READING,PA-May 29-2015

[charlene]

RICK: ....and so starts the day, at the Sovereign PAC in Reading, PA. Last time we showed up here was 10 years ago, in 2005.

[charlene]

RICK:
This theater started out as a farmers' market in the late 1800's. Later, the Shriners presented the Circus here. So tonite, here in Reading, PA, we are literally following the elephants!

[JBrew]

The Reading show was great-not that I expected less. I'm sure someone will provide a set list, but he did a couple of songs I hadn't heard in concert for awhile-14 Karat Gold and Cold on the Shoulder as an encore. His voice sounded good too, and he looked happy and well! We were delighted to see him again!

[charlene]

no access to the review becuz a subscription is required: https://www.facebook.com/readingeagl...46765888708253

[nvtmusic]

hi ,
was sorry to hear about the review ,(saw part of it on facebook)
- it is amazing Mr Lightfoot is still at it , if my wife and i could afford it
we would see Him again . folks who haven't seen Him in years - then expect their youth to be revisited should probably realize , and do some research - it is no secret there are videos all over you tube etc.. none of us is what we used to be...
mike

[JBrew]

I agree-those of us who come to see GL shouldn't expect to see the same performance from 30-40 years ago. We come to see a legend who can still deliver a pretty good show. One has to admire his determination to still "press on".

[DarylK]

I was at the Reading show last night, and am almost certain I sat behind the reviewer (gee, had I know at the time...). The concert started at 8:00, she was gone before 8:30, which is, IMHO, a ridiculous way to review a concert.

On a positive note, the same newspaper had a very nice article about Gordon in their Weekend section on Thursday. I'll try to post it if I can either find it or scan my copy.

[DarylK]

Here is the positive article from Thursday's Reading paper.

[paskatefan]

The "reviewer" sounds like a "fair weathered" friend. Here today, gone tomorrow! I will say Gordon did struggle a bit vocally when he sang "Rainy Day People," but we still totally enjoyed the concert, and he was well received. BTW, I was unable to open the positive review (I tried several times). Great to meet up with JBrew & her husband before & after the show!

Here is my reconstructed song list. I did it yesterday, so it's not in the exact order.

Now & Then, Waiting for You, Much to My Surprise, All the Lovely ladies, Drifters, I'd Rather Press On, Shadows (there was a little part where Mike's playing didn't quite come through) A Painter Passing Through, Carefree Highway, Beautiful, Rainy Day People, Did She mention My Name?, Ribbon of Darkness ( he ended it just before "over me" - people were filling in the words - he joked about that's one way to "shorten" a song, then then went right into Sundown

Drink Your Glasses Empty (in honor of last weekend's Memorial Day & the Vets), Sweet Guenivere, Let It Ride, TWOTEF, IYCRMM, Restless, Never Too Close, Ring Them Bells, 14 Karat Gold, Baby Step Back, Early Morning Rain, Cold on the Shoulder (encore).

Char, re: pics, can I send them to you, & then can you post them? Thanks!

Gail

[charlene]

HOME WEEKEND
http://readingeagle.com/weekend/arti...with-the-eagle

| Gordon Lightfoot has struggled with health issues, but performing has always brought him back from the brink.

| The folk singer has three concert songbooks that he rotates, he said, but some special songs are performed no matter what cycle he has chosen.

A half-century of Gordon Lightfoot: The folk legend reminisces with the Eagle

Thursday May 28, 2015 12:01 AM
By Tracy Rasmussen -- Reading Eagle correspondent
If you go
Event: Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in concert

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Santander Performing Arts Center, 136 N. Sixth St.

Admission: Tickets range from $39.50 to $63.50 plus fees

By the way: Dinner is available prior to the show; reservations required at 610-898-7201.

The carefree highway hasn't always been kind to Gordon Lightfoot, but 50 years later, he's still on it. The singer-songwriter brings his "50 Years on the Carefree Highway" tour to the Santander Performing Arts Center on Friday for an 8 p.m. performance.

He said he's just as excited about this tour as he has been about the dozens of others he has been on in his long and successful career.

"We're always excited about getting out there to perform," he said. "I really do enjoy it. Everybody enjoys it."

Lightfoot admitted that he has created a science for streamlining his shows, relying on the interaction of the audience to make each show unique.

"I have three different shows that I keep rotating," he said. "They are all in different orders and the material is different, so you won't always hear the same songs."
There are some songs, though, that you will always hear at a Gordon Lightfoot show.

Lightfoot knows why his audience keeps filling theaters for him, and he said he's happy to oblige. Songs such as "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," "If You Could Read My Mind" and "Carefree Highway" are always in every show, as are about a dozen others.
"Those are the standards," Lightfoot said. "There are about 14 or 15 songs that we'd never miss doing in the time allotted. The rest is support material."

He said he makes sure to dip way back into his catalog for a few gems each night, too.
"There are three or four of those," he said. "Maybe it was something you heard way back when, and they turn out to be real good onstage. I like to work them into the show."

His problem remains that he has got a huge catalog of songs well loved by his 50-plus year following of fans.
"I hate to take (songs) out," he said. "I hate to lose stuff. But there are some songs that we will never lose."

At 76 with a near-death experience in his recent past (an abdominal aortic aneurysm that left him comatose for several weeks and off the stage for nearly two years), Lightfoot doesn't think about retiring. Even a stroke that left his right hand fairly useless for a while wouldn't stop him, as he just worked harder to get the hand working again. It's performing that pulls him through the tough times and, frankly, he said, it's what he was born to do.

He got his start in Canada, where he still lives, and started writing songs in high school.
"When I got started you could perform in coffeehouses anywhere," he said of the 1960s. "People were hiring folksingers everywhere."

As a senior in high school, he wrote a song about the hula-hooping craze and brought it to the local music publishing company.

"I was with the barbershoppers through high school," he said. "And I was trying to write an arrangement, and I was dismally lacking in notation. So I saw a picture on the cover of Life magazine with a vacant lot with about 150 people all spaced out and hula hooping at once, and I wrote a song about it."

He said he borrowed his dad's car, drove to Toronto and took it to BMI Canada.
"I had only just learned to drive," Lightfoot said. "But I drove there and showed the song. I remember that Harold Moon (then head of BMI Canada) talked to me and said that it was a very topical song. They weren't going to publish it, but he said if I had anything else refreshing like that, to send it along."

Lightfoot still has the lead sheet for that song, but it wasn't until a few years later that the songs he wrote for Peter, Paul and Mary and Canadian singers put him on the path to his own stardom, the path that brings him back to Reading again.

"I really like performing those songs," he said. "It's still thrilling to hear them."
Songs like "If You Could Read My Mind" (which cracked the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970) don't have the same meaning they had when he wrote them (that particular song was about the breakup of his marriage), but now they resonate in different ways.

"When the tuning is perfect on the instruments and the tempo is a little different, it's just thrilling," he said. "I remember I had a terrible hangover the day I recorded that one."

Email Tracy Rasmussen: weekend@readingeagle.com. - See more at: http://readingeagle.com/weekend/arti....lLovzFkS.dpuf

[charlene]

Here's the pics from GAIL : click to open:

[charlene]

Review text that couldn't be accessed earlier: He's rec'd bad reviews before - some deserved..some not so much..I always like to read all reviews to see how others, professionals included, see things and report on them... makes no matter to me what they report in the big scheme of things..
.. Concert review: Gordon Lightfoot a letdown

By Susan L. Pena

People attend concerts for many reasons: Some to hear something familiar; some to hear something new; some to hear a beloved performer, even if he is past his prime.
The mellow but enthusiastic audience who came to see legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot on Friday night in the Santander Performing Arts Center obviously came for the last reason.

When Lightfoot, 76, stepped out on the dramatically draped stage to join his four-piece band, there were cheers from his fans, who remember him at his height, when his pleasing baritone could put across one of his folk-style songs with his poetic, often haunting lyrics.
TODAY'S SPONSOR:
And perhaps that was what they were hearing when they sang along with songs like "Carefree Highway" and "Sundown."

But for this reviewer, who never had the pleasure of seeing Lightfoot perform live before, what happened on the stage was, sadly, a disappointment and a mere shadow of what I used to hear on the radio.

Looking gaunt and frail, playing passable guitar, Lightfoot whispered his songs in a ruined voice that barely rose above the instrumentalists, even though they were playing fairly softly. The real tragedy was that the lyrics - the legacy he will leave, his true art - were inaudible for the most part.

One of the most difficult problems for performers who are passionate about performing is knowing when to stop. And as long as loyal fans continue to support him and send him their palpable love, Lightfoot doubtless will continue until he can no longer stand.

In spite of the problems, the band played well; the ever-changing lighting, in rich colors and reminiscent in design of lava lamps, was pretty to watch; and the songs will always be wonderful.

He began with a song I couldn't identify, and then went on to mostly his familiar repertoire: "Waiting for You," "Drifters," "Once Upon a Time," "Rainy Day People," "Shadows," "Beautiful," "Let It Ride," "Much to My Surprise," and "Did She Mention My Name" showed up in the first half of the program.

His songs have a hypnotic quality, with their simple melodies and ability to conjure scenes and stories - they are in true folksong style. It's why he's Bob Dylan's favorite songwriter.

During the second half, Lightfoot paid tribute to veterans with the rueful "Drink Yer Glasses Empty." He sang "Sweet Guinevere," "Never Too Close," "14 Carat Gold" and "Rather Press On."

He sang the haunting "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," perhaps his best-known song, a true ballad based on the sinking of the bulk carrier the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975.

Because of an early deadline, I had to leave before the concert was over.

I would have enjoyed it much more if Lightfoot had simply read his lyrics over the band playing the tunes, with plenty of amplification.

Contact Susan L. Pena: life@readingeagle.com.
Chat Conversation End
https://www.facebook.com/readingeagl...46765888708253

[paskatefan]

Thanks, Char for posting our pics, and for sharing that reviewer's article, even though she really didn't give him a fair shake, staying only 30 minutes (and seemed unknowledgeable about his health issues).

Gail

[JBrew]

Thanks for posting the entire review from the Reading Eagle. Maybe I'm wrong, but if we still want to see Lightfoot and he's still willing to tour (and he seems to enjoy it), what's the problem with that?!?

[charlene]

no problem at all! she's got a job to do, she gets paid for her reviews -
we don't have to agree tho..
It's always good to read the good and the bad..(about anything)
No censorship here...

[T.G.]

Well I will agree with the "plenty of amplification" part ...

[JohninCt.]

I have to agree that his voice is failing somewhat, after hearing some of those clips of his latest concerts. Maybe because of his just coming off of the food poisoning. Even so I hope he can make a few steps up to his old singing of a year or so ago. I wouldn't expect him to ever sound like he used to 20 years ago. It's kind of funny how instruments get better sounding with age, but humans sure don't.

[lighthead2toe]

As a seventy three year old rabid Lightfoot fan these kind of write ups still tend to get me fired up and it's difficult to take sometimes but in reality I've come to accept they stem from both ignorance and arrogance.

It's clear this writer didn't do her homework as there was no mention of the serious illness that made headlines in Sept 2002 when Gord nearly lost his life due to his aneurysm. The fact that she left early due to a previous commitment indicates her lack of class (or maybe her employer's) when given the opportunity to cover an article about an international icon.

Gord used to get upset about unsavory writeup articles in the early years but at this stage he can pull them out of his hip pocket. He's not about to pack it in any time soon.

My best wish to the writer is that she lives a life of good health and when she reaches the age of 76 she will review this thread and the legend will live on from there.

[bjb]

Amen! It's sad that a person who makes her living by reviewing music doesn't get the appeal of attending a concert by such a talented writer and artist any day, anywhere, any time!

Lightfoot's songs never get old, and it's an honor and a pleasure to be there, especially with good friends who love and appreciate the music, the musicians, and the man...there are magic moments at every concert and I hope there are many more

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

I'm baffled about the mysterious song "Once Upon a Time" from Gord's mostly familiar repertoire. It sounds suspiciously like "A Painter Passing Through".

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by DarylK

Here is the positive article from Thursday's Reading paper.

Whilst Darryl I applaud your efforts to scan the Weekend section cover and article for our viewing pleasure I am not so impressed by the results of your scanning prowess.Please forgive me for having the temerity to make some criticisms that I trust you will find constructive.
The cover image has I consider three problems
1. You chose to attach it rather than display it amongst the text of your posting. I understand that one of the reasons for this could be because
2. it is far too large to use as a display item it has a huge file size of 5.76MB with an excessively large resolution of2549 x3299 pixels (the maximum that this forum accepts to display within the text of a posting (to avoid distortion of the basic page format ) is only 640 pixels wide
Whilst the file size was below the attachment maximum of 6.79MB it is nevertheless a large file which would cause problems for anybody viewing the forum using a Dial up internet connection
3 most significantly your scanning setting produced a rather badly coloured image which has unnecessary empty spaces across the top and on its right side.
I have used Microsoft Paint to initially reduce the width to only 640 pixels wide so as to be able to display your original cover scan here:-

As far as I could determine or imagine Darryl it seemed obvious to me that you had your scanner settings at too low a contrast so I set out to try to improve it using the remarkable ability of Image Manipulation Programs.
I firstly opened the original jpg file in the freeware GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) and was then easily able to modify/adjust the brightness and contrast very satisfyingly
I then needed to try to remove the surplus empty spaces, but not finding an option to do that in GIMP I opened the image in Microsoft Paint, and found that due to the huge image resolution I could only see a small part of the image and I admit that it took me quite a while before I realised that I could use Paint's Zoom control to temporarily get the complete image within the display area in order to select the main part to be retained, then whilst still in Paint I zoomed out to return to the original size then It was easy to resize the image to 640 pixels wide, see below:-

I then uploaded the reduced size (640 pixels) copies of both of your two original and my modified cover images to the Photos area of my Facebook account from where I could then get their internet addresses or URLs so that I can display them here within the text, and in due course include in a little tutorial which is the result of my long time interest and research into the capabilities of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) that I found I could compile,store and link to in the Notes section of my own Facebook account(see link below)
Do note everybody that these two images are therefore stored on Facebook and take up not an iota of Florian's valuable web storage space (or quota), that he alone pays for, the dear boy, whereas Darryl's original two image attachments take up 2.54+5.76MB= 8.40MB.
(neither of course do any images that you find (or upload to) anywhere on the internet use up Florian's quota so that the cost of storage and bandwidth is paid by others(such as the erstwhile shareholders of Facebook!!))
I am putting the finishing touches to a pair of tutorials that I will be adding to my Facebook Notes folder
one will consolidate a series of five postings I made to my Timeline demonstrating how to get the internet address (a.k.a the URL) of any image on any web page using the three most popular Windows browsers
The other is OCR
using as an example the text included on the scan of a newspaper article attached to this posting by DarrylK
When completed I will provide links to those two pages
OK, the first one one on OCR is complete and is at
https://www.facebook.com/notes/john-...07425825582846

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by johnfowles

When completed I will provide links to those two pages
OK, the first one one on OCR is complete and is at
https://www.facebook.com/notes/john-...07425825582846

my second even more succinct (even succulent) tutorial
entitled enticingly
"Getting the Internet address (URL) of an image"
is now viewable both on my timeline and as a Facebook Note at
https://www.facebook.com/notes/john-...07442426357855

[johnfowles]

.

Originally Posted by johnfowles

as far as i could determine or imagine darryl it seemed obvious to me that you had your scanner settings at too low a contrast so i set out to try to improve it using the remarkable ability of image manipulation programs.
I firstly opened the original jpg file in the freeware gimp (gnu image manipulation program) and was then easily able to modify/adjust the brightness and contrast very satisfyingly
i then needed to try to remove the surplus empty spaces, but not finding an option to do that in gimp i opened the image in microsoft paint, and found that due to the huge image resolution i could only see a small part of the image and i admit that it took me quite a while before i realised that i could use paint's zoom control to temporarily get the complete image within the display area in order to select the main part to be retained, then whilst still in paint i zoomed out to return to the original size then it was easy to resize the image to 640 pixels wide, see below:-

i then uploaded the reduced size (640 pixels) copies of both of your two original and my modified cover images to the photos area of my facebook account from where i could then get their internet addresses or urls so that i can display them here within the text, and in due course include in a little tutorial which is the result of my long time interest and research into the capabilities of ocr (optical character recognition) that i found i could compile,store and link to in the notes section of my own facebook account(see link below)
do note everybody that these two images are therefore stored on facebook and take up not an iota of florian's valuable web storage space (or quota), that he alone pays for, the dear boy, whereas darryl's original two image attachments take up 2.54+5.76mb= 8.40mb.
(neither of course do any images that you find (or upload to) anywhere on the internet use up florian's quota so that the cost of storage and bandwidth is paid by others(such as the erstwhile shareholders of facebook!!))
i am putting the finishing touches to a pair of tutorials that i will be adding to my facebook notes folder
one will consolidate a series of five postings i made to my timeline demonstrating how to get the internet address (a.k.a the url) of any image on any web page using the three most popular windows browsers
the other is ocr
using as an example the text included on the scan of a newspaper article attached to this posting by darrylk
when completed i will provide links to those two pages
ok, the first one one on ocr is complete and is at
https://www.facebook.com/notes/john-...07425825582846