leonardcohenforum.com

Spice_Box of Earth,
What a wonderful thing you did for your friend's mother! Will she now be trying to attend one of his European concerts?

Arlene - Isn't it so fantastic when you meet someone and they actually know who LC is and you don't have to explain yourself?

Tonight, at our nightclub, karaoke night, the KJ surprised us with the fact that she had gotten an LC karaoke disc . Of course, my husband put in a song and we got to croakie 'Everybody Knows . Nobody does it like LC .

Best regards,
Mary

MaryB wrote:
Tonight, at our nightclub, karaoke night, the KJ surprised us with the fact that she had gotten an LC karaoke disc . Of course, my husband put in a song and we got to croakie 'Everybody Knows . Nobody does it like LC .

Mary, I would love to be a "fly on the wall" at your nightclub when someone puts in CLOSING TIME. The place will rock!

bridger15 wrote:Mary, I would love to be a "fly on the wall" at your nightclub when someone puts in CLOSING TIME. The place will rock!

- too bad it's not on the disc.

bridger15 wrote: Mary, I would love to be a "fly on the wall" at your nightclub when someone puts in CLOSING TIME. The place will rock!

+1

I went to the school today, to say a last "Have a nice summer" to all of my favourite professors who were there. So, I'm talking to our German professor, who tells me and my best friend (who was with me) that there is a very nice festival here in Athens and if we're interested we should go and listen to some music there. She mentions a new artist and asks if we've heard of her. I answer no, because for the last five months I've been listening to nothing else but Leonard Cohen.
"Cohen! C'mon now, at your age, did it have to be Cohen you're listening to, all the time? He's too melancholic, isn't he? Of course he's great and just.. think of it, his voice is not what we call "special", but he somehow manages to get you this feeling right from the beginning of his singing.. stricking right to the heart."
At this point I'm smiling saying again and again: "Exactly, exactly that!!"
And, well, this isn't about Leonard, but my friend goes on and asks whether or not our professor likes Anjani (my friend has heard very very very little of her, but she knew the name). I doubt our professor would know her, but then she says:
"Oh, you like her? She's nice, not my style, though."
"What? You know her? Are we talking about the same one?"
"Who do you mean?"
"Anjani Thomas, who provided vocals in almost all of Cohen's albums since 1984. She has released three solo albums since 2000."
"Yeah, that's her, that's the one I mean."

I cannot describe how delightful this was.
And then we carried on talking about LC, whether or not he is as melancholic as she says, how great his voice is and stuff...

Woke up late as it is a holiday here (Happy Canada Day everyone!). Rolled over in bed, turned on the radio and heard these words, "Hello, this is Leonard Cohen and you're listening to CBC Radio 2". What a great start to the day!

Mary

(This was followed by Rufus Wainwright's version of Hallelujah).

MaryB wrote:Spice_Box of Earth,
What a wonderful thing you did for your friend's mother! Will she now be trying to attend one of his European concerts?

I guess she won`t but if she`ll try and will succeed in it she has duty take me with.

Yesterday I experienced conventional but ah, so magical Leonard Cohen moment. I was biking to national park when it started raining and I had to make stop into the bookshop waiting for ending of rain. I had leafed trough some books when I noticed a shelf full of books called "The Lyrics of Leonard Cohen". I opened one of them and saw very pleasant picture about Leonard. At the same time Hallelujah from "Live in London started to play in the loudspeakers of store. I guess I was funny sight; soaked girl reading book with huge smile and swinging and humming with music. It wasn`t rain anymore when I stepped from the store and my heart was full of love towards all.

i'm in the sierra mountains of california to help some friends who just had a new baby. his name is spirit rhythm river gabriel and he was born on july 1st. it's been a crazy several days, but i wanted to tell his story as it relates to leonard.

cheyenne started to go into labor on tuesday evening and since they live half an hour from town and were having the home (water) birth in town, i was timing the contractions and when i realized how close they were, suggested it was time to head for town and get the show on the road.

we jumped in the car, cheyenne, her 97-year-old mother-in-law, doi, and of course, me (dad following in another car). since we were in my car and i was driving, cheyenne said to me, "i know there's good music in your car. can we listen to some so i can sing and try to think of something other than the pain?" i responded, "well, i'm sorry, you're so much younger [she just turned 27 a few days before her baby was born] than me and you've probably never listened to the gentleman i have in all six slots of my car's CD changer, but he's ALL I'VE GOT. i love him, he's my favorite, but he's probably not your cup of tea." she replied, "who is it?" to which i responded, "have you ever heard of leonard cohen?" and she said, "oh god, i love him. turn him on." and so we drove down the windy, twisty mountain roads with cheyenne and me singing his greatest hits and she knew every word to every song and so i started to cry because it was so beautiful, this beautiful young native american woman swaying in the back seat with her eyes closed, singing along with leonard, knowing every word, and she started to cry too. we drove all the way to town, singing, crying, her contractions helped immeasurably by her love for leonard's music.

it was incredible, the whole thing, especially the birth, and i will never forget it as long as i live, but the memory i carry closest to my heart is of cheyenne singing leonard's songs on the way to spirit's birth. when we got to the home where we were having the birth she put her arms around me and said, "thank you so much for that gift of leonard's music, it helped me so much. there were several contractions i barely felt because i was so happy singing along..." we continued to listen to leonard through the night, interspersed with african folk music and cuban music and native american flute music, but leonard had pride of place. and he made all the difference. like he always does.

ps: happy birthday, your holiness, dalai lama. your blessing cord also helped the birth process immeasurably. thuk je che.

ppss: when the morning light dawned, the morning of the birth, outside the window above the birthing tank was a tree (illumined from behind by the rising sun) bedecked with trumpet vines (campsis radicans!) that was absolutely aswarm with hummingbirds!!!

bonnie mccalla (former president, san francisco bay area friends of tibet)

bkmccalla wrote: ppss: when the morning light dawned, the morning of the birth, outside the window above the birthing tank was a tree (illumined from behind by the rising sun) bedecked with trumpet vines (campsis radicans!) that was absolutely aswarm with hummingbirds!!!

beautiful Bonnie

Thank you for sharing this story with us, I can easily imagine you in the car with all your Leonard cd's.

Cate

A simple "thank you!", Bonnie!

I just played "Memories" with a friend in the room who does not know Leonard Cohen very well, apart from maybe "Suzanne" and "Bird on the Wire". When it started off, she mistook it for something by "The Who" - only to shout "who the f* is that?!" a few moments later... And when I said "Leonard Cohen?!", she would not believe me at first! Love it when people have to rethink their Leonard-stereotypes...

Hi Bonnie,

What a beautiful moving story of you and your friend....new birth....nature....and Leonard! I think any of us who have read it feel we were with you in the car! The beauty of it all brought tears to my eyes, and I'm at work trying to talk to pilots...snuffling.

You wrote an awesome narrative! May the blessing of love always be with Cheyenne and little Spirit Rhythm River Gabriel.....

All the best,
Diana

Having carnal thoughts about a 75 year old man as I watched the London concert DVD. Yes, I admit it -- just as I had carnal thoughts the first time I heard "Everybody Knows," and that booming growl vibrated through my belly. And I love the irony of my comment coming immediately after that beautiful, spiritual birth story. Mr. C. has juxtaposed the sacred and the profane in almost every song he's written.

Sharon

P.S. By the way, guys, the ladies LOVE a strong bass line.

Today I got back my "Live in London". My friend`s mother wasn`t attend but she had pinned little letter to my DVD:

For Viivi!
Thank you so much for loan.
This is just an awesome DVD.
I`ll buy it for myself to birthday present.
Greetings
xxxx`s mum xxxxxx

Hallelujah, Leonard! You did it!

What an incredible series of moments, Bonnie... one after the other after the other!!!

With your [okay, presumed... ] permission, I'm transporting your story to Anjani's site. Too beautiful not to share in as many places as possible. There's also a woman member who is of Native American heritage there, who I think would appreciate it from her own perspective. I love it that the 97-year-old, elder mother-in-law was in the car with you... three [nearly four] generations.

Such an AMAZING ending with all the hummingbirds in the tree... reminds me of a take on a contemporary phrase "[Sing] it and they will come... " .

You were surely in the right place at the right time with the right people and the right music. Good on you all the way around. May the life of spirit rhythm river gabriel be as blessed as his birth.

Oh, I meant to ask... when you said the "water" method, did you mean the LeBoyer Method?


~ Lizzy


Edited to change [Play] to [Sing]. Edited, again, for accuracy, accuracy on the phrase.

My random moment was hearing on NPR, on the program "Michael Feldman's 'What D'Ya Know'," Dance Me to the End of Love begin very slowly a capella by a woman ~ whose name I never did get, as it didn't get repeated after she finished, nor was Leonard's name mentioned, though both probably preceded it... a part I didn't catch ~ she was accompanied by an unidentified, single instrument [I'm not so good at those identifications] and built, but never to a frenetic pace or anything... what was so outstanding and beautiful to me was that it was the most distinctly Jewish-sounding cover I've ever heard of this song. By the end, it was sounding like a song that might be played and danced to a bar mitzvah. Such an unexpected treat to just be able to sit here and listen... though, by the end, I was wanting to dance.


~ Lizzy