News

Being Veterans Day here is a You Tube video of Leonard Cohen reciting "In Flanders Fields". https://youtu.be/cKoJvHcMLfc

Have seen him 2009 in Austria. The female background singers jumped saltos. And Cohen danced around the stage. The audience has been melt together in soul and hearth for 3 hours. A magic that will stay with me the rest of my life. Thank you Leonard. One of the greatest of our time has gone as a gentleman up to the very end.

I will look forward to Mike's review of the new LP. Thanks to Evan for passing on that powerful rendition of In Flanders Fields" too. All I can say is WOW.

In 1979, as part of a Secondary School's Fifth Year study of Canadian Literature, I played my class a recording of Leonard Cohen singing “Bird on A Wire.” When the song was finished, a young man in the class, already an accomplished pianist, raised his hand to say “that was awful.” He pointed out the simplicity of the melody, the banality of the chord structure, and Leonard Cohen’s weary, flat, limited voice.

Thirty-three years later, that former student saw Leonard Cohen in concert in London, Ontario. He told me, “That was the best concert I have ever attended.” To put this in perspective, by 2012 this gentleman was a pianist, organist, adjudicator, and teacher of considerable reputation. He had undoubtedly witnessed many stellar musical performances.

I tell this story because it teaches an important lesson, one often found in Leonard Cohen’s novels, his poems, and his songs: sometimes we find beauty and peace and joy in the most unexpected places, and this discovery helps to keep our spirit strong and hopeful, even in the darkest moments.

Thank you, Leonard Cohen. To paraphrase one of your songs “thanks for the trouble you took from our eyes.”

I love his first two albums and a lot of his material afterwards

I have to make sure I do not listen to him too often because whenever I do I am so moved that I cry

As a fellow Canadian, to say that Leonard Cohen's work did a lot to put Canadian music on the map would be a major understatement. I was so happy to see his light shine so brightly again in his final years. Will be sadly missed. As for Caiola, I'm ashamed to say I really didn't know much about him till today, his light shone before I was born. But what an amazing list of music he played on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Caiola#Partial_studio_recordings_list plus he served at Battle of Iwo Jima as a stretcher bearer. Americans should be very proud of him. RIP

heard on the news Leon Russell passed too

:(

One of the best concerts I saw was LC's "I'm Your Man" tour in Portland, OR. Only about 200 people turned up in a pretty nice hall and he asked us to come down to the front then he gave his full performance as if we were in a small nightclub - it was magical and he did not skimp even though I'm sure he lost money on it.

He was an awesome song writer and his music always captivated me.
His son Adam Cohen is a great singer/songwriter as well.