CONCERT REPORT: Phoenix, April 5

[ladydi]

Hi mnkyface,

I absolutely LOVE your story! So nice to know there is someone more obsessed than us! Someone who obviously has bottomless pockets or is now very very poor!

All the best,
Diana

[ladydi]

(Bonus - I learned a new word 'duende' )

Me too Mary!

Lorca: "The duende, then, is a power, not a work. It is a struggle, not a thought. I have heard an old maestro of the guitar say, 'The duende is not in the throat; the duende climbs up inside you, from the soles of the feet.' Meaning this: it is not a question of ability, but of true, living style, of blood, of the most ancient culture, of spontaneous creation."

Oh yes, Tom used an excellent word which I will now never forget...duende.

All the best,
Diana

[lizzytysh]

It may have been a couple years ago and it was in a different section, but someone brought the concept of duende to us and it was a wonderful discovery. I'd just gotten at a thrift store an album of... duende... from Portugal[?] maybe[?]. The words of Lorca that you've just posted here, Diana, are so elucidative of what it means... better than I've seen it described, anywhere. So glad that the concept was brought to the fore here. It really 'nails' what it is about Leonard and his songs. Looking at your photos of Javier Mas and even Sharon, you can feel it there, too... moreso, Leonard and Javier, though... perhaps, what we're recognizing when Leonard kneels to Javier. Really fine photos, Diana . So personal and clear and soft. Beautiful .


~ Lizzy

[sturgess66]

A blog today by Steve Chandler (imindshift.com) about attending the Phoenix show. He references a recent blog by Rusty Cline- and gives a link:

http://www.imindshift.com/my_weblog/200 ... thing.html

May 22, 2009

There is a crack in everything

"There is a crack
in everything
that's how
the light gets in."

~Leonard Cohen

Rusty Cline sent me a portion of his most recent blog post because he knew that I had raved about going to see 75-year old Leonard Cohen perform in Phoenix. Cohen performed with such energy, beauty and repeated poetic brilliance.....but Rusty says it better:

I went to see Leonard Cohen in concert April 5th, 2009 in Phoenix, AZ. Wow! What a concert. I aspire to be like that someday. He is 75 years old and as spry as a chick. He was skipping around on stage like he was 20.

His humility and giving was surpassed only by the dependability of his lyric, word and wit delivered by his hypnotically rich baritone voice. It was a show of shows, I thank God I canceled other plans and went! I will stop here because this really isn’t a review or critique of his concert (his concert was above such things in my mind) rather this is an opportunity for me to share something he taught me that evening – something I am still learning. I always know when I have been in the presence of someone great when I look up months or years later and even in their absence they are still teaching me.

As I watched Mr. Cohen get down on one knee and deliver Hallelujah, and Anthem I was startled yet again to remember the age of this gentle man down on one knee: 75 – as the kids say: OMG! There was this giant in the industry of song writers kneeling before us telling us “There’s a blaze of light in every word, It doesn’t matter which you heard, The broken or the holy hallelujah” and “Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything, That’s how the light gets in.” – sure if you know Leonard Cohen you know these words, but what I saw that night was this aged man so cracked and worn and yet SO FULL OF LIGHT! And his light was now coming OUT of the cracks and filling the auditorium with love, peace and wisdom.... Click here to read more: