The Girl With The Leonard Cohen Tattoo Is Back

Waiting For Leonard Cohen

On February 19, 2009 at the Beacon Theatre in New York, Leonard Cohen performed his first US concert in 15 years.

And, as described in The Girl With The Leonard Cohen Tattoo,

In front of the Beacon Theatre before the Leonard Cohen Concert, I chatted with batches of Leonard Cohen admirers as we waited to enter the building. One charming woman I met presented her credentials as a Leonard Cohen fan:

I’m such a Leonard Cohen fan that I stayed at the Chelsea Hotel just because he used to live there. I like all his music, even “The Future” that used to seem too angry for me to enjoy. And, I do have a Leonard Cohen tattoo.

She was, unfortunately, interrupted at this point in her discourse by someone else commenting on the various musical phases of Cohen’s career.

… Upon hearing a woman on a cold February night, waiting on a crowded sidewalk to enter a Broadway theater to attend a Leonard Cohen performance, attest to bearing a Leonard Cohen tattoo, a true blogger would have immediately insisted she provide the story behind the tattoo and, of course, display the tattoo for a photo to be posted for the benefit of strangers who happened onto the blog.

To my shame, I did not.

… For now, however, I can only apologize to Heck Of A Guy readers, hope that the Girl With The Leonard Cohen Tattoo I met last week in front of the Beacon Theater responds to this post with a photo of her ink, and dream of what could have been.

Two Years Pass

… during which time, many Heck Of a Guy posts are posted and many Leonard Cohen performances are performed. Then, yesterday, a routine check of the Heck Of A Guy inbox revealed this message:

hello!

this may be a little late (like, by two years!), but i just stumbled across your blog entry : The Girl With The Leonard Cohen Tattoo

and i am the girl you are remembering!

i’ve been to your blog before, and i have always enjoyed reading the stories of other similarly obsessed fans, but for some reason i never came across the post that mentioned me. i just happened to be searching for images of leonard tattoos tonight, because i was remembering when i got my own tattoo, and your blog popped up in the search results and there was this whole story about me! i tried to comment, but the comments were closed, so i am emailing you directly and hoping that you read this and are able to view the photos i am sending.

i posted your link on my facebook, and my facebook friend allison crowe replied saying she knows you and finds the whole thing hilarious. she has also seen my tattoo. i wish you the best. please keep writing your blog. i can’t tell you how much i enjoy the fact that there are other leonard fanatics out there. i converted three people last year and they are now addicted to leonard as well! i must tell them about this.

that concert at the beacon was the most beautiful concert i have ever been to. i saw him again, later that year, in waterbury ct. and the waterbury concert was a great show too, but nothing topped the beacon for me. i am sure you enjoyed the show as much as i did. thanks for the memory!

fondly and sincerely,

nora pasco

Video From The Leonard Cohen World Tour Beacon Show

Leonard Cohen – Bird On A Wire (Beacon Theatre, NYC 2/19/2009)

Video from clairedelune49

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10 Responses to The Girl With The Leonard Cohen Tattoo Is Back

Chrissie Clark | January 16, 2011 at 5:41 am |

So enjoyed reading this wonderful story…and watching and listening to the huskiest ever “Bird on the Wire”….entrancing!!!
Guy Minnebach | January 16, 2011 at 11:28 am |

“All my faith to see, all my faith to see, your (partly) naked body…” Glad this came true. What a great tattoo, and what a great story! Thanks for sharing Nora and Allan!
christine roberts | January 16, 2011 at 7:38 am |

This is a heartwarming story and I found the rendition of Bird on a Wire to be so moving-thanks Dr. H.
Todd | January 16, 2011 at 8:41 am |

What a great read. Weird that it happened over the weekend that I Cohenized my body with an LC tattoo. True fandom.
Allison Crowe | January 16, 2011 at 10:52 am |

I have indeed seen this tattoo in real life hehe – the world is sometimes so very small – how cool!

cheers,
Allison
Lizzy | January 16, 2011 at 11:01 am |

Wonderful, totally unexpected outcome! I love this series of events. Thanks for speaking up, Nora and the photos of your tattoo’d back of Leonard’s splendid words and of your lovely, happy face!
nora | January 16, 2011 at 11:14 am |

thanks for posting this! i’m so glad we connected. the video post is wonderful. what a great show that was!

i said to my friend sarah yesterday,
“actually making it to a fan blog is a major step i had somehow missed in climbing the ladder of obsession. i had the collecting all the albums down, eating foods and decorating my room based on imagery from his songs, staying at the chelsea hotel, getting the tattoo, and attending the concerts. i figured the next step was to find leonard and sleep with him, but i never realized there was a fanblog publication in between then and now.”

bird on a wire is such a meaningful song for me. when i was certain i was going to get a cohen tattoo, i had a long list of possible quotes. in the end, it was a choice between “there is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in” or the opening to bird on a wire. i chose bird on a wire, because i had known that song for longer and those lines had always resonated for me.

is it foolish of me to hope that, somehow, leonard will stumble upon this entry, see this picture of me, find me, and realize he is meant to be with me and not with anjani? perhaps.
however, if by some chance leonard does find me through your website, you will be invited to the wedding and you can make the toast!

thanks, and keep writing!

nora
Elizabeth Bacon-Smith | January 16, 2011 at 5:10 pm |

Loved reading this. Hope others will follow the link to your site and read it all there.
Chrissie Clark | January 16, 2011 at 6:06 pm |

loved this…set me off on a trail too…xxx
dick | January 17, 2011 at 5:52 am |

Great seies of posts.

Exciting to have Allison join us!

Does this mean “all things come to he who waits?”

Many thanks Nora and Heck.