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Toowoomba was a great gathering this year.
It was great to meet Henning and Elke.
As usual, Andrew had a great program planned including 2 screenings of "I'm Your Man" on the big screen.

I'll leave it to Andrew to post a report on the event with details of each performance... I just wanted to applaud his organisation and the performers themselves:
Graham Nunn, Simon Sheehy, John Gallagher, Henning Franz & Ann Vriend.

Henning was last seen riding a kangaroo heading for the great barrier reef with Andrew

Henning on a kangaroo? Great! Hope you took a picture, Richard?

Andrew, congratulations on your successful LC-Event with great performers, especially Henning and Ann Vriend.
I met and of course heard Ann in Berlin last year and I was really impressed about her unique voice and - I must
admit - her beautiful look. What a pity I couldn't be there last weekend.

Henning und Elke: Euch beiden noch eine tolle Zeit in Australien! Und lasst die Kängurus in Ruhe!

Kerstin

Lovely avatar, Kerstin.

Hi there folk!

Sorry for the delay, but I've been travelling with Henning and Elke and this has been the first opportunity to tackle a short report on our event! Thanks Richard for your initial positive comment and you, Kerstin, for your nice words!

As we have come to expect, our event went really well in terms of the wonderful spirit that is characteristic of the occasion. Everyone I spoke to enjoyed the program and it was great to meet more new people again this year, including one of our Forum members, Blonde Madonna (who lives in Victoria)!

It was especially wonderful to have Henning perform for us – the first international performer we’d ever had! He did his usual sensitive and beautiful performance of Leonard's poetry to music and this was well received.

It was also a privilege to have Ann Vriend (who some will remember from Berlin) perform for us. She had to battle with a bad head cold, was jet-lagged and tired, but still delighted the audience. Despite her unwell condition, she performed well beyond expectations and was a big hit with everyone, many of whom purchased her CDs.

We also had two Brisbane performers: Graham Nunn did a superb selection of Cohen's poetry with musical accompaniment by Simon Sheehy. Simon also did a fantastic version of Bird On The Wire.

John Gallagher (our Toowoomba performer) did his usual enthusiastic and powerful renditions and was accompanied by Henning in a cool little last song duet.

Everyone I spoke to was enthralled by the Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man movie and the soundtrack was one of our 'lucky door prizes'. The San Sebastian concert also proved to be very popular, with folk wondering about how to get hold of copies of it.

The only disappointing aspect of the event was the lower than expected attendance numbers at each of the sessions, varying between say around 30 people up to about 50. However, the overall attendance for all the sessions would be probably a more heartening figure to focus on. Anyway, those who were there had a fantastic time and it really was very special having our wonderful overseas guests!

In due course this abbreviated report will be expanded and complemented by, not only photos, but also a report done by Henning (which I can assure you will be worth waiting for)!

Cheers
Andrew (Darby)

Thank you, damellon. It shows the little island just in front of Vlychos beach on Hydra. I loved the view when I was there.

All the best to Ann's health. Hope, she'll get better soon.

Kerstin

Hi Folks

back in Germany - here is my report:

Australia

It's been a long trip from Germany to OZ-Land. After you arrive you feel all jetlagged and dizzy and the best thing to do is stay in bed for a day and do nothing but sleep. But instead Elke and I were keen to see the city of Sydney. Early in the evening we passed a movie theatre and since I am always interested in movies and they had this one movie I hadn't seen yet we decided to ask for tickets. At the ticket counter I asked for two spare seats - one for a Cohen fan and one for a Non-Cohen fan. "I think we have" the lady said with a curious look on her face. I asked if the movie would come with German subtitles. A short, sharp "No" indicated that it wouldn't have this feature. I asked if we could have tickets for half-price only cause there were no German subtitles. The lady said that she could offer me a fist in my balls for half-price only. I asked her why she was treating me like I was a Bob Dylan fan. I told her that I had just landed from Germany and that where I come from a fist on a ball means free-kick for the other side. That was my last comment in that place. All of a sudden I found my clothes all soaked up with water, diat coke and milkshakes.Later in the evening I wrote in my diary "Dear Diary - I've been to the sun - it's nothing special - a place of violence - much like our own"

Toowoomba

90 minutes to the west of Brisbane you bump against a hill and you have to get your car climbing 700 meters. It's because you found Toowoomba. If you happen to be there on the 3rd weekend in September despite the long term drought you will witness a city totally decorated with all kinds of beautiful flowers. It's the flower power weekend with all sorts of entertainment culminating in a lively street parade. In Toowoomba you will meet friendly people only but on that certain weekend you won't find any accomodation unless you have booked way in advance or you know a good a friend who's living there. Perhaps a friend like "Andrew".

Andrew

Andrew and I have met first at the LC Event 2002 on Hydra. We have become very good friends since then. We both can talk women and football for hours if one lets us. Fair enough he is the more handsome one but I am the better singer. I suggested to Andrew that we put our talents together and enjoy some interesting talks with girls we haven't met before. We could ask them about their accent and if we are right that we do recognize a certain country. Unfortunatley I failed with my first attempt when the tall dark-haired, whom I suspected to be from New Zealand, turned out to be a Tasmanian. I think that Andrew wasn't very happy with my method anyways. He said that, while ignoring the line about "the tallest and the blondest girl" in Memories, we should consult with Leonard about our subtlety of style when communicating with women! Did I tell that Andrew is the organizer of the annual Toowoomba Leonard Cohen Event ?

The Event

Andrew is the one in charge for calling people to come to Toowoomba once a year to celebrate Leonard Cohen. He has done that for remarkable 14 years and now in 2007 the 15th Toowoomba Leonard Cohen Event was held in a renewed movie theatre. It started with showing the much-acclaimed Lian Lunson film "I'm your man". I had refused to watch that film before because I was waiting for a very special occasion. And that special occasion had arrived now. I enjoyed it a lot. Andrew had made people believe that it will be a pleasure for them to hear me sing. But the other way round is way more accurate. It has been a total pleasure for me to sing for this wonderful people I met there. Here is the setlist:

Saturday

- An orchard of shore trees
- How could I have doubted
- Split
- Other writers
- Crime against love
- My life in robes
- Gravity
- The sun
- The cold
- Looking away
- God opened my eyes
- My baby wasn't there
- Now in my room

Sunday

- One of us cannot be wrong
- Lorca lives
- Halleluja
- I miss my mother
- Tower of song

Blonde Madonna

I was very happy to meet the Blonde Madonna whom I knew from the forum. She had come to the event with her hair dyed in a sort of red-brunette. She loves to surprise me and since she was even nicer in real as in black on white I hope we will meet again in the future.

The Roo

The roo, as the Aussies say for kangaroo, is the most famous Australian symbol. We saw them happily jumping in the area of Newcastle but also met a lot of killed ones on the outback roads. The German equivalent would be the "reh". The reh (short for Kangareh) is also brown and loves to get hit by the car. Only it has got no shopping bag.

The long and not winding road

Andrew, Elke and I drove miles and miles in the outback. We pretended we were a band on tour. Our band name was "Roadwork Ahead".

Credits

Here are some names of those who we owe credit to for hosting us and who made our trip down under to be the beautiful experience that it was and one that we will always remember with delight:

Andrew, Richard, Donna, Brigid, The other Event-Andrews, Andrew's niece Kylie, Andrew's sisters Ann, Grace and Faith plus their husbands.

Blonde Madonna
Would you like to tell us the nature of the surprise you gave Henning at Toowoomba?

I can't adequately express how good it was to have Henning & Elke over for our event.

As those of you who know him will attest, he is not only a very sensitive and moving performer, but also a vey funny man! Knowing this aspect of the man, while we were together for that week and a bit, I required of him that he had to make me laugh at least once a day with one of his amusing and clever comments about something - and yes, he succeeeded in this!

Henning, I can't believe you're back home again - we were in the tropics of north Queensland just the other day

Thank you for your interesting and, as expected, amusing report!

Cheers
Andrew (Darby)

Congratulations on your Toowoomba Event Andrew, and, a visit from Henning! ha
I can't even imagine what the Toowoombans? (sp) thought of him. He does leave an impression. (And at least Blond Madonna's hair stayed on when you met her H!)

Glad you're home safe and sound and that you had a great time. When are you and Elke coming to Las Vegas?...I wonder what the Grand Canyon would think of a visit from you!

Congratulations Andrew, I'm sure you had a great time.
Lovely report, Henning. And don't worry, you both have a great style with women!
I'm glad you were there,too, Blonde Madonna.
I hope we'll have some photos soon!

Sophia

Sophia
Good to be Henning's sister. I already have seen the photos he took there.

Andrew
I enjoyed to see you, your sisters with their families, Blonde Madonna, Richard and of course your beautiful country!!!

Kerstin

Dear dear Kerstin
You seem like a lovely person and I am now wishing I had met you rather than your brother. I feel sure you would not obsess about hair.

Very funny report Henning
Now you know why I didn't drink at the pub, I was on kangaroo lookout for the drive back. I am happy to report that we only saw one and it is still alive and hopping.



Andrew
Thank you again for the entertainment and the welcome. It was well worth the effort. Are you disappointed that Henning did not seem to notice or feel the need to comment on your new hat in his report?

ps Say hello to Elke, it was lovely meeting her too.

Blonde Madonna,

I am very sorry that I forgot about Andrew's new hat, but at least I have a photo taken. Please enjoy.

Nice thread to read. Great to hear (and see!) about Cohen fans having a good time together. Any more pictures?

Congratulations for another successful event, Andrew . Nice feeling in that photo of you and your new hat. Must have been fun making that long ride with your newly-formed, notorious musical group .


~ Lizzy