|
|
|
the lord of song 2009-04-11 4:13 p.m. Two or three hours after my last blog lamenting missing Leonard Cohen, I found a pair of orchestra tickets for just $45. The entire time I was on craigslist I was seriously considering going alone, but this guy would only sell the pair. I searched all of Facebook for mutual fans, but began to despair when I realized that I'm the only person younger than 45 that appreciates/loves Mr. Cohen. When Ryan walked past me Thursday afternoon, I gave him a mournful look and described the situation to him. Incredibly, he agreed to go! I kept exclaiming to Ryan how excited I was, and couldn't sleep that night for anticipation. I would later come to regret having only 4 hours of sleep. Ryan and I gussied up for the show, figuring that this would not be the sort of show where jeans would fly. Actually, I think he wore denim, but it was dark and therefore dressy enough. Sure enough, the crowd was characterized by lots of leather, greying hair, and cups of wine instead of the rum and coke that Ryan bought from the concession stand. Pretty sure everyone happily and easily bought the $200+ tickets with their retirement money. There were a few pretentious hipsters, but even those were older than us. Despite our best efforts, our leather outfits and my new haircut made us obviously young. Our seats were row V, which is not bad at all, but a bit far to the side. The chairs were plush, and no one too tall was sitting in front of us. The air circulated regularly and at a comfortable temperature. Save for the exceedingly drunk man next to me who kept clapping in my ear and elbowing my side, it was the most well-mannered and comfortable show I had ever been to. So elegant. There was no pushing and shoving, and I didn't have to make sure my top stayed up while dancing. Well, there was no dancing to jeopardize my top, a bit to my disappointment. I looked around a few times, and I was definitely the only person physically reacting to the music. A euphemism for awkwardly bopping my head along. The show took a long time to get started. When the lights suddenly dimmed to indicate the start, a third of the theatre was still in the aisles. The seven person ensemble calmly walked out onstage to riotous applause, but the theatre really erupted when Leonard Cohen trotted out lasted, exceptionally spry for his 74 years. He was all business, performed three songs perfectly but without banter. His age didn't betray him. His voice is still low and rich, without any cracks. He left the high notes up to his backup singers, which is fine because he was always a poet and a songwriter first and foremost before a singer. Still writing poems for old ladies? I could not believe I was seeing such a legend. It's not enough to tell you he has talent. Seeing him knocked the breath out of me. He was only two steps onto the stage when my eyes welled up and my heart constricted. Ryan was extremely amused: "You're so adorable!" The entire show I sat with my face cupped in my hands, in pure rapture. I only cried once more, during "Chelsea Hotel No. 2". I was glad that he played it, and even happier that it was later in the show, and not too early. The way it was arranged and his phrasing during the song made it less nostalgic and more tongue-in-cheek, but it was beautiful and touching nonetheless. I don't remember the exact order, but these are as many songs that he played as I can recall: Ain't No Cure For Love I wanted to hold out for "So Long, Marianne" and "Famous Blue Raincoat" but Ryan had planned a sleepover at our apartment for that night so we had to leave before the last song and encore. I sped home in an apparently terrifying fashion. Okay, so maybe I picked Nima up on a dark corner. Maybe I took off down Jamboree before he could close the door and get into a seat. Maybe I rolled into the dorm parking lot and barked at James Shen "Get in the van!" Maybe I again drove off before James could close the door. Allegedly. To start, we built a fort that lasted all of twenty minutes. We meant to have an innocent chitchat and movie marathon all night. As half of the group began losing wind and falling asleep, the other half (cough, Ryan and Christina) became boisterous and delirious. We scoffed at the fact that it was 4am and all dressed in black to ready ourselves for some pranks. Everyone piled into my van and we drove like maniacs around Irvine. First we stopped at Rite Aid to see what inspiration would strike us. At first we were going to buy some stuffed bunnies (oh Easter season) and sever the heads and smear ketchup over its neck. Not many people on board for that. We settled for buying a pack of maxi pads to stick all over someone's door. Still pretty awful, so our PG-rated prank was taping coloring pages depicting creepy bunnies and horses all over another person's door. It would have been much more fun if it had been better executed. It took a long time to find the right apartment, and even longer discussing the getaway. All told, it probably took us an hour to complete the first prank. By then everyone's energy was slowly but surely dying. We decided we didn't have time to do the other prank before sunrise. I could see everyone's nodding and lolling heads in my rearview mirror, but I drove down to Corona Del Mar beach anyways to watch the sunrise. Of course, we're such geniuses that we remembered that the coast is to the west and the sun rises in the east. We remembered as soon as I had parked and we had started walking down the hill to the waterfront. We sat for all of five minutes, watched the gloomy horizon brighten in terms of light but not color, then left. We got home at 7 am, and Nima and Patrick immediately passed out. Each boy took up a mattress to himself, and one of my pillows. Patrick also took my comforter. Great. Christina and Ryan locked themselves in his room with their egg mcmuffins, while Megan and I busied ourselves making brekkers for everyone. After a weary brekkers, we dropped off to sleep one by one. People woke at different times, and left at different times. It was a rather anti-climactic end, but we had absolutely no energy left in us for anything else. Arguably one of the best 20 hours of my life.
Wednesday night we took Patrick to his first korean barbecue experience - and my first too, actually. When they said "korean" I thought it was just a standard restaurant and I could get a hotpot of tofu. Alas, it was a beastly affair, as you can see.
Eek!
Still love Ryan so much for coming. I really felt like I was tugging at him, though he keeps reassuring me that he really enjoyed himself.
We were close enough to the stage to see his general movements, but I had to take pictures of and watch the big screens for his heartbreaking/warming smiles. After every song he humbly took off his hat and gave a slight bow to his band. Such a darling darling man.
Sort of the start of the night.
The end of the night/start of morning. Sigh. Leonard Cohen. He's a cultural establishment. I loved him in the morning, I loved him in the evening. Love.
|
