September 21 - Leonard's birthday

News about Leonard Cohen and his work, press, radio & TV programs etc.
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Caren
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Caren »

Happy Birthday to you dear Leonard. Wherever you may be.

You have a safe place in my heart and in the hearts of so many others so you are not gone from our lives. Just like every year I thank you for everything.
1990s Berlin 2008:Amsterdam-Berlin-Hamburg-London RAH 2009:Berlin-Barcelona 2010:Odense-Berlin-Gent x3 -Wiesbaden-Marseille-Hannover-Las Vegas x2 2012:Gent x5 -Amsterdam x2 -Berlin-London-Verona-Toulon-Paris x2 -Barcelona 2013:Paris-Antwerp-Mannheim-Brussels-Rome-Lucca-Berlin-Lodz-Prague-Vienna-Pula-Odense-Zurich-Manchester-Leeds-London-Rotterdam
Amrei
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Amrei »

jarkko wrote:We all know that Leonard was born on September 21, 1934.
Thursday September 21, 2017 will be the first birthday without the Master.

This is our birthday thread for your thoughts, feelings, memories...
Thank you, dear Jarkko. The whole morning I already thought about what to do, how to honour him. It feels so wrong not to write Happy Birthday and secretly hoping, that he would read my posting.

And I know we must be grateful and still, I am so sad.

World has become a cold and lonely place without you, Leonard Cohen, and knowing, that you never again will look over your audience and with gorgeous, dry humor say "cheerfulness kept peaking through" or "I'm just a kid with a crazy dream" is hard to understand.

Happy Birthday, wherever you are, and know that we are so many, who will neither forget nor stop missing you. [emoji174]
___________________________________
1988: Århus 21.04.
1993: Holstebro 25.4.; 26.4.
2008: Århus 06.07.; Copenhagen 17.10.; Hamburg 31.10.
2009: Berlin 02.07.
2010: Hannover 27.09.; Dortmund 29.09.
2012: Copenhagen 25.08.; Aalborg 26.08.; Berlin 05.09.
2013: Hamburg 14.07.
Amrei
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Amrei »

holydove wrote:I am struck by the fact that this year, Leonard's birthday falls on the first day of Rosh Hashanah - the jewish "head of the year" (it's a different day every year, because it's based on a lunar calendar, & it consists of 2 days). As everyone knows, the song "Who By Fire" is based on a prayer said on Rosh Hashanah, called the Unatanneh Tokef, & the opening line of this prayer is:

"Let us proclaim the mighty holiness of this day, for it is awe-inspiring..."

Rosh Hashannah commemorates the creation of Adam & Eve, the first human being (they were originally one androgenous person). Kabbalah teaches that Rosh Hashannah, as an aspect of sacred time, is a gateway for a burst of new light & life-force to come into the world.

So, though I endlessly mourn Leonard's passing from this world, I also celebrate the creation of such a beautiful & magnificent human being, & I commemorate the day of his birth as a mighty holy day, & I honor the infinite, powerful light which he brought into the world & which I believe goes on forever & ever; like his nightingale, he is singing somewhere still, & wherever he is, may his universe be filled with eternal goodness & sweetness.
Thank you holydove, your words are very comforting. [emoji257]


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___________________________________
1988: Århus 21.04.
1993: Holstebro 25.4.; 26.4.
2008: Århus 06.07.; Copenhagen 17.10.; Hamburg 31.10.
2009: Berlin 02.07.
2010: Hannover 27.09.; Dortmund 29.09.
2012: Copenhagen 25.08.; Aalborg 26.08.; Berlin 05.09.
2013: Hamburg 14.07.
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Susy
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Susy »

... As always at this day of the year
my little Butterfly comes to you wherever you are
to whisper Happy Birthday and Thank You for everything
miss you so much my dearest Friend Leonard Cohen xxx
Susanne
Susy
Vicomte
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Vicomte »

Geoffrey wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2017 8:33 pm thinking of leonard most of the time, but even more so right now. i can't address this to him personally, because there's no way he could read it, and regretfully, i am not psychologically weak enough to need to fool myself. "may everyone live, and may everyone die, hello my love, and my love - goodbye."
passport.jpg
Good point Geoffrey, I see almost daily people on Facebook wishing their parents (or friends) Happy Birthday and the poor souls have long passed on. So really not sure "Happy" is the right word......other than that, how will they manage to read Facebook?

Anytime am I missing Leonard, I have albums, CD's and DVD's to play and watch to remember him by.
I guess it all started for me sometime around Christmas 1967 and now, goodness me, it's.........2018 and over fifty years later.
No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.
Neil from The Young Ones
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clive cass
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by clive cass »

The unique thing about Leonard is that he is always with us.

Through leonards words and music and the manner in which he conducted himself we were privileged to learn and enjoy so much from him.

In the Jewish prayers at the time of a death there are the most profound words I have ever heard:

"In His light we see light"

"His" refers to G-d and I cannot use that for Leonard but I can say it for Leonard with a small H

"In his light we see light"
Dublin(3) 14/5/12, Lille 25/9/10, Liverpool 14/7/09, Manchester 30/11/08, Manchester 17/6/08, London 1988 or 1993 date unknown, Manchester 27/2/85
Hadassah
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Hadassah »

The songs of the late Leonard Cohen have always accompanied me since the release of the first album when I was 16 years old.
 What a joy was to see and hear him at the concerts from the first I saw June 2008 in Rome to the last I saw at the end of July in Brussels 2013.
The last year was full of sadness and tears and endless hearing of the last album perhaps the greatest of them all. The songs spoke so much to my heart and I felt a great closeness to the Jewish motifs, including the wonderful cantor and chorus singing and all the songs captured my heart.
 The disc was released on Succot on the day they read in the synagogue the last Ecclesiastes - Koheleth that King Solomon wrote in his adult days. I knew that with Leonard nothing was coincidental, but I hoped that this was the first chapter of his last work, and there would be other chapters, I am still waiting for chapters that Adam Cohen might publish.
 Today is Rosh Hashana and the first birthday without Leonard so sad.
In nine days, Yom Kippur will be heard in the synagogue Netaneh Tokef the inspiration for "who by fire"
 In the new attachment the singer says towards the end
 "78 years ago, Leonard Cohen, the five-year-old boy, was in the Yom Kippur service at the Shaar Hashamayim synagogue in Montreal, the synagogue built by his grandfather. He stood and heard the words of the prayer of 'Netaneh Tokef' - and the impression was apparently great. Later, after visiting here during the Yom Kippur War, he gave his version of the words of Rabbi Amnon of Mainz. "
 The work of Leonard Cohen The wonderful, modest, generous, full of warmth man (I met him) will continue to live and hear in the world. Thanks for winning you and your work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m3dblzfUpw
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Mollydog
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Mollydog »

Happy birthday, Leonard. Missing you today just a little bit more than every day since you left us.

Always in my thoughts.

Mary
1972 London/1974 London/1985 Montreal/1993 Ottawa/2008 Montreal,London O2/2009 NYC Beacon,Kingston,Ottawa X 2,Barcelona,Las Vegas,San José/2010 Malmo,Las Vegas X 2/2012 Verona,Vancouver,Montreal X 2,Ottawa,Kingston/2013 NYC, Hamilton
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Mabeanie1
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Mabeanie1 »

I never knew what to write for Leonard's birthday. I still don't. But we are in Montreal at the moment and we went to visit him yesterday for a little chat so I think he knows how I feel.

Wendy
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POZEST
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by POZEST »

I'm here to pay my respects to The birthday boy and my friend Leonard Cohen.

I can't remember what concert it was or what city it was in the first time I heard Leonard Cohen call us the audience "friends", I have always referred to him "as my friend ever since then"

all this week I've been posting videos and photographs of the concerts I went to on my Instagram account .

However you of you are remembering or honoring Leonard Cohen today there's no wrong way to go about it

Happy Birthday Leonard.
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surrender
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by surrender »

I’m so aware
That it’s all unreal:
One by one, the things
Of this world pass on.
But why do I still grieve?

(Ryokan, Zen Buddhist Monk)
1988: Amsterdam 1993: Nijmegen 2008: Amsterdam|Oberhausen 2009: Cologne|Antwerp|Barcelona 2010: Ghent (8/20-21-22)|Lille
2012: Ghent (8/12)|Amsterdam (8/21-22)|Verona|Lisboa 2013: Antwerp|Brussels|Rotterdam|Amsterdam


After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music...
(Aldous L. Huxley)
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Goldin
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Goldin »

Thank You Dear Master
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jarkko
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by jarkko »

A long time LC fan here in Finland, Dennis Barman, made a memorial video and loaded it to YouTube, https://youtu.be/j5H5SIC6EFk
1988, 1993: Helsinki||2008: Manchester|Oslo|London O2|Berlin|Helsinki|London RAH|| 2009: New York Beacon|Berlin|Venice|Barcelona|Las Vegas|San José||2010: Salzburg|Helsinki|Gent|Bratislava|Las Vegas|| 2012: Gent|Helsinki|Verona|| 2013: New York|Pula|Oslo|||
Janetld
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Janetld »

What to say on this special day? Impossible to think of anything remotely good enough, but nevertheless thank you for the words that have made such an impact over so many, many years.
Gilfeather
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Re: September 21 - Leonard's birthday

Post by Gilfeather »

"...There is a crack... a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

Celebrating the birthday of a poet with perfect words to music. His light is still here through the crack in the darkness that remains.
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