Is The Ice Still On The River
In Canada and other nations situated far enough north to have at least three months of winter-like conditions, spring hopes eternal by mid-March. In Toronto, Canada’s largest city, there are hints of better times coming. There are no daffodils, tulips, or cherry blossoms, but bright days of balmy promise start arriving with increasing frequency. Parkas and earmuffs are left in the closet and bootless feet step lightly.
Spirits lift, the universe smiles, and until relatively recently, Gordon Lightfoot performs. For many people in Ontario and a handful of states bordering the Great Lakes, Massey Hall with Gord and his band were synonymous with Spring.
So can it be any more appropriate that a movie about Gord should debut here, on a day when Spring gives Toronto its first tease?
Not To Be Taken Lightly
This is not a bio-pic or a documentary in the usual sense. And it’s as much about one very loyal, if obsessed, fan as it is about Mr. Lightfoot. It’s a collection of scenarios with a vague chronology, dissolving one into another frequently without a segue. This is part of the charm, believe it or not. At times a travelogue, at times a love letter, a spoof or an epiphany, it rolls like the lyric to a Gordon Lightfoot song.
Some Context
I’ve known John and Rose Lee Corcoran for more than thirty years. John has been to literally hundreds of our shows. It’s absolutely astonishing and frankly, a little wierd. Once, when we were playing in New York City, the Wall Street Journal published an article about him. A “Super Fan” likely to get into the Guiness Book of World Records or some such thing.
One of my nicknames in the band is Mr. Tact. During one of the multitude of meet and greets he attended I mentioned that there was medication available that could help him.
Now would be a good time to boast that I’m an excellent judge of character. I’ve honed this talent (as have other members of the band) over many years of meeting people from diverse backgrounds, walks of life, beliefs and temperaments. I’ve been friends with Johnny and Peggy (Rose Lee)since I first met them. I tend to keep my distance for quite a while from people I meet, particularly when they’re too earnest. There was no need to in this case. It’s obvious right away that Johnny wears his heart on his sleeve with no hidden agendas and Rose Lee is too pleasant to be malevolent. So what if John’s got a quirk? More than once he’s bought me a drink or two at the hotel. That’s the way to my heart.
They have three children and I’ve gotten to know the two eldest, Baylee and Brady since filming of the movie began. That was May 18 2016 in Glasgow, the first stop on our tour of the UK and Ireland. We knew that the Corcorans were planning to attend most (maybe all) of the eleven shows and that they would be making a home movie of the event. We had agreed to cooperate, if we could, for things like interviews.
Baylee arrived in Glasgow from Tel Aviv with a film crew. That was our first clue that the project had become a little more ambitious than a couple of reels of Kodak Super 8 and Uncle Harry’s scratchy narrative.
I like it. So does Canada’s prestigious National Film Board who are endorsing it and PRIME which will be streaming it.
