[teherie]

Thanks for sharing. I wish I could have been there too.

I am more of a reader than a poster but reading this account of the memorial service brought up lots of memories so I apologize in advance for the ramble. Along with my family and my many trips to Canada over the years, Gordon Lightfoot and his band are one of the true constants in my life.

Following Terry's death, Gord's Gold and Don Quixote had been in the car however, I have been traveling for the past two weeks and picked up a copy of Gordon's Double CD from when he was with United Artists. I don't know if it's possible to wear them both out, but it's all I have played.

I began to listen to Gordon when I got my first guitar back in 1968 when I was 13 and it's interesting to hear the similarities and contrasts between Red and Terry's playing styles. Back then I had everything Gord recorded either in LP, then 8 track, then cassette before stepping up to CDs. I had two music books (anthologies) that I loaned to the kid who lived in the upstairs apartment when I lived in Philadelphia. He moved out one day unannounced with no forwarding address and I never saw him or the music books again. On the flipside, Gord has managed to make songs both simple and complex so they aren't hard (even for a novice like me) to remember.

Gord and I share the same birthday (November 17) and I have both a 6 string Martin dreadnaught and a 12 string because of him so I guess that makes us kindred spirits (of sorts). I heard the band perform live for the first time on May 17, 1975 at the old Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh, PA. I even have the ticket stub to prove it and can remember waving to Gord, Terry, Rick and Pee Wee from across the parking lot. I'm sure they didn't remember that moment but I sure do.

Later on stage, Gord told the audience that he was just getting over a cold and asked the age old question: "How do you get a Kleenex to dance? Put a little Boogey in it."

On another thread, someone asked people about their favorite guitar lick or was it chord progression? Last June my oldest son and I were in the boat off Spider Bay near Parry Sound drifting along watching a couple of loons and their lone baby. I heard the opening bars of "Whispers of the North" come into my head but as we headed home, we passed a buoy and saw the open water of Georgian Bay behind it. My son said, "I know it's the wrong body of water but can't you feel the presence of the Edmund Fitzgerald and hear that haunting lead guitar in the air?" I'll be listening for it again when I head North 8 weeks from tomorrow.