KALAMAZOO,MI-May 21-2015

[charlene]

Rick: So after a few weeks delay, here we are, at the State Theater in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan. Back in 2008, we appeared on campus at the Miller Auditorium. Previously, we appeared here, at the State in 2002. Welcome to an Evening with Gordon Lightfoot.

RICK pics:

[JBrew]

Very excited and happy the tour is back on. I've been waiting two years to see GL again, and it's finally going to happen on this leg of the tour. Sadly he didn't come to the Wash DC area in 2014 so I'll travel to see him this year! Thanks to GL and his band for continuing to tour and bring us his beautiful music!

[charlene]

from Jennifer Perry:
SETLIST FOR KALAMAZOO, MAY 21, 2015
Now and Then
Waiting For You
Drifters
Don Quixote
Painter Passing Through
Rainy Day People
Shadows
Beautiful
Let It Ride
Much To My Surprise
Carefree Highway
Cotton Jenny
Ribbon of Darkness
Sundown
INTERMISSION
Drink Yer Glasses Empty
Sweet Guinevere
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Never Too Close
All the Lovely Ladies
I'd Rather Press On
Wild Strawberries
If You Could Read My Mind
Restless
Baby Step Back
Early Morning Rain
ENCORE
Song For a Winter's Night

[niffer]

Thanks for posting this, Char. I know there's a way to copy and paste from my iPad, but I also know I don't know what is is

[charlene]

there are some things that even I can't help you with..hard to believe but it's true.lol
Did you want your report posted too???

[niffer]

If you would like to post the report, I certainly have no objections

[charlene]

Jennifer's report:
When the first part of the 2015 tour was announced, I was very tempted by the March 15 show in Kalamazoo, my hometown. But driving in this part of the world is very iffy in mid-March, so I opted for the Green Bay show only, as it is much closer to where I live now. None of us would ever wish anything but the best for Gordon, but when the shows had to be rescheduled because of his illness and the new date for Kalamazoo just happened to be during the week I was planning to visit my mother anyway....it was very fortuitous for me. And, I still get to see him in Green Bay in November.

My childhood friend Bess picked me up at 6 and we headed out for dinner and the show. There was an event called Girls on the Go that was happening as we got close to the State Theatre - a 5K run for preteen girls that had several streets blocked off. Fortunately Bess still lives in town and navigated us to a parking ramp just down the street from the Theatre.

The State Theatre is a lovely old structure that was a movie theatre in a previous life. Bess and I though that perhaps it was the same place where we went to see The Sound of Music almost 50 years ago. It may not have been, but still a wonderful memory.

The band strode onstage right at 7:30. Gordon got a very warm welcome, and he launched right into the first song, Now and Then. His voice was a little weak during the first few lines, but warmed up quickly, we were sitting next to a man and woman who love his music but were seeing him live for he first time. I explained that his voice now is different than on his records, and takes a bit of getting used to. I thought he sounded very good; they left at intermission

He was less talkative than some times I have seen him (last night was show #19), but mentioned that his two 12-strings were both made in Kalamazoo. As he was introducing The Wreck, he mentioned that the tune was an old Irish dirge that had been rattling around in his head. He also said that without the song, the men would have been forgotten. Very true, but I don't think I had ever heard him say that before.
During Carefree Highway, after the line I wonder how the old folks are tonight, a man called out "We're all here!"

The band sounded great, Carter is doing some very subtle things during Restless and Never Too Close that were sublime.
Gordon drank water frequently between songs and bent over to clear his sinuses several times. I hope he can keep his strength up for the rest of the tour.

I am so thankful that I got to see him again in my hometown, where my love for him started more than 40 years ago. That I got to see him with my forever friend Bess. That I got to meet my Facebook friend Beth, and liked her even more than I expected to. And that I wore white pants to a Mexican restaurant before the show, and lived to tell the tale.

[charlene]

KALAMAZOO - 5-22-2015-The Wreck -

You Tube

[charlene]

You Tube

[charlene]

You Tube

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by niffer

Thanks for posting this, Char. I know there's a way to copy and paste from my iPad, but I also know I don't know what is is

Apropos niffer's striking admission of defeat by her mighty Apple thingy it reminded me that recently whilst trying to find newspaper or other articles that I could practice Optical Character Recognition on (in preparation for a planned new small talk thread on I googled
"gordon lightfoot article corfid"
and was surprised to find that one result was Jennifer Perry's tome that she had titled
with sublime feminine logic
"Dog Coffee"
she is known to us here of course as "niffer"
her striking book cover,which l will attach is prominently displayed in the Google book review extract/sample which is at:-
https://books.google.com/books?id=hM...page&q&f=false
That google books extract/sample includes Jennifer's amusing "The Joy of Socks " followed by two vital Lightfoot passages
the one that begins
"Last September my friend Jenny and I drove to Milwaukee to see Lightfoot in concert.
The Mapquest directions instructed us to take Exit 310A - and Exit 310B.
You can do both those things, just not on the same trip, and that's why we ended up at the lakefront, and had to work our way back,miraculously finding ourselves at the correct parking garage underneath the Pabst Theater.
from another Pabst Theater concert in 2011
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV2VHiEhvQc
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV2VHiEhvQc
his is getting tedious and beyond a joke
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV2VHiEhvQc

oh sod it!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV2VHiEhvQc
the google extract/sample continues with
the chapter entitled "The pilgramage" (to Massey)
that Char previously posted here on Niffer's behalf in the thread at
http://corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php...light=cleavage
On the strength of those samples I decided to take up an offer of the ebook version (so that I can read it on my Nook tablet thingy) on sale by googlebooks for $7.36 plus NJ's 7% sales tax and after some difficulty with lining up Paypal im-bloody-possible I paid by debit card then a lot of messing about getting Internet Exploder to allow Google's stoopid cookies I was finally able to read and enjoy all 102 pages.

[charlene]

without the https:// - here's the video

You Tube

[niffer]

Wow, Sir John, thank you for the kind words, and I am very glad you enjoyed Dog Coffee. Here's the thing though...I didn't even know it was available as an ebook! My second book, Canine Cappuccino, is available in ebook form, and also has some Gord stories. It is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com in both paperback and ebook forms, and should be much easier to order. Thank you for going to all that trouble

[charlene]

some folks ruminating about Gordon, his singing, his touring, his medical bills.: lol - good gawd..: free registration to make a comment: http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...-Last-Thursday