My relation with Leonard......wow, It comes from a long time ago . I discovered him when I was very young and a very good friend lent me a record of him, I think was “The best of Leonard Cohen” : Suzanne, Sisters of Mercy, Famous Blue Raincoat, Chelsea Hotel.... and I was trapped in his charm and since then he has stayed always in my life: He is my favourite singer, writer, poet, my English Teacher ....
I was born in the middle sixties in a small town of the Northwest of Spain, Zamora, the same place where other big poet was born: Claudio Rodríguez. Both authors have a lot of things in common apart from my deep admiration as for example the same birth year (1934) , the prestigious International Prince of Asturias Awards of Literature, 2011 (L.C) and 1993 (C.R) etc... Unfortunately Claudio died in 1999.
During my youth I started to collect the L.C. records, and I used to go through a lot of bookstores searching for all Leonard,s books, I could get. Of course now is easier ( with Internet, Amazon.. ) but then was exciting find some of his books in anywhere.
Well, since 2000 Leonard was more and more present in my life. That year I got married, and my wife, who knows and shares my passion, danced with me that day “Take this waltz” for the openning wedding dance, It couldn’t be other way..
In February 2004 our beautiful daughter was born ( Without any doubt the best day of my life ) in San Diego ( California) by surrogacy with the inestimable help of an extraordinary American family that now is our family, and of course as you can imagine, her name is..…Lorca. She is the first and I think the only one yet , with that name in Spain. Many people ask us about that name and they say is beautiful and original.. When she was born I tried to contact with Leonard in Los Angeles but was impossible.. I got the number of her daughter Lorca searching and searching in the first and incipient internet and I got speak with her… but she probably thought I was crazy ( really I think I was..jajajaja) and she didn’t take seriously.. Since then I attended in 2007 in Barcelona to a tribute concert called “According to Leonard Cohen” with the participation of Perla Batalla, Adam Cohen, Anjani Thomas, Jackson Browne and other Spanish singers. That year my wife and me went to Madrid and we enjoyed with a performance of "Book of Longing" opera by Philiph Glass based on the poetry and images of Cohen. Moreover we have been in three concerts of Leonard: Lisbon 2008 where the pretty Lorca with 4 years old knew and sung some of his songs and I remember how people looked her with great surprise while she was singing "First we take Manhattan" on a container as improvised ministage .. ; Madrid 2009 and Lisbon 2012 again where Lorca and me got reach the first line beside Leonard and I threw a Claudio Rodríguez book to the stage which I never really knew if Leonard got . At the end of the concert, Lorca and me were with the web Sisters and Sharon Robinson, we like very much and we admire them, the same as Perla Batalla who wasn’t in those concerts. They were very kind and friendly and posed for some pictures with Lorca.
This is our story and we expect enjoy again of Leonard Universe...

I knew the song "Suzanne" but didn't encounter Leonard till a few years later when a TV station aired a B&W documentary about him from I think 1964. I was captivated by it and went in search of all his recordings and books, and found most of them. I spent hours listening to every song, headphones on, late at night so as not to disturb anyone. I got lost in the songs and sometimes wound up crying, feeling I was so close to him--but of course so far. So I tried to find out "who" he really was from his books. I wanted to know what the hundreds of references in his poems and songs meant; I wanted factual information.

I never did get much in the way of facts, beyond some names, places, dates. I felt he was a soul mate and at the same time I couldn't really "find" him. But I did pick up some clues in the things I read about him. One thing was his saying that he never tried to integrate the different parts of himself, That helped me understand some of his songs, if he had one aspect of himself talking to another aspect. Such as in the song "Avalanche".

Time went on and my obsessiveness to learn all about him subsided. I simply enjoyed the beautiful music, the wonderful and often mysterious words and images. Then I came to a realization that particulars weren't important anyway--that something in him, perhaps his subconscious, was speaking to our subconsciousnesses. It's why I reacted so instantly and so completely. His communication uses words and sounds to evoke feelings, and the feelings, I think, are universal.

In case you ever read this, I want to thank you, Leonard. For the last 40 years or so you've meant a great deal to me. You've put yourself out there in a unique way and in so doing have connected with so many. You're nearly 80 now and I'm 68, and I'm the richer for it. Happy, happy birthday.

Much love and admiration,
Cathy Groves
4 July 2014, Savoy, Massachusetts