jon@boulder.UUCP (Jon Corbet) (08/22/84)
Does anybody know what has happened to Leonard Cohen? I sure would like to hear from him again... "Please don't pass me by"
elf@utcsrgv.UUCP (Eugene Fiume) (08/23/84)
Cohen has begun to resurface once again after a long hiatus in Greece
and elsewhere. I must say that I left him behind musically some time
ago, but in terms of recent work, I think his last album was a rather
unpopular effort of a few years ago, which more or less coincided with
the publication of his book "Death of a Ladies Man". More recently, he
has released a 1/2 hour or so video entitled "I am a Hotel", which interpolates
some of his old stuff with a pretty dimwitted story line. Some scenes are
very nice, though, and it's many planes above your standard vanilla pop
video. Its major problem, apparently, was budgetary.
Cohen has rediscovered his Jewish roots in a strong way. His latest book,
just recently released in Canada (and perhaps not yet in the U.S.) is a
set of 50 rather beautiful prose prayers to coincide with his 50th (!)
birthday. Those that identify with Cohen-as-mystic will not find this
book inconsistent with the man.
I still have a soft spot for some of his earlier albums,
especially "New Skin for an Old Ceremony", and "Songs of Leonard Cohen".
The first is full of radiant poetic moments, and the second has all those
nice little ditties like "Suzanne" and "So Long, Marianne".
Eugene Fiume
U of Toronto
{allegra|decvax}!utcsrgv!elfslb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (07/19/85)
I think Leonard Cohen also published at least one book. It's name
escapes me--but it is very strange. It combines the story of a 18th
century American Indian saint in Canada with the description of a
modern set of losers, one of whom gets crushed by an elevator.
It mixes sex, masochism and religion in a very interesting way.
I particularly remember the characters shooting up Lourdes
water instead of their usual heroin.
Does anyone remember the title?
--
Sue Brezden
Real World: Room 1B17 Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb
AT&T Information Systems
11900 North Pecos
Westminster, Co. 80234
(303)538-3829
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Your god may be dead, but mine aren't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~elf@utcsri.UUCP (Eugene Fiume) (07/21/85)
[] > I think Leonard Cohen also published at least one book. It's name > escapes me--but it is very strange. It combines the story of a 18th > century American Indian saint in Canada with the description of a > modern set of losers, one of whom gets crushed by an elevator. > > It mixes sex, masochism and religion in a very interesting way. > I particularly remember the characters shooting up Lourdes > water instead of their usual heroin. > > Does anyone remember the title? > > -- > > Sue Brezden > I believe the book you're referring to is called _Beautiful Losers_. He has also written several books of poetry, a more accessible novel called _The Favourite Game_ (highly recommended). Recently, he has published _Death of a Lady's Man_ (I liked it but it's tough to fathom), and a very recent book which I think is called _Book of Mercy_ (or is it Psalms). I've read some excerpts, and it's inspired stuff. Glad to see that Cohen has not been forgotten. Eugene Fiume {decvax|allegra}!utcsri!elf
wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly) (07/22/85)
In article <3289@drutx.UUCP> slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) writes: >I think Leonard Cohen also published at least one book. It's name >escapes me--but it is very strange. It combines the story of a 18th >century American Indian saint in Canada with the description of a >modern set of losers, one of whom gets crushed by an elevator. The title of his novel was (I think) 'Beautiful Losers.' He also published one or more volumes of poetry. Leonard Cohen was a rather minor Canadian poet before he started his music career. -- Cheers, Bill Ingogly