Early this week I decided to sit down hellbent for speed and record an epic (read: LONG) video about my friendship with Leonard Cohen. Why? Because he belongs to all of us, he's part of our cultural family, and I had a one-in-a-billion opportunity to spend a few years in his company, and now I want to share those stories with you...because I'm already forgetting them!! And they should be out there!!
We start with the day I met Leonard in the walking meditation line at our Los Angeles Zen temple, wherein I made the worst first impression ever by imitating his gravelly voice!!
But ten years later he reentered my life, and we spent many intimate moments caring for our dying teacher together. We became friends, and I learned so much about art, writing, life, and spirituality from him, which I try to share here.
I also share stories. Like that time Ford offered him four million bucks for "Hallelujah" for one of their truck commericals (he passed on the offer). Or the time he gave us a private concert with his full band and he self-censored his dirtiest lyric. Or his insights into his Vedanta teacher Ramesh Balsekar. Or that time I made fun of one of his friends, though I didn't know they were friends....it was Mick Jagger.
Mostly I try in this video to get across the vibe I got from Jikan Leonard Cohen during his final years, where I think he pulled off his best work as an artist, proving that you can do it right up until the day you die. He showed me how Zen practice and our teacher had profoundly influenced his music and life, helping him to forget himself in the service of his art, which, finally, was to write and sing beautiful love songs to God. (And, you know, to some lovers, too.)
I remember LC performing 4 hour concerts on his last tour, and then telling me, "Always give 'em more than they paid for, that's the secret." In this case, I'm using that line as an excuse for giving you more than you paid for with this hour-plus video. Though I have included chapter headings if you want to skip around. . . .
I hope you enjoy.
0:00 Intro
1:05 How I met Leonard
8:29 Leonard the caregiver
15:19 Seeing Leonard's creative process live
19:02 Leonard and Ramesh Balsekar
25:00 Leonard as a man, writer, artist, and friend
34:43 Leonard and Oliver Stone
37:37 That time Leonard imitated Bugs Bunny
40:56 A nice big collection of Leonard stories HERE WE GO!!
46:19 The second to last time I saw Leonard
49:34 The last time I saw Leonard
54:00 Some final Leonard stories
58:46 Was Leonard a "happy" artist? The answer may surprise you!!
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