Well after reading through both the article as it appears on Wayne Francis'
site and as reproduced "as is" by Cathy here and by Auburn Annie on corfid I
realised that there were a couple of non-sequiturs due to a number of
missing lines. it is most likely therefore that the source material for all
three of these honourable people may well be have been the on-line version
of the articleand that kit has lines omitted but it seems that the Spectator
on-line archives can only be viewed on line by subscribers, I tried signing
up for a "free 14 day trial" using my Hamilton hotel address but found
that that needs 48 hours for the account to be activated . So stuff that for
a bunch of bananas! Fortunately we purchased the hard copy a.k.a.
Newspaper whilst in Hamilton so I can see what should have appeared this
shows that Wayne et al have indeed omitted several lines. Thanks to the
miracle of Optical Character Recognition I have now scanned the original
and got the following complete text
Lightfoot back in fine form and '...feeling no pain" for HHS benefit
BY GRAHAM ROCKINGHAM
The staff of McMaster University Medical Centre got to see the product of
their handiwork last night as Gordon Lightfoot performed his first complete
concert since being struck down by a near fatal aneurism more than two years
ago.
And what they saw was a chatty Lightfoot, full of vitality, singing new
songs and legendary hits with a surprisingly strong voice.
Lightfoot performed the first of two sold-out benefit concerts dedicated to
the hospital that helped nurse the 66*year-old Canadian folk icon back to
health. The second, scheduled for tonight, will likely be Lightfoot's last
until he plays Toronto's Massey Hall in May.
Halfway through his 80-minute show, Lightfoot paused to personally thank Dr.
Michael Marcaccio, the surgeon who performed several opera*tions on him
during a 13 -week period in the fall of 2002.
"I had a wonderful experience there:' Lightfoot said before playing Sundown,
with its "I'm feeling no pain" chorus. "I've said it before and I'll say it
again, it's a family atmosphere there....
"Thank you, everyone at McMaster!'
Complete paragraph here
--------------------------
Lightfoot and his band took the stage to a standing ovation and then broke
into Spanish Moss from the 1976 album Summertime Dream. It was the first of
many ciassics spanning the Lightfoot songbook, including Minstrel of the
Dawn, Rainy Day People, Cotton Gin*ny, a near-perfect rendition of The Wreck
of the EdmundFitzgerald and an outstanding Early Morning Rain, as an
encore.
----------------
During the concert's opening songs he seemed frustrated with his guitar
playing - "my fingers are not yet talking to me;' he told the crowd - and at
times was a bit rusty on some of the lyrics.
But the crowd was more than forgiving, happy just to have their idol on
stage again. ,
As the evening progressed, Lightfoot's voice grew stronger and more
confident, so that by the time he sang Sit Down Young Stranger and If You
Could Read My Mind, it was like listen*ing to Lightfoot of 30 years ago.
His vocals were particularly strong on three songs from Harmony, an album
that he pieced together from his hospital bed from rehearsal tapes he had
recorded at Hamilton's
Grant Avenue studios before his illness.
Complete paragraph here
--------------------------
"When I was working on my record in ward 4- Z, a couple of nurses stuck
their heads in and said 'Gee, we like that song:"
Lightfoot said while introducing River of Light, a song never before
performed live. "So we've worked extra hard on this one!'
-------------------------------
Lightfoot is donating the net proceeds from the two concerts - which could
total as much as $100,000 - to the Hamilton Health Sciences Founda*tion.
As well, about 100 tickets were given free to hospital staff who were
involved in Lightfoot's care at the McMaster site.
"Sure there will be some cash going to the hospital," Lightfoot said in a
brief interview before the show. "But more importantly, I want people to
think of this as a gesture of thanks to them, a dedication!'
I noted that in particular Gord said Ward 4-Zed (none of this namby pamby
Amerlish 4 Zee nonsense!!)(are you listening Bru a.k.a Bee Zee for some odd
reason) even Char eventually albeit rather grudgingly agreed with me that
Canadians use the correct version!!
John Fowles
Now to OCR the companion Saturday Spectator article so watch this space
------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot
[This message has been edited by johnfowles (edited December 01, 2004).]