Gordon Lightfoot?

[dave-O]

I haven't seen this reported anywhere else. Not sure if it's true...

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Singer+songwriter+Gordon+Lightfoot+dead/2582222/story.html

[bouche]

"Sorry, this story is not available."

Though, Google News has some links to "dead at 71".

From soonews

Canadian Music Icon, Gordon Lighfoot has died.

Lightfoot who played Sault Ste. Marie last year and who's career has span over 6 decades passed away today confirms a friend close to the singer songwriter.

Gordon Lightfoot was born on November 17, 1938 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada. His parents recognized and encouraged his interest in music; his first appearance At Massey Hall in Toronto, now a revered standard in his tour schedule, was just before he turned 13, as the winner of a competition for boys with unchanged voices according to a published biography on the entertainer.

Edited February 18, 2010 by Guest

[dave-O]

Weird story. How does stuff like this get published, then pulled?

Iconic Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot has died.

Lightfoot died Wednesday night, according to his friend and fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins.

"He died last night, I've had a couple of phone calls already," Hawkins said Thursday from his home in Peterborough, Ont.

Born in 1938 in Orillia Ontario, Lightfoot began his singing career at the tender age of five by performing I'm a Little Tea Cup at his local church.

He would later take up piano and the drums, and sing in a variety of bands, including a barbershop quartet — all of which would lead to a career as one of the world's most beloved folk-rock singers and a Canadian icon.

In a career that spanned over six decades, Lightfoot became famous for his deep, distinct voice and poetic lyrics. He emerged as one of the premier singer-songwriters of his generation and was heavily influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.

Some of Lightfoot's most famous songs include If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

He was 71.

With files from Victoria Times Colonist

© Copyright © The Vancouver Sun

[bouche]

Gordon Lightfoot LIVES! Looks like Twitter strikes again!

[dave-O]

I love how Ronnie Hawkins was quoted as the source.

[Esau.]

I was just about to post that the rumors of his death were BS. Just a prank - and a not so classy one at that.

Proof twitter makes people stupid.

[Booche]

Proof twitter makes people stupid.

[phishtaper]

but Johnny Depp and Jeff Goldblum are still dead though, right?

[bouche]

Here's the guy who tried to kill Gordon Lightfoot

[Davey Boy 2.0]

where's Lindsay Lohan when you need her!?!?

[Schwa.]

Calculators and Twitter have ruined today's children.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

and you never find porn magazines in bushes anymore, either

[bONES]

I may need this after reading these posts

rope

Date: 2010-02-18, 12:19PM EST

Reply to: sale-srcuk-1606585068@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

large rope about 12 feet long

* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1606585068

[bONES]

Canadian folk icon Gordon Lightfoot is alive and well, says the singer's long-time friend, despite rumours to the contrary which spread quickly on Twitter and were picked up by some mainstream media outlets.

“I'm fine, everything is good. I don't know where it comes from. It seems like a bit of a hoax or something,†the folk icon told all-news station CP24.

“I was quite surprised to hear (it) myself.â€

He went on to joke: “I haven't had so much airplay on my music now for weeks.â€

Globe & Mail

[Davey Boy 2.0]

REBECCA FLEMING The un-news was short-lived. On Feb. 18, the media had legendary Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot dead, then un-dead, within the span of about an hour. That was pretty easy for Mr. Lightfoot to clear up, from his car on the way to the dentist.

But my own good no-name, not so much. I, Rebecca Fleming (heard of me? Didn't think so), have been identified by several news sources as ground zero for the rumour. I, a full-time biologist with two little kids recovering from gastroenteritis, apparently have nothing better to do on a Thursday afternoon in quarantine than to start celebrity death hoaxes.

The idea is kind of appealing in principle - having the time, free headspace and lack of conscience to dream up twisted schemes like this. Not to mention having that kind of clout and credibility.

Can you imagine? Move over, Perez Hilton.

But alas, my sole claim to infamy is that I, @fleminski, was the first to tweet "RIP Gordon Lightfoot." I had heard the news from a mutual friend of Ronnie Hawkins (who, incidentally, introduced my parents to each other). Someone claiming to be Gordon Lightfoot's grandson started the whole business with a prank call to Mr. Hawkins's management. But nobody seems to be interested in him. He used the telephone. And dude, that's just so 20th century.

If you want to spread things fast, Twitter is your friend. Or your enemy, as the case may be.

I was a Twitter nobody with a mere 100 followers, tweeting just for fun, a molecule in the Twitter sea. But 10 minutes after I posted that seemingly innocent tweet, I got a call from a CanWest reporter.

I pretty much had the feeling of floating above my body when I realized the magnitude of what I had done. But my first thought wasn't, "What if it isn't true?" It was, "What if his family doesn't know yet?" The reporter assured me she had heard the rumour elsewhere and needed a source, so I spilled. Then I set about protecting my tweets in a vain attempt to stop the spread of the news. Not long afterward, I got a tweet from @rootsmusicanada, who had confirmed that Gordon Lightfoot was alive and well. After a brief moment with my head between my knees, trying to maintain consciousness, I posted an apologetic retraction, which went out to, well, nobody, because my tweets were protected.

Around the same time, I started seeing "RIP Gordon Lightfoot" everywhere. On Facebook, on Twitter and, oh my gosh, in the news.

I panicked. I deleted my Twitter account outright (RIP @fleminski) and turned off my computer in the hope that it would all just go away.

It didn't.

By the time I went back online, Gordon Lightfoot was officially undead (phew!) and the witch hunt was on (uh-oh!). Media guru and sleuth Ian Capstick was hot on my trail, and even had my picture and the dreaded tweet in question on his blog. Commenters were gleefully posting personal information about me: my full name, where I lived, whom I worked for. So I did what anybody in my situation would do.

I opened a bottle of wine, and began to drink.

Meanwhile, Ronnie Hawkins, Gordon Lightfoot's production company and the media were unable to make any kind of connection between the phone-call hoax and my tweet, and nobody was quite sure which came first. Of course, @fleminski was nowhere to be found. But never mind that.

In reality, my tweet was a pop rock compared to respected CanWest journalist David Akin's atomic bomb. He innocently tweeted, to his many journalist followers, a CanWest alert: "Gordon Lightfoot has died, sources close to the singer say." Kaboom.

You can figure out the rest.

In the wake of Lightfoot's good-humoured resurrection, a huge blamestorm blew through the media and blogosphere, and few seemed to be able to get the story straight. People largely blamed Twitter and lack of journalistic integrity. And they blamed little old me.

Hardly anybody seemed to care about the prankster who started this whole thing with a call to Mr. Hawkins's management. But I'm betting even he is surprised at the magnitude of the outcome.

I think this all boils down to the fact that we're human. It's not unusual for people to die. And we're inherently gullible, especially when we have no reason to doubt the story or the source. Ronnie Hawkins believed his management. CanWest and I believed Ronnie Hawkins.

David Akin believed CanWest. The rest of the media believed David Akin. Thankfully, Gordon Lightfoot didn't believe the radio, or he wouldn't have made it to his dentist appointment.

Though I wasn't the origin of this hoax, I know that I acted as a significant and unwitting catalyst, and for that I am deeply sorry.

I am glad that Gordon Lightfoot lives on to sing about the things that make us all human. Our passions, our fears and, most of all, our mistakes.

Rebecca Fleming lives in Ottawa.

[Northern Wish]

I hope I don't have to write something like that to the skanks about Levon Helm.

[phishtaper]

Yessir, he's alive and well and playing at Hamilton Place tonight. Some decent tix are now available.

[Velvet]

If Lightfoot does happen to die in the next few months nobody will dare to report it.

[phishtaper]

I'm just hoping he lasts for at least another 12 hours ...