Leonard Cohen Is The Cat In The Hat
Leonard Cohen preparing for 2008 Tour1
I’m Your (Sharp-dressed) Man
‘Cause every girl crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man.
-From Sharp-dressed Man by ZZ Top
This shot of Leonard Cohen rehearsing for his upcoming World Tour in his Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes2 is intriguing and even a tad mysterious.
How, for example, does he look so good in that hat? Why does he look like an illustration for the dictionary definition of “dapper” wearing a double breasted jacket while 97% of the men that don them (including Dave Letterman, who wears one almost every night on his show) resemble nothing else as much as a corpse being fitted for a shroud? Why is he fingering a keyboard when he typically plays a guitar, if he plays any instrument, in his concerts? Why does he have only one hand on the keyboard? Is the one hand in the pocket stance essential as a component of the not quite insouciant slouch?
And what the heck is with that gong in the background?
Footnotes
- Photo by Lorca Cohen. Used by permission of Leonard Cohen via Ed Sanders. Thanks to Dick Straub for alerting me to the photo, which originally appeared on LeonardCohenFiles.com and LeonardCohenForum.com ~back~
- Or would these be Leonard Cohen’s “Sabbath-go-to-meeting Clothes?” Or his “Sabbath-go-to-synagogue Clothes?” Such are the perils of the culturally sensitive blogger. ~back~
Possibly Related Posts:
Dick Straub Photo Friday With Leonard Cohen, Anjani, Lian, & Esther
Lian, Esther, and Dick
Returning readers may recall that, on a number of occasions, I’ve mentioned Dick Straub as my most reliable contact within Cohen Nation. He has generously provided information and photos unavailable elsewhere, introductions and contacts, and, most of all, support.1 Well, courtesy of Dick Straub, I can offer you a photo of - Dick Straub. That’s him on the right.
On the left is Lian Lunson, the Producer-Director of the Leonard Cohen documentary, “I’m Your Man.” Between Lian and Dick is Esther “He Ain’t Leonard Cohen, he’s my brother” Cohen.
The Leonard Cohen Rock and Roll Show
Dick also forwarded this photo of Table #25 at the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
Footnotes
- I should also credit Linda, Dick’s lovely, talented, and incredibly tolerant wife, for her help as well. ~back~
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Travel Remains Difficult, Especially On Back Lawns
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Cyber-Bookmarkettes From DrHGuy: 8 January 2008
Cyber-Bookmarkettes are Internet sites and phenomena that are self-explanatory and thus require little elaboration, that are interesting enough to observe but lack, at least at this point, utility or significance of the sort to justify more than minimal annotation, or that are so ambiguous or confusing as to defy elucidation.
Do Not Attempt These Photos At Home - These Are Taken By Trained Professionals
Great Olan Mills Photos
Lord of Leisure1 is due credit for sending Heck of Guy the link to this collection of photos and captions which features, in the felicitous description offered at the site, “Total frickin’ awesomeness from Olan Mills, Sears and other fine portrait studios.” Indeed.
For anyone who had a photo taken at one of the low cost, high traffic flow portraiture studios in the 70s, this web page is laugh out loud fun served with a soupçon of nostalgic anguish.
These pictures and captions are available at
Don’t Picture This
Strictly No Photography
This appealing site consists of photos taken where photos are prohibited - such as museums, art galleries, hospitals, and the Kolkata Metro:
Get your kix from these forbidden pix at
Grammatolatry Site
Luciferous Logolepsy
The explanatory subtitle of this site is a handy litmus test. If ones response to a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words” is “Thanks for the warning” (and especially if it’s “Dude, thanks for the warning”), this may not be the preferred cyber-destination for that individual.
On the other hand, if ones response is “Got to get me some of that,” welcome to paradise.
Luciferous Logolepsy also has its practical applications. DrHGuy, for example, has recently grown concerned about the accelerating rate at which “Schadenfreude” (pleasure in another person’s misfortune) is pervading the argot of the hoi polloi. One can imagine his delight on discovering, at Luciferous Logolepsy, “epicaricacy,” a near synonym that is, as advertised, obscure still.
These 9,000 obscure words and their definitions can be found at
They’re Selling What?
What is it? The Impulsive Buy specializes in reviews of products (primarily food products with a smattering of sundries not intended for consumption) that are typically new to the market and always at least a tad weird.
Why read it? Because Heck of a Guy readers who routinely plow through, for example, a dense dissertation on broomcorn, an extended exposition on the Fender Rhodes Stage 88 Electric Piano as an introduction to a post about Anjani, or an exhaustive examination of a study on hand washing as medical compliance need, on occasion, to decompress by perusing reviews of products such as
The Tooth Tunes Hilary Duff Toothbrush
The Pong A Long 7′ Beer Pong Table
Goldfish Flavor Blasted Blazin’ Buffalo Wings
And, of course, Jalapeño SPAM
These reviews can be found at
Footnotes
- While the Lord of Leisure who alerted Heck of a Guy to these photos is the same Lord of Leisure whose photographic contributions are featured on the Heck of a Guy blog’s Lord of Leisure Photo Gallery, these two groups of images share little other than a camera was, presumably, used to capture both sets of pictures ~back~
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The Enticing Colors Of Zion Canyon
The Lord of Leisure1 Photo Gallery
Virgin River - Zion Canyon
[Click on graphic for view of larger image]
Lord of Leisure writes:
I like the way the diagonal line of the water leads the viewer into the picture and then the sweep of the yellow trees takes the viewers eyes around the bend deeper into the picture where the light shines on the distant canyon wall.
Footnotes
- Lord of Leisure was previously known in these posts as Mr. Science. Both Lord of Leisure and Mr Science spend most of their time disguised as Neil Ellis, mild-mannered, retired teacher at a great suburban school system, who can identify a bird by its call, complete the New York Times Friday Crossword in ink, and snap a heck of a photo. ~back~
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The Other Photos From The Thanksgiving 2007 Trip To Mom’s Home
While I’ve already posted all the photos of the specimens in my Mother’s collections1 from our visit to her home this past Thanksgiving, there are a few other pictures of people that I’m posting as an indulgence to the nostalgia rampant at the end of the year.
This photo of Mom was taken at Thanksgiving.
On the wall of the basement, I found this blurry picture of Julie’s parents (on left), my parents (on right), and Julie2 and me (in center) at our wedding.
And this even blurrier photo, also from the wedding, of Julie, her daughter, and me.
In this shot, my brother, Bobby Lynn,3 is on the left and I’m on the right. In the center section, Bobby Lynn is on the left and I’m on the right.
Footnotes
- To read about and view my mother’s impressive collection of doodads, antiques, gadgets, widgets, junk, tchotchkes, collectibles, oddities, curios, odds, ends, and much, much more, see Mom’s Collectibles ~back~
- Julie Showalter was my much-beloved, fiercely smart, wickedly sexy wife and prize-winning writer, who died in 1999 from cancer diagnosed the week of our wedding nearly 20 years earlier. There are many other posts about her and her writing in this blog. For information, see Julie Showalter FAQ ~back~
- Bobby Lynn, two years younger than I, died at 16 of Hodgkin’s. ~back~
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Double Arch Alcove - Zion Canyon’s Special Effects Department
The Lord of Leisure1 Photo Gallery
Double Arch Alcove - Zion Canyon
[Click on graphic for view of larger image]
Editorial Note: A glance at the sidebar on the left will show that “Lord of Leisure Photo Gallery” is now a full-fledged Heck of a Guy Blog category. All of Lord of Leisure’s photos can be found by clicking on the link at Lord of Leisure Photo Gallery Category
Lord of Leisure writes:
This picture displays the two elements that make photography in the Desert Southwest special: light and sandstone. Light that shines directly on sandstone reflects with a very warm color, but when that light is reflected onto another sandstone surface the result is an eerie glow of reds, oranges and yellows.
In this instance, the nearly two thousand foot wall of sandstone in this picture is bathed in the light that has been reflected from the opposing wall of sandstone. Without the reflected line this north-facing wall would be in deep shade with barely discernible colors rather than the vivid hues seen here.
As noted in previous posts, the color in the photo accurately depicts what we saw with our eyes.
Footnotes
- Lord of Leisure was previously known in these posts as Mr. Science. Both Lord of Leisure and Mr Science spend most of their time disguised as Neil Ellis, mild-mannered, retired teacher at a great suburban school system, who can identify a bird by its call, complete the New York Times Friday Crossword in ink, and snap a heck of a photo. ~back~
Possibly Related Posts:
Zion Canyon’s Overwhelming Colors
The Lord of Leisure1 Photo Gallery
Zion Canyon
[Click on graphic for view of larger image]
Editorial Note: It’s a cold, windy, wet, overcast day here in the outermost frontiers of Chicagoland. The post I had planned to publish today lacked the luminosity necessary to counterbalance the local meteorological conditions. Lord of Leisure’s startlingly vivid Zion Canyon photos,2 however, are more than a match for the weather and are capable of brightening any day.
Lord of Leisure writes:
This was a long exposure that required a sturdy tripod and an equally sturdy Hippie With Tiara, to whom I am grateful for not only accompanying me but helping lug said sturdy tripod3 for many hours on these expeditions.
Footnotes
- Lord of Leisure was previously known in these posts as Mr. Science. Both Lord of Leisure and Mr Science spend most of their time disguised as Neil Ellis, mild-mannered, retired teacher at a great suburban school system, who can identify a bird by its call, complete the New York Times Friday Crossword in ink, and snap a heck of a photo. These days, he is also a very happy Mizzou football fan. ~back~
- See previously published The Spectacular Hues Of Zion Canyon ~back~
- ”Sturdy” in the context of “sturdy tripod” can be translated as “heavy, bulky, and awkward” ~back~