see you on Sunday Sir John!

F you had visited the Newsgroup alt.music.lightfoot at:- http://www.newsgroup.shorturl.com
this past week you would have found that discussion had been hijacked by the daily haranging and regaling of a soap opera
of the marital affairs of the Bipolar Kentuckian Douglas Crowe (or his alter ego "Cap'n Fishlips") with a troll making a few
quite uncalled for stoopid comments in an "unmagnificent" outpouring.
Last Friday 7 came into the chat room including two of our lady bikers
(Lori and Brink)
There will be another seesion this evening at 9PM EST and we would love to see a few fresh faces so how about it Sheryl and BillW??
Full details are on my web site at:-
http://www.lightfootchat.notlong.com
Note that when that page loads you will be asked to accept the download (actually from my own site) of a small Java Applet
(which is the program(me) that contains the basic chat room format)
Alternatively the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server I am using (dilexnet.net) also has an applet and there is a link to theirs
on my page. However I have been asked for a simple link to the dilexnet applet for those in a hurry and who do not wish to use the superior
chat client mIRC.So if that is the way you intend to access the chat room please click the following easy-to-remember link:-
http://chatlink.notlong.com
You should then be presented with a sign in screen
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot/dilexnet.jpg
.Simply type your preferred nicknmame over where it says
"DilexNET-Guest-number" and then press the "chat!" button and after the applet loads
click the "Gordon Lightfoot" button to join us
If you omit to enter your desired nickname (as Bill Hall regularly does) you will find that you face a barrage of calls to change it from the default "DilexNET-Guest-number"
which is then a simple matter of typing
/nick then a space then the nick you wish to appear as. In fact much hilarity not to say confusion reigns when in light-hearted mood chatters change their nicks willy-nilly
John Fowles

Firstly my apologies.
In the last minute rush to get ready for our automobile expedition to Hamilton I ran out of time to prepare a highlights/chat advert last Friday,
Oh well
Newsgroup highlights week ending December 3rd 2004
I was somewhat astounded to read a new topic on this forum started by our recent newcomer Sheryl who "was just cruising the 'net and found" alt.music.lightfoot despite the fact that she must have read this topic in which I highlight that august site every week several times since she discovered corfid!!
As far as interesting NG threads go this past week there were rather fewer new ones about Hamilton than arose here but I see that Char like myself has taken to posting her topics and other Lightfoot ephemera and interesting topics that arise on corfid on the Newsgroup.The trouble is that this will often produce a slew of responses by Newsgroupers that you have to visit alt.music.lighghtfoot to read.
A prime case in point is the thread there that Char started on "Gord Got It Done"
which is essentially the same as her topic here but the replies have concentrated more on her literary prowess the thread started at:-
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&selm=NfSdnfK1c6ACjDLcRVn-ug%40ro gers.com
When it was suggested that she should take up writing as a career after being told that she was "pretty awesome with words too!"
Char finally said "perhaps one day I'll give it a go..." ????
I had the pleasure at Hamilton of meeting the legendary one time member of Gord's "entourage" Richard Harison
whose picture appears in colo(u)r in the Gord's Gold 1 LP gatefold cover and in Black and White in the GG1 CD booklet:-

http://johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/richard.jpg

Of course he now looks somewhat older and greyer/grayer (don't we all!!!) but stil recognisable from that picture Jenney also spoke to Richard (who regularly posts to the NG go to :-
http://www.newsgroup.shorturl.com and put his name into the search box to find
interesting tidbits he has contributed there)
I was also able to get him together with Lynne Ackerman for the first time in many years (Lynne featured in the Macleans magazine article that Char so competently displayed here recently and Lynne goes back to the "Tronno" Riverboat days with Gordon)
See Richard's posting in which he was kind enough to say "Nice to meet you at Hamilton last night!" it is at:-
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&selm=IO9rd.13997%24 kI6.924677%40news20.bellglobal.com
---------------------------------------------
Chat Room Advert:-
We dropped into the chat room for a few minutes last Friday (we had intended to rise early on Saturday in order to be able
to spend time in Niagra on the way to Hamilton but left rather later than planned but we still saw all we wanted to of the
fabulous falls in sunny weather albeit with the great wettening spray from the Horseshoe Falls.
No doubt a few will appear this evening at 9pm EST to discuss the two concerts: everybody (especially newcomers) is/are welcome
just click the following link then overwrite your required nickname http://www.chatlink.notlong.com
John Fowles


[This message has been edited by johnfowles (edited December 03, 2004).]

Newsgroup highlights week ending 10 december 2004
It is very tempting to say that there has been a ghostly silence on the NG this past week
The latest news is the fact as I had discovered the beta version of Google groups has now supplanted the original slow version
and both of my short links now end up on the improved version:- http://www.newsgroup.shorturl.com and http://www.newsgroup2.notlong.com
Ithe most important improvrement is that whereas before for some completely illogical reason after you posted a message or
reply you were told that it would take 3-9 hours before it appeared and it did which was simply ridiculous. Now it says that
your posting will appear "momentarily" and it does within as few seconds or minutes.
Three other things I spotted
1.The search box that on the old version you had to check the search alt.music.lightfoot box tgo avoid searching every group
has been replaced by a pair of boxes one to "search (all) groups' the other a more sensible specific "search this group"
2. there is now choice of "Sort by date of first message" or "Sort by date of most recent message"
3 If you click on a new "about this group" link
you get a set of statistices on "Last month's top posters" and "All time top posters"
plus a yahoo style archive listing by month and year starting at August 1995 so the oldest threads from Waynes initiation of
the group in 1994 have vanished
4. on the same page is a pair of useful links to either "new topics" or "new messages"
One feature I cannot get to function is "my groups"
when I click the relevant link I find:-
"All my groups

You are not a member of any groups. You can locate a group by searching or browsing the directory below.
You can then join groups that interest you by clicking the "Join this Group" link. "
And this was despite the fact that I had already I thought joined and had been posting so I searched for lightfoot then found
a subscribe link to alt.music.lightfoot and now all is fine strange
anmongst the plethora of ghostly threads that have appeared
you'd be hard pressed to find anything else worthwhile to read
Of the ghost stories be sure to read the thread subject
"cathy's cane story" at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...e07c106c82fd16
where on December the 8th Bruna (silverheels) Zanelli- that's Zanelli with a ZED
revealed that she could not bring herself to say "boo" to a ghost!!
all this grew out of an earlier thread concerning an ebay auction of a peculiar grilled cheese sandwich leading Douglas Crowe
to find a ghost up for auction!!
see http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...5?dmode=source
all in all a slow news week or as Roger Guinn eloquently put it
"We in this group are definitely living in the past. I mean, here it is
nearly Christmas, and we are breaking out the Haloween stories...


Slow news day? Whatever--it's entertaining, anyway!
"Procrastinators, unite! Tomorrow."
-----------------------------------
and finally my weekly advert
an encouraging onumber dropped in for a chat last Friday
and some dicussion took place about our experiences in Hamilton earlier in the week. Golly two weeks ago we were preparing to
venture to the great white North!!
so this evening at the usual time 9pm EST and place http://www.chatlink.notlong.com
John Fowles

sorry but I have no time to review Newsgroup for highlights this week but go there if you
have an excessive interest in the gee gees (Ghosts and Guitars)
usual all accessing link:- http://www.newsgroup2.notlong.com
chat this evening as usual at 9 pm EST at http://www.chatlink.notlong.com

------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

Recent Newsgroup Highlights
The combination of two successive festive family Fridays with their attendant parties and preparations left no time to attempt
my usual weekly reviews. so a lot of water has flown under the bridge since I last troubled you. I hope by now that a few of
the more adventurous corfidians have made their way to http://www.newsgroup.shorturl.com
nd read the latest postings there.
OK now the chat advert
This evening at the usual time 9pm EST and place:- http://www.chatlink.notlong.com
thanks
John Fowles

[QUOTE]Originally posted by johnfowles:
I was somewhat astounded to read a new topic on this forum started by our recent newcomer Sheryl who "was just cruising the 'net and found" alt.music.lightfoot despite the fact that she must have read this topic in which I highlight that august site every week several times since she discovered corfid!! [ snip]

Gee, thanks, John! I feel really good now! Actually, some topics I merely "scan" rather than read.

[This message has been edited by Sheryl Klein (edited January 07, 2005).]

The Newsgroup last week bubbled on as usual
Apologies for last week's chat both Susan and I dropped off and although I went into the
room when I woke up at about 11 there was nobody in there so if anybody did turn up they
probably got tired of waiting.
I'll try harder this evening at 9 pm EST
at http://www.chatlink.notlong.com
John Fowles
oxymora
divorce court
death benefit
open secret

I went in using the mIRC and sat for two hours. No one showed. I left at 8:00 p.m. P.S.T. A few days later, Brink told me that she and several others *were* in there (at the time I was!) and they kept getting booted. We met up later and discovered I was, apparently, in the "wrong" room. I have no idea how that happened, it seemed to be the correct room. I followed all your instructions. Oh, well... I'll just have to stick to the original system.

Newsgroup highlights week ending 21st January 2005
Char's parallel Newsgroup posting on the first Hugh's room concert drew a spirited response including a contribution by one
time Lightfoot entourage member Richard Harrison (see his Gord's Gold picture in my December 3rd posting above) who described Red Shea and Gord's habit of "boiling" their
guitar strings see the thread beginning at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...d16e47c4a6baef
A good number chatted last Friday including Sheryl who managed to tame mIRC
and appeared in the correct room this time
To clarify matters I'll shortly add a couple of screen shots to my chat room page to define what you will see on screen
depending on whether you used mIRC or the simpler browser /Java Applet method
(catman)Ron contrived twice to appear in triplicate
Erica regaled us with how she was one of the "prancing ponies" when she was a little girl of 8
Tonight we'll try again at 9 PM EST at:- http://www.chatlink.notlong.com
John Fowles
do stairs go up or down??

Newsgroup highlights week ending 28 January 2005
Having been asked by silverheels during the week how else she could access the NG as her usual
AOL link was proving troublesome I was not too surprised to see a new thread subject
"OT: "AOL shutting down newsgroups" at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...1e29df58edd568
which might be useful to anyone here who usually accesses the Newsgroup using their AOL facility. Personally I believe that
now Google have got rid of their stupid 3 to 9 hours required before a posting is visible then google grouops is the way to
go:- http://www/newsgroup2.notlong.com of course.
----------------------------------------------
The chat room last Friday was bustling
somebody recently had a problem with mIRC
so this week I'll give the simplest link that uses a Java applet:- http://chatlink.notlong.com
and the link to my main chat room page on my site:- http://johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/chat/
from where you will find a link to my tutorial page on getting and
configuring mIRC
Once you have downloaded then installed mIRC this link will magically
open mIRC and configure it all in one fell swoop*
using this link:-
irc://irc.dilexnet.net:6667/gordonlightfootch
OK 9PM EST this evening when we can begin detailed planning for gman's August18h barbecue!!
John fowles
*what on earth is a fell swoop anyway??
is there any other kind??

Originally posted by johnfowles:

*what on earth is a fell swoop anyway??
is there any other kind??

********************************************
Here's one answer from "The Straight Dope":

My late grandmother often used the phrase "one fell swoop" to indicate doing many things at once. What is a fell swoop? And how did this phrase get into our everyday vernacular? --KS

SDSTAFF Ken replies:

Fell, from Old English, means awful, terrible or horrible. The word's stem can also be seen in "felon," which now is mostly used to mean someone who has been convicted of a felony (a serious crime), but which formerly meant one who is terrible, horrible or awful in behavior. The "swoop" is an onomotopoeia, indicating a fast movement. All together, "one fell swoop" means a swift, horrible blow.

Shakespeare, originator of so many English catchphrases, may have dreamed up this one too. It appears in "Macbeth": "What! all my pretty chickens and their dam/At one fell swoop?" (act IV, scene 3) laments Macduff, upon learning his wife and children have been killed by Macbeth. This appears to be the earliest recorded use of the phrase, although it may have been in common usage before Shakespeare wrote it down.

It's interesting that "one fell swoop," which originally had such a dire connotation, is now a mild term meaning "all at once." A similar fate has befallen the expression "fey charm." Few people know that "fey" is an old Scottish term meaning (a) fated to die soon, or (b) full of the sense of approaching death (these definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary). So if you say someone has a certain fey charm, you're saying he or she exerts that morbid fascination associated with imminent death.

--SDSTAFF Ken
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board

[Comment on this answer.]

Cecil's Mailbag is researched and written by members of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board, Cecil's online auxiliary. Although the SDSAB does its best, these articles are edited by Ed Zotti, not Cecil, so accuracywise you'd better keep your fingers crossed.

Newsgroup Highlights week ending 4 February 2005
quiet week over there as usual. Luckily two Newsgroupers celebrated their 39th birthday which created something to read about at least
Bill Mulrooney usefully highlighted the sale of tickets for the Northampton Mass concert on October 20th and it is to be hoped that the box office have not sold the front row centre seats to too many fans!!
Wayne Francis had the latest tour details on his site very quickly and uploaded his February "commentary" in a very timely fashion
see the "News" page at:- http://www.lightfoot.ca/news.htm
I wanted to try to append something to my own very first Newsgroup posting in November 1997 (a reply to Jenney) at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...e78e8b091a03c9
but as there was no reply link on that old page it would not have worked

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Those of us chatting regularly would appreciate a few new chattering typists
9PM EST tonight and every Friday at http://www.chatlink.notlong.com
John Fowles
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of the English language,in which your house can simultaneously burn up and burn down, in which you fill a form by filling out a form,in which you add up a column of figures by adding them down and in which your alarm clock goes off by going on, and where you must chop a tree down before chopping it up. need I say more??
copyright Richard Lederer

[This message has been edited by johnfowles (edited February 04, 2005).]

quote:Originally posted by johnfowles:
Newsgroup Highlights week ending 4 February 2005
quiet week over there as usual. Luckily two Newsgroupers celebrated their 39th birthday which created something to read about at least


And I missed YOUR greetings, Sir John, my fellow Brit! http://www.corfid.com/ubb/wink.gif

quote:Originally posted by SilverHeels:
And I missed YOUR greetings, Sir John, my fellow Brit! http://www.corfid.com/ubb/wink.gif


Very sorry Bru dear I must have got distracted

Newsgroup highlights week ending 11 february 2004
An interesting discussion centered around the rare recording by Gord that was included in the Bob Dylan film Renaldo and Clara Gord's rendering of Bob's wistful "Ballad in Plain D" I managed to rediscover the web site from which I had long ago downloaded a tiny real Media File that plays for all of one minute 38 seconds
I think this is included on one of the rare Dylan albums that no doubt jovesjki has is the recording by Gord on that the any longer??
for those of a curious disposition the link is:- http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Coffee...realaudio.html
scroll down to find:-
OTHER ARTISTS:


Gordon Lightfoot:
Ballad In Plain D
(191KB)
The chat room was busier than usual last Friday and we were joined by a silent chatter who resounded in the nick or real name of "setty"; however he or she was obviously totally confused by the rabid exchanges taking place and I do not believe uttered/typed a single dicky bird (word) although (and I do not recall how I knew) I recorded that he or she came from Queens NYC. If setty you are reading this please come back and tell us something about yourself
so folks tonight it will be at 9PM EST at:- http://www.lightfootchat.notlong.com
John Fowles
Have you heard the one about the woman who asked a taxi driver where she could get scrod "I did not know that the verb had a past tense" muttered the cabbie
copyright Richard Lederer

i have a LK remastered version of it... 1.38 is all that circulates

John, I'll forgive you calling us rabid in a roundabout way since you shared that very poignant piece of music from the past. it's sweet. thank you.

quote:Originally posted by LSH:
John, I'll forgive you calling us rabid in a roundabout way since you shared that very poignant piece of music from the past. it's sweet. thank you.

You are very welcome Laurel

Newsgroup highlights week ending 18 February 2005
Our new friend Max from Italy struck gold with his second Newsgroup thread posting
challenging with yet another appeal to list "Gord's TOP 10 songs" Note 10 (only) starting at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...b287edbc3249c3
last friday the regulars had a good session incuding Bill triumphantly exclaiming that at very long last he was using mIRC.
I was much struck by a report on NBC News last night about the burgeoning use of acronyms by today's youth in Instant Messenging. Well beyond our usual LOL/ROFLMAO/my own favo(u)rite ROTFLAWMP: Rolling On the Floor Laughing And Wetting My Pants, and the more prosaic brb and even GGP "gotta go P" so this evening I shall be asking Bill if he is NIFOC "Naked In Front Of Computer" and suggesting to Laurel that she could GYPO "Get Your Panties Off" . Noting that neither need worry about POS "Parent Over Shoulder" (unless of course
Laurel your mother decides to call round in person instead of hogging your attention by telephone!!)
I will be checking these matters this evening at 9 pm at:- http://www.lightfootchat.notlong.com
Cheers
John Fowles
What's another word for thesaurus?
good "one-liner" jokes in the "Why Ask Why" section at:- http://www.tech-sol.net/humor/one-liner.htm


[This message has been edited by johnfowles (edited February 18, 2005).]

well, john, sorry I missed it. nothing I like better than bill NIFOC.
I'll definitely be catching up with all of you next friday.

Seeing as how my PC is busted at home and I a naturist,it's been awhile since I was NIFOC! http://www.corfid.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.corfid.com/ubb/redface.gif

I think the library would frown on that!
http://www.corfid.com/ubb/frown.gif http://www.corfid.com/ubb/wink.gif

B.M. L! http://www.corfid.com/ubb/cool.gif C!

------------------
"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." ;) - Borderstone

Newsgroup highlights week ending 11 March 2005 a current thread asks
"Which Lightfoot Songs Had To "Grow On You"?"
which has had a subject title change and is now comparing the merits of old fashioned analog vinyl vis a vis CDs
starting at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...02bf6b47a4e272
as always I give the URL of the first posting to see the complete thread to date simply click on "show options" then select "view thread"
apparently Geoff Kulawick of Linus Entertainment (who with Nanci famously posted here last year announced that "Chum Television International
(CTI) and Linus Entertainment today announced" a deal to exploit CTI's
Library of music programmes leading to speculation that a DVD could be released of Gord's famed 1999 Chum/Much More Music's Intimate and Interactive or was it Interactive and Intimate? program(me).So perhaps if Geoff or Nanci still read this forum they might like to comment?
NG thread at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...2781d217f8728c
Our newcomer from Italy Max started a thread
"Gord's TOP 10 songs " at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...b287edbc3249c3

Now for the commercial break
Every Friday we hold a Chat room session at 9PM eST
I have given previously provided various links and methods for getting
in and it is pleasing to see that several more chatters have seen the
light and as strongly recommended installed the mIRC chat "client"
John Fowles

Newsgroup highlights week ending March 18th 2005
Janice posted her appeal for information on Massey Hall attendees (only just over two months to go!!) on the Newsgroup so several replies are to be expexcted from Lightheads who eschew this forum. her original posting is at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...a45d6416631e26
To flesh out my weekly Newsgroup report from now on I am going to post a link found almost at random by searching the group
To start off here is a nice long thread "Favorite Concert Songs " originally started by Cathy using a then-recent corfid topic:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...bfd1892d29162e
----------------
regarding the chat room it is gratifying to find that more and more of the regulars are now using mIRC and thanks to Sheryl for alerting me to a strangely different Java applet security warning. As very often a chatter does not appear to know if he/she came in via mIRC or not I
will this afternoon rewrite my chat room page to define in better detail what you should expect to see
But whatever just click on my easy to remember link http://lightfootchat.notlong.com
To attend this evening's session at 9 PM EST
before I forget I just perused my old corfid chat room topic:- http://www.corfid.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001182.html
Which made entertaining reading and reminded me how many chatters have not been seen in the room for a very long time
John Fowles

------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

Newsgroup highlights week wending March 25th 2005
Not a lot to draw your atention to sorry to say
I would have given a random link to an old Newsgroup thread on a Lightfoot song but google group's usually most useful "search this group" facility as per the search box so named at the top of the page seems to have forgotten its manners and now you get the results from a full web search not the same thing at all dammit.
Fortunately the "advanced search" feature is still behaving itself so I was able to pick a random song title "Let It Ride" and
pull up a listing of the many Newsgroup threads referring to that epic song I have chosen a 2002 thread discusing the East Of Midnight album which started at:- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...195aeafef709c5
OK
I have yet to rewrite my chat room tutorial at:- http://www.lightfootchat.notlong.com
Last week I tried to make screenshots of each distinct method of getting into the room so that chatters could tell when in the room which method they used to get in as often I find they do not know
I.E.
mIRC and the two Java applet/browser ways the JWIRC applet on my own site or
the IRC server (dilexnet) applet but could not get in using the latter on Firiday evening so I emailed my contact at dilexnet and in his reply he confirmed that they had had a problem Friday night
Just one more reason to get mIRC.
I was pleased to see that nearly everybody who attended last week has now installed mIRC
Anyway the regulars wil be a'chatting again this evening at 9 pm EST
John Fowles
Happy Easter to all you bunnies out there