How to celebrate Leonard's 80th birthday

[scocoh]

.
.
[chuckle]...The possibilities are nearly endless: "Is This What You Wanted?"

--"Sincerely, L. Cohen"

--"And I'll yield to the flood of your beauty"

[WiTS]

Sitting on the Came So Far for Beauty bench with my wife and enjoying the sunset/sunrise would definitely be a fascinating experience. Hope the project goes well and I'd like to contribute financially to be part of it.

Weilin
from Beijing

[susanne30072009]

Yesterday's update from Hydra, from our friend Lakis:
...
So, right now we will wait for green light to our plan, and an estimate of the total costs. If everything goes well and the plan is viable, we will start a campaign to collect donations.
All the text etc. details can then be fine-tuned during the process.

Splendidly, Dear Jarkko
Regards, B.

I feel the same way! Realy good idea!!
Uwe, Switzerland

[Inna]

Of course I too applaud the marvelous idea of a bench on Hydra and would very much like to be part of its coming to fruition.

[Tchocolatl]

I have to add my two cents, too.

Of course.

I came so far for beauty comes with the rest.

I came so far for beauty
I left so much behind
My patience and my family
My masterpiece unsigned
I thought I'd be rewarded
For such a lonely choice
And surely she would answer
To such a very hopeless voice
I practiced all my sainthood
I gave to one and all
But the rumours of my virtue
They moved her not at all
I changed my style to silver
I changed my clothed to black
And where I would surrender
Now I would attack
I stormed the old casino
For the money and the flesh
And I myself decided
What was rotten and what was fresh
And men to do my bidding
And broken bones to teach
The value of my pardon
The shadow of my reach
But no, I could not touch her
With such a heavy hand
Her star beyond my order
Her nakedness unmanned
I came so far for beauty
I left so much behind
My patience and my family
My masterpiece unsigned

Is is really suitable for a bench? Considering the parts of the anatomy ?

As for the graffiti. Look at this :

http://torontoist.com/2010/08/a_portrai ... ard_cohen/

This is a sign.

This bench must be the surrounded by a garden in a near future.

[Tchocolatl]

Now what do you think of :

"I told you when I came I was a stranger".

[Cheshire gal]

Yes. I like that Tchocolatl.

[Dem]

Just to inform you that the current Mayor of Hydra
who supported our bench project finally lost
the elections yesterday by a very short margin.

So Hydra has a new Mayor.
I don't know if this will have any
consequences for our project.

Dem

[Sophia]

As Dem said, current mayor lost for only 23 votes and new one will undertake his duties on 1st of September.
Let's hope it won't affect our bench project.

Sophia

[lizzytysh]

Oh, NO. This reminds me of the lament [excuse] given by people who say they didn't vote because their vote doesn't count.
The last thing the longtime mayor is going to want to hear from anyone is why they didn't vote.
What percentage was voter turnout?

Is the new mayor a conservative or liberal, if they can be categorized as such over there?
That would be dreadful if the new one were to nix our project.
Praying.

[leonardmtl]

Not be provocative as it appears there is a groundswell for "came so far for beauty", ....nevertheless let me put out as an alternative

" we are all on the same road"

a moving commentary from "Passing Through" at the final concert in Las Vegas emotionally sung between sets by Leonard's Forum members in attendance, with Leonard joining in!!!!!-----yes, we all resonated to the humanizing interpretations Leonard brought to the "predicament", the "catastrophe"..... yes, we all all broken and must accept that condition to be a hero in our own eyes - "hallelujah" ----


Leonard from Montreal

[lizzytysh]

I love the many implications that come with the truth in that, if it were placed on the bench... and how Leonard made it real in his life, with the people he's known, as well as his fans.

The only 'issue' I have with it is that he sang it so profoundly when it was recorded, yet he didn't write the song. It's clearly been used in very important ways, however. There's nothing that dictates that we use one of Leonard's own lyrics, yet that seems to be the clearest way to draw a direct connection within the bench.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2004/ ... g-through/

Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם

Promoting Israeli democracy, exposing secrets of the national security state

‘Passing Through’ (1948): Song of Political Engagement
by Richard Silverstein on September 2, 2004
in Folk & World Music

In the late 1940s, Dick Blakeslee, then a student at the University of Chicago, wrote Passing Through, an exceedingly simple, hopeful and politically committed song. The lyrics breathed the heady atmosphere of political liberalism and optimism that followed Allied victory in World War II and preceded the McCarthy era and Cold War freeze. In 1948, a hundred flowers bloomed and Passing Through epitomized this:
songs_for_political_action Buy it

I saw Jesus on the cross on a hill called Calvary
“Do you hate mankind for what they done to you?”
He said, “Talk of love not hate, things to do – it’s getting late.
I’ve so little time and I’m only passing through.”

Passing through, passing through.
Sometimes happy, sometimes blue,
glad that I ran into you.
Tell the people that you saw me passing through.

I saw Adam leave the Garden with an apple in his hand,
I said “Now you’re out, what are you going to do?”
“Plant some crops and pray for rain, maybe raise a little cane.
I’m an orphan now, and I’m only passing through.”

I was with Washington at Valley Forge, shivering in the snow.
I said, “How come the men here suffer like they do?”
“Men will suffer, men will fight, even die for what is right
even though they know they’re only passing through”

I was with Franklin Roosevelt’s side on the night before he died.
He said, “One world must come out of World War Two” (ah, the fool)
“Yankee, Russian, white or tan,” he said, “A man is still a man.
We’re all on one road, and we’re only passing through.”

“I rode with old Abe Lincoln on that train to Gettysburg
I said: “What are we gonna do?”
He said: “All men must be unconditonally free
Or there is no reason to be passing through.”

–lyrics from LeonardCohenSite.com

Cisco Huston recorded Passing Through (hear it) and it appears on Cisco Houston-The Folkways Years. CiscoHouston.com is a great resource both for more about this album and Cisco Houston’s musical career in general.
cover

I first heard Passing Through (hear it) when Leonard Cohen recorded it around 1973 for his Essential Leonard Cohen. I loved the jauntiness and good humor which he inferred into the lyrics of a deeply political and spiritual song. Though for some reason he omitted Blakeslee’s closing verse about Abe Lincoln. Perhaps it was too overtly political or Cohen didn’t like the reference to “man” being unconditionally free?
cover

Miraculously, Ron Cohen and Dave Samuelson have collected Blakeslee’s original recording of the song on Songs for Political Action a massive 10-CD collection of politically engaged songs from the 1930s to 1950s.

Blakeslee himself became an English professor at various colleges and passed away in 2000. The University of Chicago Magazine carried a short obituary:

Richard C. Blakeslee, AB’43, AM’46, a professor emeritus of English, died April 7, 2000, in Santa Barbara, CA. He was 78. Blakeslee taught at Northwestern University, Wisconsin State College, and San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University), where he remained until his 1992 retirement. He was the author of the folk song “Passing Through.” Survivors include his wife, Pat; three daughters; a son; and nine grandchildren.

He was a good man who appears to have lived a righteous life.

[Tchocolatl]

You can call me Tchoc, Chuck.

My, my. Life is not just a long pain in the neck affair. There is so many fantastic things, besides, small and great. Like Leonard Cohen songs, for example. Thank G*d!

So lets have some of the Man's words to be carved in stone with those entangled hearts.

Women also must be free, you know. By the way.

[scocoh]

Just to inform you that the current Mayor of Hydra
who supported our bench project finally lost
the elections yesterday by a very short margin.

So Hydra has a new Mayor.
I don't know if this will have any
consequences for our project.

As Dem said, current mayor lost for only 23 votes and new one will undertake his duties on 1st of September.
Let's hope it won't affect our bench project.

If the new mayor declines to support the project, our mission is clear: We need about twenty-five volunteers to move to Hydra for however long it takes to become eligible to vote and then elect a mayor who will support the project. Heck-- If we get enough people we can just provide our own candidate from the forum, vote him or her in, and let them do all sorts of Leonard-related projects around the island.

Hey wait a minute! We can do that anywhere in the world... Come on, folks-- let's take over a town!! Somebody pick a country, then a region, then a small town. We'll get forum members to move there, take over a town council and do one big Leonard project in that town per year. A bench is just the beginning. "Tower Of Song" here we come!

[LisaLCFan]

... Come on, folks-- let's take over a town!! Somebody pick a country, then a region, then a small town. We'll get forum members to move there, take over a town council and do one big Leonard project in that town per year. A bench is just the beginning. "Tower Of Song" here we come!

I have the perfect town: Leonardville, New Brunswick, Canada (no, I am not making that up).