Stompin' Tom became a big star in Canada. He became a member of an elite group of entertainers who did something significant enough to garner immense attention from their fellow citizens. Many were/are much bigger and more well known and even more loved than Tom. There's Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young and on and on.
But Tom's fame is different. Like those mentioned, he's known for his songs and his recordings. But there's a part of the Stompin' Tom fame that has nothing to do with the music. There are the stories behind the man, in particular, the boot. Gordon Lightfoot performed at one of my Stompin' Tom birthday celebrations a few years ago and described the boot as a gimmick. But without it, we might not have paid as much attention to his songs.
Another of the stories that contributed to the fame and changed his life forever is his 14 month gig at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins. As it happens, that residency changed another life forever, Gate Lepine, the bartender who was there the day Tom walked in the door.
The way Gate tells it all these years later, with a tear in his eye, those months turned his life around.
Gate sums it up like this:
"And that's the way it went, week after week, with the name 'Tom Connors' growing around the north. A radio show on CKGB, small records. And I've got the very first one signed and dated. When Tom left, he had a few records, a car, a few bucks and a new guitar. He could afford beer now. Not bah huh? He was still Tom (no Stompin' yet) and he must struggle some more.
But when Tom left, I got the blues. My pal, my drinking buddy, my brother almost. It was sad the way he left. In the long run, it turned out best, to eventually become 'Stompin'.
Yes, he's my brother. Some marriages don't last as long as our friendship. Oh, we've had our arguments. Many in fact, and did they ever get hot! We are total opposites, and I'm not talking about the French and English. He's a night-owl and I'm a day-man, now. I used to swing all night. They didn't call me Swinging Gate for nothing, but we are the opposite for sure.
Tom will re-enter my life again in years to come. But at the moment, he's gone and I've got the blues real bad. It's 1965 and I keep working at the bar. But I've got music in my mind. Real bad. I want to sing and write more songs - and I'm writing a ton."