Don’t Bother Texting Gordon Lightfoot

I've always thought Gordon Lightfoot was one of the great songwriters of the past half century or so. I've always admired the writers, people like Kris Kristofferson, Ed Bruce, Shel Silverstein and others. Lightfoot would be in that same crowd.

I guess I first 'discovered' Gordon Lightfoot back in my High School days. Songs like 'If You Could Read My Mind' just seemed so perfect, words strung together in such a great way.

Then, when I worked at KWYR in Winner, S.D., he came out with 'Sundown', a great song that crossed musical formats. There was 'Carefree Highway' and of course the almost historical song 'Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald'.

I had the great fortune to see Gordon Lightfoot back in the late 80's at a theatre at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City. Just him and his guitar and his words. Sitting on a stool in front of a couple thousand people, weaving his way through his life...and ours.

Now according to the Associated Press, it turns out Lightfoot isn't exactly what you'd call a 'tech-geek'. Hey, another reason to like Gordon Lightfoot!

(AP) - Gordon Lightfoot will not respond to texts. He doesn't have a cellphone. He doesn't even have an email account.

What he does have is an assistant in an office in Toronto who handles all that for him. Lightfoot says he goes to the office every day and his assistant tells him what's going on with the Internet.

Fans can contact Lightfoot the old-fashioned way: by coming up and talking to him. He says he's happy to chat for a few minutes to anyone who stops him on the street, and fans often spot him at the gym that's near his office.