Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

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sturgess66
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Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by sturgess66 »

From Ashville Citizen-Times.com -
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs. ... 4/1033/ENT

Love this - “I just always wanted to show off.”
Leonard Cohen to play rare date in Asheville

Amy Jones • take5 Correspondent • published October 30, 2009 12:15 am
LC-Ashville.jpg
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Leonard Cohen performs Sunday night at Wolfe Auditorium. (Special to the Citizen-Times)
IF YOU GO
Who: Leonard Cohen.
When: 8 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
How much: $48-$250 at the Civic Center box office (251-5505) or http://www.ticketmaster.com.
On the Net: http://www.leonard-cohen.com.


When Canadian-born poet-musician Leonard Cohen takes the stage Sunday night at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, the appearance will showcase the career of a man as unique and mysterious as the mountains that surround us.

Cohen is a performer who at his very best is a writer first, one full of curiosity and insight. The folk-hearted singer turned 75 in September, yet can stretch a live show to nearly three hours. Here's a look at how his career created an icon.

American idol

Establishing himself on the folk scene by the late 1960s, Cohen's body of work has seen steady interest over the past four decades with an induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally cementing his caliber of contributions in 2008. Oddly enough, it may have been his contribution on the TV talent show “American Idol” in that same year that garnered him a whole new wave of fans.

In the 2008 season of the Fox reality powerhouse, contestant Jason Castro sang Cohen's “Hallelujah,” a song that has been performed by everyone from Willie Nelson to Bono but is best remembered as Jeff Buckley's masterful serenade. The judges were moved, the crowd went wild, and Castro was moved on to the final rounds.

“I've never had a strategy or a plan,” Cohen said in an interview for the Hall of Fame. “I just always wanted to show off.”

Finding the words

Look it up on any blog or ask a Cohen fan, and you'll hear similar words about this singer time and again: “spiritual,” “deep,” “wise.” The truth is no single adjective could best describe Cohen's greatest gift — his words.

A writer from the inside out, his lyrics often sail beyond the rock and jazz that serve as their springboard. While Cohen's band gives his songs a current, it's the lyrics of his message that give his music flight. Cohen writes: “But all I ever learned of love / Was how to shoot someone before they outdrew ya.”

“It has to satisfy the heart and the gut and the mind,” he also said.

As an early folk smith, Cohen could have likely gone on to create his circle among the New York City beatniks of the day and still had a successful career. But Cohen was never a malleable presence, his curiosity and contemplation led him to try various instrumentation, allowed him to uncover greater, more provocative themes and ultimately called him to spend time in a monastery. “I wasn't looking for a religion,” Cohen has said of the time in a California Zen Buddhist retreat. “But I had a great sense of disorder in my life, of chaos and depression, of distress.”

Cohen emerged from the monastery called Mount Baldy in 1999, five years after taking up residence there. He has been recording and performing live ever since.

Amy Jones writes about entertainment for take5. E-mail her at AJontheair@hotmail.com.
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lizzytysh
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by lizzytysh »

“But all I ever learned of love / Was how to shoot someone before they outdrew ya.”
I like the jist and flow of this review... I doubt, however, that Leonard changed this lyric to read like it does above. It doesn't seem he would have himself winning that battle.''

Unless he's [surprizingly] changed the perspective in this lyric, its more proper [albeit maybe morphing somewhat when sung Live] rendering would be:
As for me, all I've ever seemed to learn from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.
It's the surprize ending that makes the line.



~ Lizzy
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
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sturgess66
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by sturgess66 »

Lizzy - at the Philly show the lyrics were just as you say - except that Leonard passionately repeated one word -
As for me, all - all I've ever seemed to learn from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M29dl_acaaA

She probably took a version from one of the lyrics sites. And those lyrics sites can be most annoying. :lol: At a lot of those sites, anyone can add/supply lyrics for an artist's song. Actually - I have done it - but tried to be careful to provide correct lyrics. There is also usually an option where you can "correct lyrics." But people put them there and then never go to the bother to correct. Anyway - who knows where the reviewer found her lyrics - but I think you are correct. I just looked at "Jeff Buckley's lyrics" :roll: and the line is "Is how to shoot someone who outdrew you." The "at" is missing - and what a difference that makes!! A teensy little "at" - changes the meaning - a lot!!

Anyway - you can see here - at the top of this lyrics site -(A-Z Lyrics Universe) the options to add/correct for lyrics - and this is just one of many lyrics sites -

http://www.azlyrics.com/atlas/atlas_rm. ... mver=ifb.9
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Mollydog
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by Mollydog »

I've often wondered why just about everyone who covers this song seems to get that line wrong. I went to a Leonard Cohen tribute concert in Ottawa a few days ago and one of the singers (D.K. Ibomeka) gave a very emotional and moving rendition of Hallelujah, but guess what... he sang "how to shoot someone"! He was in the lobby after the concert and I was sorely tempted to tell him that he had made a mistake. However, I decided to keep my obsession in check and went home! I had already met a friend in the audience who was sitting a few rows behind me and had announced (rather loudly) "there's Mary, she's a Leonard Cohen fanatic"!.

Mary
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sturgess66
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by sturgess66 »

Mary - oh Cohen fanatic :lol: :lol: - these people doing covers are probably looking up Buckley lyrics and doing "the Buckley version." And that reminds me of Simon Cowell who called "Hallelujah" a "Buckley song." :evil: :twisted: :x And I thought Shrek wrote it! :lol: :lol:
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by holydove »

It is very disturbing how the writer of this article destroyed those lyrics; I know that it's happened before (maybe not to this horrendous degree), but I would think that if someone is writing an article about a revered artist, he/she would take the time to listen to him a little, instead of just looking up lyrics at unreliable websites! I appreciate the generally positive tone and great quotes from Leonard, but I can't seem to excuse this incorrect printing of Leonard's very precious words. It seems so disrespectful, especially when everyone knows how much time, care, thought, & energy Leonard puts into every golden word. Sorry if I sound harsh, but I had to say this. . .
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by MaryB »

Mary - you were paid a compliment of the highest order 8) :lol:

Linda - :lol: :lol: :lol: Shrek didn't write it :roll: :lol: ?

Rachel - you are so right and beautifully put!
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Misty Marie
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by Misty Marie »

It is very disturbing how the writer of this article destroyed those lyrics; I know that it's happened before (maybe not to this horrendous degree), but I would think that if someone is writing an article about a revered artist, he/she would take the time to listen to him a little, instead of just looking up lyrics at unreliable websites! I appreciate the generally positive tone and great quotes from Leonard, but I can't seem to excuse this incorrect printing of Leonard's very precious words.
I posted this in the other "Asheville" thread, but I guess it's OK to post it here as well ... Holydove, there is nothing 'harsh' about your comments; you're right on.
Newspaper reporters are an interesting bunch - especially the ones who have no idea what they're talking about. Reporters sit around in editorial meetings (been there, done that), an editor throws potential news story topics at them and they're supposed to find something newsworthy to put in the paper. The writer, the proofreader and the editor are responsible for this mistake, and it shouldn't have been made if any of the three had been doing their jobs correctly (or cared enough to make sure they were quoting correctly). There isn't much room for error in journalism - there can't be; it's way too easy to get sued if you get things wrong. Everybody involved in the publishing of this article ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Misty
“When legend Cohen takes to the stage, it’s no less than a cultural event of Biblical dimensions.” – The Independent
Phoenix 2009; San Jose 2009; Las Vegas 2010
holydove
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by holydove »

Misty & Mary, thank you so much for your supportive responses; good to know I'm not alone in my outrage over this.

Misty, thank you for the posting, I hadn't seen the other thread. I like your statement about no room for these kinds of errors in journalism; it really doesn't seem pardonable, even if the journalists are just ". . doing what they are told. . ."; they still need to show some respect if they are presuming to be qualified enough to critique others in writings that will be presented for all the world to see.

Alot of journalists apparently have no sensitivity or respect for the agonizing process of creating true art. They can be so careless and cruel. It just breaks my heart when they so carelessly fling their daggers and "caca"(excuse my language), especially at one so holy, compassionate, sensitive, and generous as Leonard. Well, I guess Leonard has warned us that ". . the critics are severe. . ." Interesting how he changed the word "judgments" to "critics" during this tour.
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hydriot
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by hydriot »

I am very encouraged that a cause I took up months ago (Society for the Preservation of the 'at') in a different thread is meeting with general approval here. The whole point of what Leonard sings is that you cannot really expect to hit someone who has outdrawn you: the best you can do is fire off a blind shot as a gesture of gallant but futile defiance. A much more sophisticated idea.
“If you do have love it's a kind of wound, and if you don't have it it's worse.” - Leonard, July 1988
Misty Marie
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by Misty Marie »

even if the journalists are just ". . doing what they are told. . .";
The problem here is that whoever wrote the article was not doing what she was told: I'm sure she was told (or expected) to get the facts right; that's her job. But don't confuse reporters with critics. Reporters are not supposed to give their opinions, they are supposed to state the facts and get them right. Critics, on the other hand, can easily show their ignorance (or intelligence) when they post their own opinion about something and, like everything else, they will most likely 'get' in return as well as they 'give'. What annoyed me the most about this article is that it was not supposed to be an op-ed piece, it was supposed to be a news article. But the author screwed up the facts. And that's a big no-no.

Misty
“When legend Cohen takes to the stage, it’s no less than a cultural event of Biblical dimensions.” – The Independent
Phoenix 2009; San Jose 2009; Las Vegas 2010
holydove
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by holydove »

Hydriot, absolutely! That is the whole point - Leonard is shooting even though he knows that nothing and noone will be shot! The incorrect lyrics totally obliterate that message, therefore, people reading that article, if some of them do not know Leonard's music or poetry (yet), will be getting a very distorted idea of what Leonard's art is like, and will not be able to get a glimpse of his brilliance. Thank you for your post - that is the crux of the issue, as I see it!
holydove
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by holydove »

Misty, yes, reporters and critics are two different things, your distinction is correct. And reporters should get their facts right. And critics should have adquate knowledge/understanding of what they are critiquing/criticizing.
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Re: Leonard Cohen to Play Rare Date in Asheville

Post by Misty Marie »

And critics should have adquate knowledge/understanding of what they are critiquing/criticizing.
Of course, you're absolutely right. The unfortunate part is that people reading the article who were unaware of Leonard's gifts before won't be any more aware of them after reading the article and, may possibly, even be turned off by what the reporter said they were. Maybe some will be curious enough to look further into them, but that's not normally the nature of the beast. :(
“When legend Cohen takes to the stage, it’s no less than a cultural event of Biblical dimensions.” – The Independent
Phoenix 2009; San Jose 2009; Las Vegas 2010
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