leonardcohenforum.com

Do you mean for the fan club idea, Linda? Or, for his putting Anne's thesis on his site? I say, get the 'Leonard' FAQs completed and posted first, before any fan club action; and post Anne's thesis any time, any where. I'd love to read it! Or, did you mean for both? I'll second that.

On the use of the ~ vs. the - , yes, I agree. It does look better and, definitely, feels better. The - just 'stops short,' kinda like tripping on something on the sidewalk, and then stops [that's how I perceive it, every time I've tried to do it that way, with the -]. The ~ just seems to flow in both directions, and that's how I feel it when I type it.

~ Lizzy

I meant that Tom, in general, is so enthusiastic and involved that he'll likely wind up doing many good thing for this site.

~ Linda

Tom, I'll have my people call your people.

How about G:Dd or G:twisted:d? Isn't that more cyber-contemporary?

OK, this is where I'm going with this hyphen thing. Please bear with me.
1) Poets are not casual with words. Jews are not casual with the name of God (traditionally). Cohen not only changed the spelling in his current work, but went so far as to alter it in his previous work. It's a very radical and very public step. He must have thought long and hard about it.
2) Something of that significance could not have happened in a vacuum. He must have changed other practices too, or deepened them. He must abide by the Law in other ways, like keeping his head covered for example. (Is he wearing a hat these days? Anybody knows?)
3) More importantly, if he is now practicing at that level, it must have a tremendous influence on his work. His religious experience must be a central theme (if not the central theme) of the Book of Longing. And when it comes out, I'll want to have the Book of Mercy handy, because my bet is they'll be inseparable.

Belatedly, thank you, Joe, for the beautiful quote. And I think the site recommended by Tom Stiler is great. And thank you for bearing with me. And now imagine a hundred pages of that. This stuff actually keeps me awake at night. Yes. I know.

Hi Anne ~

When you try to understand in depth, it's natural that you would want to explore in depth. I appreciate your intensity with it, and will be very interested in what you have to say after Book of Longing comes out, and you've had a chance to compare it with Book of Mercy. You're questioning isn't casual or trivial.

~ Elizabeth

Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you.

As a matter of fact, he does seem to be wearing a hat these days....

Chassidim wear yamahas.

Yamahas???

Not the bike, Linda .


Yes , Anne ~ and, you're welcome, of course .

I thought they wore shtreimels. Maybe over the yamaha? Anyway I never said he was a chasid, just, say, High Conservative. Enough to find some use for a hat, a beard, a hyphen.

Better high than conservative as we don't need another homophobic gynophobic Bush supporter.

Yes.

Linda's right, LC seems to enjoy hats very much in recent time

Yes, I'm going to far, Linda, but one day... In 1-2 year, I'd really like to get with some kind of printed material. Just an idea. I simpy like the idea of those old books which accompanied the albums; they had - along with all the lyrics and chords - the pictures, artwork, few interviews and articles. Nice collectors' items:)
But nayway, there are mayn things and ideas. There are tapes for transferring to CDRs, there are VCR tapes for transferring to DVDs, there are interviews waiting to be transcripted for site.... Anyone? I'm paying with the recordings/DVDRs And friendship