"In a pursuit like rock ’n’ roll, which is entirely devoted to redemption, Cohen’s ideas were not only old but radical. His peers all insisted that salvation was at hand. To go to a Doors concert was to stare at the lithe messiah undressing on stage and believe that it was entirely possible to break on through to the other side. To see Cohen play was to gawk at an aging Jew telling you that life was hard and laced with sorrow but that if we love each other and fuck one another and have the mad courage to laugh even when the sun is clearly setting, we’ll be just all right. To borrow a metaphor from a field never too far from Cohen’s heart, theology, Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, and the rest were all good Christians, and they set themselves up as the redeemers who had to die for the sins of their fans. Cohen was a Jew, and like Jews he believed that salvation was nothing more than a lot of hard work and a small but sustainable reward."
That article contains a wonderful story about how he calmed a hostile audience in the middle of the night at a festival in 1970. I recommend it. (Search for "Isle of Wight", the story starts there.)
Thank you for sharing this. If anybody wants a tear in their eye, read this article while listening to his latest album. And, optionally, a glass of wine.
I saw Leonard Cohen on his last tour. He opened every show on the tour by saying "I don’t know if we’ll meet again, but tonight we’ll give you everything we got."
About 4 years ago I was scanning my twitter timeline and I noticed someone posted a picture from a Leonard Cohen concert that night in Montreal. What?!? I hadn't heard anything about it and my heart sank. After a frantic search I found out he was playing the next night and I bought myself a ticket.
I went by myself, which is unusual for me when it comes to concerts. He played for 3 hours and needless to say, it was incredible.
During "Suzanne", the room (a hockey arena) was completely dark except for a spotlight shining up from below casting a giant shadow behind him. Combined with such a haunting song it made for one of the most beautiful musical experiences of my life.
That turned out to be the last time he played here and I'm so thankful to have gotten a chance to hear him play his songs.
Way too many great lines to quote, but these ones comfort me:
"But you'll be hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone
I'll be speaking to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song"
EDIT: I found a video from a different concert that gives a better idea of what it looked like, though the link above is a better performance imo, + much better audio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgt62vls3o
(also love the single comment, which I ran through google translate: "What is still the magic of this man? I am not a sentimental dragon, but it goes straight to the heart.")
> During "Suzanne", the room (a hockey arena) was completely dark except for a spotlight shining up from below casting a giant shadow behind him. Combined with such a haunting song it made for one of the most beautiful musical experiences of my life.
I think that what got me from the concert (which I saw in Chicago) was when he dropped to his knees to sing. What a privilege it was to see such a giant perform.
RIP. Those looking to try Cohen for the first time (or wanting to rediscover him) should listen to Live in London (2009), which IMHO is one of the best live albums ever. Great songs and some witty banter in between.
80 is my threshold digit for sadness. If you reached it without long debilitating condition or traumatic life, then, at least if I had the pleasure to get there, no complaints.
I never thought about this ... I've always wanted to smoke (the mechanics of the whole thing please(s) me on some level) but I suffer from asthma and a mild disinclination to lung cancer. Mind you, when I say "smoke", I mean the real thing, not vaping.
Don't mind me, though. I hope I outgrow this at some point.
From asthmatic to asthmatic, I never liked the slightest thing about smoking. Maybe the shape .. that's it. Last year I had a health accident, cardiovascular and lung in deep trouble, and for some reason, all of a sudden I started having strong smoking envy. Considering I avoided smoking because of asthma, being in lower health condition made these "cravings" somehow absurd. But there was something smoking represented: inhaling a gas that made your mind peaceful, just like proper breathing does, and my health deprived me of this, so smoking felt like the only substitute.
It's a widely held sentiment that 2016 has killed more long-running celebrities than any other year. Is there any factual basis to this, or is it just confirmation bias?
I read someplace that the phenomenon of modern celebrities and the communication networks / styles necessary to develop those celebrities started to take off at a time that coincides with those ever-increasing numbers of celebrities to reach their terminal years now. Unfortunately I cannot find the original source, but perhaps somebody else knows what it was.
I think there were a few celebrity deaths that were really unexpected, especially Prince (who died of an accidental drug overdose) and David Bowie (who hadn't revealed he had cancer and outwardly seemed to be healthy and active), so they hit people especially hard.
And those came on top of the incredibly bitter political situation in the U.S., the Brexit vote and refugee-related strife in the E.U., rising authoritarianism in Russia and China, and a number of high-profile terrorist attacks and some serious natural disasters.
Maybe related to a special post war period that gave birth to icons so many of us shared through the rised of nascent mainstream mass scale medias.
More than a dreadful year, it's also the passing of a generation, of a world. Sometimes I think that we had it too easy and we produced nothing good as a replacement for being somehow spoiled brats.
Interestingly, I was thinking about him on the subway just before surfacing to see above thread pop up. Very glad that I got to catch up on his bio (and to see him live a few years back) before his departure.
"Hineni" means "here I am" in a literal sense too - Cohen happens to be making a biblical/spiritual reference there, but like most lines from the (Hebrew) bible, the language is very plain and straightforward.
If you haven't heard his songs, either the early folky ones or the post-80s electronic-ballads, definitely check them out. They are songs for grown-ups (he started his career as a singer around 34 years old after all).
Big fan of Leonard Cohen, big loss. I think his Isle of Wight performance is one of the greatest of all time considering what was going on the crowd and how he used his showmanship and calming music to turn things around:
RIP. Listening to his brand new release You Want It Darker (via Spotify HQ on my Audio Technica ADG1Xs, Soundblaster ZXR sound card). I can't get over the quality of the production and how utterly perfect his voice still is .. right until the very end. In light of recent events, this song is uncanny. What a masterpiece to finish a magnificent career.
Interesting, and a stellar job. I could easily see this becoming a reference track / album for hi-fi affectionados, bringing depths and detail to my new headset that I didn't know it had. (I upgraded a few months ago from the ATH-ADG1s.)
146 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 197 ms ] threadhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/10/1...
Which was quickly followed by:
http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/10/leonard-cohen-no-longe...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqq-zAkGy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FeZe5P803c
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/89715...
The quote that stood out the most for me:
"In a pursuit like rock ’n’ roll, which is entirely devoted to redemption, Cohen’s ideas were not only old but radical. His peers all insisted that salvation was at hand. To go to a Doors concert was to stare at the lithe messiah undressing on stage and believe that it was entirely possible to break on through to the other side. To see Cohen play was to gawk at an aging Jew telling you that life was hard and laced with sorrow but that if we love each other and fuck one another and have the mad courage to laugh even when the sun is clearly setting, we’ll be just all right. To borrow a metaphor from a field never too far from Cohen’s heart, theology, Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, and the rest were all good Christians, and they set themselves up as the redeemers who had to die for the sins of their fans. Cohen was a Jew, and like Jews he believed that salvation was nothing more than a lot of hard work and a small but sustainable reward."
A recent profile that I greatly enjoyed:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-m...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTTC_fD598A
I went by myself, which is unusual for me when it comes to concerts. He played for 3 hours and needless to say, it was incredible.
During "Suzanne", the room (a hockey arena) was completely dark except for a spotlight shining up from below casting a giant shadow behind him. Combined with such a haunting song it made for one of the most beautiful musical experiences of my life.
Here's a recording of that performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3pcPK4eXHQ
That turned out to be the last time he played here and I'm so thankful to have gotten a chance to hear him play his songs.
Way too many great lines to quote, but these ones comfort me: "But you'll be hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone I'll be speaking to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song"
EDIT: I found a video from a different concert that gives a better idea of what it looked like, though the link above is a better performance imo, + much better audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgt62vls3o
(also love the single comment, which I ran through google translate: "What is still the magic of this man? I am not a sentimental dragon, but it goes straight to the heart.")
I think that what got me from the concert (which I saw in Chicago) was when he dropped to his knees to sing. What a privilege it was to see such a giant perform.
I was fighting with temptation But I didn't want to win A man like me don't like to see Temptation caving in
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2p8je2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU-RuR-qO4Y
http://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-democracy-lyrics
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
But even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Don't mind me, though. I hope I outgrow this at some point.
Back in July he wrote to a dying Marianne Ihlen, "Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine."
Reminded me of my late father having passed away some 18 months ago.
Thanks for that moment. Your link was a gift.
And those came on top of the incredibly bitter political situation in the U.S., the Brexit vote and refugee-related strife in the E.U., rising authoritarianism in Russia and China, and a number of high-profile terrorist attacks and some serious natural disasters.
More than a dreadful year, it's also the passing of a generation, of a world. Sometimes I think that we had it too easy and we produced nothing good as a replacement for being somehow spoiled brats.
- The lumps are distributed unevenly. Baby boomers are dying around now, and they created their own culture.
- Celebrity itself only became big roughly (very roughly) as these people came of age and did their great works.
http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/07-hallelujah
2016 - what a year.
from "Make it Darker"
nb: The word 'Hineni' means 'Here I am' in a spiritual sense, which is what Abraham says and means to God to indicate his readiness when he is called.
https://vimeo.com/56002315
There is a crack, a crack in everything.
That how the light comes in.
?
Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering.
One of my favorites is "Everybody Knows": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k
You will be missed.
עליו השלום