leonardcohenforum.com

mnkyface wrote:In this 2008 interview, Leonard speaks mysteriously of a "half-assed" exercise routine that he tries to "go to." I've always wondered about it. Maybe he injured himself doing that. Or by missing it too many times, and then trying to do too much at once. (I know how that goes.)

Maybe it is yoga. We've all seen him in the Lotus pose.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2008/06/12/cohe ... ylan-show/

I love this interview!!

As Sharon Robinson said, Bob Dylan has a secret code with his audience. If someone came from the moon and watched it they might wonder what was going on. In this particular case he had his back to one half of the audience and was playing the organ, beautifully I might say, and just running through the songs. Some were hard to recognize. But nobody cared. That’s not what they were there for and not what I was there for. Something else was going on, which was a celebration of some kind of genius that is so apparent and so clear and has touched people so deeply that all they need is some kind of symbolic unfolding of the event. It doesn’t have to be the songs. All it has to be is: remember that song and what it did to you. It’s a very strange event.

As I said in the concert, this is every musician’s dream, to stand in front of an audience and not have to prove your credentials, to come into that warmth. Of course, it creates other anxieties, because you really want to deliver. There’s a lot to live up to. But it is quite a rare thing.

sturgess66 wrote: I know the point here is that he mentions his imperfect exercise regime - but at the end of the interview he mentions Roshi "But I was drinking a tumbler of cognac like it was water. He hit my thigh very hard and said, 'Body important.' [laughs]." Maybe that blow from Roshi was an initial jar sufficient to throw out the alignment in his back and it then developed further when he exercised, into a recurring injury - replete with a reminder to take care of his body!

seadove wrote:
However I wish reiterate what I have said some time ago. I think it's almost inhuman (or greedy) on our parts to even want or wish that Leonard, at his age, perform on a stage. Think of it this way: Some of you are over 60, like me, and think about the time we would quit our jobs and simply sit back and enjoy life as much as we possibly can. In the case of Leonard well, he was swindled and so he had to ....simply go back to work.

Well I don't know about you guys but I think we should simply allow Leonard to live his life now with family, friends, fool around a bit, take life easy, take walks in the park, or maybe even go back to that mountain retreat and joke around with his 114 year old master. If he was your father, for example, wouldn't you want him to take life easy and sit back on his armchair, whistling the tunes of So long Marianne and Suzanne?

Yes, I love this man very dearly. And I wish him the above mentioned. It's not fair, you know.

seadove wrote: He is performing on and on because of the larger than life demand that he has for his songs from us folks. Yes he will eventually decide what's good for him but I wish him that he may enjoy his elderly life like all the other elderlies that I know.

danslenoir wrote:

seadove wrote: He is performing on and on because of the larger than life demand that he has for his songs from us folks. Yes he will eventually decide what's good for him but I wish him that he may enjoy his elderly life like all the other elderlies that I know.

So he is continuing to tour because we (the general public) want him to, and not because he actually wants to himself?

Have you considered that maybe Leonard likes touring and the public's reception is merely one of many factors that contribute to his desire to keep doing so?

As far as "he will eventually decide what's good for him" goes - what gives you the authority to decide what's good for him or not? How do you know he would not be miserable sitting at home and taking it easy "like all the other elderlies" you know after having experienced the highs of the last couple of years?

He is obviously having a great time at the moment and doing what he enjoys, so maybe it would be best not to try and wrap him up in a ball of cotton wool and tell him what is or isn't best for him, and let him get on with it.