leonardcohenforum.com

The latest Keith James and Rick Foot gig hits Liverpool next month.
I missed their Nick Drake gig a few years ago but I caught their Lorca show last year and it was excellent.
If you live in the UK check out their website to see if they are passing your way.
We have a few members of the forum attending the Liverpool show on the 12th. March.
I wonder which documentary they are going to show?

As the poster states,they will be showing a bio of Leonard Cohen!It is a combination of two existing bio docs.
I caught their last Nick Drake concert a few weeks ago and was able to speak with them afterwards.
Dave

Ken this looks very interesting and is on at St Donats Arts Centre (a castle half an hour's drive from me), tonight! I can't get through to the box office at the mo:-( but will get along if I can. Ta for the info.

Diane

Sorry I should have posted up this info earlier.
I hope you manage to make it over to St. Donats

Ta Ken

Ken,
From your knowledge of the Liverpool venue, do you think I could turn up on the night and get in? I'm not sure if I will be needing one seat or two.

Thanks, Margaret

Well thanks for that Ken. I got there just in time, found a spare seat at the front, and rather enjoyed it. Keith James is a decent-enough singer and guitarist, but what made it for me was Rick Foot on double bass – he added the atmosphere - excellent. They opened with The Queen and the Soldier, which is my second fave song of Suzanne Vega's. Sung quite a few Lorca poems, notably Nocturne. Did only one Bob Dylan number (Visions of Joanna) and two LC songs – FBR and First we Take Manhattan (but not My Secret Life, the song that is mentioned on the website). They finished with a tribute to John Martyn - May You Never, which coincidentally had been playing on the radio on my way to the venue.

I haven't seen the 45 minute LC documentary that was played at the start before. It was narrated by Thomas Arnold, described his career album by album, and had excerpts from Songs From the Life of LC, and commentary by Ira Nadel, John Lissaur and a few music journos. It must have been made fairly recently as it mentions the IYM film and the "forthcoming" Tour. Can't remember who, but someone described Death of a Ladies' Man as being "undignified". I suppose it is, against the rest of LC's work.

Margaret, Liverpool is a different kettle of fish, but there was far from a full house out in the sticks of South Wales.

Diane

I'm glad to hear that you made the gig and thanks for report back.
It looks like I will have to live with just the one Dylan song for the evening, it's a good job Henning isn't coming:-)
I was expecting one of the old documentaries to be shown but now I'm intrigued.
I've just googled around on the web and in the Files and can't find anything for a Thomas Arnold in reference to Leonard, so you might be the first of our number to have seen this film.

Margaret

The venue for the Liverpool gig is FACT, or to give it it's full title the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology which also happens to be my local kinneyma. It's the new arts centre in Wood Street which runs parallel with Bold Street. The place is a mixture of galleries, bar and cafe and three kinneyma screens. The gig is being held in the screen 3 which only holds about 150/200 people. As it happens I'm going there tomorrow so I will make enquiries for you.

Ta Ken

You may be lucky and get a bit more Dylan, Ken, cos I imagine they vary the set - there was no Neruda last night for example, and I was keeping my ear out for some (not that I'd necessarily recognise all of it, but he introduced each song).

Diane, how many people attended the show ?

There were about 60 or 70 people at a guess, Henning. I think the room capacity is about 200. They had the seats arranged sympathetically, to make the place look fuller. I hope we don't have to resort to this on the top of Snowdon.

Margaret

I've just returned from Fact to see Woody Allen's much hyped new film. It was screened in Screen 3, which as it happens is the same auditorium that Poet in New York is being held. It would appear that my maths is worse than I thought. Screen 3, which often doubles as a music venue holds only 105 and not the 120/150 as I wrote earlier. The nice young man in the box office told me that up to this morning they had sold 35 seats but they are 100% sure that the gig will be a sellout well before the performance on 12th. March. So I'm afraid turning up on the night looks like a non-starter.

However if you are interested in an evening exploring the musical and poetry genius Bob Dylan then Michael Gray is on your side of the river next month at the Pacific Road Arts Centre. If only Henning wasn't too busy organising his tribute evening to Bob Dylan in Wetzlar I'm sure he would love to attend.........Michael is one of the very few people who have heard Bob's yet to be released new album so a couple of us are planning to get him in a corner after the show

Michael Gray, Bob Dylan, and the Poetry of the Blues
Pacific Road Arts Centre
Friday 6 March 2009, 19:30
Tickets: £ Normal 10.00 Concession 8.00
Michael Gray, author of the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (which is now available in paperback), will be hitting the road this spring with quite a few dates lined up around the UK and the East Coast of the USA.

Guardian newspaper…….
BOB DYLAN & THE POETRY OF THE BLUES
“wit, erudition, loud music and rare footage”

Michael Gray, babyboomer, English writer, critic, broadcaster and performer of one-man-show/talk-with-music live gigs. Specialist subjects Bob Dylan's work, rock'n'roll, some pre-war blues and travel. Author of a biography of Frank Zappa (1985, 1992, 1993, 2003 & 2007), co-author of THE ELVIS ATLAS: A Journey Through Elvis Presley's America (1996), co-editor of ALL ACROSS THE TELEGRAPH: A Bob Dylan Handbook (1987), author of SONG & DANCE MAN: The Art Of Bob Dylan (1972), THE ART OF BOB DYLAN: Song & Dance Man (1981), SONG & DANCE MAN III: The Art Of Bob Dylan (1999/2000), THE BOB DYLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA (2006; paperback 17 July 2008 in the UK & US) and HAND ME MY TRAVELIN' SHOES: In Search Of Blind Willie McTell (UK hardback Bloomsbury, July 2007. UK paperback October 2008. US hardback September 2009).

Ta Ken

Ken,
Tickets are on the way for the Dylan evening at Pacific Road this Friday. I will also see you next week at FACT.

Margaret

Margaret

I shall look forward to seeing on Friday.

The last time we met up was at at Christy Moore concert and now we are seeing each other again at a Dylan event.....perhaps we should try to learn to like this auld flavour of the month Cohen fella a bit more and attend one of the Cohen events otherwise moderator Henning may ban the both of us from this forum.

Ta Ken

Well, to take this back to the original topic, not that I have anything against Dylan at all, I saw Keith James and Nick Foot do Poet in New York last night in Greenwich. Definitely not sold out, which is a shame.

I'd not seen these guys before (though they also have been doing a Nick Drake concert, and I am a big ND fan), and I really liked the gig. A lot. A big lot. I totally agree that Nick Foot is truly amazing. I think Keith James did a great job too (the only criticism I might have is that his Spanish accent is about as good as mine --- ie pretty shite), and I liked the slant they put onto Leonard's music and Leonard's vocals. That double bass is such an appropriate instrument, yet not one I would have thought of. The film at the start was interesting. And the Lorca poems were fabulous. Especially Sleepless city.

They are playing again in Camden tomorrow night, and then there are a number of gigs round the UK which can be found on their website.

I'd recommend this ... it's worth a go. It's not Leonard as he is now, but it is good music, performed by good guys. 2 guys who know how to use their instruments. They ended with Take this Waltz, probably my fave LC item of all time, and they did it justice. I particularly like the way they ended it, differently from the way LC does.

Sarah/

Interesting! thanks for the positive review, Sarah, I see they're playing a few dates locally to me so hopefully one of them will suit me and I will get to see them too, particularly as I never quite found the time to see their Nick Drake set.

Tim