Leonard Cohen in Victoria



I saw and heard the Canadian Legend on Tuesday, 21 April 09, here in Victoria.

And it was a pure fluke. I won tickets to the sold out performance by entering a CBC contest. The challenge was to 'fill in' the missing lyrics of a song, and warble them via phone onto the radio station's message line.
The contest song turned out to be 'Tower of Song', I sang the missing bit about sticking pins into a voodoo doll, immediately forgetting the whole business as soon as I hung up. It was - after all - a once in a lifetime ridiculous impromptu exposure to the Canadian public via CBC Radio. Lo and behold, CBC called that same afternoon - I was the winner of two very good tickets.
Leonard Cohen is now 74 years old, and not only does he still sing well, but the interpretation of his very well known and loved songs was deeper, more sensitive and more touching than ever. He is as thin, that one fears for his well being, but skipped onto the stage with youthful vigor, clad in a nappy suit and a fedora.



He stepped onto the stage to a standing ovation before ever singing a single note, he sang most of his best known ballads to an appreciative packed house, gave half a dozen encores, and finally left after more than three and a half hours of giving his best, his very best of his career.
His back up band was fabulous, with special kudos to his Spanish Guitarist, who seemed to have an intimate musical dialog with Leonard's gravelly baritone voice, his wind instrument player, who launched into the jazziest solos, and his back up vocalists whose harmonies complemented Leonard's own singing.

The mostly over 50 crowd sighed and listened in silence (except for the odd appreciative whistle) to each new rendition of the old songs: There is no cure for Love, Hallelujah, Susanna, I'm your man, First we take Manhattan, and on and on, each better than the previous and all rendered unforgettably.

Leonard Cohen, singer, writer, poet, Buddhist, monk, lover....humble man....is continuing his successful tour to the rest of Canada and Europe this year. A definitely must see and hear for anyone fortunate enough to garner a ticket to this incomparable performance. May he live and sing for a long, long time to come.


Vancouver Island Dawn

Whenever I am in my home in Vancouver Island I am fortunate to wake up to an ever changing vista of sunrise over the Saanich Inlet and Satellite Channel. It is utterly beautiful, even when fogs rolls in and the snow capped peaks of the coastal ranges of mainland British Columbia and the USA hide in the distance.