CHAPTER :
An Evening with Leonard Cohen, Austin, TX
With entries from:
Kim Gorsuch   —   10 years ago

Until this particular evening, I thought I was Leonard's biggest secret fan. Until I looked around in wonder at the packed Long Center, full of thousands of fans of all ages and all walks of life. All of us enraptured by Cohen.

Sitting in this concert, way up in the sky seats, you could feel and almost touch the emotion in the room. Cohen made the hall a sacred space, and we sat enthralled by the man who sang for us for hours, as if we were his first and last audience ever; as if we were his best, most intimate friends. He kept thanking us for being there, when all we wanted to do was offer up our own thanks for his gift of greatness. Not just for the wonder of his lyrics, but the power they have to open us up to ourselves, to throw a light into dark and lonely corners, to show us a glimpse of our best selves... and our worst.

I'm not the kind of person who is enamored with celebrities, but Cohen is my exception. I love the fact that he is almost 80, and still as creatively vibrant as ever. He has never shied away from topics of spirit and flesh, but the way he deals with secret desires and fears, and how these change through the years, always takes my breath away. It is as if he knows us in some deeper way that we recognize immediately, but not without the mirror that he gives us so generously.

Cohen makes me think about the things that my younger self has lost, some of which were never mine to begin with. He also reminds me - perhaps tries to prepare me - for the greater losses still to come. While these things are unstoppable, unavoidable, he also shows me by the way he chooses to live his life, that decline of mind and spirit are NOT inevitable. We can through our efforts reach for personal greatness at any time, in any circumstance. More than any other person that I don't in fact know, Cohen inspires me to keep striving to achieve mine. It's an audacious and humbling gift. I want to be worthy of it.

It would be easy to think that greatness comes easily for him, but fans know this just isn't true. Cohen's career reflects decades of striving and perseverance regardless of ... well, anything and everything. It takes great effort to "live your life as if it's real" while at the same time never losing sight of the greater truths. We couldn't possibly have a better guide.

Tyler Guthrie   —   10 years ago

I remember it very clearly. My mother would be driving me to school or horseback riding lessons and we would be listening to my favorite station K Earth 101. It was all the "oldies but goodies." For me to love The Mammas and the Papas, Beach Boys, Ray Charles etc., more than popular radio at my age made my mother proud. One day, she decided to put in a CD of her all time favorite, Leonard Cohen, of whom I had not heard before. I was already upset she was changing my tunes, but she went on and on that she has loved Leonard since she was a teenager...so alas, I listened. Being 8 or 9 years old, I really did not know what to make of Leonard's music or words. I liked music I could sing to, since I had dreams of being a singer. I can tell you right now, an 8 year old trying to sound good singing Cohen songs was not going to happen. I immediately asked for her to change it....which she did not...so we listened until I was dropped off at my destination. She tried many a time to get me into the music, but it wasn't happening...
Years later, I really was following my own dreams of music... and writing my own music. I had started working with a producer in Austin who gave me advice about how to write lyrics, and where to grasp inspiration. He mentioned Leonard Cohen...I remembered my mothers love for him and remembered how I felt as a child about him...but purchased his book of longing (poems) and read. I read his words and highlighted words that moved me. I had never read such moving words, such visual poems in my life. I quickly listened again to the music I once did not understand, and was so moved by his music and words. What a difference 18 years had made. It was Leonard who changed who I was as a song writer. To top it off, my parents and I were able to go together to my first Leonard Cohen concert. His spirit and love of the music and the words moved me to tears. The class of the performance he put on was something I had never seen in my time. The way he dressed, the way he moved on stage, the way he interacted with the back-up singers and band. Leonard had (although years late) become an inspiration and my favorite performer.
I was able to see him 2 more times... making sure I caught him whenever I could. I was able to bring my boyfriend ...who I was unsure would understand the genius of this man and his music. I was so wrong... Leonard put on a 3 hour show, he didn't loose the attention of a single soul that evening... eyes locked, faces smiling ear to ear...and even bringing my boyfriend to tears with the melodic harmony's of his back up singers. Leonard Cohen is one of a kind. I didn't understand him when I was young, but as I matured, and learned to understand music and lyrics, I was able to see what a poet, performer, musician this man truly was and still is today. I am thankful my mother introduced her love of Leonard to me at such a young age, and I am grateful I was able to see what an incredible genius this man is.

Irmaly Brackin   —   10 years ago

start writing your new passage here...I love leonard from the first time I heard songs of ' love and hate' in 1972 in Germany at a cousins house..no love songs move me more. dance me to the end of love. happy birthday leonard.

  • - just now