Dec. 4, 2003. 12:15 AM
I'll be back, Lightfoot vows
Plans stage return in `early 2005'
Lively gala kicks off Hall of Fame
GREG QUILL
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
"There's a different sort of feeling here, different from other
(music industry) parties," veteran Canadian songwriter Gordon Lightfoot said
last night after being inducted into the inaugural Canadian Songwriters Hall
Of Fame at a ceremony and concert held at the Glenn Gould Theatre in the CBC
Broadcast Centre.
"We have some great songwriters in Canada, a lot of people to
honour, so this event will go on for a long time."
In his acceptance speech, which was bookended by performances of
two of his best known songs - "Early Morning Rain" by Tom Cochrane and "If
You Could Read My Mind" by Blue Rodeo augmented by a string quartet - it was
clear Lightfoot was in his element. He told the standing-room-only crowd of
about 600 that he plans to "reappear (on stage) in early 2005."
The 64-year-old composer has been recovering from a near-fatal
abdominal hemorrhage that hospitalized him a year ago. He faces more surgery
and has lost a great deal of weight, but last night he appeared fit and
sounded optimistic about returning to the recording studio and the concert
stage.
"I hope to see you somewhere down the path," he said at the
conclusion of a start-studded ceremony in which he and four deceased
Canadian songwriters - Hank Snow, Alfred Bryan, and Quebec chansonniers
Félix Leclerc and Madame Bolduc - and 12 songs were awarded the first spots
in the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
The brainchild of veteran Canadian music publisher Frank Davies,
the non-profit, bilingual institution's first event was this week's hot
entertainment ticket, attended by a virtual Who's Who of the Canadian music
industry who turned out to see performances of classic songs by many of
Canada's most popular music stars.
Among high points of the two-hour show was a performance of the
rousing Galt MacDermot/Rado/Ragni anthem "Aquarius" from the 1960s stage
sensation Hair by the original cast members of the Toronto production,
augmented by youngsters in hippie costumes who handed out flowers in the
auditorium. Other highlights were two pieces - "What A Friend We Have In
Jesus" (lyrics by Canadian Joseph Scriven) and "The World Is Waiting For The
Sunrise" (Eugene Lockhart) - by opera singer Measha Brûggergosman and
Toronto jazz pianist and Hammond organist Doug Riley.
The duo set fire to these two timeworn classics and brought down
the house, much to the delight of one-time movie star June Lockhart,
Eugene's daughter, who was in the audience.
Toronto singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith served up an
astonishingly simple and refreshing version of the Anne Murray chestnut
"Snowbird", written by Hall Of Fame inductee, the late Gene McLellan. And
Murray McLauchlan - with some assistance from Cindy Church, Marc Jordan and
fiddler Anne Lindsay - delighted the crowd with inductee Wade Hemsworth's
whimsical Ontario bush chronicle, "The Black Fly Song".
Early in the show, Jordan, in a shimmering purple jacket, and
Toronto chanteuse Molly Johnson, in a crimson gown, turned Alfred Bryan's
World War I anti-war lyric "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier" into a
steamy, lugubrious saloon piece that somehow seemed not at all
inappropriate, and young Toronto singer Sarah Slean, alone at the piano,
gave a wistful, world-weary reading of Toronto composer Ruth Lowe's abiding
masterpiece, "I'll Never Smile Again."
The concert will air Sunday on CBC Radio Two at 2:05 p.m. and on
Radio One at 8:05 p.m.
Additional articles by Greg Quill
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/entertainment/ go to link - pic included
Lightfoot celebrated at gala induction
By GUY DIXON
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
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Gordon Lightfoot stood quietly on a stage in Toronto Wednesday night,
a familiar sight, his simple features seeming much like his songs, as he
collected his award as one of five songwriters inducted into the Canadian
Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
"It's nice to be available for me to [accept the award] because I
wasn't quite sure there, after a while . . . and I hope to reappear
somewhere early in 2005," he said, alluding to his current recording work
and possibly plans to return to performing.
On stage, he looked healthy. He had his characteristic, chiselled
smile. He waved his hands briskly as he talked.
Throughout the two-hour concert honouring him as well as the other
inductees, Mr. Lightfoot was a strongly felt, but unseen presence; there
were rumours he might perform with Blue Rodeo, Tom Cochrane and others who
performed three of his songs; there was also word spread among the
smattering of event publicists that he wasn't feeling well, that he was
still recuperating from the effects of an abdominal hemorrhage.
But there he stood at last after a deferential introduction by Mr.
Cochrane, who called him "an everlasting Canadian music poet laureate," with
a knowing nod to how much Mr. Lightfoot doesn't like to hear that kind of
praise.
He is every bit a part of "our collective sense of Canadian identity
and culture, as Robbie Burns is to the Scots and James Joyce is to the
Irish. Make no mistake about that," Mr. Cochrane said.
Accepting the award, Mr. Lightfoot talked briefly as if reminiscing to
old colleagues, about his days as a young singer venturing into the record
business and being told to "keep working on it and come back and see us.
"That's what I've done all my career, I've just kept it all the time," he
said.
It was a humble speech thanking the audience, praising Canada's great
songwriters, but not really acknowledging the praise directed at him. Then
he bowed formally to the small audience of record industry insiders in
attendance in the CBC's Glenn Gould Studio auditorium, and he walked off.
The concert was an equally subdued affair, with sometimes stellar
performances. Measha Brüeggergosman sang the hymns What a Friend We Have in
Jesus and The World is Waiting for the Sunrise - two of the individual songs
being honoured into the hall of fame. Blue Rodeo made Hank Snow's Golden
Rocket - another song honoured - seem like one of their own, as did Ron
Sexsmith singing a warm, utterly irony-free version of Snowbird.
The other songwriters honoured were all posthumously awarded and
included the hugely popular early 20th century songwriter Alfred Bryan, who
co-wrote the standard Peg O' My Heart, country singer Hank Snow and Quebec
songwriters Felix Leclerc and Madame Bolduc.
The organization, which hopes to eventually set up a website to
explore Canada's musical past and to open an actual hall of fame to visit,
has been largely set up to preserve old recordings, particularly those made
before the 1920s, before they are forgotten.
The two-hour gala will be broadcast Sunday on CBC Radio.
Founded in 1998, the CSHF is a bilingual, non-profit organization
dedicated to honouring, celebrating and educating Canadians about the
outstanding accomplishments of Canadian popular music songwriters and those
who have contributed significantly to their legacy.
Mr. Lightfoot has been through two rounds of surgery and has another
scheduled for the spring.
"It's moving along," Mr. Lightfoot, 65, said of his health in a recent
interview, one of the few he's given since falling ill in Orillia, Ont., and
being rushed to hospital in Hamilton.
"I'm blessed in quite a few ways. I've got good help, I am mobile, and
I'm feeling not too bad. I'm just getting ready for the next round (of
surgery)."
Mr. Lightfoot spent about three months in hospital, but began work on
a new record, Harmony, from his bed. He plans to release it in the spring.
"It's very fortuitous that we were able to complete an album at all because
when I became ill we were not able to record either and still are not able
to do so," said Mr. Lightfoot, whose voice remains fragile.
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