Toronto – Saturday January 17, 2009
Hugh’s Room – The Way We Feel – A Celebration Of Gordon Lightfoot music
Year 7
2nd nite of 3
Well it seems like forever since I saw a ‘tribute’ show! Last year I was to attend but unfortunate circumstances prevented me from getting to Toronto. I’d been in attendance every year since they began in January 2003 until missing the shows last year.
I think I’ve seen at least 12 of 24 at Hugh’s and another 2 of the shows east of Toronto in Port Hope and Whitby.
It’s been fabulous to have Jenney and Dan and Nanci come in for the shows and Ron Jones and Kenyon too.
Hi-lite nights were when Lightfoot himself were in attendance of course. A whole new world of marvelous talent came into my life since that first night back in 2003. I adore Jory, Aengus and David – three of the sweetest young men in the world.
Every show had a different dynamic and energy. The amazing catalogue of Lightfoot songs allows for a huge variety of styles and interpretations from the artists every year so the evenings are full of surprises.
From these shows my music library has expanded and I have seen many of the artists performing their own songs in different venues around the GTA. I’ve even flown to CT and driven with Jenney to a beautiful cabin in New Jersey, meeting up with John, Susan and Billyboy to enjoy Aengus, Jory and Terry Tufts perform!
As always I am very proud of the initiative that Aengus and Jory took to start up these celebrations prior to Lightfoot falling ill back in 2002. These shows are a cherished annual tradition and a huge part of the Lightfoot legacy.
Lisa and I headed into the city on the GO train on Saturday afternoon. It was snowing a bit with a light spray of ice rain as we walked out of the subway station at Yonge/Dundas. We would be staying downtown after the show and dropped off our baggage, freshened up and headed back to the subway for the trip to Hugh’s Room.
There was a show the night planned for Friday night and I wondered if it had even happened as the whole area where Hugh’s Room is located had experienced a massive blackout and although some power had been restored I wasn’t sure about Hugh’s Room. I couldn’t stop thinking about poor Jory trying to sort things out with all the performers and 250 people with reservations for dinner and show if there wasn’t any power! Having yet another sleepless night I had e-mailed him at 5:00 a.m. and then gone back to bed. It seems sweet Jory was awake at that time as well and I found his reply when I awoke.
He told me that Hugh’s did have power even tho the places across the street were still in black! Jory was up at that time working on the set list for Saturday night and being the darling perfectionist that he is!
We entered Hugh’s and I immediately felt that all was well with the world! It is a great intimate space to see live music. We were seated, ordered our dinners and sat back to watch as some of the performers did last minute tunings and sound checks.
CBC radio was recording the evening for broadcast on March 31 so it was going to be an extra special evening for sure! (more details to follow)
The multi-talented David Newland came over to say HI and chat and as usual he was looking oh so handsome. Back in 2007 I mentioned in my report that he and Aengus were discussing fashion prior to the show and again this evening we talked of their foray out to the stores that afternoon to find the perfect tie for David to wear and some new duds for Aengus! Too funny and adorable!
David gave me a lovely gift as well..a full print out of all the 70th Birthday wishes for Lightfoot that were posted at the CANOE site last November. Also included was a copy of the cover letter he sent along with the same printouts for Lightfoot! So sweet and thoughtful…I loved it David!
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/L/...302271-ca.html
I always look forward to David as emcee – he truly has a gift as a speaker with a command of the language that amazes me every year. He makes it look so darned easy to be up there.
After dinner I wandered up to the bar/front door area and there was Jory looking oh so adorable in his new hat! He loves his hats for sure and wears them well. He had on what he called his “John Hartford” look – hat, a dark vest with white shirt under it-tails hanging loose..cute, cute, cute! We chatted for only a short time because he was doing a million things including keeping watch for a special guest…
I had a chance to talk with Rick Fines as well and catch up on what he’d been up to and his Musicians In Schools programme that he participates in. Next week he heads off to the far north!
Then I had a few moments with dear Aengus..the last time I saw him his hair was VERY long and tonight it was shorter than I ever remember. He looked wonderful and said he’d be joining the finale so I was happy about that. Any time I can hear Aengus sing is a good time.
Finnan's songs remember what was forgotten, restore what was lost and redeem what might have been."
~ David Newland.
The show started just after 8:30 with David recounting how they came to be and that Jory and Aengus conceived of them before Lightfoot fell ill in September 2002.
The first performer was Jason Fowler (also a member of the house band) who does a most sublime rendition of “I’ll Tag Along.” (and we all know what THAT song means to me!)
Jason has the most beautiful collection of guitars and plays and sings so effortlessly. He recounted the story of working in a Toronto music store where Lightfoot bought strings and how Lightfoot would boil strings to clean them back in the old days. Jason had given Lightfoot his CD and a few days later he got a call from Lightfoot asking him to transfer it to cassette because he didn’t have a CD player! Jason did that and Lightfoot returned to the store with a page full of notes about the CD that Jason wishes Gord had given to him.
His next song “In My Fashion” was poignant to Jason who now finds himself being a parent/homeowner/adult.
www.jasonfowler.ca
David introduced the band – Anne Lindsay on fiddle,
Brent Titcomb – percussion -
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.c...=U1ARTU0003429 ,
David Woodhead on bass,
www.davidwoodhead.com
and David Matheson on keyboard,
www.davidmatheson.ca
with Jason Fowler on guitar.
The next performer was the son of Brent Titcomb.
Liam Titcomb met Lightfoot while working at the same music store that Jason Fowler once worked. He sang Summer Side of Life – always a song that makes me listen to every word as if I’ve never heard it before.
After the song, Lightfoot, Bernie Fiedler and his lady friend came in and sat down a few tables from me and Lisa. It was heart-warming to know that he had once again felt compelled to attend one of these wonderful shows.
Liam continued with Sundown and the audience sang along. I really enjoyed his two songs and the choices were perfect for his voice and style. He stayed pretty true to the Lightfoot versions. You can see videos of Liam Titcomb songs at his website to get an idea for yourself.
www.liamtitcomb.com
David then did a ‘re-do’ of the house band intro because of a tech problem during the first take..
David Matheson sang “Talking In Your Sleep.” He has such a great voice and like Liam he didn’t stray from the Lightfoot version.
He told us of listening with headphones on to Lightfoot’s “Lightfoot” album as a 5 year old.
Song number two was “Steel Rail Blues.”
www.davidmatheson.ca
Cadence – a 4 man a cappella group. Marvelous harmonies and some amazing sounds during their songs!
Their first tune was a real oldie – “Oh Linda”
The crowd clapped along – including Lightfoot.
I’m sure it was something he took great interest in seeing as he used to be in a Barbershop Quartet as a young fellow.
One of the members told the story of how Lightfoot very nearly ended his parents’ relationship in its early stages. It seems ‘mum’ was a huge Lightfoot fan and had only Lightfoot records. For their first Christmas together his father gave his mum a Moody Blues album and a Don McLean album with a note that said ‘there’s more to music than just Lightfoot!” Happily they stayed stayed together!
They asked us to guess which song they were doing next as they stretched sheet music across the stage..of course it was CRT!! and the next several minutes was one of the most astounding acts I’ve witnessed at any of the Tribute shows. Cadence sang, they became trains with whistles and harmonicas, the voices and sounds they made were amazing and it was certainly the most unique version of CRT any of us will ever hear.
I’m sure, like me there were audience members who were amazed yet ambivalent about their take on CRT.
They changed ‘navvies’ to ‘ploughboys’ but I have no idea why.
David mentioned the link of barbershop singing to Lightfoot and his award from The Barbershop Society in 2006.
http://www.ontariodistrict.com/Trill...IL02-pg-01.pdf
more to come..