Tuesday April 27, 2010
Telephone Interview #2
Gordon Lightfoot
Back in January at Hugh’s Room Gordon Lightfoot managed, once again to surprise me. Not once, but twice. I have already mentioned that he sang “I’ll Tag Along” and then told me that he sang it for me because he knew I’d be there.
Okay – that would count as more than enough of a surprise and something that made me more than thrilled and grateful. look to the report/pcs/video of that night at Hugh's!
http://corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php...ight=feel+2010
BUT..he had ONE more thing to say that night. Oh yes..one more surprise from Mr. Lightfoot.
Just prior to leaving he came over to me and said he thought we could do another interview! Omigoodness – Of course I replied that it would be great to do another one. I told him he had my number and call anytime! He replied, “I know where you are.” I said “I’m wherever YOU are!”..lol
So it was left that I would call the office and arrange things with Anne and we’d go from there.
To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement. And it meant that I had to get some questions together! I am not a journalist! I’m just a fan!
Time passed, real life interrupted, and I never called the office! I went to the CBC Songwriter event in February, the Casino Rama/Orillia concert in March and Peterborough and Hamilton concerts mid April. In the few moments I had with him backstage in Peterborough I asked if he was still wanting to do the phone interview and he said, “Yes! for sure, call Anne next week!”
Well the next week came and I didn’t call but did write some thoughts and questions down and planned to call him THIS week to set up the interview .
Monday morning while I was on the phone with some gawd forsaken automated call system at Lisa’s college and she was here with the tv on I heard her say “Early Morning Productions”mum! I didn’t know what prompted that outburst until she pointed to the television where it said “Earl Mrng Prod” and the phone number ! Because I was busy with the damn messages on the phone I didn’t hear the usual ‘beep’ that meant another call was coming in. And it really wouldn’t have mattered because with this new phone I have no idea how to answer a second incoming call ! So I quickly hung up and answered the more important call – hoping that I wasn’t too late but absolutely terrified about WHY anyone from EMP would be calling..but I never expected it to be Gordon.
I said “hello” with a bit of trepidation and THAT voice we know and love said “Hi Char! It’s Gordon.”… !!
He called to see if we were still doing the interview and asked if it would be better to talk in the evening when he’s home or in the morning around 11 when he’d be in the office. I said morning worked for me just as well as evening but since he’s in the office we could do a morning chat. He told me he would call me one day next week to give me a days notice so I could get my ‘stuff’ setup and be ready.
After we talked for a few minutes and I calmed down I typed up the list of questions/thoughts I had scribbled on a scrap piece of paper. I had a week or so to get them organized and to add any extras I may come up with. It would also give me time to try out the speaker system on this new phone and see how it worked with Lisa’s digital recorder. It goes without saying that I was quite excited and nervous but I had a week to get it together and at least act like I was calm when we eventually did the chat.
Well……that idea went to hell in a handbasket when the phone rang again Tuesday morning and the display showed that Earl Mrng Prod was calling! Oh dear…My first thought was that the interview was being called off ..Darn!! I hesitantly answered, saying hello with a bit of forced cheeriness anticipating that perhaps Anne would break the bad news to me.
But it was Gordon again! “Char! Do you want to do the interview today? How about in 30 minutes or so? Can you get it together by then?” (WHAT!!!!!).“SURE!!” I replied, “no problem!” (I had obviously lost my mind) So I said, “Okay! “Call me when you’re ready!” he answered. Omigawd!!!! - I had to print up the question sheet, get the recorder loaded with fresh batteries, try out the speaker phone on it, load the cassette recorder and oh by the way I had two toddlers I care for who were playing and watching Winnie The Pooh! But SURE – no problem to do a phone interview in 30 minutes! -- Lol --Was I crazy??? Thankfully Lisa took the kids to another part of the house to play and watch their movie while I had peace and quiet to talk to Gordon.
I had a few minutes to calm down and start breathing again before dialing the number for EMP and embarking on the SECOND installment of “Gordon Lightfoot CHats with Char”!!! The first one was 3 years ago – March 2007. I hope it’s not another 3 years before the 3rd installment!
So…here’s the gist of it all…
GL – Okay Char!
CW –How ya doin?
GL – I’m doing good!
CW-good…so everything is ready for the next set of the tour?
GL – yep we’re leaving the 11th of June, we’re out for a long time.
CW-I can’t believe the length of time you’re out and number of shows you do in the nights you are out.
GL – we're out for the 11th to the 27th and we will not do anything all thru the summer. We’ll be here looking after our responsibilities.
CW-you’ve got Mariposa coming up in July.
GL-I’ve got the family here and I try to pay a lot of attention.
CW-that’s good, I guess you’ve got a birthday coming up pretty soon? Meredith’s birthday?
GL-yes,Meredith’s birthday is coming up on May 11.
CW- she’s going to be 16?
GL-yes, yes she is.
CW-good luck to you!
CW-I wanted to talk to you about that horrible rumour a couple of months ago. Poor Ronnie Hawkins was pretty shook up about the whole thing. Do you have any idea who started that or is there any way to track something as terrible as that sort of rumour?
GL-It came out of TWITTER and from there it went to CanWest.
CW-somebody called Ronnie, he said his business company in the states got a call from someone saying they were your grandson.
GL- I don’t know.
CW-that’s crazy stuff but thankfully nothing came of it. I got some calls as did Bernie and your office…
GL – it was a very interesting experience!
CW-you’re the only who really knew for a few minutes that it wasn’t true!
GL-I was in my car, in transit and I was heading for the office.
CW-what did you think?
GL-what did I think? I thought to put my foot on the gas. (laughing)
CW-it must have been worrisome for you that any of the family would hear something like that before you could hold of them.
GL-yes it was. Precisely.
CW-it was wonderful to see Ronnie Hawkins in Peterborough. He’s looking good and you did Home From The Forest. When was the last time you did that in concert?
GL-well we knew he was coming to the show and we worked on it a bit at rehearsal and got it into shape in the dates leading up to it. We did it live one night at one of the other dates to see how it worked. It still needs some work. One of the reasons I never sang it very much is it had some ambiguity in the structure and arrangement which I had to get ironed out which really was never done. We’ll be able to use that one, probably rotate that one into the show.
CW-that would be wonderful. I know the next night in Hamilton you did it and everyone was thrilled to hear it. I checked on Wayne’s site on old set lists and couldn’t find it going back years.
GL-we can’t do them all!
CW-well you could but you just don’t want to. (laughing)
GL-we’ve put five new ones in in the last year and a half. We rotate them back and forth between shows so we don’t necessarily do them all every night. We work within a frame work of time. You don’t want to get out there and stay out there and wear out the welcome mat. It’s good to do just slightly over two hours with a twenty minute intermission. It’s comfortable. A lot of places they want the people to take the intermission.
2nd part - next post