Leonard's Recent Meetings with Cohenites

[sturgess66]

Wonderful brightnow! You are one lucky boy/guy/man/fellow/dude - son-of-a-gun!!!

And you wife is smart and wise! Glad she got to share in at least a bit of the fun.

[Wimmer]

It's a great moment and so wonderfull for you Brightnow!!!
I have also a autograph from him in the book of longing last summer in bratislava.
Marina

[MaryB]

Avi - FANTABULOUS! A bit of deduction does it sometimes - and then hope for 'the moment'. I'm sooo happy for you! Have you stopped shaking?

[Wimmer]

Hallo MaryB!

You also a lucky woman. I read only now your report- Wonderfull pictures. I think this is amazing wonderfull moment for each to meet
Leonard cohen. This moment the are never forget in the live.

Marina

[brightnow]

Thanks everyone!
Mary: yes, I have stopped shaking after a while, and while the deduction was my wife's work, our determination was inspired by your account from last week so, thanks!

[ladydi]

and while the deduction was my wife's work, our determination was inspired by your account from last week so, thanks!

Hi Brightnow! I am SO SO happy that you got to meet Leonard, especially as so much else had been a little disappointing!! It seems that it's the women who have to determination and deductive powers to "accidently not look for Leonard"

I'm sure you're ecstatic, and it will be a "forever" memory!

Diana

ps..GREAT photo...you both look so handsome!

[IrishMar]

Avi, I am absolutely thrilled for you. Great photograph.

Marie

[brightnow]

Thank you Linda, Diana and Marie

I have one more little anecdote to conclude the account. Tonight at the dinner table we talked about our trip to Durham. Here's part of the conversation between me and my 5yo daughter:

Me: "... and do you remember how we met Mr. Cohen yesterday?"
Daughter: "Yes, at the hotel"
Me: "Right. You know, he wrote your favorite song"
Daughter: "I know, you told me"
Me: (trying to find out how much she really remembers) "And do you remember his hat?"
Daughter: (smiling) "Yes! It was just like the hat that the singer wore on the show we saw on TV!"
Me: (Taking a second to realize that she is referring to the "Live in London" DVD we watched together a few weeks ago) "Oh, but Mr. Cohen is the singer that we saw on TV, and that is the same hat!"
Daughter: (Jaw dropping, eyes widening) "Whaaa?!" (bursting into a long rolling giggle)
Me: (Thinking: "I know, that's exactly how I feel about it, I just don't express it as well as you do)

[lizzytysh]

MARY and GEORGE!!! So much for blase, blase with ol' Georgio... all wrapped around Leonard like he is... you're not fooling anyone anymore, George !!! Mary, I can just hear George saying Leonard was over there and your not believing him ... and him saying, "No, Really Mary!"

MARY ! What a STUNNING encounter you two had with Leonard and his little group. Good heavens, woman, I'm losing track of all of them! The Psychic Forum Followers Elite! Ya'll need your own little group... to heck with crystal balls. Who needs them when you folks are around... after all, they're just so passe, anymore!

Seriously... BIG time... SERIOUSLY... I am SO SO SO happy for you and George!!! Ha. I can just hear him trying to act like it wasn't as fantastic as it clearly was for both of you. As you said, Mary, the comfort level was simply there. It's just so easy to imagine. I'm over the moon and BACK happy for you !!! So many splendid elements to that famed, minor yet MAJOR period of Closing Time at the hotel bar.

You deserve these meetings, Mary... oh, Fred's Mom and George's wife. Look at how far George's tolerance has taken both of you. WoW. I love you both... and am sooooooo happy for you! We don't take these things for granted.


Love,
Lizzy

[lizzytysh]

And Avi... handsome HANDSOME man you are... you look so good with Leonard! And, even though I've been exclaiming repeatedly to Mary and George... I know SO well how much your meeting with Leonard means to you ! I'm gutted that you didn't get to experience the concert with your wife at your side; however, now we can fairly say "There's always 2010!" With your having been to one, and having met Leonard and his people, I know your motivation is intact for seeing him again. Persistence paid off for you. You really committed yourself to that beautiful moment and I'm so happy for you to have had it come into being for you. It was clearly a lovely encounter... I'm happy for you on Anjani's Forum and I'm happy for you here on Leonard's!!!

Such precious moments with your daughter... may you help keep this memory alive for her .

Congratulations on your own great and memorable meeting. Wonderful photo of you two!


Love,
Lizzy

[Cate]

There's a lot of great stories here - so many lucky people! Especially Mary - twice so far.

I loved your daughters reaction Avi - great picture as well, both of you are looking happy.

[Geoffrey]

Cate wrote:
>There's a lot of great stories here - so many lucky people!

This is a true statement, and when examined tells us that those who fail to have a "great story" must be "unlucky". Therefore we have two completely opposite groups of people here, the 'lucky' and the 'unlucky' - and this is a challenge to harmonious interaction. Pride confronting shame, superior against inferior, major versus minor, priviliged contra unpriviliged - oil and water. There is a lot of contempt and a great deal of jealousy bubbling just below the surface of our apparently cordial exchange of pleasantries - and only a blind insensitive creature would deny that some of it is not pure unaldulterated hate thinly disguised as admiration. We have become the new Catholics and Protestants. We are "there where the light and the darkness divide" as is written in 'Ballad of the Absent Mare'. Those who have met Leonard and those who have not. We are now a split nation, and an awful lot of work lies ahead if it is ever to be repaired.

[lizzytysh]

Only you, Geoffrey, could take it there in just such a way . Surely there's no true happiness for another in this world . Guess it's time to roll up our sleeves and find some of that elbow grease to wrestle with these issues. We have but a century to get it all resolved.


~ lizzy

[sturgess66]

Cate wrote:
>There's a lot of great stories here - so many lucky people!

This is a true statement, and when examined tells us that those who fail to have a "great story" must be "unlucky". Therefore we have two completely opposite groups of people here, the 'lucky' and the 'unlucky' - and this is a challenge to harmonious interaction. Pride confronting shame, superior against inferior, major versus minor, priviliged contra unpriviliged - oil and water. There is a lot of contempt and a great deal of jealousy bubbling just below the surface of our apparently cordial exchange of pleasantries - and only a blind insensitive creature would deny that some of it is not pure unaldulterated hate thinly disguised as admiration. We have become the new Catholics and Protestants. We are "there where the light and the darkness divide" as is written in 'Ballad of the Absent Mare'. Those who have met Leonard and those who have not. We are now a split nation, and an awful lot of work lies ahead if it is ever to be repaired.

Haha Geoffrey. The "subculture" of fandom. The spoils of war. Hail the conquering heroes. Jackal, Jekyll and Hyde.*

But - pity the hapless fan who leaves the concert hall with nothing! Nothing at all! No autograph. Not even the lowliest of set lists. No up close and personal encounter. Not even being able to honestly recount a distant sighting! (And without proof, who would believe them anyway!) And not even able to claim a conversation or meeting with a "who's who" in the world of fandom!! Relegated to fawning, but even then, forced to a lower rung - well below that of the "mine's better than your's." Forced to accept their "unlucky" experience. Forced to find refuge in some YouTube video and to replay it again and again in an attempt to cleanse themselves of that vague, uneasy, uncomfortable feeling after exposure to "pure unadulterated hate" disguised as admiration. Replay. Replay. Replay.

So - pity the hapless fan who left the concert hall with nothing!! Nothing at all.

Nothing, that is, other than the incomparable, rare and exquisite experience of having seen the extraordinary Leonard Cohen in concert! That is all. Left to cope with the cascading sounds coursing through their cranial cavities - the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift. And left with a vague hope of perhaps finding video from "their" show - and other proof - that this event did, in fact, occur. This it was not just a dream - but a dream come true.

*Sounds like a law firm, replete with the prestigious "double-degree" partner (doctor/lawyer).

[sturgess66]

I have one more little anecdote to conclude the account. Tonight at the dinner table we talked about our trip to Durham. Here's part of the conversation between me and my 5yo daughter:

Me: "... and do you remember how we met Mr. Cohen yesterday?"
Daughter: "Yes, at the hotel"
Me: "Right. You know, he wrote your favorite song"
Daughter: "I know, you told me"
Me: (trying to find out how much she really remembers) "And do you remember his hat?"
Daughter: (smiling) "Yes! It was just like the hat that the singer wore on the show we saw on TV!"
Me: (Taking a second to realize that she is referring to the "Live in London" DVD we watched together a few weeks ago) "Oh, but Mr. Cohen is the singer that we saw on TV, and that is the same hat!"
Daughter: (Jaw dropping, eyes widening) "Whaaa?!" (bursting into a long rolling giggle)
Me: (Thinking: "I know, that's exactly how I feel about it, I just don't express it as well as you do)

Sweet story Avi. Out of the mouths of babes ...