Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen!

Beacon Theatre, NYC, February 19, 2009. Photo taken by Jeremy Root. We were there. Leonard Cohen is 74 years old and put on one of the most incredible shows I've ever seen. Nearly 3 hours he played, covering everything from his breakthrough "Suzanne" to "Halljelujah" to more recent material like "The Future" and "A Thousand Kisses Deep". This being New York, all of Cohen's hymns to the city were included. "First We Take Manhattan" drew the biggest cheers, but my favorite was "Famous Blue Raincoat", which was saved until the second encore. (There were three!) To solidify our Cohen pilgrimage, we stayed at the Chelsea Hotel, made famous by Leonard in his song of the same name, as well as Sid Vicious, Bob Dylan and other rock royalty. We stayed in room 318, deluxe for the Chelsea in that it had two beds and a private bath. Leonard Cohen has, among other things, written two novels, published multiple volumes of poetry, lived with Zen Buddhist monks on Mt. Baldy in Southern California, dated Rebecca DeMornay, and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has also spent the last 4 decades releasing hugely influential albums full of pathos and passion. He is 74 years old, which means, in all likelihood, that this will be his last substantial tour. His show hits the Nokia Theatre in LA on April 10th. Presale tickets go on sale March 7th, and presale passwords are available by registering for the forums on leonardcohen.com. They will be expensive, and worth every penny. The complete set list of the Beacon Theatre show is below:

New York, February 19, 2009 - Beacon Theatre Show

First Set:

Dance Me to the End of Love
The Future
Ain't No Cure For Love
Bird On a Wire
Everybody Knows
In My Secret Life
Who by Fire?
Chelsea Hotel No. 2
Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
Sisters of Mercy
Anthem

Second Set:

Tower of Song
Suzanne
The Gypsy's Wife
The Partisan
Boogie Street
Hallelujah
I'm Your Man
A Thousand Kisses Deep
Take This Waltz

First Encore:

So Long, Marianne
First We Take Manhattan

Second Encore:

Famous Blue Raincoat
If It Be Your Will
Democracy

Third Encore:
I Tried to Leave You
Whither Thou Goest

What makes Oscar Run? Random thoughts on the 2009 Nominations

The Academy has selected the original screenplay category as the one where they officially sanction a new up and comer. Therefore, Dustin Lance Black ("Milk") is this year's Diablo Cody.

The Dark Knight, although not perfect, is every bit as complex as the films the Academy has nominated for Best Picture. If anything, it deserves more credit for achieving so much complexity within the constructs of a summer blockbuster.

Oscar has a fetish for dead people. This means Heath Ledger will win the supporting actor category, and we'll be deprived of Robert Downey Jr's explanation of how great it feels to win for playing a guy in blackface.

If there's an Indian version of "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" Can an Indian "Deal or No Deal" be far behind?

Meryl Streep is great, but does not need another Academy Award.

The Academy only announced three nominations in the Best Original Song category and Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler" was not among them. Apparently this category has become the sole domain of Randy Newman/and or Pixar.

If Brad Pitt wins for playing a reverse aging CGI codger, it will provide conclusive proof of my theory that you can only win an Oscar as a movie star if you "ugly up."

"The Reader" might win by virtue of having two dead (and famous) producers. The Academy loves dead people, plus Sidney Pollack was a truly class act and Anthony Minghella is not only dead, but won a truckload of Oscars for "The English Patient".

Hugh Jackman is a strange choice to host the show. I'm holding out hope for some kind of musical skit that combines "Viva Laughin" with his recent crowning as People's Sexiest Man Alive.

Melissa Leo was great in Frozen River, but she was so pretentious at a recent screening I went to that now I don't want her to win. Kate Winslet will bring home her Holocaust gold, as Ricky Gervais predicted.