Lisa and I had the great pleasure, once again to see Ed performing with George Canyon and his band the other night. What a fun, energetic and excellent evening!
http://www.georgecanyon.com/
They are touring the new CD - CLASSICS 2 - wonderful old tunes by Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson, Charlie Pride, Hank Snow and many others. The stage is set up like the Grand Ole Opry, the guys are in suits and ties and a large backdrop shows old footage of the original artists performing..they lead into the tune and George takes over. They even have the announcer doing commercials onstage.. It's a great concept and great fun..George performed @ The Opry a few times and altho the evening is all Classics he does have footage of his 2004 performance and does a medley of his tunes. George was runner up on the show Nashville Star in 2004. Originally from Pictou, Nova Scotia he now lives near Calgary, Alberta. The band has a grand time onstage, and the interactions amongst themselves and the audience is terrific.
The venue was packed, people were singing and clapping along and of course as George updated us on the Grey Cup score there were lots of shouts of "ARGOS!".. A couple of the band members are also from out west so they were greatly outnumbered by the Argo fans...When George mentioned that Lightfoot had received a huge cheer at the half time show he also told the audience that Ed used to be in the Lightfoot band for all of the great hits.
There was an opening act - Gentleman Leon (formerly with the 4 Tenors) and Graham Sharkey. What a beautiful voice. He sang several original compositions and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujiah". Wow. A well deserved standing O !
http://thegentlemanleon.com/
George and Leon are on tour as "Compassion Canada" artists raising awareness and hopefully the sponsorship of a child in need. A beautiful video was shown of a trip George, his wife and two children took. He spoke passionately about this part of his life and beliefs. The abundance of everything in our lives was very apparent while watching this video showing how little others have in regards to housing, food, education etc. As Christmas nears, regardless of our faith/non-faith, the time of conspicuous consumption to the point of absurdity really hits home. Remember those who are in need and do/give what you can to make their lives a bit better and realize that even a small gesture will make a huge difference in someone's life. This is but one of many foundations trying to make a difference:
http://www.compassion.ca/
Ed's beautiful wife was in attendance so it was nice to catch up with her. We did have some time after the show to speak with the band members again as we did a few years ago at the same venue and after George met fans at the merch table he spent some time with us too. What a nice man and bunch of guys.
Ed is also a member of another terrific band (along with award winning fiddle player Shane Guse,"The Goose") called The Western Swing Authority. So he's a very busy man! Thankfully this group is based near his home and he's not out on the road missing his family and grandkids.
http://www.thewesternswingauthority.com/
While we were waiting for George we snapped a few pics with Ed and he headed up to the stage to pack up his gear - no roadies or jet like in the days with Gord! A few minutes later he came back to take Lisa and I onstage to sit with his steel guitar and take a few pics. LOL.. oh my.. I almost look like I know what I'm doing !
Ed has pics on his Iphone and I will post them when I get them from him!
Thanks to Ed for a wonderful evening! Luv ya Papa!
Pee Wee (Ed Ringwald) and George Canyon
