Leonard, Marianne, and Me: Magical Summers on Hydra (new book)

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Re: Leonard, Marianne, and Me: Magical Summers on Hydra (new book)

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Re: Leonard, Marianne, and Me: Magical Summers on Hydra (new book)

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Re: Leonard, Marianne, and Me: Magical Summers on Hydra (new book)

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Leonard Cohen Friend and Author Judy Scott Shares Her Story on The Jim Masters Show LIVE
Scheduled for Oct 17, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF_S2r0Yj7o
Leonard Cohen friend and author Judy Scott, author the memoir, Leonard, Marianne and Me guests on The Jim Masters Show LIVE! In 1973, at the age of twenty-seven, Los Angeles college student Judy Scott embarked on a trek through Europe—and wound up spending the entire summer on the Greek island of Hydra. It’s easy to see why she fell in love with the place. Just eleven miles long and three miles wide, its main town consists of three steep hills to the left, right, and behind a horseshoe-shaped deep-water yacht port. All the roads have steps in them, which means there’s no wheeled transport, not even bicycles. Groceries and luggage are carried by donkey. Tavernas with copious amounts of retsina dot the quay. From the sides of the cliffs jut ladders that lead to flat rocks perfect for sunbathing, and from which one can dive into the azure waters of the Aegean. It’s an island at once sophisticated and primitive. It’s also an island where you can find yourself being fork-fed roasted fish by a man you just met—an incestuous island where it seems like everyone sleeps with everyone at some point, and where many are neither gay nor straight but rather “undecided.” And word on the island travels fast. As one local put it, “If you want to do anything on Hydra and get away with it, don’t do it for more than an hour.” Henry Miller had stayed on Hydra during the war, and it became a de riguer destination for many celebrities over the years including John and Yoko Lennon, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Boy on a Dolphin starring Sophia Loren and Alan Ladd was shot entirely on the island. By the time Judy Scott first went there, it had become an artists’ colony of sorts. The total population was about three thousand, including around three hundred foreigners—several of them writers and artists. They returned year after year, addicted to the island’s bohemian allure. Two of these Hydra habitués were iconic singer, songwriter, poet Leonard Cohen and his lifelong muse, a beautiful blonde Norwegian woman named Marianne Ihlen who was so well known there that letters to her were delivered when simply addressed “Marianne, Hydra, Greece.” Judy struck up an immediate and intimate relationship with Leonard and Marianne that first summer, even as the two of them were in the process of splitting up. In Leonard, Marianne, and Me, she chronicles her affair with not only Hydra but with Cohen and, especially, Marianne, who had lived with Cohen, on and off, for eleven years—much of it on the island—and remained soulmates with him until their death just months apart in 2016. As Marianne once told Judy, “If I hadn’t driven him crazy, he probably would not have written a thing.” Indeed, Cohen wrote many songs on Hydra, and Judy Scott spent many days on the terrace where he drafted them on his manual typewriter. Essential reading for any fan of Leonard Cohen, her memoir provides rare insight into the meaning behind the lyrics of some of his most famous songs, including So Long, Marianne, One of Us Cannot Be Wrong, and the much revered Hallelujah. Leonard, Marianne, and Me covers not only Judy Scott’s time on Hydra but her life back in the United States where she struggled as a single mother, raising the child she conceived on the island. And yet, Hydra, Leonard, and Marianne were always there: in return trips and in correspondence—much of it included in the book. The triangle of friendship and romance backlights her life story. Focusing on two pivotal summers she spent on Hydra—1973 and 1975—with nods to four decades of frequent visits and containing never-before-seen photos from the author’s personal collection, Leonard, Marianne, and Me is the story of one woman finding herself and embracing her true sexuality with help from one of the most important songwriters of our time, and the woman who was his greatest source of inspiration.

Join award-winning television, radio and multimedia personality, presenter, host and journalist Jim Masters as he chats with Larry Strauss on this episode of our entertainment., lifestyle, talk show series. Subscribe to our YouTube channel Jim Masters TV and click the notification bell so you never miss a live episode and our pop-up shows! Enjoy! #LeonardCohen #JudyScott #thejimmastersshow
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Re: Leonard, Marianne, and Me: Magical Summers on Hydra (new book)

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Leonard Cohen Friend Author Judy Scott Talks Love and Leonard on The Jim Masters Show
The above interview is now online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF_S2r0Yj7o
It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to B4real ~ me
Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!
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Re: Leonard, Marianne, and Me: Magical Summers on Hydra (new book)

Post by lizzytysh »

This is my review of Judy's book:

Real People, Real Life, Up Close & Personal ~ Unvarnished

As a follower of Leonard Cohen since 1970, I like many others have craved as much information as possible about his and Marianne's life on the idyllic, almost mythical, Hydra. We make pilgrimages to try to trace their footsteps and feel what they felt. Now, we are placed in the center of their lives there and are meeting their friends; and their lives on Hydra come into focus in an immensely satisfying way.

The reward for the author for keeping a promise to Leonard Cohen comes decades later in his blanket support for her blatant honesty about Leonard, Marianne, and their lives decades ago. Judy honored Leonard's request to "Promise you won't write about us;" and she kept her promise... until the time arrived to write her book and she then sought Leonard's permission. Leonard wholeheartedly granted it.

The reward for readers is that the author kept detailed journals, and snapped and obtained many varied photos, from which she drew her narratives. Through them, as well as some literal journal entries, and letters that she and Marianne wrote each other, she brings those years alive. Judy's documentation in real time of all of their lives together, as well as with those of others she knew, gives readers a rare immediacy to what life on Hydra was like during its golden age. Common phrases now come to mind... "the missing link," "the last piece of the puzzle.”

When I took the book out of its mailer, I loved its size and how it felt... intimate in my hand. The size one would expect a journal to be... its content proved to be deeply personal. I loved that in the Appendix, not only did Judy provide her music playlist of that period (so *many* songs that I was listening to, as well), but also the books she was reading; plus a glossary of people mentioned in the book, with a brief description of each, in case readers want to remind themselves of who each one was. I read all three of those sections before I started with the Preface and Prologue, and then on to Chapter One, and am so glad I did, as it set the mood, and anchored all that was to come. I finished with the Epilogue.

Reading this book, I wished that I had kept ongoing journals of my own life, and wished that in the few attempts I did make, that I had made entries as intelligent, insightful, philosophical, and interesting as Judy did in hers. Her entries are substantive and contemplative, even erudite; yet, scrutinizing of herself and others, reminiscent of Leonard's style of self-examination and truthfulness. It's easy to see why Leonard enjoyed her so much, why they became friends, and to understand the close friendship that developed between Marianne and Judy; and why Judy was embraced and welcomed into their household and those of other locals over the years. The letters between these two women reflect their friendship like the glistening waters of the Aegean. Enter into this magical era of Hydra.

Absorbed by this book, I heartily laughed out loud, gasped and shuddered in shock, and overall felt a deep melancholy for all that this period of time encompassed; and I'm grateful to have it. It's valuable for all that I learned. It filled in so many gaps for me, as I read things I had wanted to know, but had no one to ask. It gave me a vivid and palpable feeling of the fascinating day-to-day life on Hydra during its most artistic years. Without sensationalizing, the author reveals the drama and the delight of this tiny island and the people she knew.

Marianne has always remained elusive. Leonard's songs and comments have offered impressions of their life on Hydra; yet, what was that life *really* like. Read it and you'll know. What were Marianne and Axel ~ and Suzanne Elrod ~ *really* like. Read it and your eyes open to the unvarnished realities. What were the many *other* people on the island *really* like. Read it and you'll come to know them, as well.

Watch the rich Greek break plates and glasses... because he can. See some locals nearly lose their lives. As Leonard said to Judy, "I particularly admire the detail and honesty of the piece," and "This very fine piece of work for which I have no objections whatsoever." Leonard added that he was very surprised by some of what Judy had written, yet was gratified to read about "so many of our old friends." Her descriptions and accounts brought them [back] to life for him, as well. The fact that he chose to leave her work untouched speaks powerfully to its validity. We see, up close and personal, the genuine, sweet affection between Judy and the locals who became her friends; and how their friendships lasted through the years.

In this book, the reader sees people as they were. Including the author, there are no heroes here, and that fact brings authenticity to it all. Judy graphically, yet respectfully, gives readers a jam-packed, guided tour of life on Hydra during its most colourful, even infamous, days and years. Creativity and excitement went hand in hand under the hot Greek sun. We become privy to the origin of a couple more of Leonard's lyrics.

Everyone who loves Leonard's work needs to have this wonderfully personal book in their collection, to peer into and understand the nooks and crannies, cracks and fissures, of Leonard and Marianne's life on Hydra. When I awoke the next morning after finishing it, I still felt the warmth and glow and magic, and wanted to return to those pages to read again about the simplicity of island living, and the complexities of life and intrigue of human interaction for those who lived there. This is a gem of a book!
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
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