leonardcohenforum.com

TipperaryAnn wrote:My first recommendation would still be Ira Nadel's "Various Positions".

This is my favourite bio, too!

From Montreal concerts topic , by musicmania :

"Visiting Montreal while first and foremost was the chance to witness Cohen in his hometown it was also the chance to see the place he grew up and places mentioned in his poetry, art and songs. We enjoyed trips to the area he spent his childhood, seeing Our Lady of the Harbour at Bon Secours which is immortalised in Suzanne with the line ”And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbour”. We visited McGill University and were disappointed to see no reference to Cohen having studied there but it is a beautiful building well worth seeing. We also visited The Parc Du Portugal and were pleased to witness the first snow of winter there as Cohen has done a painting called “First Snow” at this location. We visited many other places too while in Montreal and it was very enjoyable experience and meeting friends who were kind enough to show us these places made it all the more special"

Just another testimony to the effect that many persons care about details of Leonard's life that Wendy does not care about.

While it is her right not to "care about" and expressing it, the wording chosen to do so was quite disrespectful for those who care.

Even such an individual can not be ordinary and extraordinary at the same time, although Leonard Cohen managed to make "ordinary" sounds normal in "extraordinary", it ends up that "extra" is only what can fit this artist. To be larger-than-life characters is usually not what makes happy people with no history. I am just so pleased that his story seems to really showing him happy at last! So very pleased.

Tchocolatl wrote:The persona is the artistic vehicule created by the artist, what is offered to people to share.

The persona not being the person, I figure out that once the artist delivered a performance, the job is done, and the artist is entitled to a private life like anybody else. To share private life or not with the rest of the world should be a decision made only by the artist.

I thought this observation very insightful. It never ceases to amaze me how many people today, reading books, still don't understand that the narrator is not the author but merely another character. Likewise, the stage personna is not the person.

On the question of Suzanne's privacy, she does appear on the cover of Death of a Ladies' Man, so has been in the public domain for quite some time, and a few years ago did invite a glossy magazine into the Hydra house to photograph the lovely interior. She is a painter (with a fondness for dark brooding colours) and so I doubt she is averse to publicity so long as it is not too intrusive.

On Hydra we are very protective of celebrities' privacy, and for quite some time there was a local conspiracy to misdirect strangers away from Leonard's house, that is before its location became commonly known.

I knew that the mother's children were not part of his secret life. And do I know anything - or something - about his secret life, anyway? Of course not. I was just, like Wendy, telling "out loud" what I was thinking. Instead of giving a straight answer to the question - that was already answered.

All this looks like to me :

A woman :
- Can somebody can provide me with a glass of water please?

Another woman passing by, speaking out louf for herself :
- I don't understand why some people are asking for a glass of water, I don't see the necessity for this, when we have all the water in the world that is needed.

Somebody answering to the first woman :
- Here is a fine glass of good fresh water for you.

Another one who is passing by and speaks out loud what she thinks of the matter - although nobody asks anything like that, I notice.
- Oh! What is wrong to ask for a glass of water, if that does not harm anybody. We are all thirsty at times.

And so on...

By now, I guess that the initiator of that subject knows well about what she wanted to know. If not, I hope she is pleased with your complement of information.

Mothers are of first importance.




Regarding the houses and the rest, well... it seems to be essential for some people. That gives a pretty occasion to gather and mix and befriend each others and to experiment all sorts of emotions. That does not harm anybody, in the contrary.

On Hydra, it must be an exquisite experience to get lost and to discover much more than if having darted to the point blindly.