Ramsey Nasr. Ik moest gisteren onwillekeurig aan hem denken toen ik Leonard Cohen live op DVD zag. 1970, Isle of Wight. Ik weet niet waar het aan lag. De krulletjes en nonchalante ongeschorenheid, denk ik. 

Ze hebben meer met elkaar te maken dat je op het eerste zicht zou denken. De een is een halve Palestijn, de ander een hele Jood. Ze schrijven allebei gedichten, maken allebei muziek. De een al wat beter dan de andere. Maar allebei hebben ze iets waardoor je naar hen wilt blijven kijken.

Ik heb maar 2 herinneringen aan Ramsey Nasr. Ik heb namelijk nooit echt iets van hem gelezen, of nooit veel naar hem geluisterd. (Met Cohen ligt dat wel even anders)

De eerste was ergens op Canvas. Nasr vertelde verhalen, mooie verhalen. En Nadia Dala onderbrak hem keer op keer met een irrelevante vraag. Ik wou gewoon dat ze hem liet uitspreken. Sindsdien heb ik een grondige hekel aan Nadia Dala.

De tweede keer was in de KVS. De première van een show van Behoud de Begeerte, met Ramsey Nasr en Mauro Pawlowski in de hoofdrol. De voorstelling was gruwelijk slecht, dat mag gezegd zijn. Het geheel straalde enkel wanhoop uit, met een tikkeltje hysterie en een enkele mooie scene. Pawlowski leek, zoals zo vaak, volledig onvoorbereid (wat hij me in een interview ook bevestigde) en Nasr probeerde het hele spel op zijn eentje te redden en redde het niet.

Hoe zou het nu met Ramsey Nasr zijn?

I am heading towards study leave starting in a few days time. First time ever and I can’t wait to get my head and heart refreshed in some space. So, on my way into meetings in London today I picked up the book of Leonard Cohen poetry I started ages ago – Book of Longing (Penguin, 2007) – and thought I’d dip into it. I think my attention span is reducing by the day at the moment.

Then I came across his poem Thing. It starts like this:

I am this thing that needs to sing / I love to sing…

It concludes as follows:

I am this thing

that wants to sing

when I am up against the spit

and scorn of judges

O G-D I want to sing

I am

 THIS THING THAT NEEDS TO SING

What is it about human beings that makes us want to sing? I remember Jim Wallis saying that when he and his colleagues were arrested in Washington DC they used to annoy the police officers who jailed them by singing all night. he said that you just can’t stop Christians singing. He is right (and not just about Christians).

One of the fallacies I grew up with in church was that God wanted to hear our praises at all times – even when everything is rubbish, we must praise God. When I grew up two things bugged me:

(a) I began to wonder what sort of God it was who urges his friends to lie through their teeth about what is going on in their lives and in their head. So, the worship leader would urge us to ‘leave the business of the day/week at the door of the church and bring our worship unencumbered by all the worries and troubles of life’… and I would think that was stupid.

(b) I read the Psalms and found expressions of regret, complaint, lament, shouting at God, questioning, whingeing, praising, asking, and just about everything else that goes into real life in the real world with real people in real relationships. Psalm 137 (‘By the rivers of Babylon’) wasn’t exactly a load of laughs.

Again, it is the poets and artists who put their finger on the truth. Human beings are made to be honest with God and each other – singing different songs at different times of life and not worrying about whether God can cope with our complicated emotions.

Tonight I feel like repeating Cohen’s lines. I’m just not entirely sure which song I want to sing.

All the sisters of mercy
they are not departed or gone
They were waiting for me
when I thought that I just can’t go on
And they brought me their comfort
and later they brought me this song
Oh I hope you run into them
you who’ve been travelling so long

Yes you who must leave everything
that you cannot control
It begins with your family
but soon it comes around to your soul
I’ve been where you’re hanging
I think I can see how you’re pinned
When you’re not feeling holy
your loneliness tells that you’ve sinned

They lay down beside me
I made my confession to them
They touched both my eyes
and I touched the dew on their hem
If your life is a leaf
that the seasons tear off and condemn
they will bind you with love
that is graceful and green as a stem

When I left they were sleeping
I hope you run into them soon
Don’t turn on the light
you can read their address by the moon
And you won’t make me jealous
if I hear that they sweetened your night
We weren’t lovers like that
and besides it would still be all right

– Leonard Cohen

Stumbled upon this movie about a great man, Leonard Cohen. Watch the movie and take your time it’s pretty great – he’s even funny… And movies from that period are just cool. Anyway enjoy.

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2049-ladies-and-gentlemen-mr-leonard-cohen/1

Beck doet Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne, en niet zo zuinig ook!.

Beck heeft een hele plaat volgespeeld met covers van Cohen, net als hij pas geleden ook deed met covers van de Velvet Underground.

New (Devil’s) Hairkut:

Parece mentira, pero esta chica, vestida con plumas y harapos, que te ofrece té y naranjas y te enseña a mirar entre la basura y las flores ya ha cumplido 40 años.

Y sigue emocionándome como la primera vez que la escuché. Más ahora, quizás, que puedo ver a Cohen cantándola con su guitarra, con una voz mucho más profunda y una mirada más sabia.

Y junto con esta chica, caótica y maravillosa, la primera de las muchas referencias del poeta a Jesús. Como casi siempre, un Jesús humano, a la espera de que el mar le libere. Como todos.

Here is the wonderful Leonard Cohen.

*Photography: Empty L.A. – where the humans have all been removed from the city – is another illustration of absence. [highindustrial]

*Online: Tumblr is wine, Twitter is crack – what are some other popular internet vices? defined. [coudal]

*Food: Beaver recipes. For preparing beaver. [neatorama]

*Videos: This post linking to all 6 parts about a BBC documentary called “Krautrock” is worth clicking through to for the title alone – “stretchmarks on a rock cabbage.”

Also, Pitchfork has posted the documentary “Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr. Leonard Cohen” for a week. The documentary depicts Mr. Cohen in his days as a poet; before he took up pop music. [mefi]

*Phones: And the next blook deal goes to…”People Talking on Bananas.” (This site should auto-play Raffi singing “Bananaphone” when you open it.) Well, the next one to get a deal AFTER Regretsy. [presurfer]

*Music: Listen to these Singing Science recordings. Clear, earnest, strangely compelling. [coudal]

*Fashion: Whoa. If I were a woman I would totally get a book handbag! I think. (I don’t have any tendencies in that direction.) [craft]

*Today’s links: F

Every time a 0 is involved with the turning year, people tend to go crazy over “the best _____ of the decade”. Lists come out about music and movies and tv shows and whatever. Well, I decided to do that. Because I’m a dork. What I ended up doing is a list of things for every year since the year 2000. I will talk about some of them and leave links to others that I think are fantastical and that I belive you (whoever you are) might enjoy. So. Here we go. Expect to see some bands that repeat, and some that you know I like, if you like me:

2000
Does anyone remember how fantastically catchy ‘Bohemian Like You’ was? The silly video with the karaoke-thing, etcetera? There was a lot of decent music coming out around this time, and I remember being consistently barraged by good albums. This wouldn’t continue through the rest of the decade. Californication would be the last time I would enjoy RHCP as a band.

Dandy Warhols (song – Bohemian Like You); Red Hot Chili Peppers (album – Californication); Smashing Pumpkins/Foo Fighters/A Perfect Circle(show – Summersault – Winnipeg Stadium); Nine Inch Nails (video – Into the Void)

2001
In 2001 I succumbed to sexy pop for a favorite song. Seriously. That song is awesome. Frusciante’s album was magical, and I think my video of the year is really the only choice.

Kylie Minogue (song – Can’t get you out of my head); John Frusciante (album – To Record only Water for Ten Days); Tragically Hip (show – Winnipeg Arena); Fatboy Slim (video – Weapon of Choice)

2002
Dave Grohl makes the list twice as a drummer in this year, and probably would have taken the album too, but from out of nowhere came what would change my mind about Canadian music in that I ended up following almost every project that Broken Social Scene had outside of it’s main band after hearing the album and seeing them live.

Queens Of The Stone Age (song – Go With the Flow); Broken Social Scene (album – You Forgot it in people); Broken Social Scene – (show – Pyramid Cabaret); Tenacious D (video – Tribute)

2003
I remember the moment I fell in love with Sit down Stand up. It was on the eve of the album coming out, and Radiohead played a live show that was broadcasted to Silver City theatres in Canada. When that song reached the crescendo into the fast ‘raindrops’ part, I was almost on the edge of my seat. Which I could also say about the Metric show. They were second on a bill of three that featured Hot Hot Heat as the main act, and were still relatively new, but downright sexy and exciting to watch. I’ve since seen them six more times.

Radiohead (song – Sit Down, Stand Up); Mars Volta (album – De-Loused in the Comatorium); Metric (show – Pyramid Cabaret); Buck 65 (video – Wicked and Weird)

2004
The second time a John Frusciante album makes my favorite albums. This album is widely regarded as his most ‘mainstream’ and is a fantastic, great-amazing thing, just like the Bowie concert, which was the last concert I ever saw at the ol’ Winnipeg arena.

Secret Machines (song – Nowhere Again); John Frusciante (album – Shadows Collide with People); David Bowie (show – Winnipeg Arena); DFA 1979 (video – Black History Month)

2005
I’ll never forget how many phone calls I got when Nine Inch Nails annouced that they’d be coming here. It was the first time I was going to see them, after being a fan since 1994. My phone rang off the hook, and for one song during that show, so did my emotions. I kinda quietly, completely lost it, and felt like a dummy. Ha! By the way, that Esthero video’s freakin’ hot, and I agree with every sentiment in it.

Sufjan Stevens (song – Come On! Feel the Illinoise!); Fantomas (album – Suspended Animation); Nine Inch Nails (show – MTS Centre) Esthero (video – We R in Need of a Musical Revolution)

2006
I saw Wintersleep by myself in front of about 30 people, and skipped work to get there. When I talked to the singer about this, he dedicated a song to me. How nice. As far as Nausea goes, I don’t know what it is about that song, but something in it drives me nuts. It’s way too good and it doesn’t even realize it.

Beck (song – Nausea); Regina Spektor (album – Begin To Hope); Wintersleep (show – The Collective); Eagles of Death Metal (video – Boy’s Bad News)

2007
National Anthem of Nowhere has become my most listened to track on last.fm, and I think the Wintersleep album has since become one of my most listened to albums. They will both continue to rise in numbers. If I did a song by song and album by album breakdown, these two would make somewhere within the top three. And it’s pretty cool that I got to see Mike Patton in any of his 34i83902439024 bands, but Peeping Tom blew me away.

Apostle of Hustle (song – National Anthem of nowhere); Wintersleep (album – Welcome to the Night Sky); Peeping Tom (show – Trocadero); Feist (video – 1234)

2008
God, In Rainbows is great. And Secret Machines live, that’s something so completely underrated, I don’t even know how to describe it to you. The power that they have to get an audience going, is a sight to behold and yet there were so few people there that I was kind of disappointed in the turnout. Oh, and yes, I realize that Feist gets the video 2 years running for the same album, but they’re both great videos.

Kaki King (song – Montreal); Radiohead (album – In Rainbows); Secret Machines (show – Pyramid); Feist (video – I feel it all)

2009
I know, it hasn’t been that long, but Them Crooked Vultures was exactly the album I wanted it to be. So there.  And as far as Spookey’s song goes, this is the second time I’ve talked about it in my blog. Previously appeared in my “songs you won’t see in Guitar Hero or Rock band“, and it’s just something to behold. Metric’s video was perfect, it was the video that I wanted them to have. Something sweet and cute instead of overtly dorky like all of their other videos. As far as Leonard Cohen’s concert goes, I hadn’t been a huge fan beforehand, but was introduced, and BECAME a large fan because of how amazing that concert was. Everything he did was perfect. The singing, the sounds, the engagement with the audience was fantastic. Top five concerts in my life, that one.

Spookey Ruben (song – Mechanical Royalty); Them Crooked Vultures (album – Them Crooked Vultures); Leonard Cohen (show – MTS Centre); Metric (video – Gimme Sympathy)

WRITEOUS CHICKS NEWSLETTER - November 2009 

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” -Leonard Cohen

I recently saw an advertisement for a talk about “having it all” given by a very together-looking woman who, well, looked like she had it all, and it made me upset/angry.  More specifically, the idea that it’s possible to have it all, and that this is an ideal to which we should aspire, made me upset/angry.  Who are these people who “have it all” and how do they do it?  Having it all, and what this implies - having it all together, and being all together - is a sheer impossibility, and to set this up as a standard worth striving for just perpetuates feelings of inadequacy and never measuring up.  And it leaves those of us who don’t feel like we have it/are all together, feeling somehow imperfect, flawed, cracked and falling apart, and meanwhile, exhausting ourselves trying to piece it all together.

We are conditioned to hide our struggles and the parts of ourselves that we think are flawed.  We then all do this, and very rarely do people share what is broken and cracked in ourselves.  Then we look at everybody else’s so together outsides, and compare it to our hidden falling apart insides, and feel isolated and alone, like we are the only one who feels these things, who struggles, who has these cracked and jagged places, where everyone else looks so smoothed over and polished.

But.  No one has it all.  Even people who have it all, don’t really have it all. 

This past Wednesday, I watched Robin Roberts’ interview with Janet Jackson on ABC, which I loved for many reasons.  Robin was an outstanding interviewer, and was compassionate, respectful, and thoughtful, and not at all invasive in her questions.  And Janet Jackson is inspiring in many ways, including her talent, singing, dancing, and creativity and creative process.  But the thing that inspired me the most was how open and honest she was about her imperfections and struggles, and how much courage it takes to do this in a world that does not at all encourage openness, vulnerability, and anything less than perfect.

Some things Janet Jackson said that resonated with me as being so deeply human and relatable were:

- “And you have to forgive me…I have this thing where I tend to smile when things kinda get a little painful.  I guess that’s just my protective shield.”

I totally do this.  Sometimes I can be so upset or hurt or angry or disappointed, and I will just smile and say, “Fine, I’m fine, everything’s fine, it’s all FINE!” :)  We can be conditioned to just not feel right about feeling the way we feel, to the point that if any difficult or uncomfortable or painful feelings come up, we make them wrong and bad, stuff them down, and smile a little wider.  And we can want to take care of other people’s feelings, and not make them feel bad by laying our heavy sh*t on them, so we just keep it all inside.  And smile wider still.

- “…not that long ago I started to like my smile, I didn’t used to like my smile.”

WHAT?!  Janet Jackson is known for her gorgeous trademark smile.  The idea that she doesn’t completely love it, that she ever didn’t even like it, is incomprehensible.  But we can all be so hard on ourselves and not appreciate, and so often not even see, our most radiant qualities and our own inner and outer beauty.  And these things can be so obvious to everyone else, and yet, we remain completely oblivious to them, or worse, dislike, or even hate them.

- “I had some depression in me going on, jumping off there pretty seriously.  Just things that I suppressed, suddenly they weren’t going away when I pushed them away like they did in the past.”

I have had many bouts of severe depression.  And in our society, this is still something that is really taboo to talk about.  But depression is isolating enough as it is, and people not talking about it makes it even more isolating, and intensifies the feeling, the belief, that you are the only one going through this.  So every time someone openly talks about having depression or going through a depression, from Janet Jackson on TV to Elizabeth Gilbert in “Eat Pray Love” to your best friend or cousin or neighbor in conversation, it contributes to lifting some of the aloneness that people who struggle with depression feel, and it lets some light in through the cracks, and illuminates the darkness.

In the interview, songwriter and producer Jimmy Jam said about Janet, “She had everything:  success, financial wealth, hit records, but you know, it was that thought that what if you have everything, and basically feel like nothing?”

When people who appear to have it all admit that they don’t, it helps to shatter the myth that having it all is at all possible, and that we should spend our valuable time and energy striving for this unrealistic, impossible ideal, even if it comes at tremendous cost, detriment, and often exhaustion to ourselves.  So instead, perhaps we can release at least some of the striving, and reallocate at least some of the time and energy we spend chasing after outer symbols of achievement, signs of “having it all,” to cultivating nurturing qualities within ourselves, like happiness, compassion, connection, peacefulness, serenity, calm.  And contentedness.  With exactly where and who we are, and what we have, in this moment now.  Cracks and all.  There is nothing inherently wrong or bad with accomplishment, it just becomes painful, and an exhausting, unfulfilling, and never-ending pursuit when you try to use your achievements to bring you lasting happiness or peace, or to prove your worthiness, to others, and to yourself.

And, as in Janet Jackson’s courageous example, having it all on the outside, doesn’t guarantee anything about how you feel on the inside.  As human beings, we all struggle, at some time, in some way.  We can use these struggles to isolate ourselves even further, or, through openly sharing and talking and writing about them in environments and ways that feel safe to do so, we can use them to connect with each other even more.

And here’s the irony.  We feel like people will accept us more, and like us better, if we appear to be all together and perfect on the outside, and that people will dislike us and reject us if we share our flaws and struggles with them.  But it makes me like people more, and feel closer to them, when they share their flaws and struggles with me.  I feel distant from, and uncomfortable around, and sometimes flat out just don’t like, people who always seem so together and perfect.  First of all, I can’t relate to being perfect and completely together (because, in part, I have my own flaws and struggles, and also, because being perfect doesn’t exist, and having everything all together all the time is impossible).  And secondly, when someone presents themselves this way, I don’t feel safe to share my struggles, or comfortable to really be myself, fearing on some level that this person would look down on me for being less-than-perfect.

But.  When someone opens up and admits to and shares their flaws and struggles, I feel a connection and an understanding, and safe to do the same.  I feel an internal sigh of relief-ness – this person is like me, and human, and flawed.  I can let down my guard and be myself with them.  And true closeness and intimacy with others grows from sharing all of ourselves – the good and the bad, the light and the dark, our strengths and our weaknesses.  And also ironically, sharing our weaknesses takes so much courage, and strength.

So instead of exhausting yourself trying to tape over and patch up and Krazy Glue your cracks, just let them be, and let them show, to yourself, to each other, and to the world.  When you do, you let the light shine in through all the places where you are broken, flawed, imperfect, and cracked.  And when you do, you also let your own light shine out through those very same cracks, and the warmth of this light gives others permission to shine the perfect-just-as-it-is light of their imperfections, too.

Shine on!

Lots of love,

Jen xoxoxo

Copyright © 2009 by Jennifer Garam

You may be able to guess who is our staff pick for best versions of “Hallelujah.” As it is with every re-imagining of a song, the original is usually hard to top.

Leonard Cohen is our last nominee for the listener vote. Take a listen:

Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah

This past week, our staff has picked some of their favorite versions of “Hallelujah” … but now it’s your turn to vote!

You can check back on the past few days’ blogs for versions from Jeff Buckley, K.D. Lang, Brandi Carlile, and Rufus Wainwright and then click here to voice your opinion on which version of this song is the definitive one.

As for me? Let’s just say I’m not voting for Alexandra Burke.

Underbar bön av Leonard Cohen. Lyssna på texten – “All your praises they shall ring. If it be your will, to let me sing.”

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

Informazioni sul testo:

- Artista: Jeff Buckley;

- Interpreti: Leonard Cohen’s, Bon Jovi, Elisa, John Cale.

- Album: Grace;

- Anno di pubblicazione: 1994.

Il testo:

HALLELUJAH

Ho sentito che c’era un accordo segreto

Che Davide suonava per compiacere il Signore

Ma a te non importa un granché della musica, vero?

Be’, funziona così, il quarto, il quinto

Il minore scende e il maggiore sale

Il re frustrato che compone Halleluja

Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja

Beh la tua fede era forte ma avevo bisogno di una prova

L’hai vista fare il bagno sul tetto

La sua bellezza e il chiaro di luna ti vinsero

Lei ti legò a una sedia della sua cucina

Infranse il tuo trono e ti tagliò i capelli

E dalle tue labbra fece uscire l’Halleluja

Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja

Piccola, io sono già stato qui

Ho visto questa stanza e ho camminato su questo pavimento

Vivevo da solo prima di conoscerti

Ho visto la tua insegna sull’arca di marmo

Ma l’amore non è una marcia trionfale

È un freddo ed infranto Halleluja

Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja

Beh, c’era un tempo in cui mi facevi sapere

Cosa stava davvero accadendo di sotto

Ma adesso non me lo lasci mai vedere, vero?

Ma ricorda quando mi muovevo dentro di te

Ed anche il sacro spirito si muoveva

Ed ogni respiro che esalavamo era un Halleluja

Be’, forse c’è un dio lassù

Ma tutto ciò che ho imparato dall’amore

È stato come colpire qualcuno che ti ha sfruttato

Non è un grido che si sente di notte

Non è qualcuno che ha visto la luce

È un freddo ed infranto Halleluia

Halleluia, Halleluia, Halleluia, Halleluia

A few months ago, someone said to me that she had started the day in a terrible mood, but when she heard some cheerful music on the way to work, she felt much better.  It got me to thinking.  How much of our state of mind is influenced by our favorite music, and how does that change us?

For example, I find that I can no longer listen to Billie Holiday sing the blues.  She was always one of my favorites, but lately, I just want to ask her why she put up with that crap from some no good loser man.  When I was young, I found all that misery strangely romantic, but now I wonder . . . .   Did I put up with crap from loser men because Billie made it sound somehow noble, wonderfully tragic, or even normal?  Did I begin to think that was the way it was supposed to be?  Would I have been a different person if there had been songs that said, ” He insulted my dignity, so I socked him in the mouth and threw him out?”  I would probably have enjoyed a few songs like that.  I certainly could have found a use for them.

Then there’s my friend, who has been chronically depressed for much of his life and is inordinately fond of what I call the Neil Young/Kurt Cobain School of Suicide Rock.  The message in this kind of music can be summed up as follows:

                                   My friends all died.

                                    I’ll probably die, too.

                                    But I’ll sing you a song or three,

                                    So you can feel as rotten as me.

 There’s also a huge body of work by Leonard Cohen.  I grant that he’s talented, and that he has managed to make his life-long depression a useful career tool, but his attitude toward women can pretty much be described as, “I used to love you when you were young and beautiful.  Now you’re old and saggy, but I really need to get laid, so can I come in now,  anyway?”  A ringing esteem builder for women!

On the other hand, Flogging Molly’s rendition of Salty Dog always cheers me up. I’d like to tell you that I find some esoteric message regarding overcoming adversity in the lyrics, but actually, I think it’s the Irish fiddle music.

Oh, and one of those rare little moments of pure joy happened to me one day when I was racing down Mission Boulevard at three mph during rush hour, singing along with “Lady Marmalade” blasting from my iPod out into the world.  I looked over and this (other) little old lady in the next lane was grinning from ear to ear, giving me a big wave, and singing along.  We sang that song and laughed at each other all the way down the street.  Again, I could say lots about the empowerment of women inherent in the lyrics, but I think we just had a great time singing “moka toka laka ya ya” at the top of our lungs!

Tell me, what’s your favorite song and what has it done for you lately?

Mooi

Trivia:
Mooi is written by Stef Kamil. The song was previously recorded by Yasmine, a Belgian singer who died earlier this year. Thé Lau, singer of The Scene worked with Yasmine too. They recorded a cover of Leonard Cohen’s The Partizan.

I’ve seen the future: it is murder

Für Carl v. Ossietzky (General-Quittung von Kurt Tucholsky)

(…) «Es ist mir unmöglich, einem so unpathetischen und stillen Kameraden wie meinem Freunde Ossietzky markige Abschiedsworte zuzurufen; wir sind keine Vereinsvorsitzende. Ich wünsche ihm im Namen aller seiner Freunde, daß er diese Haft bei gutem Gesundheitszustande übersteht.

Alle anständig empfindenden Menschen werden die Begnadigung fordern. Gummiknüppel sind keine Argumente. Und weiter ist dieses Urteil nichts.

Das Blatt aber wird, getragen von dem gewaltigen Auftrieb, den ihm Carl von Ossietzky gegeben hat, das bleiben, was es immer gewesen ist.

Anderthalb Jahre Gefängnis für eine gute Ware erhalten zu haben – das kann bescheinigt werden.»

Die Ware (Weltbühne) wird weitergeliefert:

Abbonement: http://www.ossietzky.net/abonnement

Siehe auch: http://www.sopos.org/ossietzky/

Carl von Ossietzky wurde heute vor 73 Jahren rückwirkend der Friedensnobelpreis des Jahres 1935 zugesprochen.

Die Gestapo lehnte es ab, Ossietzky zur Entgegennahme des Preises nach Oslo reisen zu lassen. Hitler verfügte, dass in Zukunft kein Reichsdeutscher mehr einen Nobelpreis annehmen dürfe. Statt dessen wurde von 1937 an der Deutsche Nationalpreis für Kunst und Wissenschaft vergeben.

Hierzu Kurt Sowinetz:

«I winsch euch alle an Haufen Krätzen, an Zeck im Ohr und den quiqui.»

(quiqui = wienerisch: Tod)

Hier sein Trailer zum austrischen release von

«Natural Born Killers»:

(der übrigens auch zensiert wurde aber hier im Original zu sehen ist)

Auch Leonard Cohen trug zum soundtrack dieses Films von Oliver Stone aus dem Jahr 1994 bei («Waiting for the Miracle», «The Future» und «Anthem») – der Song Anthem wurde ursprünglich auch verwendet, taucht jedoch im offiziellen soundtrack nicht auf.

I wonder why.

youtube zensiert:

youtube unzensiert:

«Niemand trägt auf einer Party so viel zur Unterhaltung bei,

wie diejenigen, die nicht da sind…»

Carl von Ossietzky

Ossietzkys Grab befindet sich auf dem Friedhof 4

am Herthaplatz in Berlin-Niederschönhausen.

http://rs230.rapidshare.com/files/306877597/Beckapovan_Cohen.rar

Advent begins (thematically) in Apocalypse.  There’s no better way to get in the mood for the Apocalypse than listening to Leonard Cohen.  My daughter Grace took me to Cohen’s 2009 concert tour at Madison Square Garden a few weeks ago. 

The old man on his 2009 concert tour

I loved Leonard Cohen’s poetry before Judy Collins made “Suzanne” famous sometime in the sixties.  Boys serenaded me with “Suzanne” in high school and college, but my life’s sound track took on the colors and images of Leonard Cohen’s songs at every phase of my life.  And so, in a way this concert played my own life.  Surprisingly, a gazillion other people in Madison Square Garden clearly thought the same thing.  When invited to sing along – all gazillion people sang every word, including my daughter.   I cried several times.  Grace and I clung to each other more than once.

So getting ready for Advent, I’m singing “The Future” (Get ready for the future: it is murder) and “Everybody Knows” :

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.  Everybody
rolls with their fingers crossed.  Everybody knows the
war is over.  Everybody knows the good guys lost.  Every-
body knows the fight was fixed: the poor stay poor, the
rich get rich.  That’s how it goes.  Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking.  Everybody
knows the captain lied.  Everybody got this broken
feeling like their father or their dog just died.  Everybody
talking to their pockets.  Everybody wants a box of
chocolates and a long-stem rose.  Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that you love me, baby.  Everybody
knows that you really do.  Everybody knows that you’ve
been faithful, give or take a night or two.  Everybody
knows you’ve been discreet but there were so many
people you just had to meet without your clothes.  And
everybody knows.

Everybody knows that it’s now or never.  Everybody
knows that it’s me or you.  Everybody knows that you
live forever when you’ve done a line or two.  Everybody
knows the deal is rotten: Old Black Joe’s still picking
cotton for your ribbons and bows.  Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that the Plague is coming.  Every-
body knows that it’s moving fast.  Everybody knows
that the naked man and woman – just a shining
artifact of the past.  Everybody knows the scene is dead,
but there’s going to be a metre on your bed that will
disclose what everybody knows.

Everybody knows that you’re in trouble.  Everybody
knows what you’ve been through, from the bloody
cross on top of Calvary to the beach at Malibu.  Every-
body knows it’s coming apart: take one last look at this
Sacred Heart before it blows.  And everybody knows.

So why sing this stuff?  Because it’s cathartic.  Everybody knows – don’t they – about the dangers of monoculture, patenting seeds, chemicals and pesticides poisoning farmland, the threats to our food security?  Everybody knows – don’t they – about the world-wide financial crises caused by corporate greed?  Everybody knows about climate change and irreversible threats to life on this planet caused by human beings.  Everybody knows  how our policies and exploitations breed terrorism … 

Sometimes I’m afraid I’ll implode carrying what I know.  Living with the sisters can be hard, because they make it their prophetic Christian business “to know.”  Knowing begets a sense of apocalypse, not just in Advent.

Last verse of “The Future”

Things are going to slide in all directions
Won’t be nothing
Nothing you can measure any more
The blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul
When they said REPENT
I wonder what they meant.

Repent.
But that’s the second week of Advent.

My apocalypse-defying geraniums in the kitchen window of Saint Aidan's House, Bluestone Farm.

Escuchar las primeras notas de esta canción hace que se me ponga la piel de gallina. Tengo que ser sincera y decir que la primera versión que escuché fue en la película Shrek, aunque como todas las canciones que pongo en el blog, son canciones que a lo largo de los últimos 20 años han sido versionadas por numerosos artistas.

Leonard Cohen escribió “Hallelujah” en 1984 y la incluyó en su album Various Positions. No tuvo mucho éxito en los primeros años, pero gracias a las muchas versiones que se hicieron consiguió hacerse famosa. Trata de temas bastante ambiguos que llevarán a que se forme debate acerca de las intenciones del cantante.

Antes de investigar sobre la canción no había escuchado la versión de Leonard Cohen. El ritmo, y el tono de su voz hace que sólo identifique la canción gracias al estribillo, me parece que es demasiado lenta y no tiene acompañamiento casi musical (sólo el de una guitarra).