All Things Lightfoot

 

All Gord, All the Time

For those who have known me for more than, say, a few days it will come as no surprise that I have been basking in an embarassment of riches for the last few months when it comes to a certain Canadian icon. Not Canadian Idol, but icon - Gordon Lightfoot, to be exact. I first heard his music in the mid 60s (gasp! has it been 40 years??) and have been a fan ever since.

Until this year the only time I saw him perform live in concert was on May 3, 1974 in the gym at Monroe Community College. I was supposed to have seen him at Massey Hall in Toronto in November 2002 but .... Having decided in August of that year to FINALLY see him at Massey (Lightfoot equivalent of the Mother Church) before one of us kicked the bucket - please note I said ONE of us - I bought tickets. And then fate stepped in, in the form of a near-fatal abdominal aneurysm which had him knock-knock-knockin' at heaven's door and put him out of commission for months. A couple of years, really.

Lightheads held their collective breaths as heavily-guarded reports on his health, various surgeries and slow recovery were released in bits and pieces. Eventually he announced that he had been working on a new CD (Harmony) from his hospital bed, and released in May 2004; he planned on trying to return to performing (hurrah!) and finally making a few tentative one or three song appearances at a couple of benefits. Gearing up for the real thing, he set up a tour for 2005, with a handful of shows in the US southwest before hitting the stage in May for what had until 2003 been the annual MH shows. The man was back! And in wonderful voice. And he followed Massey up with a three-song set for Live8 ("Restless,""If You Could Read My Mind," and "Let It Ride.") Click here for these songs:
http://music.aol.com/artist/main.adp?tab=songvid&artistid=2053&albumid=0

Next comes the 45th anniversary of the Mariposa Folk Festival, a brief break, then an autumn full of performance, finishing up with the December benefit concert in Orillia cut short in 2002.

Long time no post

I know, I know - I've been MIA since before the holidays. There's a snow/sleet/freezing rain storm building up outside so it's a good day to get back to blogging.

Well, the county's looking for somebody to catalog their local history collection in the county historian's office - what a rabbit warren! Four rooms on the 3rd floor of the old Post Office - must be hotter than blazes in the summer - with books, spiral notebooks, slide collections, pamphlets everywhere. They've got an old card catalog but everything's filed by title, no cross references, no subject headings. I don't think they realize that a lot of these titles are already cataloged in the state library colllection. They have one computer (with MS Office 2000), a couple of ancient microfilm readers and, presumably, a typewriter for the volunteer secretary. The ladies working there (all part time - no benefits, no vacation time, just trade-off time) know where things are, sort of, but it's an appalling-looking office.

They need a whole other space than where they've been stuck - one large room for all the papers and books, a processing room for donations, updating records, etc., and a breakroom for staff. I have no idea if the photos are kept in lignin envelopes, though I doubt it. Archival preservation doesn't seem to be the norm. It's certainly not climate-controlled, pamphlets slouch on shelves propped up between hardcovers. And she mentioned there are things stored in the basement as well! They could use a scanner, a second computer with cataloging software, lignin envelopes and boxes.... Sigh. Where to start? I wonder if they ever apply for grant monies? The county certainly isn't putting any money into the place.

One of those good news, bad news weeks

Spent the better part of an afternoon and evening creating an online resume for a federal job which I maybe want and have no guarantee of getting. Sigh. Two interviews in two weeks, one that sounded promising but turned out weird and didn't pan out anyway, and one where I got an offer but, really, just isn't ME. Night hours, low pay - what's wrong with this picture?? I made more $$ thirty years ago working part-time. Oh, and I passed the civil service exam with flying colors - for a job already filled. Go figure. This bridesmaid stuff is for the birds. I'm tired of being first runner-up. And forget Miss Congeniality.

My first employer died yesterday at age 83. Hard to believe he's gone. Harder still his wife has been dead for 15 years - such a sweet woman, and everyone was sure Joe would go first. Bridge just wore out, I think. Of course I hadn't worked for them since '77. Still, every time I hear a glass break, I picture Joe running out from behind the bar to ask "what happened, who broke it?" Funny to be nostalgic over a $1.65 per hour job (and no tips), but there it is.

Launch party

Well, this launches another chapter in my adventures in cyberspace - my first blog entry, my first blog - period. For those of you in Gen-X or Gen-Y, no biggie, but for those of us in the first half of the Boomer cohort, well it's always catch-up time.

As for "Always on the Bright Side" - that's both a philosophical statement and the title of a Gordon Lightfoot song. The man is 66 tomorrow (happy birthday, Gord!) and keeps on turning out wonderful music. We should all be so blessed to recognize our talents early and follow our bliss (as the late Joseph Campbell would say); that way lies contentment, happiness even in the face of life's vissicitudes.

Well, enough for my trial run ....