leonardcohenforum.com

In her introduction to herself, Iconoclastic_Bitch wrote:
"I'm wondering if there might be a chance of meeting him, does anyone have the scoop on that? It's probably pretty unlikely, but hey - a girl can dream."

This is such a common ambition that I thought it might be nice for newcomers to have a single thread where they can see how the miracle came about for some lucky Cohenites. (From these chance encounters, the prerequisite for meeting Leonard would appear to be ... to be not looking for him!)

Here are the links I have been able to track down this afternoon. Please pm new or old links to me as you find them, and I will edit them into this first post. Please don't put actual photos in this thread itself as that will just take up a huge amount of space. The idea is to make this an index of encounters.


Many of us (London, 20 October 2007)
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9570&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Darling (Saguenay, 30 May 2008)
http://leonardcohenforum.com/viewtopic. ... 07#p122709

MaryB (Hamilton, 5 June 2008)
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=11254&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 15#p124028
download/file.php?id=2809&mode=view

James T (Manchester, 17 June 2008)
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=11310&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 8c#p125107
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=12623&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 15#p156617

Lindh61 (Oslo, 1 July 2008)
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=11437&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 15#p127738

howthelightgetsin (Big Chill, 3 August 2008)
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=11927&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 15#p132439

Missteyed (Bournemouth, 12 November 2008)
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12766&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 30#p144010
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12766&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 30#p144164

Imyourwoman (London, 18 November 2008)
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12816&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 8c#p143846

Evie B (London, 19 November 2008):
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12816&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 35#p158696

Mikeaus (Sydney, 28 January 2009):
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13314&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 15#p151765
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13314&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 15#p151782

IrishMar (New York, 19 February 2009):
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=13520&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 60#p154948

Lori (New York, 21 February 2009):
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=13520&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 35#p156151

Findingtime (Austin, Texas, 28 March 2009):
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=14215#p162331

Womanfromaroom (Cologne, Germany, 2 July 2009):
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14693&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 31#p179351
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14693&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 15#p179505

Chrissie01 (Weybridge, 12 July 2009):
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15914&st=0&sk=t&sd ... 65#p182199
http://kevin1462.fotopic.net/c1725625.html

Damfino (Montreal, 5 October 2009)
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18958&view=unread#p200217

Leonard and Anjani met a large number us at the Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester in July 2007

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8967&hilit=+goodall+art+gallery

And Leonard stopped in at The Green Note to meet a lot of you in London, too... but that was prior to this grueling tour, so I wouldn't hold out hope for that.


~ Lizzy

Yes Lizzy,
That was Hydriot's first link, 20th October 2007

HaHa. Great job, Hydriot .

Thanks for starting this thread hydriot. Somehow I had missed Evie's, which might be my favorite!

Seems like the key to meeting him is to be in the UK. hmmmm.

Hydriot,

This is a most wonderful thread.

Leonard interacting with his flock! Leonard seems, well, so Leonard. And meeting in such untraditional places (a carpark!)...... so zen-like.

Not much to add, but I just wanted to comment that I did feel the naturalness and warmth.

Leonard from Montreal.....same name...same town...no Golden Voice

My two favorites are Evie's and the one from Bournemouth! What I loved so much about the latter is the chance encounter in the carpark and that the gentleman is your wonderfully average (sorry, of course no one is average, especially a LC fan!) English bloke. He posted several photos and I think a few of us women saved the image of Leonard looking out to sea! Something very wistful about it.

No matter who accidently runs into Leonard he is always gracious and generous. I also liked Lori's chance elevator encounter in NY the day after the Beacon concert! Believe it and her photo are on the Beacon Theatre thread.

But, as has been said by others, a chance meeting with Leonard is just that...chance. Especially with the tight tour schedule and the need to try and find time for solitary moments it is so important that we allow him his space.

All the best,
Diana

ladydi wrote:I also liked Lori's chance elevator encounter in NY the day after the Beacon concert!

I have now edited the first post in this thread to include the link to Lori's encounter. I think this is the way to organise this thread: if you tell me of the encounters that should be mentioned, I will add them to the first post, so that newcomers to the forum can get straight to the mother lode without delay.

My favourite encounter was the car park and that picture looking out to sea, I had that as my desktop picture for a while

My second favourite was Lori's meeting it just reminded me of Leonard meeting Janis Joplin getting in the lift at the Chelsea Hotel.

I agree with lady Di, my favorites are the one with Evie and the Bounemouth pictures. Paula, I still have the one of leonard gazing out to sea as my screen saver! I love these accounts of chance meetings with leonard and as someone mentioned he is always gracious and also seems to be enjoying himself. But they should be chance encounters. That is a big part of what makes these pictures so special.

Frisco

I'm a newbie to the forum here but a long-time Leonard Cohen acolyte. As I write this, I'm listening to the NPR Beacon Theater concert in great anticipation of seeing Leonard and his musical troupe at the Nokia Theater on Good Friday. (No less....)

Anyway, here's a short tale of my (near) encounter with Leonard:

Last spring I was waiting in the car for my wife to pick up something from her Olympic Boulevard office in West Los Angeles. It was Saturday mid-morning, and the car was parked on Butler Avenue, a side street next to the office building. I was reading the Times when out of the corner of my right eye I saw an elderly gentleman in a long coat and newsboy's cap and a woman d'un certain age walking on the sidewalk past the car. As the pair continued strolling toward the corner at Olympic I quickly realized that it was Leonard. By the time I recovered my senses and thought to hop out of the car to gush hello, he and his companion had turned the corner. Not wanting to startle or embarrass anyone by scurrying up to them, I let the moment pass.

I've been content to hold the sighting of one of my literary and musical heroes as a talismanic memory.

As for the Good Friday concert, I'll be the guy d'un certain age blubbering in loge section D if (when, s'il te plait, Leonard) sings Anthem, which I quoted in the eulogy for my ex-wife, the mother of my two kids.

Hi Johnny ~

I've just now read your posting about your near-encounter with Leonard. You're right that it would've been awkward. I'm happy that you'll be getting to see him perform Live now.

Your last paragraph and especially your last two phrases were very unanticipated and touching. Thank you for sharing that with us. You will be hearing Anthem, for sure.

A warm welcome to you, Johnny.


~ Lizzy

New encounters just posted at the top of this thread: Oslo, Sydney and New York. Thank you IrishMar for identifying them.

Hello

my name is Sebastian Tischer and I finally got a ticket for a LC concertin Germany.
If this concert will take part and I can listen to him one of my dreams will come true. But then there ist still the bigest dream of all: The meeting!
I know that propably everyone in this forum would like to meet him, but I want to ask you what you think which oppurtunity might there be to meet LC and maybe shake hands, get autographs, take photos and talk some words...
I am from Germany, and poorly he will not give any autographs after the concert. Any other idea or suggestion?

Please help me

Yours sincerely Sebastian Tischer