The Incomparable Sharon Robinson Q&A

[DrHGuy]

I posted a Q&A with The Incomparable Sharon Robinson on my Heck Of A Guy blog Feb 26, 2010 that may be of interest to some folks who frequent this Forum. (I had intended to enter this notice here earlier but my life became incomparably chaotic for a bit.) The post is called "Sharon Robinson On Career Choice, Leonard Cohen, Ann-Margaret, Songwriting, Tour Surprises, … And My Dance Moves" and can be found at http://1heckofaguy.com/2010/02/26/sharo ... nce-moves/

The photo above shows Sharon Robinson, who graciously provided the shot at my request, in a Caesar's Palace - Las Vegas performance that predates the 2009 Leonard Cohen World Tour concert. When this picture was taken, Sharon Robinson was a singer-dancer in the Ann-Margaret Revue.

[B4real]

Hi Alan,

As always a great read from you. Sharon's answers were most interesting. You could say her "dance" style has changed somewhat over the years - I've always loved that performance of Memories

[LisaLCFan]

Excellent interview! Thanks!

On a personal note, although I was never lucky enough to run into Leonard at the two shows I attended last year, I did have the immense pleasure of running into Sharon, and we had a lovely chat--perhaps a full 5 minutes--at about 3 in the morning after one of the shows! (She was kind enough to stop to talk, despite the fact that she must have been very tired!). I was so impressed with how friendly and gracious she was, and I will always remember that unexpected and wonderful encounter! I don't think it even took 12 seconds for her to win me over, as it did with Dr. H Guy!

[holydove]

DrH, thank you for the Q&A - really interesting - and I love Sharon's Tour Photo Diary - watching it gave me chills. Whenever I see the name DrH under a topic, I know I'm in for something way cool!

Does anyone know more about the Waiting for Bardot story?

[B4real]

Ah, holydove,

I love Sharon's Tour Photo Diary - watching it gave me chills. Whenever I see the name DrH under a topic, I know I'm in for something way cool!

I feel exactly the same

[leonardmtl]

DrHguy,

A wonderful Q&A with a special lady. I met her at the Beacon and I was so struck by her humility, and, of couse, her talent.

Let me fill in a small detail.

You mention that at one of the concerts, "rumour" has it that some members of the audience threw clothing at Sharon Robinson.

This actually happenned.

At the San Jose concert in November, at the moment when the lyric in "Closing Time" spoke of women tearing off their polka dot blouses, there must have been at least 50 blouses thrown at the stage. Since they couldn't reach the stage from behind the third row, they were thrown forward to the front row with everybody standing, laughing and cheering.

When the set was over you could see both Bob Metzger and Xavier Mas trying to decide which blouse to take with them off stage.

On another thread, I recall Leonard sent an email to Jarkko ( who put it on the Forum), expressing his appreciation for the gesture.


Leonard from Montreal

[DrHGuy]

Re " "rumour" has it that some members of the audience threw clothing at Sharon Robinson,"

I have once again been hoist on my own petard, falling prey to the #1 occupational hazard of the chronically sardonic blogger. For what it's worth, I was aware of the reality of the audience participation event during "Closing TIme" at San Jose. As I described it,

Yes, what you see is what happened – a fusillade of feminine apparel is launched from the audience onto the stage, whoops are whooped, the unflappable Leonard Cohen loses his place in the song (1:18), and, in general, a good time is apparently had by all.

Those lines (and the screen capture shown above) are from my post published the day after the San Jose Concert (titled, "Oh My Cohen! The Women Tear Their Blouses Off At Closing Time Of Leonard Cohen San Jose Concert" at http://1heckofaguy.com/2009/11/14/oh-my ... e-concert/) which featured the Albert Noonan video of the blouse-hurling (as far as I can determine, all of the blouses that ended up on stage were brought to the concert for that purpose rather than essential clothing removed from the ensemble worn to the concert). That section of the recording was also included in my "Thanks, Leonard Cohen, For Coming To The USA" video at http://1heckofaguy.com/2010/01/07/thank ... lebration/

Leonard Cohen's thank-you (see below) was the punch line of another Heck Of A Guy post on Cohen's graciousness, "Gracious, That’s Leonard Cohen, Part 2" at http://1heckofaguy.com/2010/01/06/graci ... hen-part-2

Dear Jarkko

Please thank all our friends
for the beautiful shower of polka dots

that we danced upon
in San Jose and over the many years before

when our step was not so high

With deep appreciation
Leonard

In any case, you are in good company. In addition to folks objecting - often vehemently - to perceived errors in my blog, my comments, ostensibly meant as irony or jokes, have been interpreted as straightforward observations throughout my life, most notably by medical school instructors and women I've dated over the past few years where the consequences were sometimes - well, let's call them awkward. You'd think I'd learn by now.

Sorry for the miscommunication on my part.

Allan
~AKA DrHGuy at Heck Of A Guy

DrHguy,

A wonderful Q&A with a special lady. I met her at the Beacon and I was so struck by her humility, and, of couse, her talent.

Let me fill in a small detail.

You mention that at one of the concerts, "rumour" has it that some members of the audience threw clothing at Sharon Robinson.

This actually happenned.

At the San Jose concert in November, at the moment when the lyric in "Closing Time" spoke of women tearing off their polka dot blouses, there must have been at least 50 blouses thrown at the stage. Since they couldn't reach the stage from behind the third row, they were thrown forward to the front row with everybody standing, laughing and cheering.

When the set was over you could see both Bob Metzger and Xavier Mas trying to decide which blouse to take with them off stage.

On another thread, I recall Leonard sent an email to Jarkko ( who put it on the Forum), expressing his appreciation for the gesture.


Leonard from Montreal