Tomorrow Ain’t Leonard Cohen’s First Birthday

 And It Ain’t The 1st Heck Of A Guy Celebration Of His Birthday

In anticipation of tomorrow’s natal day festivities – and the official premiere of the I Love Leonard Cohen Birthday Video, Heck Of A Guy offers a retrospective of this site’s previous commemorations of the birth of the Canadian singer-songwriter.

2007 – The Heck of a Birthday Bash Kit

The premise of  the 2007 Leonard Cohen Birthday Party Package follows:

Growing up in the Bible belted-and-suspendered Ozarks, I heard the following question repeatedly proposed from the church pulpit and the Sunday School lectern: “What would you do if Jesus came to your house today?”

Well, the truth is I would have been creeped out, especially if he didn’t call first, but I understood the message underlying this query: we should live our lives in such a Christian manner that we would be prepared if Jesus dropped in for a visit to the point that the only change we would need to make would be frying up an extra pork chop for dinner.

I now find it more pleasant and enlightening to ask myself “What would you do if Leonard Cohen came to your house today?”¹

Given that today is his birthday, a host would surely want to acknowledge that with a celebratory ceremony of some sort, but a generic funny hats and gag gift sort of affair just doesn’t seem to fit and, as far as I know, Hallmark doesn’t yet sell a Leonard Cohen birthday pack with paper plates, napkins, cups, and decorations all coordinated in a “Tower of Song” theme.

Stepping into the breach, the Heck of a Guy blog is proud to offer the Heck of a Birthday Bash Kit.

Information about the choice of contents of the Heck of a Birthday Bash Kit can be found at Everybody Knows – Today Is The Birthday Of Leonard Cohen.

2008 – Happy Birthday, Leonard Cohen

From Happy Birthday, Leonard Cohen

Thanks For The Music, The Words, The Style, And The Grace

Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a World Tour with every concert sold out and heavily praised, even a set of French and German Rolling Stone covers – it’s been a heck of a year for a kid with a crazy dream, the gift of a golden voice, and a fedora.

 2009 – Leonard Cohen Birthday Gift Registry

In addition to the  Leonard Cohen At 75 Birthday Video (see end of this section), a video montage of favorite scenes featuring the singer-songwriter, poet, and icon set to “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” Heck Of A Guy presented the Leonard Cohen Birthday Gift Registry.

As was noted in The Leonard Cohen 75th Birthday Gift Registry – Introduction,

Surveying  [LeonardCohenForum], one cannot help but notice the hubbub about choosing the best birthday gift possible. Many fans are, for example, working together to create a special offering.²

DrHGuy, it turns out, is the sort of chap, that were he introduced at concerts by the appellation-slinging Mr. Cohen,  might be known not only as the Potentate of Posts but also as the Master of Mercantilism, making him the perfect candidate for administrator of The Leonard Cohen Birthday Gift Service.

The Leonard Cohen Birthday Gift Registry comprised the descriptions of five gifts, references to Mr Cohen’s wish for or need of these items, and contemporary market value of each offering:

#1. Crack and Anal Sex
#2. Business Management Skills
#3. Medical Degree
#4. A Thousand Kisses
#5. Manhattan and Berlin

2010 – Video Celebration Of Leonard Cohen At 76

From Leonard Cohen At 76 Birthday Video

Resisting the tyranny of the decimal that designates some birthdays – those ending in 0 or 5 – to be more significant than others, DrHGuy prepared a video featuring Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young” to commemorate the 76th birthday of Leonard Cohen.

_____________________

1. Of course, the even more difficult question would be, “What if Leonard Cohen and Jesus came to your house today?” [↩]
2. No, I am not telling what it is. While blood may occasionally  be spilled at Heck Of A Guy, beans and guts are not. [↩]