From Bob Dylan’s recent interview about his new album:

BF: Who are some of your favorite songwriters?

Bob Dylan: Buffett I guess. Lightfoot. Warren Zevon. Randy. John Prine. Guy Clark. Those kinds of writers.

BF: You and Lightfoot go way back.

Bob Dylan: Oh yeah. Gordo’s been around as long as me.

BF: What are your favorite songs of his?

Bob Dylan: “Shadows,” “Sundown,” “If You Could Read My Mind.” I can’t think of any I don’t like.

I got tickets for four different concerts before I ran out of money.  I had hoped to add Better Than Ezra to the list, but the bathroom remodel is already over budget!

Here are our plans:

• The Dead – Buffalo, NY, April 21 – My second Dead show; sad I never got to see them before Jerry died.
• Gordon Lightfoot – Chautauqua, NY, July 24: It’s our anniversary.  It’s also the first venue I ever saw a concert at (1993), and that concert was Gordon Lightfoot.
• Peter, Paul and Mary – Bethel, NY, July 31: I grew up listening to this trio, but never saw a show.
• Phish – Darien Lake, NY, April 13: My wife’s a huge fan. I like their music, but this will be my first Phish show.

Should be a fun concert season.

“Every time I hear a Gordon Lightfoot song, I wish it would never end.”  ~ Bob Dylan

Had my dad not popped in an old “Gord’s Gold” tape when I was 11 years old, I would have continued ignoring the whole subject of music for who knows how long.  Gord rocks, despite the fact that he’s a folk musician, and that he’s almost 70, and that he can’t sing like he used to.  

Lightfoot is coming to Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, NY on September 21st, and there’s a pre-sale, um, sale starting tomorrow morning at 10am.  My dad’s buying the tickets.  We will see the Gord.  Oh, yes, we will see the Gord.

This will be my 6th Lightfoot concert.  Can’t wait.  He’s finally decided that he can’t do “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” anymore, as evidenced by recent setlists, but there will still be the regular list of classic folk tunes (“If You Could Read My Mind,” “The Wreck,” “Early Morning Rain”), a few songs from Waiting for You (my favorite), and hopefully an odd addition here or there – some non-single that he hasn’t played in a long time.  It will definitely be a good night; probably just me, my dad, and my brothers.

Taking a quick break from writing, I just went looking for a Gordon Lightfoot page on Facebook for mindless fun. The biggest group had something like 350 members, and all the others had far, far less. So I thought to myself, as you would think to yourself, “This has got to be the best group, and all the others must be not very good, since everyone joins this one. So I clicked, and read the group’s description (warning: strong language):

This guy is the shit. He is the greatest songwriter of all time and deserves the upmost respect.

Intelligent. I think I’ll not join that particular group.