Leonard Has Passed Away

News about Leonard Cohen and his work, press, radio & TV programs etc.
Toadflax
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Toadflax »

Hi, all; I apologize to the admins for double posting this, but I felt it was appropriate in this thread. We are having a benefit concert Sunday, December 4th in Los Angeles for the artists we lost this year. I will be opening the show with a set of ten or so of Leonard's songs, after which some excellent local musicians will be performing tribute to other musicians. Kunal Nayyar of The Big Bang Theory will be joining us for a few songs as well as matching every dollar we raise! For anyone interested, there's a Facebook event page here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1786248404973862/

and a link to donate to St. Jude's in the name of Leonard, Bowie, Prince, etc. here:

https://www.youcaring.com/stjudechildre ... tal-699044

Thank you!
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MarieM
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by MarieM »

A sweet article about Leonard's impact on the village of Claremont while he was staying on Mt. Baldy.

http://www.dailybulletin.com/arts-and-e ... t-consumer

Daily Bulletin

Leonard Cohen: Mt. Baldy monk, Claremont consumer

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This display at the Claremont Folk Music Center pays tribute to Leonard Cohen, the singer-songwriter who died Nov. 7. Cohen was a frequent visitor to the Village in the 1990s. Photo by David Allen

By David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
POSTED: 11/26/16

For a period in the 1990s, Leonard Cohen, the deep-voiced singer, songwriter, poet and melancholic, was a familiar sight in Claremont.

He might be at the bakery, the Greek restaurant, the music store, the record store or the market, or walking the sidewalks between them. “Four or five times in six months, I’d see him,” recalled Henry Barnes.

“I think he really enjoyed taking in the atmosphere here. A lot of weird musicians live in Claremont,” said Barnes, a weird musician himself. “He fit right in.”

Cohen, who died Nov. 7 at age 82, didn’t live in Claremont but rather at the Mount Baldy Zen Center, having temporarily forsaken most of life’s luxuries.

The native of Montreal had a reputation as an urban sophisticate and ladies’ man, besides his gift for doleful songs like “Bird on the Wire,” “Suzanne” and “Hallelujah,” but also as someone who preferred seclusion.

Cohen had studied under the Zen Center’s founder, the teacher Joshu Sasaki Roshi, for short periods, but in 1993 he settled in for a stay that lasted almost six years. It wasn’t that he was looking for a new religion, he told David Remnick of the New Yorker shortly before his death, but for a form of discipline, a way to toughen up.

Which doesn’t mean he didn’t come down the hill frequently to relax, run errands or indulge vices.

At the deli counter at Wolfe’s Market, a literature professor, Bob Faggen, heard a trim man with a shaved head and familiar-sounding voice asking about the red potato salad versus the German potato salad.

“Yeah, man,” Cohen said when Faggen asked if he was Leonard Cohen. The two men chatted, discovered they both lived on Mount Baldy and exchanged numbers, beginning a friendship that lasted the rest of Cohen’s life.

In the Village, Cohen might stop in at Some Crust Bakery, where Barnes worked. “He would get a coffee and smoke,” Barnes said. “You could tell he wasn’t allowed to smoke at the Zen Center.”

Allen Callaci saw him at the bakery and was too intimidated to say anything. His brother, Dennis, was there another time with his 3-year-old son and Cohen, also in line, admired the boy “like an uncle or an old friend would.”

In the Village, Cohen seemed to feel he was safe from prying, Dennis said, and “was as gentle then as his songs would lead you to believe.”

Cohen stood out because he wore a monk’s robe and cap. But he did not court attention, and those who encountered him said he was quiet and exceedingly polite.

“He didn’t seem like a rock star,” Barnes said. “He didn’t have the attitude. He was just trying to be a normal person.”

He shopped at Rhino Records. Once a clerk made eye contact with Cohen as the artist was checking out his own CD section. Cohen gave him a “you caught me” look.

On another occasion, he bought two cassettes. “I rang him up,” then-manager Scott Feemster told me, “and thought, ‘Leonard Cohen listens to Prince!’”

Chris Darrow, a musician and longtime Claremont resident, played bass on “Teachers” and mandolin on “So Long, Marianne” on Cohen’s first album, in 1967, after Cohen saw his band, Kaleidoscope, at a New York City club and recruited them to back him.

Thirty years later, a friend’s daughter told Darrow she’d just seen Cohen outside Yiannis, a Greek restaurant a block away. Darrow walked over and saw Cohen, in his monk’s robe, sitting with a woman, smoking, drinking coffee and talking.

“Do you remember me?” Darrow asked.

“Of course I do,” Cohen replied almost instantly. “You guys saved my album!”

Cohen frequented Yiannis and seems to have felt comfortable there because he had owned a house on the Greek island of Hydra since 1960.

He would typically order the assorted appetizer platter — stuffed grape leaves, feta cheese, olives, spinach and cheese pie, and other items — and drink ouzo. He often sat by himself on the small patio facing Yale Avenue, or a couple of friends might join him.

Cohen being of minor commercial standing, most people had no idea who he was, but sometimes motorists would see him and honk in recognition, Yiannis manager Greg Gianakos said.

“He’d talk to you about traveling, where he’s been,” Gianakos said. “He was a real nice guy, a lot of fun. We’d see him every three or four months.”

Jim Gianakos got to know him first, delivering food to the Zen Center, and then introduced him to Greg, his brother, who has become familiar with his music. Jim would go to Greece every summer and visit Cohen, if he was there.

People-watching, from the Yiannis patio or elsewhere, may have been a Cohen pastime. He wrote a poem in 1997 titled “Historic Claremont Village,” which includes these lines: “I don’t remember when/I’ve ever seen so many/beautiful men and women/walking back and forth/in Historic Claremont Village.”

That’s from “The Book of Longing,” which was turned into a song cycle by Philip Glass. Its Southern California premiere was in Claremont in 2009 at Scripps College’s Garrison Theater, sponsored by Claremont McKenna’s Gould Center, and coinciding with a McKenna exhibition of Cohen’s drawings and paintings. Both had their genesis in his Mount Baldy years.

Another Village mainstay, the Folk Music Center, which sells instruments from around the world, saw several visits by the musician.

He might wander the store trying out instruments, including cajon and tongue drums, but also check himself in a small mirror. The staff recognized him but adhered to the store policy of not bothering celebrities, recalled Ellen Harper, whose grandparents founded the store.

That was difficult for Ben Harper, the musician, who was working the register one day when Cohen came in, clad in a T-shirt and loose-fitting pants and appearing to glide rather than walk.

“My jaw dropped. He saw my reaction,” Harper recalled via email from Australia, where he’s on tour. Harper forced himself to stay away, “which I could tell he appreciated.”

His grandfather, Charles, rang up Cohen’s purchase of several instruments and child’s toys, having no idea who his customer was despite his credit card. Harper intervened and tried to refund the purchase out of respect, which Cohen declined. They settled on a compromise.

That visit, circa 2000, may have come after Cohen left the Zen Center. He continued to visit the center on occasion, and Claremont.

Perhaps five years ago, he entered the Folk Music Center near the holidays in a suit and hat, accompanied by a woman. Clerk Jerry O’Sullivan was helping another customer and asked if Cohen would mind waiting. “I helped him pick out a harmonica for a 5-year-old,” O’Sullivan said. “He seemed nice and sweet and patient.”

Gianakos said Cohen would stop into Yiannis on his way to Mount Baldy from some exotic locale: one of his homes, or a tour. He last saw him two years ago.

2014, perhaps not coincidentally, is when Roshi died at age 107.

Since Cohen’s death, there’s been a tribute to him in the Folk Music Center storefront window: his 1969 LP “Songs From a Room” leans against a straight-backed wooden chair, lyrics from his song “Everybody Knows” on the wall, a vase of red roses, a meditation gong and a mallet near. Ellen Harper created it.

“I wanted a simple, Zen-like display,” she said.

It’s lovely, a quiet nod to a Village sage, our Zen Cohen.
Marie
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MarieM
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by MarieM »

Twitter:

Journal de bord ‏@KegKimedith26
after 2 weeks.. ... its so beautiful, all this love. #RIPLeonardCohen #LeonardCohen #rip #hallelujah #montreal #montrealmoments

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Marie
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Mollydog
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Mollydog »

Yesterday evening I attended the Glenn Gould Prize Award ceremony. Philip Glass is this year's recipient. It was a wonderful evening and Leonard was mentioned several times. I was looking at the Glenn Gould Foundation website and noticed this very touching tribute to Leonard.

http://www.glenngould.ca/leonard-cohen-1934-2016/
We Mourn the Loss of Leonard Cohen

Today all of us at The Glenn Gould Foundation are grieving at the news of Leonard Cohen's death at the age of 82.

Leonard enriched the world with the music of his words, the depth of his insight into the human soul, and the combination of passion, romanticism, irony and lyricism that infused his song and verse.

Around the world, young people facing the confusion, pain, longing and desire of entering adult life found in Leonard a sounding board, a muse who somehow managed to give voice to their feelings and assure them that somehow everything would be alright. It was his ability to express the feelings for us that we could not articulate ourselves that won him such a devoted following. After it was announced that Leonard had been chosen as the Ninth Glenn Gould Prize Laureate, many people would tell me, "nobody gets me the way Leonard Cohen does." The great British director Anthony Minghella told me, "as a teenager, nobody had much hope for me, and I hadn't much hope for myself until I discovered Leonard Cohen. He knew exactly what I was feeling, and his music reassured me that I wasn't alone. He got me through it."

Musically, Leonard had a special gift of finding a simple, direct and perfectly matched melodic counterpart to his most memorable verses. Drawing on influences from flamenco to country and western to cabaret, Leonard's tunes were always clear, memorable and deftly judged, which accounts for their enduring power.

When we met Leonard in Los Angeles to discuss plans for presenting him with The Glenn Gould Prize the impressions of the man that resonated most strongly with us were his graciousness, charm and wit. As if feeling the need to bestow something on me and my colleague Victoria Buchy as a quid pro quo for the Prize, he presented us each with a special pin of his own design, proclaiming us members of the "Order of the Unified Heart," possibly a light-hearted allusion to his own Order of Canada, but also his dedication to striving for a common bond of sympathy and compassion among people. When I clumsily tried to pin the Order on my lapel, he looked horrified, and said, "my father was a skilled tailor, and he would never have stood for the mistreatment of such a fine piece of cloth!" He promptly took the Order from me and pinned it in my buttonhole with a practiced eye. I will never forget being pinned by Leonard Cohen!

In his acceptance speech for the Prize at Massey Hall in Toronto in 2012, Leonard spoke of his own encounter in the early 1960's with Glenn Gould in a disastrous magazine interview he conducted as a freelance writer. His admiration for Gould made him accept the Prize where he had declined numerous other honours. Leonard's sweetness of spirit, humility and his wry wit were absolutely irresistible; he had the audience of almost 3,000 in stitches.

Yet this was also an artist who could give vent to outrage against injustice, convey a tragic vision and sardonically skewer the absurdities of this all-too-brief human existence. His words were wisdom, laced with compassion and a dash of acerbic bite. He was celebrated for the eroticism of his songs and verses, but his ardour was always tinged with a hint of sadness at the parting and loneliness to follow passion.

Leonard Cohen spoke and sang for us all. We knew that the song couldn't go on forever, and he acknowledged as much in his valedictory album, You Want it Darker. But he meant so much to us that his death today still comes as a shock. The void left by his absence is palpable, but there's consolation in the richness of the words and music he gave us.

Brian Levine
Executive Director
The Glenn Gould Foundation
1972 London/1974 London/1985 Montreal/1993 Ottawa/2008 Montreal,London O2/2009 NYC Beacon,Kingston,Ottawa X 2,Barcelona,Las Vegas,San José/2010 Malmo,Las Vegas X 2/2012 Verona,Vancouver,Montreal X 2,Ottawa,Kingston/2013 NYC, Hamilton
Kali
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Kali »

I was so sad to have heard that Leonard had died. He has been a huge part of my life and had been to most of his concerts in Dublin with my husband. We both had the pleasure of bumping in to him at the Gresham hotel and he took the time with his daughter and grandaughter to speak with us for around 20 minutes. As we live nearby, he was inquisitive about where he could buy fresh food to cook a chinese meal and was delighted to discover he was only 500 yards from a chinese supermarket.

We also talked about Jewishness as I like Leonard am from a Jewish family and was interested in the Jewish culture in Dublin.

Sadly, since then, my husband passed away with a diagnose of lung cancer. We didn't make it to his last concert in Dublin as my husband was very unwell.

I cherish your final album and have played it every day since i bought it.......

Today for Jewish people is Mitsvah day where we try and help others less fortunate than us. I have Leonard in on my mind as I take the time to talk to the homeless on our streets and offer some comfort if needed.

Thoughts at this sad time are with your family and all that will feel your loss!!

Hey Leonard... thats no way to say goodbye! but I'm glad you are no longer in pain.
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LisaLCFan
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by LisaLCFan »

Mollydog wrote:...I was looking at the Glenn Gould Foundation website and noticed this very touching tribute to Leonard....
What a marvellous tribute, one that very much reflects my own thoughts of Leonard. Thank you for sharing this.
davidrichards
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by davidrichards »

Well said Dannycarey! It could be added that when criticising someone for not answering in a "full sentence" then attention should be paid to one's own contribution and ensure that a sentence does not begin with "and" - "And when were you 20 or 21?" In any case, what you meant in your answer was obvious to anyone.
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rpan
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by rpan »

Theo Dorgan, eminent Irish poet, gave a lecture at my university shortly after Leonard Cohen's death, and he related a lovely little anecdote here about some email correspondence, which may be of interest (the main theme of the lecture was Seamus Heaney)

https://youtu.be/1eY0uIoL3QY?t=43m28s
"We were broken then, but now we're borderline"
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2009: Dublin - Lisbon - Barcelona - San Jose
2010: Sligo - Florence - Marseille - Lille - Las Vegas
2012: Wembley - Kilmainham - Paris - Montreal
2013: London O2 - Lucca - Dublin
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Kush
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

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irundel
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by irundel »

"What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A saint does not dissolve the chaos; if he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order. It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is the caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of its particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love."

by Leonaerd Cohen in "Beautiful losers" (1966). One of my favorite quotations.
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Violet
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Violet »

I wrote this meditation on loss (specifically with regard to Leonard) years ago now, and had posted it here a number of times. Only, now its time has come.



The blessed contours of your face


This earth
a desolate place

without
the blessed contours

of
your face. and

in the way of mountains
tumbling down
in
death’s bereft, I fear this

loss, when

mountains will be

left.


Though with your self
evolving

toward its end, no
time to waste

when finer threads of mind
dissolve to grace;

in loss
we’ll keep these

smallest clues, the pen
you used to

use, as
if your secret

had a secret
place.


But now

in slumbering mountains
do I find

such shades of loss as
tends this grieving

mind; for

mountains in their midnight
deftly trace

the quiet

beloved contours

of
your face.


2008
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maroo
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by maroo »

R.I.P. Leonard.

Thanks for your words and your music, they help us to be closer to the heaven where you certainly are now.
Piero.
Last edited by maroo on Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dublin 14/15th September 2012
Bennyboy
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Bennyboy »

My new album contains a track marking my mourning of Leonard's passing - if you want to listen to it, you can stream it or download it, along with the whole album here:

https://benclayton.bandcamp.com/album/broken-biscuits
Zennard
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Zennard »

Violet wrote:I wrote this meditation on loss (specifically with regard to Leonard) years ago now, and had posted it here a number of times. Only, now its time has come.



The blessed contours of your face


This earth
a desolate place

without
the blessed contours

of
your face. and

in the way of mountains
tumbling down
in
death’s bereft, I fear this

loss, when

mountains will be

left.


Though with your self
evolving

toward its end, no
time to waste

when finer threads of mind
dissolve to grace;

in loss
we’ll keep these

smallest clues, the pen
you used to

use, as
if your secret

had a secret
place.


But now

in slumbering mountains
do I find

such shades of loss as
tends this grieving

mind; for

mountains in their midnight
deftly trace

the quiet

beloved contours

of
your face.


2008
Thank you for your meditation. What made you write this in 2008?
Nijmegen 1993
Amsterdam 2008
Rotterdam 2008
leonardthedog
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by leonardthedog »

This is my Gratitude and love letter, to Leonard. Love and blessings to all of us.

http://advantagesofage.com/thank-mr-cohen/
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