this one, bjb? (from ctv.ca)>>>
Idol hopefuls get advice from Gordon Lightfoot
The six young singers left on Canadian Idol honoured a living Canadian legend -- one who came perilously close to becoming a dead one.
For Gordon Lightfoot, Wednesday was his biggest audience yet -- counting the TV one at home -- since he resumed performing in public again this summer.
In 2002, a ruptured blood vessel in his abdomen almost killed him. He was left in a coma for five weeks.
"I actually feel quite strong now," Lightfoot said. "It's been 22 -- what, 23 -- months since everything went black."
He played a few songs at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia, Ont. -- his hometown -- in July. Then he teamed up with cancer survivor and fellow music legend Ronnie Hawkins to perform at a benefit concern to aid the flood victims in Peterborough, Ont.
Reportedly, some of the under-30 audience left while he performed, his often-melancholic material not to their tastes.
Last fall, when he was still on the mend, a tribute disc to Lightfoot was released. Called Beautiful, it featured some of Canada's top singer/songwriters -- including Bruce Cockburn, The Tragically Hip and the Barenaked Ladies -- interpreting his songs.
With Lightfoot's resurrection comes a rebirth in popularity. His new CD, titled Harmony, debuted on the charts at number 13 -- his highest-charting disc in more than 26 years.
He's been a performer for more than 40 years. He has written more than 200 songs.
"Gordon is having another revival in his career," said music critic Larry LeBlanc. "He's had more comebacks than most boxers we can name."
As part of the tribute, Canadian Idol contestants sang Lightfoot songs.
Before going on live TV, they received some one-on-one coaching from the master. "Your energy level has got to come up -- but not too far," he counselled one.
"If I'm going to leave some songs as my legacy then I'm going to make darn good sure that when they get done I'm around to help as much as possible," he told the group.
"My stuff is not your normal kind of stuff. It's folk, country-oriented ... It requires a special kind of attention this material. I want to be involved."
To Kaylan Porter of Medicine Hat, Alta., Lightfoot said of one song: "This is one of those kind of personal type tunes ... It's one of those cases where you direct your personal life into your songwriting," he said. "Sometimes it hurts .. If it makes for a good song I say do it.
"No matter how upset you might feel, you could be going through the breakup of a relationship or something of that type, if there's a song there and you're worth your salt you're going to write the song."
Porter wound up singing If You Could Read My Mind, one of Lightfoot's biggest hits.
Theresa Sokyrka, a 23-year-old resident of Saskatoon, told Lightfoot she busked all the time.
"That's really an excellent thing to do," he said. "You think about it from the rehearsal (side). I'm one of those guys that's big on rehearsing. I always encourage people to rehearse a lot."
On Thursday's show, the Canadian Idol contestants will be break with the show's tradition by playing instruments while performing Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy.
Written in 1967 for the 100th anniversary of Confederation, it chronicles the building of the railway and is considered one of his classics.
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