leonardcohenforum.com

Hi everyone,

Yaron Hallis here from Australian band MONSIEUR CAMEMBERT.
We are thrilled to announce that we will be recording our Leonard Cohen show - FAMOUS BLUE CHEESE, live at The Vanguard, Sydney, on the 12th, 13th & 14th April 2007!
The show will feature a 9-piece version of the band, with some of Australia's favourite women singers as guests: Abby Dobson, Carla Werner, Elana Stone, and Ngaiire.

If you'd like a sneak preview of some of the tracks from the show (recorded last year on Leonard's birthday), please visit:
http://www.myspace.com/mcfamousbluecheese
There is also a version of Jazz Police posted, it can be found at
http://www.myspace.com/monsieurcamembert

Songs featured in the show (and almost certainly on the forthcoming double CD) are:

I'm Your Man
Field Commander Cohen
Chelsea Hotel
Gypsy Wife
First We Take Manhattan
The Guests
A Singer Must Die
Light as the Breeze
Future
Jazz Police
Seems so long ago, Nancy
Take this waltz
Who By Fire
Suzanne
Bird on a Wire
Halleluyah
Famous Blue Raincoat
Memories
Closing Time
Everybody knows
Dance me to the end of love

If perchance you'd like to read more about this whole Cohen project, please visit http://www.leonardcohenshow.com

That's about all - will let you when the album is ready (and if you live in or near Sydney, why not come along to the Vanguard next month and cheer very loudly, and in so doing, be immortalized on the live CD's!)

Cheers and all the best,
Yaron Hallis

(I'm not really alan alda!)

Hi~

A couple of years ago I purchased your Cd with "Dance Me..." on it. I love the whole Cd. It is so full of energy and toe tapping music.

Looking forward to hearing a whole Cd of Cohen covers. I know it will be wonderful. (YaY!) Thanks for the great news!

Regards,
Laurie in Alaska

Hi Yaron
thanks for the great news! I will be happy to feature the album on The Files. Keep me & us posted!
You don't plan to have the show filmed for a bonus DVD???

Can't wait Yaron
I have booked the tickets, accomodation and flights. Sydney here I come.
Research has told me you have Arias for world music and I am impressed by the myspace samples.
See you there!

Hi Yaron - great to see you on the Forum!

This is exciting news indeed - I've been doing my bit to promote you here over the last couple of years, but at least now folk here will be able to get a broad selection of your Cohen material after the June double CD release!

I'm still toying with the idea of coming down for your Sydney show in April - it's just a matter of distance and dollars that would prevent me!

Cheers
Andrew (Darby)

Hi there Jarkko,

Well I wish you could have been in Australia for the shows! We debated recording a live DVD, but decided in the end to concentrate on the audio recording. We did video all 3 nights for posterity, so perhaps we'll release a bootleg DVD!

The Sydney Morning Herald reviewed the concert:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/memory ... 48042.html

There is also a few people talking about the show at...
http://www.last.fm/music/Monsieur+Camembert

It was really a remarkable experience researching the spoken parts of the show: I waded through every poem, interview and live recording that I could get my hands on. And the wonderful thing about researching the words of Leonard Cohen is that his turn of phrase is so unrelentingly eloquent, elegent, picturesque, that it is often difficult for the audience to distinguish which bits were from his concert intros, which bits were from interviews and which were actual poems.
I feel truly blessed to have this opportunity to dip my big toe into the depths of this remarkable pool of work and play.


All the best!
Yaron

Hi Yaron,
all comments I've heard about the concert have been very positive!
It will be exciting to hear the songs. I will of course feature the album
also on the Files, in the tributes and covers section.
Best regards to Australia from the north,
Jarkko