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Old 04-23-2020, 01:35 PM   #1
charlene
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Default NEW PHONE CHAT with CHAR-April 21,2020

NEW PHONE CHAT (#6) with Gordon Lightfoot - Tuesday April 21, 2020
It is always an honour to have Gordon call and chat with me and we’ve been doing these “Chats with Char” since 2007 when he approached me after a concert and said he wanted to do a phone chat for the fans/Lightheads on the internet.
To say I was gobsmacked is putting it mildly.. There have been a few phone calls that were not scheduled but pleasantly surprising.
I received word a week ago that Gordon would be calling me as he was doing phone calls over two nights and my name was on the list.
And of course, as I do a lot when something triggers a Lightfoot lyric, my mind went to his song, The List..lol and the lyric:
There's a little room on my list for tonight
Will you be the one to fill it in
Toss around what is up, what is down
In between, would you like to dream
Step on in, you don't have to play to win
But then you might
Thick and thin, you don't have to play to win
But then you might.
They are not ‘’professional’’ interviews by any stretch of the imagination but more like friends just chatting and catching up.. I’m very lucky indeed to have this opportunity and treasure the calls. I have them all recorded so can listen to him whenever I want..lol..
The link to the other chats is: http://corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php...ight=chat+char
They were longer talks, around 45 minutes to an hour, unlike this one which was 25 minutes. It was supposed to be a hard stop at 20..lol..I have not transcribed all we talked about for privacy reasons.
CW – Hello
GL – Hi Char, it’s Gordon!
CW – Hi Gordon, how are you?
GL – I’m good, how are you doing?
CW – I’m freezing my butt off because it’s so cold out!
GL – Why?
CW – I’m out trying to garden and it’s too cold so I came in.
GL – Have you got a fireplace in your home?
CW – Yes, I have 2!
GL – Is the house cozy?
CW – Yes, it is, I’ve got the heat turned up higher than it was a couple of months ago!
GL – I was out walking today, I walk every day.
CW – I was going to ask you if you were out walking because you can’t go to the club. Are you keeping up with an exercise regimen like you are used to. I hope you are all bundled up out there!
GL – I do my upper body at night and I do it every day and walk every day… and that’s EVERY day. You gotta walk every day.
CW – You’re so disciplined Gordon.
GL – Yep – it’s about ¾ of a mile every day. Just a nice quiet walk. I walk in front of DRAKES house and I wave at his guard. Lol.
CW – How are you and Kim doing during this isolation caused by the pandemic?
GL – Kim has been in the U.S. since March 16 for family business. She left the day before things got locked down.
CW – So you’re on your own in the house?
GL – I have help coming in, the maintenance guy comes and a former Nanny for the kids brings groceries once a week. The rest of the time I practice the guitar for a little while. Actually I practice in sections. I do 10 – 15 minutes, then I put it down for a while, then later I’ll practice for another 10 – 15 minutes.
CW – Yeah, you don’t have any baseball or hockey to watch while you practice like you like to do. They’re running re-runs, are you watching any of those?
GL – The last show I watched was the Kenny Rogers biography that was playing about 2 nights ago. It was really good. He was such a great singer. Big in the 80’s.
CW – Yes he was, and I’m sorry for the loss of your friend John Prine.
GL – I knew John, that well but the last time I saw him was at George Stroumboulopoulos’s place for a house concert. We were there, Meredith, Kim and I were there.
CW – I’ve watched the video of the night and it’s a nice memory for everyone to have of John.
GL – My favourite line of his was, it goes like this; a line from Far From Me, (singing it to me!!) ‘far far from me, far far from me’. Then he recited ‘the June bug flew from the warmth he once knew and I wished for once I weren’t right.’ He then repeated it in a softer, wistful voice, ‘the June bug flew from the warmth he once knew and I wished for once I weren’t right.’ The song takes place in the summer.
(link to song: https://johnprine.bandcamp.com/track/far-from-me)
CW – I’ll have to look that up on You Tube. His story songs had a lot of words like yours Gordon.
GL – Yeah..
CW – I heard that Mariposa is cancelled this year.
GL - I thought they probably would do that.
CW – They thought they might be able to hold it in September but it won’t happen until next summer.
GL – We might be able to start back up in the fall. I’ll be happy. I am booked at the C.N.E. (Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto) on the 31stof August. There was going to be 7000 people there. That was going to be my first show starting in the fall if we have to wait that long. If we have to wait until the 31stof August, September and October will be loaded. We’ll be running our butts off.
(PLEASE NOTE THAT AFTER CHECKING WITH Gordon’s OFFICE, AS OF NOW THE JUNE CONCERT DATES ARE POSTPONED– re-scheduled dates will be posted as they are scheduled and if further postponements are required into July/August I will post info when I receive it)
CW – It’s so incredible that you had to postpone some shows last year because of your injury, and then some of those re-scheduled shows are some of the postponements this year because of the pandemic.
GL – We got to do nine shows in February tho. We did nine in February and those are the last shows we did.
CW – That’s a long time off for you.
GL – Yeah
CW – But you’re keeping busy. Congratulations on the SOLO album! Everyone thinks it’s just fantastic and they love the guitar and voice. I love Oh So Sweet, that’s your new legacy song for me!
GL – I was going to orchestrate the whole thing, call the band in and the whole thing over again. It’s a damn good thing I decided to do what I did because it would be half done by now. We’d only be half finished with it. You know I found that stuff about a year and a half ago. I was cleaning out my office. I was cleaning my office out. I found it in a pile of gifts and memorabilia and mail from fans. Mounds of them, half of my office! Have you ever been to my office?
CW – Yes, I have. I was there one time a long time ago in November 2000 but you weren’t there. Anne and Barry were there tho and I spent a while talking with them. I delivered printed out birthday wishes at corfid.com from Lighthead fans.
GL – Okay. That pile of gifts in my office is where I found it.
CW – Oh my goodness you need to clean out your office a little more often Gordon lol
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Old 04-23-2020, 01:35 PM   #2
charlene
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Default Re: NEW PHONE CHAT with CHAR-April 21,2020

GL – LOL – they were on a CD I did in ’98. So I used part of it on Harmony and then 2 that I’d been saving to give it 10 for Harmony that I did while recovering from the operations I had. And these other ones I believe I was going to keep for re-writes. That’s why I didn’t choose them for Harmony. But after listening to it I liked the feel so much, my god I can hear my left foot going! Lol
And it was before I had any health issues, my vocals were really good, my guitar playing was really good, Liz and I were still together ya know.
CW – That was 20 years ago – a lot of things have changed in both our lives. I’m a grandmother now! Lol
GL – Oh yeah!!!?? Yeah!!
CW – Yep a little grandson born last May.
GL – Aw!
CW – And you got a great grandson last June, Amber’s little guy Adam.
GL – Yeah – Adam!
CW – So you’re a great grandfather, my mum is a great grandmother. We’re all just great! My little guy lives in British Columbia though so we do video chats.
GL – who’s there with you now?
CW – Lisa
GL – Lisa’s with you? That’s good!! How’s she doing?
CW – She’s doing pretty good but still has some residual problems from the car accident several years ago.
GL – So she’s with you…(sounding concerned – he knows of her accident and always asks for her if she’s not with me and spends time talking with her when she is)
CW – Yep and my son is in B.C.
CW – Did you read Richard Harison’s book, “Once Upon A Red Eye” ??
GL – I was going to say, Yes I am! And it’s so good!! I really LOVE it! I’m on Page 100.
It’s John Allen Cameron, not John P Allan. I get them confused. John P is the guy who plays violin with The Good Brothers. I’m just getting into it now, Richard is doing a couple of pages on him now.
CW – John Allan Cameron, what a character he was.
GL – I’m just starting to read that. I never knew which was which. If it was the violin player or the guy from down eat. I finally learned who was which! Lol
CW – Did you move out of the office on Yonge Street Gordon?
GL – Yeah, yeah we did. I had to move all that stuff and that’s how I found the CD. We got a lot of artwork, photos from that guy from Oklahoma that follows me around with a camera when we play the Heartland. So we got another office.(I believe he was talking about Carl Dunn who has his photos on the new SOLO album and has posted many of his wonderful shots on Facebook)
CW – I’ll have to get the address from Anne for fans/Lightheads to send cards, fan mail etc.
NEW OFFICE at: 1 St.Clair Avenue East, Toronto M4V 2V7
CW – Are you doing any video chats with the family or just on the phone Gordon?
GL – No, no, I’m not bothering to do any of that. There’s certain things I could be doing but I’m happy the way I am.
CW – You don’t mind being on your own?
GL – I’ve been on my own before.
CW – I like being on my own, no one to answer to! Lol So you don’t know when Kim will be home?
GL – I suppose she’ll make it by summer. And when she does that I gotta see if the rule changes about the 2 week isolation period. That might change.
CW – I think that might be around for a while. My mum is in Florida at my sisters’ house since February. We don’t want her coming back to her seniors residence.
GL – No, no! You leave her where she is. How old is she?
CW – She just turned 85 in February.
GL – Ok, she’s safe where she is.
CW – I was surprised you’re doing several phone call tonight and tomorrow night.
GL – I did 3 tonight. Anne gets them lined up, the list is always there and when we get some time we do them.
CW - I wanted to ask you about the little video you did with ALEXA. VIDEO @: https://www.facebook.com/GordonLightfootOfficial/ GL – Oh! That’s like a toy! I don’t mess with them much.
VIDEO @: https://www.facebook.com/GordonLightfootOfficial/
CW – I have watched it a million times, people love watching you in that video!
GL – That’s good!
CW – And the big billboard at Yonge and Dundas, did you get down to see it?
GL – I got a chance to see it! It was the last time I drove my car. I can’t go to visit Miles, (his son) I can’t go anywhere!
CW – I’m glad you got down to see it! And I’m happy to hear your voice. It’s been a long time since I saw you. It was at the documentary premiere and then the after party.
GL – Yeah!
CW – That was a year ago!
GL – There’s gonna be stuff coming up. Ya know this things gonna blow over to a degree. It might come back but next time they’ll be better prepared.
CW – Let’s hope so.
GL – This time they were unprepared.
CW – I think they’re still trying to figure it out.
GL – They’ve even got General Motors building ventilators!
CW – Yes, that’s right.
GL – Well okay kid, we’ll see you along the path alright?
CW – Alright Gordon, take care and when you talk to Kim say Hi to her for me. That’s about it my dear, we’ll see you down the road Gordon.
GL – Ok!
CW – Love ya and miss ya Gordon!
GL – Love you too and miss you as well Char.
CW – Talk to you later, bye bye Gordon.
GL – Bye Bye..
https://www.thestar.com/entertainmen...very_show.html
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Old 04-24-2020, 05:20 AM   #3
paskatefan
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Default Re: NEW PHONE CHAT with CHAR-April 21,2020

How wonderful that Gordon took the time to speak with you again, Char! What an incredibly awesome guy he is!

Gail

Last edited by paskatefan; 04-27-2020 at 06:05 AM.
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Old 04-26-2020, 07:04 PM   #4
Off Yonge Street
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Default Re: NEW PHONE CHAT with CHAR-April 21,2020

Thanks very much, Char, for sharing many details of your recent conversation with Gordon!

I'm very pleased to hear that Gordon is well and apparently in good spirits.​

Based on what I've read and what I saw in the documentary movie Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind, exercise is very important to Gordon ("motion is the potion") so it's great that he's keeping up with an exercise regimen even though his fitness club is closed.​

When you mentioned how cold it was in southern Ontario on April 21 of this year, (
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlene View Post

CW – I’m freezing my butt off because it’s so cold out!​
GL – Why?​
CW – I’m out trying to garden and it’s too cold so I came in.
,​

it reminded me of the following lyric from Lightfoot's song Fine As Fine Can Be: "You're as cool as the breeze on the last days of April".​


Quote:
Originally Posted by charlene View Post

GL – We might be able to start back up in the fall. I’ll be happy. I am booked at the C.N.E. (Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto) on the 31stof August. There was going to be 7000 people there. That was going to be my first show starting in the fall if we have to wait that long. If we have to wait until the 31stof August, September and October will be loaded. We’ll be running our butts off.


It would be terrific if Lightfoot performed at the CNE on Aug. 31. My best guess, though, is that the CNE will be cancelled this year as a result of the pandemic.​

Quote:
Originally Posted by charlene View Post

CW – Congratulations on the SOLO album! Everyone thinks it’s just fantastic and they love the guitar and voice. I love Oh So Sweet, that’s your new legacy song for me!


Char, Is Oh So Sweet your favourite song on the SOLO album (like it is mine)? (So far, on the thread on that topic, I'm the only one who has named a particular song as their favourite on the album.)
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Old 04-26-2020, 09:19 PM   #5
charlene
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Default Re: NEW PHONE CHAT with CHAR-April 21,2020

Yes, it is.. it's pure and lovely and a perfect Lightfoot song...
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Old 04-27-2020, 06:07 AM   #6
paskatefan
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Default Re: NEW PHONE CHAT with CHAR-April 21,2020

Yeah, so far I have to say that Oh So Sweet is my favorite song on Solo, too!



Gail
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Old 04-29-2020, 09:44 AM   #7
imported_Next_Saturday
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Default Re: NEW PHONE CHAT with CHAR-April 21,2020

Once again, nice job Char! Also on the new album, I really am liking both "Better Off" and "Return to Dust".
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Old 04-29-2020, 09:46 PM   #8
Off Yonge Street
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Default Re: NEW PHONE CHAT with CHAR-April 21,2020

Quote:
Originally Posted by imported_Next_Saturday View Post
Once again, nice job Char! Also on the new album, I really am liking both "Better Off" and "Return to Dust".
imported_Next_Saturday, I think you and I have similar musical tastes. In the thread "Favourite Song on "Solo" Album" that I started on April 14, I wrote:

"I've listened to "Solo" several times and decided that my favourite tracks on the album (for now, at least) are (in order) "Oh So Sweet" (#1), "Return Into Dust (#2), and "Better Off" (#3)."

Feel free to add your comments to the "Favourite Song on "Solo" Album" thread. (So far, paskatefan (Gail) is the only one to comment on that thread.)
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