time to research so much stuff and write a book while still maintaining his fulltime writing job, his career as a musician and his life as a husband and father just to make a few bucks. I do admire his courage to embark on and complete a book that would certainly cause a few ripples of discontent and some full on personal slaggings.
it's probably not on a XMAS gift list at Gord's house...and I certainly won't be asking him to autograph my copy. I respect that he's pissed and he has every right to be so.
Passing on reading the book is a choice if you wanted anything but what this book is. Regardless of how you might feel about the 'stuff' that's not new and is tough to read at times just dismissing it outright doesn't seem fair. If after a full reading and some reflection you still hate it/the author that seems more fair for it/him and you. Life's fullof surprises....a few hours of reading time is all it takes...so much of the book is very informative about that time in history, regardless of the Lightfoot story/connection. I enjoyed that part immensely. To each his own I guess...

[BILLW]

Well I guess I'll just have to buy a copy and see for myself. Thanks for all the info Char!

Bill

[jj]

Originally Posted by charlene

Passing on reading the book is a choice if you wanted anything but what this book is

Good stuff, char... glad you enjoyed it and any new GL bits/facts in there

thanks for the insights also, i didn't realize Bidini did it as a labour of love

i don't think anyone can't question his dedication to/obsession with Gord as he was the one who initiated a petition to have a National Lightfoot Day

DB quote: "One of the reasons I wanted to write about Gord was because I feared his amazing story would not get told, and, as a musician, I wanted to write it, having been to many of the same emotional and spiritual places as he had been.”

if Gord's amazing story has finally been told, that is somewhat relieving...
I don't know what spiritual places Gord has been to... it sounds intriguing

i don't think there's anything more personal that I need to know about Gord and family but one day it would be nice to read more about his songwriting and inspirations, more along the lines of the Songbook liner notes...i'm sure DB and so many others, worldwide, would also really enjoy that

[jj]

the lightfoot website continues to disregard this retaliatory text

but it seems to me that it is quite newsworthy in the world of folk music and it's evolution, even if the story of Mariposa has already been told. Even if there were no new Gord tidbits, perhaps there's new Mariposa fun facts and anecdotes

and I dont want to read anything (speculative or not) about team Canada that might make me look at my old hockey cards any differently. Lol. I didn't really enjoy the made for tv movie. Ditto for Trudeau. btw, Maggy is currently doing some good work...the big prison break actually sounds intriguing. the only thing as panicky as prisoners on the loose, is exotic animals

[charlene]

Originally Posted by jj

the lightfoot website continues to disregard this retaliatory text

but it seems to me that it is quite newsworthy in the world of folk music and it's evolution, even if the story of Mariposa has already been told. Even if there were no new Gord tidbits, perhaps there's new Mariposa fun facts and anecdotes

and I dont want to read anything (speculative or not) about team Canada that might make me look at my old hockey cards any differently. Lol. I didn't really enjoy the made for tv movie. Ditto for Trudeau. btw, Maggy is currently doing some good work...the big prison break actually sounds intriguing. the only thing as panicky as prisoners on the loose, is exotic animals

"the lightfoot website continues to disregard this retaliatory text" HUH??

[charlene]

excerpt -
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/10...y-dave-bidini/
National Post · Oct. 26, 2011 | Last Updated: Oct. 26, 2011 3:07 AM ET

Hey, Gord. This is the beginning of the letter. I'm not going to begin where normal biographies begin, because, I dunno, all of those books that go on to describe the legend playing with his toys and burning his hand on the stovetop and how his Grade 3 teacher threw a ruler at him and the time he wet his pants coming home from school and what his dog's name was and how he saw his uncle die in a horrible chipper accident and what he did when he got his first report card; I dunno. Me, I always want the writer to get to the reasons why anyone would write a book about that person in the first place. Which, in your case, is the music and the songs. Guitar playing. Words. Concerts. Radio. Canada. Mariposa. Drugs and love and booze. And other stuff.

So I think we should start with me imagining you being a kid like any other pre-teen kid, sitting on the quilt at the edge of your bed dressed in ill-fitting brown cords that your mom bought for you at the Buy Right, playing a guitar that came out of a long cardboard box, trying to find great sweeping chords to match the fullness of the infinite sky, even though the sound that you made was more like sprrrngggtt! because your hands hurt and the tips of your fingers were sore but screw it: your grandparents and their grandparents and their grandparents before them had dug their mitts deep into the hard rich soil to build a life for their sons and daughters, and because they did, you sat there and you kept on playing: an A chord struck with the E string accidentally opened that released a long wide note at the bottom of the neck which made you think of a tern swallowed by the water's horizon as your mom tapped on the door and told you, "Phone call, son. It's Whelan," (I know your friend's name was Whelan because it was written in that other book about you, the one by Maynard Collins called If You Could Read His Mind, which he published 30 years ago).

You spoke to Whelan, then returned to your room where you leaned your guitar on the cowboywallpapered wall and slipped on your boots and walked over to your friend's house ("Bye, Mom"), where you played board games with him at the kitchen table. Whelan said that he liked that new song by that skinny guy with the goatee, Buddy Knox, but you weren't sure. No gulls. No lakes. No silence. You were 12, I think. Life was moving forward, though damned if you knew where.

You liked to sing and you liked to run. I did, too. Don't all 12year-olds? Well, maybe not Glenn Gould, but still. You went to junior choir practice at St. Paul's United Church in Orillia. I imagine the old pastor dressed in dark robes taking you aside and telling you that you sang like an angel, and just hearing him say the word - angel - gave you a funny feeling: a soft word coming from such a severe man, a word he'd let pass through his lips and over his teeth because your voice had somehow found a place between his rib cage and heart and maybe it was then that you understood how music worked and why it had lasted forever, despite the changing world and dinosaurs and history and war and love and God.

I read somewhere that you sang high - way high - filling neighbourhood churches as the congregation swooned to the sound of your voice twirling about the moulding at the top of the church columns the way Aretha Franklin's or Little Richard's or Sam Cooke's did, although you didn't know the names of those people, not yet. Besides, their voices had been boiled in the dirty heat of the American South while yours had been born in the seizing cold, something you didn't know, either, not yet, and maybe you're realizing this for the first time here, but maybe not, because I have no idea whether you're reading this.

During church service, you could see your mom and dad sitting in the pews - Mom looking proud and Dad, well, Dad just being Dad, as all dads just are - as you raised your chin with your hands hanging like scarves at your sides and you felt your diaphragm fill then empty then fill again the way your uncle worked the bellow raising fire from the hearth. At West Ward public school, they played a recording of you singing An Irish Lullaby over the public address system to your friends and classmates and teachers during Parents' Day; pretty much the whole town standing there listening as your soprano rang through the speaker grills at the front of those dry yellow classrooms.

If your school was anything like mine - or my kids', come to think of it - your principal was named either King or Jenkins or Arnold (they were all English back then, the principals), and what you couldn't see was how his mien softened as he spared a moment to listen to the tune you'd learned from the prized Weavers record that you played three times a day and once at bedtime on your family's four-in-one.

And then, a few years later, you were in Massey Hall. I played there, too. Just saying the name makes me shiver and I wonder if it still makes you shiver, having played it so many times over the years. It was the first time you sang in the big city, wasn't it? Shuter Street. Allan Gardens. The subway. Simpson's. Fran's. Le Coq D'Or. City Hall. You were just down the block from Maple Leaf Gardens, where Teeder Kennedy played and where that woman used to clang her bell and yell "Let's go Teeeeeder!" whenever he cupped the puck on his stick and charged up the ice. I know this meant something to you, Gord, because in 1993, they made you a celebrity captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I also know that you used to go to games all the time in the '70s and '80s because Bill's mom saw you there, just hanging out, no big deal, signing autographs and talking trade. Cathy Evelyn Smith - more on her, lots more, later - also wrote that "hockey games at Maple Leaf Gardens became part of the ritual. Hoarse from cheering, we'd trudge home to the apartment through the snow."

I don't know if you know it, Gord, but I love the Leafs, too. Love. I get flak for it - who doesn't? - especially when I'm on the road playing gigs or doing book tours, but I wonder whether anyone makes fun when you're around, being a legend and everything. Once, this dude came up to me after a show and was all gushing about our songs and our albums and our concerts, and then, before he left, he said, "Shame that you're a Leafs fan, though."

I think he was a Habs fan, but I'm not sure. F--kin' Habs. Do you hate them as much as I hate them, Gord? If you're a real Leafs fan - which, again, according to Bill's mom, you are - then you probably hate 'em, too. Oh yeah: even if you don't want to talk to me about music or your life, Gord, I'd be happy to sit around and bash the Habs silly. That way we could avoid talking about anything real, even though talking about hockey is realer than most things, if you know what I mean.

? Excerpt from Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972. Copyright © 2011 by Dave Bidini. Published by McClelland & Stewart Ltd. All rights reserved.

While watching Battle of The Blades http://www.cbc.ca/battle/(competition with hockey players skating with figure skaters) the other night there was Gordon sitting in the audience enjoying the show....he was introduced from the ice, looking pretty smart in all black..

[jj]

I haven't seen Blades since it was at the Gardens. But seems like Ron and Browning have their schtick in synch during the openings I've seen, lol. Next year they should have Cherry and O'Leary host or perhaps guest judge, lol

Sorry for confusion, I was watching for Wayne's review under the News section but it just slid into the Books section. Do any have all of these books? Impressive

Wow. I just tried reading all that. Has geoSteve's writing style. Hope he's well