| Author | Message | ||
     Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 525 Registered: 05-2005 |
Eighty years old, and still producing wonderful music. He's been part of my inner soundtrack for over thirty years. I earned the nickname "Mrs Cohen" from some at college, for my very vocal defence of him, when friends described his music as depressing. While they may have used the nickname as a joke, I was more than happy to wear it. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1070 Registered: 10-2006 |
An honour, really. You can always tell a dolt when they describe such a witty, inspiring & sensuous writer as "depressing". | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 918 Registered: 04-2005 |
His concert in Toulouse a few years ago was one of the best I've ever seen. I've usually found French audiences not terribly responsive, but the level of emotion as he jogged onto the stage was palpable. He had a standing ovation for 5 minutes before even uttering a word. And he was equally generous in terms of both performance and credit to his musicians. If you've never seen it please watch Tony Palmer's documentary "Bird on a Wire" (from the '72 tour of Europe). Amazing piece of work, espcially the final gig in Tel Aviv. It seems to be on YouTube (with German subtitles) | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3412 Registered: 03-2005 |
Irish people describing Leonard Cohen as "depressing"!?!?!?!? Like the Irish, Jewish people have a Jungian archetype for understanding the relationship between bitter and sweet and ever-lurking hypocrisy. Cohen's songs embody it better than anyone else I can recall. After all he was a poet before a songwriter. What I particularly love is that he announced that he's started smoking again. Like Christopher Hitchens he will end his life with grace. Always wonderful to see your posts on here Catherine. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 278 Registered: 05-2005 |
Like the librarian in 'Karen', Catherine always makes the right choice while the boys oogle like '18 year old Robert Forsters'. | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 527 Registered: 05-2005 |
I read an interview with him about two years ago, where he said he'd given up smoking because he thought his voice range would go back up a bit, but it got even deeper! Still has the gift of that golden voice he was born with, even if it's now gold-plated gravel.. I'm guessing his last gig I saw was part of that same tour, Andrew. A really special show. And the Irish fans didn't let the side down either, when it came to standing ovations! I'll check out that film, thanks for the heads-up. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1072 Registered: 10-2006 |
I see the excellent documentary "Songs from the life of" Leonard Cohen has also been uploaded - for some reason never rereleased on DVD. I had the video but left it with a (soon to be) ex and never saw it again. Very good concert clips & some nice moments of nostalgia on Hydra. |