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Article
as posted on Pollstar (not mentioned here is the Massey Hall engagement
set for next May. Refer to 2005 tour schedule for dates):
Two
years after suffering an aneurysm and a coma, Gordon Lightfoot is
preparing to tour again, beginning
with a couple of benefit concerts this year and an April jaunt through California and Nevada.
Lightfoot
was about to take the stage in his hometown of Orillia,
Ontario,
in September 2002. He had
just driven from Toronto
and told people he wasn't feeling well when he collapsed in his dressing room.
An aneurysm had filled his abdominal cavity with blood,
putting
pressure on his lungs and on the
vital organs.
The
65-year-old singer was airlifted to McMaster
University Medical
Centre in Hamilton,
Ontario. After
extensive surgeries, he was induced into coma for six to eight weeks to
heal and prepare for reconstructive surgery. He remained bedridden for
three months.
"He
worked on his album," longtime manager Barry Harvey told Pollstar. "He
had done his vocal and guitar tracks. ... Daily, [the band] would take
the disc over to his hospital room and they'd play the tracks. He
orchestrated the album basically from his hospital bed."
Harvey said Lightfoot is functioning at "98
percent" and is anxious to go back to work. They planned the April
tour, booked by M.P.I. Talent Agency, to coincide with warm weather.
The singer/songwriter has rarely toured extensively, and the 10 dates
next spring (including Las Vegas' Orleans Arena and Los Angeles'
Cerritos
Center)
would be considered his average run.
"Right
now he's dealing with a lot of personal issues," Harvey said. "Being down for so long,
there's a lot that gets ignored, but he's rehearsing with a band and
trying to get back into playing shape and get the band tight again. He
may be writing for all I know, but it's not something I'm privy to."
The
manager said they'll assess Lightfoot's situation after the April tour.
In the meantime, the Canadian icon is doing two shows at Ontario's Hamilton Place November 28-29 for
McMaster
University
Medical Centre and the staff involved in his care.
In
Canada, the
press has been driving Harvey
"nuts," he said, trying to get information on
Lightfoot's
condition.
"I
keep telling them to go away, to be honest with you," he said. "I'm a
Canadian and a die-hard one at that, but we're still only a 2 percent
market here and I've done more press in Canada in the past year
than I've done the past 10 years.
"Everybody
obviously wants to know how he is; he's a revered son of Canada.
We may lose focus of that after all these years but a lot of Canadians
don't."
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