Louis Dudek, who reigned as Canada's premier man of letters until his death in 1984, was Leonard Cohen's Literature professor at McGill University. It was his McGill Poetry Series for Contact Press that published Leonard Cohen's first book, Let Us Compare Mythologies.

The recent awarding of the Glenn Gould Prize to Leonard Cohen is the motivation for posting this evocative photo of Gould.

From "Life on a Press Pass" by Canadian Photojournalists Lynn and Doug Ball. Photo taken by Lynn Ball for The Ottawa Citizen.

Bonus: Leonard Cohen's Friend, Pierre Trudeau

The photo below, titled "Pierre's Pirouette," is also from "Life on a Press Pass." I couldn't resist including this wonderful shot of Trudeau, who was a long-time friend of fellow Montreal native Leonard Cohen.

Caption: Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau whirled a pirouette behind the Queen's back as she walked away with western leaders at the G7 Summit Conference in London in 1977. Doug Ball was the pool photographer who caught the moment. Doug Ball photo for Canadian Press

Credit Due Department: The photo of Leonard Cohen was previously posted by Susanne Harlacher

The music for the film [Altoman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller] was largely by Leonard Cohen. Altman had immensely liked Cohen's debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), buying additional copies of it after wearing each one out. Then he had forgotten about the LP. A few years later, he visited Paris, just after finishing shooting on McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and rediscovered Cohen's album; he had it transferred and used the music to maintain a rhythm for the film (in effect using it as a "temp" track). Altman didn't expect to be able to procure rights for Cohen's music since McCabe was a Warner Brothers film and Cohen's album was released through Columbia Records. He called Cohen, expecting to trade off his recent success with M*A*S*H, but found that Cohen had no knowledge of it. Instead, Cohen had loved Altman's less popular follow-up film Brewster McCloud. Cohen arranged for his record company to license the music cheaply, even writing into the contract that sales of that album after the release of McCabe would turn some of the royalties to Altman (an arrangement which at the time was quite unusual). Later, on watching McCabe to come up with a guitar riff for one scene, Cohen decided he didn't like the film. Nonetheless, he honored his contract and recorded the music for it. A year later he called Altman to apologize, saying he had seen the film again and loved it.

Mariposa Folk Festival

Founded in 1961, the Mariposa Folk Festival has been and continues to be, despite sever shifts in artistic direction, an ongoing annual showcase for folk singers. 

"Mariposa Folkfest to Roll," an article published in the July 15, 1967 issue of Billboard announced that performers that year  would include "Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tom Rush, the Staple Singers, Bonnie Dobson, the Buddy Guy Blues Band from Chicago, Ritchie Havens, Louis Killen, the Lily Brothers and Tex Logan."

It is telling that also listed in the same paragraph was "Canadian poet Leonard Cohen." [emphasis mine]

Finally, the next and final paragraph mentioned "local folk artists Joni Mitchell, guitarist David Rae..." [emphasis mine]

(According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, "The name 'Mariposa' was taken from Stephen Leacock's book Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, in which the 'little town,' a thinly disguised Orillia [Orilla, Ontario was the first site of the Festival], was called Mariposa.")

Leonard Cohen (Aug 13, 1967)

Joni Mitchell and David Rae (Aug 12, 1967)

1. On guitar
2. On guitar
3. Holding a long wooden bow from her mouth
4. Singing

Reverend Gary Davis (Aug 13, 1967)

_________________________

Note: The 1967 Mariposa Festival ad also qualifies for the Signs Of Leonard Cohen photo series, all posted items of which can be viewed at Collected Signs Of Leonard Cohen.

Credit Due Department: The Mariposa Festival ad was originally published in The Broadside July 5, 1967 and was found at the excellent Joni Mitchell Chronology (marking done by me).  All photos of performers except that of Joni Mitchell and David Rae are by John Sharp and were found at the Mariposa Folk Festival section of the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections of the York University Libraries. The photo of Joni Mitchell and David Rae was found in another portion of York University’s digital library.

Salman Rushdie: "The best photograph I've ever been in"

This is indeed the shot Salman Rushdie called,  "The best photograph I've ever been in." Taken backstage before the February 26, 2012 PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, it features ...

Left to Right: Tom Perrotta, Salman Rushdie, Elvis Costello, Peter Wolf, Shawn Colvin, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Bill Flanagan

Credit Due Department: Photos by Rick Friedman. Found at John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Facebook Page by Hermitage Prisoner

What Becomes A (Rock) Legend Most?

BlackGlama's classic ad notwithstanding, it appears that rock legends are preferentially apparelled in signature hats and bolo ties.

Oh, and they also look sharp wearing big ol' shiny Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award medals from those nice folks at PEN New England.

These two impressive and poignant photos  of rock and roll legends, Leonard Cohen, Chuck Berry, and Keith Richards, were taken at the 26 February 2012 at the first annual PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award ceremony at the JFK Library.

Photos by Rick Friedman. Found at Rolling Stone.