I saw Leonard Cohen last night, master of duende.  Out of all the celebrities in the world, I'd love to hang out drinking wine with Leonard.  My husband and the friends we shared the evening with agreed. One of the best nights of our lives.

What a soulful concert of poetry and music!  Leonard played for a full-bodied two hours.  He's 74---no concerts for the past fourteen years; he was studying religions.  He spent years studying in a Zen monastery and became a Buddhist monk.  He said he finally gave it all up: "My cheerfulness kept breaking through." His band was so incredible, and three fabulous vocalists. One of the vocalists, Sharon Robinson, co-wrote some of Leonard's songs/poems.  She sang a song solo--I hope she has her own cd, have to look it up.  Sometimes, Leonard kneeled while he was singing.  I wept when he recited poems.  The music was wonderful, but his words, his words!  Every minute of this concert was like the chorus from Leonard's poem, Anthem: "Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering./There is a crack in everything./That's how the light gets in."

I'm on spring vacation and spending time at the beach, but I had to come back to town to be in the presence of this wonderful poet.  Leonard Cohen: I've loved his writing since I was a teenager, learning how to play Suzanne on the guitar.

If you get to see him, you're in for a treat.  He's playing tonight at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland.

Great Review by Joel Selvin at the Chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/15/DDNC17271R.D...