CBC Radio is now reporting that his death was a hoax. Still, it reminds me that I need to pull out my guitar and learn "Rainy Day People". 

why not check first? this is lame 

Dear Lana. Why not check first? Actually, I would have, but I seem to have misplaced his number. 

Dear Mike:
That's your excuse? Yeee-eeeks. Let's try to give web publishing more credibility, OK? 

MEDIA ALERT
This is the official statement:

Internet Prank is not true. Gordon Lightfoot alive and well.

For Immediate Release, Thursday, February 18, 2010


B.C. Fiedler Management, Gordon Lightfoot’s concert tour promoters officially confirm that the legendary singer-songwriter is alive and in good health. The statement is being made in response to viral internet rumours that have been reporting Lightfoot’s death. This report is false and completely without merit.

“This is just an unfortunate prank,” confirms long-time friend and promoter Bernie Fiedler. “Gordon has just visited his dentist and is now working in his office where he just gave an interview to 680 News Radio. He’s in good shape and is baffled by the speed at which this incorrect information has taken hold”.

The source of this unfortunate rumour has not been confirmed.

This Spring, Gordon Lightfoot will perform live in this, his 5th decade of touring, on a 12-city Spring 2010 Tour of Eastern Canada, Quebec, and Ontario. The first stop on Lightfoot’s Spring 2010 Tour kicks off on March 29th and 30th with concerts at the Holy Heart Theatre in St. John’s, and continues through the Maritimes with concerts slated for Corner Brook, Halifax, Moncton, Saint John (NB), and then on to Quebec City and Montreal. The Ontario dates include 2 nights at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, followed by stops in Kingston, Peterborough, Hamilton and finally on April 15th at the John Labatt Centre in London. 

There was no official statement at the time we originally posted. But being aware that these things are often false, we didn't just declare him dead the way every other media outlet in the country did.
Oh, and I lost his number which is why I couldn't contact him and his manager directly. Note to all of you: keep away from Crown Royal.  

Geez, now I don't know what to believe. Twitter says Lightfoot is dead, Lightfoot is on TV saying he's not. Guess we'll have to wait for the Toronto Star, where they know EVERTHING, to find out for sure. 

I got the Georgia Straight's twitter with the link to this article, one hour AFTER it had already been retracted by the CBC and widely reported elsewhere that the story was indeed a hoax. The story was pulled and proved to be false at approx 2:53 pm ET, and your tweet went out at 4:00 pm repeating the false rumour. Fact check much????  

and btw, if indeed this HAD been true, what a completely disrespectful way to report it, with your PUN on his Sundown lyric. Your reporting is appalling. 

LOUSY excuse, Usinger, that you couldn't find his manager's number. Try GOOGLE, or any number of industry directories. Besides, by the time you posted this, there were plenty of "other media outlets in the country" who had already dispelled the rumour. If you're going to write about the fact that everybody jumps on a rumour, at least do it with some jabs at the media and the internet, but show some regard for the person-- a Canadian LIVING legend-- who was erroneously declared dead. A-hole. 

Still as lightfooted as ever last time I checked . The only info that is correct is ....My age is 71 and still kicking ,,,& singing .
GL.
Go Canada Go ! 

is this what passes for journalism now? reprinting a rumour that had already been retracted by other major outlets? then the oh-so "witty" writer comments on his own article TWICE, saying he couldn't be bothered to find a source or a check his facts before running it? wow, this is a new low. shoddy, disrespectful and lazy reporting. 

one thing is for sure, idiotic CanWest didn't do ANY fact checking before they lit up all their newspaper websites with the report.
stephen elliott-buckley
http://PoliticsReSpun.org 

In a world where the internet allows everyone to be a reporter, I have to agree (as a member of the "cyberglobal press") that the reporting in this article was both lazy and flippant.