Brife Notes on Leonard Cohen

I'm new at this blogging thing, so please be patient. I haven't figured out exactly how I intend to use this yet. But things are getting clearer all the time.

We just celebrated Canada's 140th birthday here in Toronto. It was a long, sunny weekend. Now, back to work!

I've been spendind a lot of time online recently, for the first time in awhile. The main reason is that I've been exploring and developing an online presence for the first time. My most important efforts have been focused on MySpace, which I intend to use as an anchor or "hub" for web-based communications. I've been developing my profile, slide shows and expanding my "friends" network, which already includes a few dozen of the world's most interesting people. I am especially grateful to two extraordinary Canadian singer/songwriter/musicians who joined me, Loreena McKennitt, and Leonard Cohen.

Cohen is an icon, a musician's musician. But more than that: a modern poet and sage. There's something about him that evokes an image of a Biblical prophet, though he'd laugh at the suggestion. I fell in love with Cohen's songs as a semi-suicidal teenager growing up in a small town in Michigan. I'm sure I was the first to discover his work, which I found at a favorite book store in East Lansing, the home of Michigan State University, one sunny Spring afternoon day while skipping highschool and most probably getting stoned. The album was his second effort, "Songs of Love and Hate", and I loved it so much I immediately bought his first album, "Leonard Cohen". My friends mostly thought I was nuts, and said they couldn't listen to him. "He's so depressing, man!" they'd tell me. "But he makes me feel better!" I'd reply. I guess it was, to borrow the title of Richard Farina's (Joan Baez's brother-in-law) book, a matter of: "I've been down so long it looks like up to me!" Anyway, thus began my lifelong fascination with the singer and the man. I even played his now famous song "Suzanne" as my wedding son. Naturally, the marriage did not last!

I had the great good fortune of seeing Cohen live in concert in Minneapolis, years ago. At the time I was living there and studying with my dear teacher and friend, the Zen master Dainin-Katagiri-Roshi. Roshi had been invited to attend the Cohen concert as a guest of Bob Pursig, the author of the popular novel "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". Bob, and his wife Nancy, were members of Roshi's little midwestern Zen community, as I was, and Bob apparently knew Cohen, who was also studying Zen at the time, I believe as a member of Joshu Sasaki's community on Mt. Baldy if I'm not mistaken. Roshi, who had attended a concert by John Cage (which consisted mostly of Cage sitting still at his piano as the increasing sounds of a nervous crowd became the "music" emerging from the silence of the auditorium) as my guest a few months before--wanted to know my thoughts about whether he should attend the Cohen concert. I said: "Roshi, he's one of my favorites! And he's a Zen student, so of course you must meet him!" He took my advice. At the concert--the "war of black and white" album--Cohen took a break and I watched with great pleasure as Bob Pursig took him forward to the stage, where he met and spoke with LC.

My friend, the author Pico Iyer, has written a wonderful essay on his meeting with LC. I can't recall which of his books contains the essay, but it's probably his most recent. If you haven't checked out Pico's books, you'll be glad you did. He's one of the finest American writers I know.

Most recently LC visited Toronto, where the composer Phillip Glass adapted Cohen's poems. LC also has an exhibit of his paintings on display here, which I hope to see before moving on and returning to the States.

If you check out my web profile at www.myspace.com/rlboyer, you'll find Leonard Cohen among my myspace friends. Check out his website and drop him a note. And if you haven't already, check out his music. He's one of the most important musical artists of our time. I rank him up there with Bob Dylan, thought not quite as well known. He is a profound man, and his music will move you to the depths.

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As I wrote this little introductory piece to my new blog, it occurred to me that perhaps the best use of this space I can think of is a place to share my stories, especially concerning some of most interesting people I've met during my various sojourns on this tiny blue planet. The really interesting and talented people who have touched my life in one form or another, the celebrities I've encountered from time to time, and the people--like Roshi--who have most influenced my life.

Please let me know if you think I'm on the right track here, and tune in from time to time to see how this develops. Perhaps in my next installment, I'll talk more about Roshi, or about Loreena McKennitt, who I had the great fortune of meeting in person at her concert in San Francisco many years ago. Stay tuned ...