DrHGuy and the usual crew - Lord of Leisure, Hippie With Tiara, Duke of Derm, Princess of Peds, and, of course, the Duchess of Durham - are preparing for lift off to their annual Hilton Head holiday. Re-entry into the blogosphere with resumption of regular posting is scheduled for June 4, 2012.

Following yesterday's post, Louis Dudek – Leonard Cohen’s Professor & First Publisher, I received an email from Leonard Cohen containing the above sketch, titled My Dear Teacher Louis Dudek, and this explanation:

I traced it from a photograph
shortly after Louis died

graphic for a memorial piece
I was writing for him

OK,  that's just my guess - there is no explanation given for the pose in the first photo. But, what else could he be doing?

Both photos of Leonard Cohen were taken in 1976 by Roloff Beny in Toronto. Found at Library and Archives Canada

Susan Jain was radiant, charismatic, talented, and ambitious. She was also the vocalist who was the centerpiece of the Stormy Clovers, the first band to play songs written by Leonard Cohen – a year before Judy Collins or Cohen himself would perform his music on stage and at a time when Cohen was identified as a poet. And, according to repeated speculations, Leonard Cohen was infatuated with her.

Her tragic story is the core of the latest installment of DD Fraser & The Stormy Clovers, a personal narrative by David Fougere, who, then known as DD Fraser, was the band’s bass player in the sixties.  That post can be accessed at DD Fraser & The Stormy Clovers – Part 2

The following images are from  the ongoing series of Stormy Clovers posts at Heck Of A Guy, all of which can be accessed at Heck Of A Guy Stormy Clovers Page.

1. Susan Jains, 1967. Found at the Stormy Clovers Facebook Page
2. Excerpt describing Susan Jains from a review of the Stormy Clovers by Jack Batten in the 25 June 1966 Montreal Gazette (page 49)

1. Article about Leonard Cohen & The Stormy Clovers appearing together at a club. Leonard Cohen at the Village by Diane Boyle, The Chevron V7, N28, March 10, 1967 (The Chevron was the official newspaper published by the Federation of Students at the University of Waterloo in the city of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada)
2. From liner notes of “Canadian Poets 1," released in 1966 [underlining mine]
3. Ad for Mary Martin Management listing both Leonard Cohen and the Stormy Clovers as clients (posted on the Stormy Clovers Facebook Page by Nicholas Jennings)

1. Stormy Clovers in front of the Penny Farthing in Toronto. From Before the Gold Rush by Nicholas Jennings. Penguin Canada 1997
2. Photo and description from 1966 Mariposa Festival program
3. The Stormy Clovers performing in Yorkville. From the Stormy Clovers Facebook Page, contributed by Nicholas Jennings.

I want to take over the unconditional leadership of the world, I want to lead the world to a new sensibility . . .

These much-quoted lines by Leonard Cohen  were orignally published in "Leonard Cohen Wants the Unconditional Leadership of the World" by Susan Lumsden (Weekend Magazine Sept 12, 1970), the first page of which is shown below.

Photo #2 is the cover of that edition of Weekend Magazine.

Found on auction site.

From Montreal Star files.  Photographer unknown. Found at Library and Archives Canada

By Rober Taillefer, 1975. Found at Library and Archives Canada

When the Duchess, after plotting conspiracies with Kezban via email over the past several months, found herself scheduled to fly in and out of LAX in order to attend a conference, meeting up became inevitable. 

And thus it was that the two got together last night in Los Angeles.  The topics of their conversation are, somewhat disconcertingly, unknown.

For more about Kezban, check out her outstanding Q&A: Leonard Cohen’s Assistant – Kezban Özcan.

For more about the Duchess, see DrHGuy & Duchess Of Durham To Wed

For an example of  their previous nefarious activities, see  Thank You Leonard Cohen and Duchess Of Durham For The Wedding Gifts.

A hardworking 29 year old Leonard Cohen was photographed on 26 Oct 1963 by Allan R. Leishman (Montreal Star).

That artfully cluttered desk is, however, incongruent with Cohen's own description of his work environment preferences:

When I write ... I like the room clean, the floors to be washed, my bed to be made, the table to be tidy.

Source: Leonard Cohen, quoted by Scott Cohen in his book, Yakety Yak, 1994

The desktop display does, however, provide an  interesting array of items associated with Leonard Cohen's image.

The two images below are the same photo: the first one in the gallery is the original shot; I have added light to the second to facilitate viewing.  Among the emblematic pieces visible are the following:

• His green Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, purchased in 1959 and used to compose "all his famous songs – “Suzanne,” “So Long Marianne,” “Famous Blue Raincoat,” “Sisters Of Mercy”; his best selling novel Beautiful Losers; and his other masterpieces." Note that the cover is removed, an adaptation Cohen routinely implemented. Source: Spin, August 1985.  (This typewriter is discussed in some detail at Leonard Cohen’s Olivetti Lettera 22 Typewriter.)
• The stubs and the ashes of at least a couple of tobacco products as well as various smoking supplies (matches, fresh cigarettes, ash trays)
• An empty shot glass
• A copy of The Favourite Game (conveniently positioned such that it is right side up to the viewer), the novel he published in 1963
• A second book with "Baudelaire" visible on the cover
• A French language newspaper, turned to the classified ads
• Various papers strewn about the desk and the sofa

Found at the Library and Archives Canada

This photo (photo #1, the original shot) of Leonard Cohen carefully inspecting the frames of a film was taken 26 Oct 1963 by Allan R. Leishman (Montreal Star).

I'm also taken by the bookcase to Cohen's right (best seen in photo #2 which has been lightened) and the shelf behind Cohen with the photos and mugs, one of which has been pressed into service as a vase for a flowering shrub (best seen in photo #3, a blown-up, further lightened section of the original photo)

Found at Library and Archives Canada