Orillia shows in November

[charlene]

http://www.orilliapacket.com/Article...aspx?e=1734040 - pic at link

Local NewsHome News Local News Lightfoot to play two Orillia benefit shows
Orillia Opera House general manager Krista Storey announces two upcoming concerts by Gordon Lightfoot.

NATHAN TAYLOR Packet & Times


Lightfoot to play two Orillia benefit shows
Posted By Nathan Taylor
Updated 6 hours ago


Folk music icon Gordon Lightfoot will return to his stomping grounds in November to play two benefit concerts.

The announcement was made Tuesday at the Orillia Opera House, where Lightfoot will play shows on Nov. 14 and 15.

Proceeds from the shows, beginning at 8 p.m. both nights, will be evenly split between the Opera House and Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (SMH), “two hometown institutions that are very important to Mr. Lightfoot,” said Opera House general manager Krista Storey, who made the announcement in the Gordon Lightfoot Auditorium.

“Each time I stand in this auditorium, I can’t help but think of all the various artists that have been on this stage,” she said. “But it’s because of our very own, who became an international legend, that this room is named the Gordon Lightfoot Auditorium.”

Lightfoot managed to fit the two dates into his busy tour schedule. In fact, it was his idea. The multi-award-winning singer/songwriter approached the Opera House about the concerts.

“I’m looking forward to performing in Orillia once again,” he said in a statement. “The Opera House holds some very fond memories for me and I’m pleased that the proceeds will go towards two very worthy causes that are close to my heart.”

Lightfoot is doing the shows for free, which doesn’t really surprise his sister, Bev Eyers, who was in attendance for Tuesday’s announcement.

“He wouldn’t come here to make any money,” she said. “He likes to give it away.”

After all, she added, “Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital are the ones who saved his life and he’s been playing the Opera House since he was a little boy.”

Lightfoot was taken to SMH after suffering an abdominal hemorrhage in late 2002. The incident, which left him in a coma for about two months, happened before he was to play the last of two benefit concerts for the Opera House and SMH.

“He’s doing great,” Eyers said. “He’s really taking care of himself.”

Hospital officials were glad to have played a role in Lightfoot’s treatment and recovery and were pleased to learn he would hold another benefit for them.

“We’re especially grateful to Gordon Lightfoot, who, despite his international career, remains firmly rooted in his hometown,” SMH president and CEO Elisabeth Riley said during the announcement.

In a statement, she added: “He is truly a Canadian treasure and we are thrilled to be able to welcome him back to the stage where his legendary career began.”

Eyers last saw her brother play last year at Massey Hall in Toronto.

“I haven’t missed a concert in about 40 years,” she said.

Eyers will be joined by family and friends when she attends the shows in November. Reasons for celebration at that time will be many for the family, as Lightfoot will celebrate his 71st birthday two days after the second concert. It’s a birthday he shares with Eyers’s granddaughter, who will turn 11.

“We’re just thrilled,” she said.

Tickets cost $75 each and will first be made available online, going on sale this Friday at 11 a.m. at www.orilliaoperahouse.ca. They will be available at the Opera House box office on Monday. For tickets or more information, call 326-8011 or 1-888-674-5542.

ntaylor@orilliapacket.com

[RM]

Originally Posted by charlene

“He wouldn’t come here to make any money,” she said. “He likes to give it away.”

'Did he mention my name ?'

Very nice. This is my idea of what 'share the wealth' should mean.

[SherylKat]

Hello to all! I agree, paying "only" $75 is great - I just got online to see how much the Jimmy Buffett tix are going for - he'll be at Air Canada Centre on November 19. They are (hold on to your hats) from $350
$2,000 (yep, no joke) per seat. I guess I'm going to go to as many concerts as I can this year and next, hopefully; after that, they will probably be out of my price range. Two grand? C'mon! It's hard enough for me to put aside $2,000 for my retirement, let alone a seat at a concert, I don't care HOW GOOD the show is!

Haha - I know people who live in snow will find this a scream, but I just cannot drive on snow. I plow into someone every time. If you want to go to the concert in November but don't want to drive, there's always the Simcoe County Shuttle from YYZ Pearson. (I think the train only goes as far as Barrie.) Sheryl

[Auburn Annie]

Sounds like it will be a real family affair.

Another post re the benefit concerts:

Beverley Eyers had a gut feeling that all was not right with her brother following a phone conversation one afternoon in 2002.

Her brother – none other than Gordon Lightfoot – was scheduled to perform the second of two fund-raising concerts at the Orillia Opera House that evening, and told her of the horrible pains he’d been experiencing.

Ever the trooper, Lightfoot planned to play through the hurt, but when Eyers arrived at his dressing room two hours later, she found him curled up on the floor.

Rather than call an ambulance, she promptly drove the world-famous singer/songwriter to the local hospital, located just a few blocks away.

It was there that he was first treated for a burst abdominal artery.

“He owes his life to Soldiers’ Memorial,” Eyers, a Barrie resident, said on Tuesday. “And the opera house has been his second home since he was about eight years old.”

It’s appropriate, then, that Lightfoot’s upcoming concerts at the opera house on Nov. 14 and 15 will benefit both of the local institutions.

The native Orillian will perform at no cost, with the proceeds split between the opera house and the hospital foundation, officials announced on Tuesday.

Soldiers’ president and CEO Elisabeth Riley said the hospital was grateful for Lightfoot’s “generous and continued support of his hometown hospital.

“He is truly a Canadian treasure, and we are thrilled to be able to welcome him back to the stage where his legendary career began,” Riley added.

In a statement, Lightfoot said he was “looking forward to performing in Orillia again.

“The opera house holds some very fond memories for me, and I’m pleased that the proceeds will go towards two very worthy causes that are close to my heart.”

Lightfoot has garnered 15 Juno awards over a career that has spanned more than three decades, and was inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame in 1986.

“We consider Gordon to be a very important part of our family and we are so privileged that he is offering these two great fund-raising shows,” said opera house manager Krista Storey. “It proves that he is still devoted to his home town.”

Tickets to the upcoming shows are $75, and are available online at www.orilliaoperahouse.ca beginning Sept. 11, and at the box office Sept. 14.

http://www.orilliatoday.com/orilliatoday/article/144662

[jj]

Originally Posted by Auburn Annie

...
Rather than call an ambulance, she promptly drove the world-famous singer/songwriter to the local hospital

thanks, I didn't realize that or that the pain was progressing over a span of hours with her having a hunch something was up

I noticed how well Rick speaks during the CBC interview (also archived) following the incident...does he moonlight as a speaker?

if this is like other benefits I've supported, a tax receipt for a portion of the ticket price will be issued...I imagine that at the least, Terry and Rick will be joining him (I'd love to see that trio)

[charlene]

On that night in 2002 after the cancellation notice was given to waiting fans, Barry Harvey told me that Gord had driven himself up to Orillia and was in so much pain he could barely get out of his car. He also said that he wasn't feeling that great and perhaps thought that both might have had a touch of food poisoning. We talked at the side of the Opera House while Barry had a smoke and Gord was 'being checked out' at the hospital. I'm sure if he had any idea how serious things would turn out to be he wouldn't have been standing around the Opera House.

It was the doctors in Orillia whose decision to send Gord to Hamilton that saved his life the first time. The second time was when Dr. Maricaccio operated on him.

Dr. M. was hoping to show up in Hamilton on Sunday as a surprise for Gordon if he didn't get a call to go to the hospital. He didn't show up so I imagine his surgical skills were needed by someone.

No tax receipts given for concert tickets even when the proceeds are given to charity..that's ok - it will be money well spent..Can't wait to get to Orillia..

[jj]

Originally Posted by charlene

No tax receipts given for concert tickets even when the proceeds are given to charity..that's ok - it will be money well spent..Can't wait to get to Orillia..

maybe the gig I saw in Brantford was an exception, I got a $50 tax receipt ...it was a whoppin $100 ticket but 5th row and for good cause

[charlene]

I hope that's the case in Orillia - would be nice to get a tax break!
I'll look into it for sure.

[jj]

Originally Posted by charlene

We talked at the side of the Opera House while Barry had a smoke and Gord was 'being checked out' at the hospital

who would have thought that 7 years later Gord would still be with us and Barry not

i was up in Tobermory swimming in a clear but cool Georgian Bay in Sept02 and finally got back there last week (awesome weather) and reminisced a lot about that tense time and must have ended up humming 1/2 the GL catalogue in my head throughout the retreat...I kept thinking, 'these sure are some great melodies...many inspired by this rugged land'

it should be a great two nights for those attending

[charlene]

I'll be there Saturday only...
and then 4 nights at Massey.. - oh yeah!

in the water at Tobermory on Sept. 2? you ARE brave!!

[jj]

you know i'm cold blooded, lol....i will say that as I came out of the water, I announced to onlookers "no photography allowed!"

detoured to Sauble beach on the way back (lake Huron) and it felt like FL water temps in comparision...with the forecast looking good for this weekend, I could end up in the St Lawrence for a dip...i think the contaminents in there actually help to keep the temp up!

back on topic, did you know that lake Couchiching is only about 15'
deep...that makes it easy to warm up the waters pretty quickly, maybe you should take your blueblocker, 30 spf and swimsuit up in Nov

you're a real trooper!

[charlene]

I just put the lid on my pool and the water was about 75..no way would i get in there!
lol

I'm a trouper fer sure...