leonardcohenforum.com

Leonard Cohen is expected to attend

So reads the email received this morning from Karen Wulf, Director of PEN New England in response to my request for clarification about whether Leonard Cohen would appear at the February 26, 2012 Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

I've posted details and webcast link at http://1heckofaguy.com/2012/02/21/leona ... -ceremony/

Note: I do realize there is already a thread for the the PEN New England. I added this as a new thread because the headline change from "Leonard Cohen May Attend ..." to "Leonard Cohen To Attend ..." and the news that the ceremony will be webcast seems to render a significantly different message and one that might be missed under the old heading.

You're Exactly right, Allan. It caught my attention immediately... and I'd have lost track of the day with the old heading and no certainty and no known webcast. Thanks for doing it right .

Is there a website for this? Any biography?

Here is the website

http://www.pen-ne.org/

PEN New England is now at MIT
PEN New England
MIT
77 Massachusetts Avenue
14N-221A
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.324.1729
pen-newengland@mit.edu

Chuck Berry & Leonard Cohen
to receive 2012 Awards for
SONG LYRICS OF LITERARY EXCELLENCE
Awards Committee: Bono, Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Paul Muldoon, Smokey Robinson, Salman Rushdie, and Paul Simon. Bill Flanagan Committee Chair
Sunday, 3:00 p.m. February 26, 2012

You can watch a live webcast by clicking here

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Events-and-Awards/Forums.aspx

Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence
February 26, 2012 3:00 PM - 4:00 PMPEN New England and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum cordially invite you to the 2012 Awards for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence presented to Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen.Seats are limited to two per person. Doors open one hour before the program begins. Seating is on a first come, first served basis. Once the main hall is full, the event will be streamed live in an overflow theater.
Please add this to your calendar for an automatic reminder to view the webcast.



SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

The 2012 PEN New England Awards for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence are presented to Leonard Cohen and Chuck Berry by Salman Rushdie and Paul Simon at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Shawn Colvin performs Leonard Cohen's "Come Healing." Elvis Costello performs Chuck Berry's "No Particular Place To Go" and then performs Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" with Keith Richards. Chuck Berry performs "Johnny B. Goode."

Awards Committee: Bono, Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Paul Muldoon, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon, and Salman Rushdie. Bill Flanagan, Committee Chair.

Apparently, Salman Rushdie is the one presenting the award to Leonard.
From twitter:

Salman Rushdie ‏ @SalmanRushdie
Thanks for the amazing array of favorite Leonard Cohen lines! Very helpful, and the size of your response shows how beloved his work is.

Salman Rushdie ‏ @SalmanRushdie
What are your favorite Leonard Cohen lines? I'm presenting him with a PEN Award for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence in Boston tomorrow.

Would anyone record the webcast?

Who is presenting the award to Chuck Berry

mnkyface wrote:Apparently, Salman Rushdie is the one presenting the award to Leonard.
From twitter:

Salman Rushdie ‏ @SalmanRushdie
Thanks for the amazing array of favorite Leonard Cohen lines! Very helpful, and the size of your response shows how beloved his work is.

Salman Rushdie ‏ @SalmanRushdie
What are your favorite Leonard Cohen lines? I'm presenting him with a PEN Award for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence in Boston tomorrow.

Great find Esther - I just went and looked on Twitter - and he (Rushdie) is tweeting away about the event.

And I LOVE the title of the award "Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence" - congratulations to Leonard Cohen - so very fitting!

Roy - I don't know.

Goldin/Roman - I don't know - - but I sure hope video appears on YouTube - of everything!! Every little thing ...

Goldin wrote:Would anyone record the webcast?

I'll give it a shot. I was setting everything up (webcast is in the air, although nothing is happening yet) when there came this little announcement, so I could see if everything worked:
http://www.maartenmassa.be/LCdocs/misc/ ... review.wmv

Maarten

Much appreciate, Maarten!

Kafka of the Blues

(Cohen, as he's named by Bob Dylan)

This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO coooooooool!!!

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Events-and-Aw ... bcast.aspx

Some screen captures

I thought the webcast was awful.
Sound was out of synch.
Program was b o r i n g.
Highlight for me was how gracious LC was when Shawn Colvin's guitar dropped.
He left his seat to rescue it for her.
Of course LC's few words of thank you were brilliant.
Contrasted with everyone else who spoke, less was more.

---Arlene

bridger15 wrote:I thought the webcast was awful.
Sound was out of synch.
Program was b o r i n g.
Highlight for me was how gracious LC was when Shawn Colvin's guitar dropped.
He left his seat to rescue it for her.
Of course LC's few words of thank you were brilliant.
Contrasted with everyone else who spoke, less was more.

---Arlene

Couldn't agree more. Shawn Colvin was brave to try one of Leonard's new songs (Come Healing) and I could see she was devastated when she screwed it up. Leonard went over to her after and helped her with her guitar and was very gracious and kissed her and made her feel a lot better about it I'm sure. Leonard can handle these sorts of situations and gaffs. Such a great gentleman!

I really felt bad for Chuck Berry. All those professional musicians around and not one of them can tune a guitar. Chuck tried to play Johnny Be Good for his acceptance speech but had to stop because the guitar was just so out of tune. (Elvis Costello's guitar). Chuck took the whole thing in the right spirit though-- as a joke, which was what the ceremony turned out to be.