Photo by Barbara Woodley. Found at Library and Archives Canada

Found at York University’s digital library.

Leonard Cohen & Joni Mitchell

Most Leonard Cohen fans are familiar with the liaison that took place between him and Joni Mitchell in the 1960s. Those viewers unaware of this fling between the two Canadian performers should immediately read Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell: Just One Of Those Things.  Go ahead.  The rest of us will wait for you.

Leonard Cohen & Taylor Swift

On the above  poster, Leonard Cohen shares billing with Sony label-mate Taylor Swift.  According to the copy Mr Cohen is being honored for his 2010 induction into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame while Ms Swift is being congratulated for receiving the 2010 Hal David Starlight Award.

Below is one of many shots taken of the two stars together at the June 2010 American Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony 

In 2010, I assumed any connection between Leonard Cohen and Ms Swift was a fluke generated by the Sony publicity folks. Little did I know these were portents of a cognitive dissonance event of cataclysmic proportions.

Things Are Going To Slide, Slide In All Directions

Now, however, Coco Éclair has alerted me that, according to Variety,

Taylor Swift is circling the role of Joni Mitchell in Sony Pictures and Di Bonaventura Pictures' adaptation of Sheila Weller's book "Girls Like Us," which would mark the pop star's first turn in a big screen drama.

There is no word on who would play Mr Cohen's role.

Another photo of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell taken by David Gahr at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival, where Judy Collins introduced them backstage. Cohen and Mitchell became involved in a romantic liaison which ignited, flared, and exhausted itself within months. (See Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell – Just One Of Those Things)

This photo has been less frequently published than the Gahr shots of the Canadian singer-songwriters at Newport displayed below.

Credit Due Department: The photo atop this post was found at settingusonfire

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)

Buffty Sainte-Marie (Aug 13, 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.

Caption: Leonard Cohen: Getting body and soul together

Maclean's: June 1972 ($0.35). Photograph: Arnaud Maggs. Cover artist: Ralph Tibbles.

Bonus: Joni Mitchell On Maclean's Cover, June 1974

Paintings by Joni Mitchell.  An examination of the romance between the two young folk singers can be found at Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell: Just One Of Those Things.

All previously published images from the photo series, The Once Smokey Life of Leonard Cohen, can be viewed at  Leonard Cohen – The Smokey Life

 Also see Leonard Cohen – From Marlboro Man To Anti-smoking Troubadour

That’s Jonie Mitchell at the far left and Joan Baez in the center.

Rolling Thunder Revue: (left to right) Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Jack Elliot, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan. From Leonard Cohen Declines Bob Dylan’s Invitation To Play In Rolling Thunder Revue

He [Leonard Cohen] owns the phrase “naked body,” for example; it appears in every one of his songs.

Joni Mitchell on Leonard Cohen. Incomprehensibly, this quote is interpreted as a bad thing - go figure. This statement is one of the additions to the newly revised and updated Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell – Just One Of Those Things