A Leonard Cohen-head. Jessica and I went to his concert on Sunday. Had a fantastic time. The band was great. They played for over three hours. Our seats were good. The sound wasn't too loud -- the first time in my 30 years of concert going that I didn't feel I needed ear plugs. He played all the great old stuff: So Long Marianne, The Partisan, Famous Blue Raincoat, Suzanne, as well as the "newer" faves: First We Take Manhattan, Everybody Knows, Closing Time. Although we sat just thirteen rows from the stage I wanted to be closer. I wanted to be ON stage, absorbing the show as much as I could. So, when we got home I went online and bought a ticket for Monday's show on center aisle, sixth row. It was even better. He played longer, there was more banter, and the band was really, really into this show. The crowd was just electric and the band fed off our energy. As Jessica said, "on Sunday we saw an old man doing Leonard Cohen, on Monday you got to see Leonard Cohen." And it's true, from time to time, when he tipped up his fedora, I saw the man in this photograph. I saw a man in his mid-forties at the height of his artistic powers. Not bad for a self-described 76-year old "kid with a crazy dream." I am a Cohen-head. I hope he returns to the Bay Area, I'll take advantage of every reasonable opportunity to see him again.
P.S. Did I mention that Jessica's parents hung out with LC in Greece and New York in the early '60s?
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