Contributed Ideas on Leonard Cohen Night In Chronological Order:
February 5, 2002
Good luck with the event. If a commemorative meal is to be part of this, what do you think the equivalent fare to our haggis, neeps & tatties with a dram will be? If it included blueberry pie, even I might come along! You might be interested to know that Burns celebrations grew to be significant events quite quickly - by 1840 there was one gathering of 20,000 of whom 4,000 sat down to supper!
John Simpson - Aberdeen, Scotland
Duska Dragun and Jan Hinrich Braesen write from Berlin:
Dear Kim,
We are sitting in the MDC library having fun with Cohen and Co.
Our most recent idea (still under construction) regarding 'Cohen.event':
L-libre cuba cocktail served with lobster
E-evian spring water
C: calamari grilled stuffed with more calamari
O-greek wine to be identified named with 'O'
O: onion soup
N-Napa Valley Chardonnay
H: halibut filet with lime sauce with a
A-red wine
E: 'elle est belle' (tribute to men and their dreams-dd)
R-red needle cocktail
N: 'night's just beginning and will be long' - surprise dessert
D-(old single malt with the name that starts with a D and does not come to our mind yet)
... to be continued!
L
C
E
O
O
H
N
E
A
N
R
D
Would make for a good graphic!
Cheers,
Duska and Jan
Minnie Sarwal from La Jolla. California and Paul Grimm from San Diego, California write:
MS
Greek Mezze should be the cusine of the day with Montreal smoked meat,
preferably from Schwartz's (comments from PG!). Napa wines to quench the
palate! Smoky music should be playing from the web site!
Cohen has style, so anything you do has to be laid back. Nothing over the top!
- MinnieDebbieJo Bergstrom from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada writes:
Howdy.
You may think this is goofy, but I am a great lover of mind games and this is what occurred to me...
Leonard Cohen and his music represent many things, and I have heard him called THE Canadian poet...I thought it would be rather a fun idea, especially since you yourself are so well versed in Cohenese, to have those participating in such an event write out the most Cohen-esque piece of lyricism they can muster, sometime before the night takes place...then these could be published in some form, interspersed with actual lines from Leonard Cohen songs, and people could vote on whether or not they think the lines are phony or legit Leonard. The person drawing the most votes could win some sort of prize package, preferably supplied of course by Sony. It's a little weird I suppose, but I love mind games, as did my ancestors before me. Might explain a few things about me. Anyway, if I come up with any other brainwaves I'll let you know.
DJB
Douglas Harlow from Blackfalds, Alberta, Canada writes:
The'Event' - a combination of 'programmed' and 'improv' items would balance structure and venue specific uniqueness. Is there a quintessential 'Cohen' era. Is 'Ten New Songs' any less resemblant of the man than say the 'Buckskin Boys'. Is this a celebration of Cohen and his work or as you said "Canadian culture and funseeking"? Or both? Advertise!! Maybe line up 'special' guests (this is the inaugeral event) like Perla Batalla or someone other who knows LC particularly well (subsidization or sponsoring here would be advantageous. Relaxed, this I think is exactly what being Canadian is all about.
Food - have we been able to confirm any of LC's fav dishes? A lot of Greek food presents considerable catering challenges in terms of freshness and availability of ingredients and LA cuisine is very eclectic. If Dunn's is to be the venue, I think I would be inclined to offer a couple or three special menu items (in addition to that already offered on their regular menu), focus on the Red Needles drink - as it was invented by LC, maybe give each person who walks thru the door a drink voucher for a free Red Needle (as they are really more of an apertif than a cocktail) and offer a special price on them throughout the evening. Simplicity here and a freestyle event plan would really allow each host (supposing that in the future not all Cohen Nights will be held at Dunn's locales) to play up the event in his/her way - respecting only a few traditional earmarks established in Sept this year. Limited customization of menu will also reduce price of admission.
Funny you should mention meats. I have been playing with a recipe of mine for a dish called Anticucho, which you may have tried while in Peru. Reason being is it consists of marinated, skewered and grilled beef heart. I found this ( taken from a Cohen interview on http://launch.yahoo.com/read/feature.asp?ontentID=206170 )"but I don't think anyone masters the heart," smiles Cohen. "It continues to cook like a shish kebab in everyone's breast, bubbling and cooking and sizzling."
Venue (Dunn's Famous Deli - Montreal smoked meat) - Loved It! Think it's great...however, we need to be certain that Dunn's doesn't assume some kind of proprietorship. This event won't in future be limited to their restaurants...although it's a considerable 'bragging rite' that the first such event was held at one.....
Cheers! D
Werner Kehl from Berlin writes:
Hi Kim, I finally got together with my friend and colleague Wolfgang and this what we came up with:
We are both of the opinion, that on a day (or night) like that Leonard Cohens music above all should stand. That means when people gather world-wide to celebrate this event, L.C.'s music should be played (not constantly, but mostly).
A way in which his music could connect gatherers and make them aware of this event happening worldwide is by having an official Top 100 Songs Of Leonard Cohen that would be played or partly played.
What would need to happen is for someone to co-ordinate some kind of a data-base of those songs with Leonard Cohen fans, fan-clubs, important and known critics, music experts, etc.
Once this has been done you go public with that info to press (newspapers, magazines, radio/tv stations) telling them that the above has been arranged (which obviously takes a lot of work) and that on said date people all over the planet will be listening to those songs (maybe not all, some may opt for top 20 or some radio station may only play top 3). The more fans, fan clubs, critics, etc. join, the more media will jump on top of story, the more publicity this thing will get (hopefully!) and others (sleepers) will join the bandwagon.
I hope you get the picture, feel free to come back with any inquiries you might have concerning this, and I hope I'm not coming too late with these suggestions.
Best regards
Werner
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Hello Kim,
As far as voting is concerned for a Top 100, people should present their top ten or top twenty at most so as to not exclude folks who aren't exactly Leonard Cohen experts. I think you would want as many people as possible who are at least somewhat vaguely familiar with Cohen to get involved with voting and the whole shebang in general (you don't want to preach to only the converted but want to win non-familiars as well who will then become converted, right?).
As far as voting procedure online is concerned, I'm not at all sure how that works, familiar with the technical procedure of that and exactly where and how to solicit votes, also in a matter where people only vote once which of course is the way it should be (multiple voting, ballot-stuffing etc. is to be avoided)
Deadline for voting can be the 20th of September so that the Top 100 can be presented on the 21st like that you have an element of surprise and revelation on the day on which The Event is to be celebrated, although media would probably like to have a list before that date so they can publish it with their story (procedure that needs to be worked on and figured out exactly).
So much for now, I'm sure we'll be in touch again soon to work more on this.
Werner