Nov. 03--- we've been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for our new Folk Opera "Hardscrabble Road"... which had its debut in Guelph at the end of October.... here are just a few of the great letters that we received after our three-night run!
Honey, You done good!
Its beautiful, elegant, the right length (always iffy) and SO TOUCHING!! The talent is prodigious. So glad those two cameras were covering it. Hardscrabble Road MUST CONTINUE!!!
A fan. xx oo Dinah Christie
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This afternoon, I was fortunate to part of the first-ever public audience for James Gordon's "Hard Scrabble Road" at the River Run Centre here in Guelph. James has written a wonderfully thought-provoking and educational production which is also very entertaining - and touching. The music and lyrics were interpreted beautifully and passionately by James and a very talented cast of local musicians which included our own mapleposters Nonie Crete, Ken Brown, Ryan Schneider; who all did us proud! If you're within driving distance of Guelph, I encourage you to catch the first run of this fine folk opera about homelessness and the world we currently live in - before it hits the road. Bring your friends; bring your favourite politicians (oxymoron) - better still, bring your *least* favourite politicians!! Congratulations, James & the gang You all deserved that standing ovation : ) Brenda L.
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james, thank you SO much for writing, producing and directing this. i don't want to sound melodramatic but, really, your work gave me hope. thank you so much. and yes, i really did laugh and i really did cry. here's what i sent to the list: went to see james' folk musical this afternoon,how can one musical be gritty, courageous and bold while (really!), making me laugh and cry.i loved it and am proud to have james as a member of this list. after seeing the thanks to his 'activist friends' on the programme, i felt duty bound to grab a sign and get up on stage.dammit if he didn't give me about $10 (US) while i was up there.dammit if he didn't try to take it out of my hands later on, but i put up a good fight.bring lots of money to throw into the guitar case in the beginning and in the collection for the food bank later on.my only criticism is of myself, that i didn't have the courage to do as he requested in the programme ". . .Get involved! Shout encouragement to the actors!. Boo the villain! Cheer for the heroes! Make comments out loud!"for those of you going to later shows, screw up your courage and please, make amends for me. i'm sure everyone on stage would feed on it. i guess i'd also quibble about whether it was a folk musical or not. loved some of the what i thought was pretty rockin' music there too! thank you james!
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Hear! Hear! Dickensian strategy with 21st century music. Bravo, James!
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Les and I went tonight and just loved it. On the one had it's hard to "enjoy" a musical about poverty and globalization, but we did. And it was quite an empowering thing to witness. The ensemble cast was excellent. You rock James. There are still seats left for tomorrow night and Saturday and if any of you haven't already got tickets, may I humbly suggest you get your ass down to the River Run? TOm KB
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I had a great time at the play, it was my first ever musical and you can be sure it wont be my last. You were very funny, had an amazing voice and the play simply captivated a good evening. Good work to you and all the cast, Thanks for a great time, Andrew.
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Just got back from seeing "Hardscrabble Road" and wanted to congratulate you on an excellent job! It was an amazing musical, you and the cast did an incredible job. It must be very rewarding to see your creation go from inception to standing ovation!
Maybe you will take the show on the road and we will get to see it again here in the Niagara Peninsula. Jack Custers Cogeco Television
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Thank you, James, for a moving and inspiring evening.
Extraordinary. Dennis Galon
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We went to see Hardscrabble Road on Thursday night and it was excellent. Good music, good songs and a good time. What really impressed me was how many excellent musicians we have right here in Guelph, or not very far away. This was especially evident when we look at this show and the one Meg & Lorenz put on last Saturday for Karen. James Gordon. Nonie Crete. Jeff Bird. Ken Brown. Sandy Horne. Kevin Breit. Randall Coryell. Stephen Fearing. Howie Southwood. Amy Nodwell. Ryan Schneider. Lois Cherry. Evan Gordon. Nick Craine. The list can get much longer. How many cities our size have so many excellent musicians living in or around it? It's a great show, James. Take it on the road for Christmas. Shake some people up.
Alan Pickersgill
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Just saw Hardscrabble Road. It was inspiring and beautifully performed. If you haven't seen it yet, get a ticket for Saturday's show. James and his fantastic cast of musicians deserve your support, and you will be wonderfully entertained. DON'T MISS IT! t.o. Alan--
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So glad to see that you are all enjoying Hardscrabble Road. I must add that my own youngest just 14 and his friend attended on Thurs at the matinee.They loved it too. Not often we can all enjoy something of such high quality together. James, I love you for your committment to the community and to social justice. See you at the RR tonight. Maggie, you can wave from the front row. I knew better!! Chris
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Well, obviously your show was a great hit as it was sold out when I got there with my friends. I am very happy for you, but I was extremely upset that we couldn't get in Carolyn
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Hi James,
I got a chance to see your show Sat night and had a great time. There are some real classics there...I really liked the Golf song! The crowd seemed to be a bit on the older side...a lot of them must have been squirming in their chairs.
Anyhow, good luck with it in the future. Dave
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Hi James,
I'm writing to let you that I enjoyed Hardscrabble Road very much. You had something relevant to say and you said it well, powerfully and, of course, musically.
I know this is a big change in direction for you and a big gamble. You may have some problems getting it performed by others but I suspect that it is only those who feel a little uncomfortable about what you have to say that will object after seeing it. I really think that you can find an audience and hope you have success getting it on the road.
Thanks for a great evening!
Tim
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I want to congratulate you and the cast for the hard work and amazingling creative performance. Sharon, Frazer and me were there at opening night and we enjoyed the production immensely. James, you are a very talented songwriter esp when it comes to themes, I am so impressed with the irony in your songs,,, ie: 'whos the cheap whore now' was on the money man, excuse the pun. Also, the Nike song was my second favourite. I don't know where you found the time to get this thing together but once again congratulations and I hope it gets to tour.
Mike Nagy
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Dear James, We loved your opera, the music, talented actors and the message
that went with it. It was inspiring and exciting.
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James: It was absolutely fabulous. At the box office, just before last night's performance, people were begging for tickets and they were sold old.I was wishing I could tape it for you. There were several people who said they were very good friends of yours and you would vouch for them and they should get in. It was quite funny. I've not enjoyed a night at the theatre, as much as last night, in many years. Chris
And now, some mail about just plain regular old James concerts:
After a recent NY state Kid's concert:
Hi James!
I've been meaning to write you for a while!!! My daughter, Amy, is four years old...and
she and I came to see you in your ONE New York gig (Ticonderoga, NY) this past July
and we just LOOOOOOOOOOVED it!!! We were only able to catch the kids
show...butI hear that the "adult" show the night before was "killer" too...and now
that I know how talented you and Sandy are, I'm sorry I missed it!!
I'm in a band called "Blues-O-Saurus"...and we actually PLAY a song of
yours (the ultimate flattery for a musician, right?) ....We play "Wild Boy of Borneo" as my
daughter just LOVESit...and the Bo Diddley beat fits the blues band that I"m in just fine!
We bought your Children's CD (yellow cover ) and just LOVE it! My wife is sooooooooooo sorry that she missed the show..but we just had daughter number 2 DAYS before seeing you...so she was "kinda busy" with thenewborn.
Anyway, I'm am going to SERIOUSLY lobby to get a few gigs for you guys
down here in "upstate, NY" (Albany area) where we live...and just wanted to tell you
that we just LOVE your band! (Your son Evan is great on that album too....and my daughter
Amy and I are constantly saying "there's Sandy" when we hear the GREAT backing vocals
on the CD!) Keep up the GREAT work, ayy ! :)
A Verrrrrrrrrrrry Big fan in Upstate, NY!,
First up: from perhaps the farthest-flung recipient of my new "One Timeless Moment" CD:
thank You so much for perfectly brilliant One Timeless Moment!!! Splendid
work! Incredibly bright impression! We were really glad and proud touch
James Gordon's sincere, clean and clear creation. Please hand our sincere
thanks to James for piece of his heart contained in his wonderful music.
Much friendly love from Siberia. Serge Tikhanoff
Next- I've got for you the coolest letter I've had in a while... Many of you are familiar with my song "Sweaters For Penguins"--- well I received this letter from Australia from the "Inventor" of the sweaters... explaining how it works... how wrong I got all the details, and how she has 10,000 of the little sweaters in a warehouse! She writes:
Hi,
I work at the Phillip Island Nature Park south of Melbourne in southern Australia and am responsible for the sweaters for penguins. There are a couple of things wrong with James' notes on the lyrics page of "Sweaters for Penguins".
We invented the sweaters (we call them jumpers) because we are constantly getting oiled penguins into our wildlife hospital. We care for one of the largest colonies of the smallest version of the penguin species (Little Blue eudyptula minor). We are an ecotourism place where people come to see the little guys run up the beach and into the habitat to their burrows at dusk every day of the year.
When penguins become oiled (usually by bilge pumping into the ocean around Bass Strait), their feathers clog up and allow water into their skin. The bird then either drowns quickly or tries to clean the stuff off, hence poisoning itself.
When we receive the bird, often it is too thin and weak to wash straight away, so we put the sweaters on the birds so that they won't preen themselves and also, to keep them warmer as they lose their thermoregulation when they are so ill.
As soon as the penguin is strong enough to wash, they are quickly washed in detergent, thoroughly rinsed and then endure between a few days up to 4 weeks of feeding and rewaterproofing themselves. (The washing process upsets their feathers and removes their preen oils, so they have to realign and recondition each feather and can't be released until they are fully waterproof.)
When I invented the sweaters, I asked one person to knit me a few so that I would have maybe 100 in readiness in case of an oil spill. Instead, word got out and the entire world started sending them to us. Now, there are 2 storage areas in Australia holding upwards of 10,000 sweaters!!!
One of our rangers (Richard) is working in one of your national parks for a year and he came across the song. He sent me the lyrics and we were all thrilled with it!!
We are all now waiting to actually hear the song which, hopefully, Richard is buying and will bring home with him in November.
Please thank James for writing the song, but also, clear up the anomalies in the blurb. We do not put sweaters on Antarctic penguins in the water on an iceberg!!!!!!
Cheers Marg
Marg Healy
Wildlife Rehabilitation Officer
Phillip Island Nature Park
hi james. my name is chloe and im aan 8th grader from santa monica CA. in my honors english class, we were assigned to choose a poem protesting a clear injustice towards society. i decided to do a song so i searched the internet looking for one of interest. your song 'bomb them with butter' completely amazed me. i thought, i have to right my essay on this song. i just wanted to congragulate you on it becuase it is a very controversial issue and most people would be to scared to take a stand. your lyrics are so satirical and full of irony but i have yet to listen to the actual song. i had never heard of you before today and i am so thankfull that you have an internet website. thank you once again and i will be sure to tell all my friends about you! your new fan Chloe
I was making Christmas pies yesterday, enjoying Basic Black as I do every Sat AM when your song "Spleen Readin' Man" came on. Well, I thought I would just lose it right there - it was so funny! And when you got to the part about Paul Martin and the recession, oh my goodness- I was doubled over clutching my chest with floury hands!!You are a very funny guy! I would (and have!) easily pay money to see a comedy act than a straight music act, so I guess that's why your talent appeals to me. I have been a faithful listener of both you and Arthur for quite some time. I especially liked your mosiac of every good folk song in the history of modern civilization. It was great! Keep up the great work. I always look forward to your latest takes on weird stuff.
Gisele McKnight Sussex, N.B.
Your song "Christmas All Year is really a blessing at this time of year. In our neck of the woods (near Sault Ste. Marie) it,s nearly dark at 5:00pm. It can be really depressing. It is good to be reminded that this really is the season of a "triumph of light over darkness, a victory of hope over despair. I,m pushing 50 years old, so of course I,ve known many good songs over the years. I still love to listen to such legendary names as The Beatles; Peter, Paul & Mary, Lightfoot; The Beach Boys; Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.
There are many good songs, so how to pick the ones that are really great? I think emotions make the difference. It,s the songs that consistently bring tears to my eyes that I count as the greatest songs of all time. So here (in alphabetical order) are Don,s picks for the greatest songs of all time:
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Christmas All Year
Hey Jude
Seek Ye First
The Ode to Joy
White Squall
Days of Sun and Wind
(James notes: I'd completely forgotten that I had written the second
greatest song of all time!)
I'm one of your many darkened figures applauding in the audience. Just wanted to let you know I
am still re-living the magnificent spring 2001 gig you and Sandy did in the little basement hall
below the library,Harriston Ont. Thanks, you bring a little mind provocation and many
smiles....yea, I'm still smirking at those penguin- sweater- knitting volunteers!
I've been keeping track of you now for some time, but am not in Ottawa when you've been in the area, unfortunately, and I don't always hear Basic Black. Maybe it was the Stuart and Lillian song that made me sit up and take notice; I'm very picky about senses-of-humours (an original term I'm sure) and don't have time for a lot of stuff that's supposed to be funny...but you sure have the right balance of sense of humour and brilliance when it comes to putting a song together. One -of - a- kind, I guess you might say. That "generic funeral " thing is about the best there is!! Then of course there's the sensitivity and the romanticism in your "Frozen in Frobisher Bay" ( probably my favourite). So, what I'm trying to say I guess, is that you have a special gift, and there aren't many Canadian song-writers around these days, since Stan Rogers left us; maybe just you and James Keelighan (I can never get his name right, but you know who I mean!) and of course Ian Bell, who wrote that Please Mr. Atlas song (the little boy who finds an old comic with the Charles Atlas ad, and sends off the dime...).
"Your music has been woven into the fabric of my life. My collection of your music overflows with records, tapes, and CD's. I completely wore out one tape that I played at least twice a day in my car during a particularly challenging time in my life. I don't remember the name now but I think there may have been a picture of a teddy bear on the cover. My theme song during that time .."and so will we yet, and so will we yet, for we've been together many and year and so will we yet" ... was a constant reminder to keep hope and faith.
I put on James Gordon music (SGB, all the incarnations of Tamarak and solo) when I'm down. I put on James Gordon music when I'm feeling great. However I'm feeling, your music touches a place in me that is unpolluted by the craziness of life's happenings. A smile comes to my face and I celebrate life, love, and joy.
My heart swells with pleasure every time I hear you on CBC radio. It often happens that it's just on in the background while I'm doing something else. But even at a low volume in the background, if James Gordon sings, I snap to attention. For those few precious moments all of the "busy-ness" stops, only *now* exists and I just listen and I am purely happy.
Thanks for all the history - those songs that bring to life a moment in time long past. History made real and dear to the heart. I've learned a great deal.
Thanks for all the amazing silliness on Basic Black. Lost socks and penguin sweaters and the travels of Granddad's barn never had such moving tributes as those."
To keep things even-- I've included a "non-fan" letter too, a complaint about my song "men don't clean toilets"---
"Bit of good stuff, and then the complaint. I've enjoyed your music since I worked
on site crew, in the mid-80's, at the folk festival in Guelph (two years in a row). I
still enjoy your music and talk on Basic Black.
However, yes, a serious complaint. I don't lie, and I do toilets! I feel like a
witness being asked "When did you stop beating your wife?"
Worse is the fact that you are pandering to seemingly "progressive" audiences
by furthering male stereotypes. Would you say that woman don't do plumbing,
or woman don't do oil changes? Of course not.And you know well that many
men actually do a lot of things (including regular changing of diapers!) that you
claim, in your writing, that we don't.
You are pandering, looking for cheap laughs, applause, and approval from so-
called progressives who justify themselves by demeaning men. James, I would
have liked to have thought that you were really progressive, not the reactionary
that your song discloses.
And, received on the same day, this note about "Men don't Clean Toilets"--
On behalf of the Ladies of Trinity Lutheran Church, Thalberg, Manitoba, thank you so much for the copy of the music. The ladies are quite excited about doing this during the Kidney Foundation Benefit and last night were planning what to wear, etc.
Thank you again.
This was a 'fan phone call' actually--- an older gentleman found one of my CD's in a pawn shop. ( A PAWN SHOP! WHO WOULD PAWN ONE OF MY ALBUMS? WHAT DID THE PAWNBROKER GIVE HIM FOR IT?) --- anyway , he said
" I just wanted to tell you that i like your stuff, and that from what I've heard you are reviled by some of the best people in showbusiness!"
( I'm hoping he got his words mixed up!)
Home James, Before your head gets too big!