Fifty years ago, Judy Collins recorded Leonard Cohen's “Suzanne” and introduced him to the wider world; music producer Hal Willner talks about the project that pulled Cohen out of semi-retirement; Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokno discusses artists' activism in the U.S. and Russia in the wake of Trump’s election; a visit to an open mic night in L.A. where veterans jam and bond.
Remembering Leonard Cohen with Judy Collins, Hal Willner and Rufus Wainwright
Leonard Cohen, the great poet, singer and songwriter, died this week in Los Angeles at the age of 82. To honor his legacy, The Frame contacted a few musicians who knew him and were influenced by his art.
Judy Collins:
In 1966, 50 years ago this month, Judy Collins released an album titled “In My Life.” That album included the song, “Suzanne,” which was originally written as a poem by a little-known Canadian writer named Leonard Cohen. Collins’ version of “Suzanne” is considered to be the recording that first introduced Cohen to a wide audience.
When Collins spoke with The Frame, she recalled how that one song started a long friendship:
Of course, he and I have a mutual debt of gratitude: I made him famous and he started me writing songs. He said to me after I recorded three or four of his songs, Please don't stop doing this. This is wonderful. But I don't understand why you haven't written any songs yourself. So I went home and wrote "Since You've Asked," and I've been writing songs ever since.
Hal Willner:
Several years ago, music producer Hal Willner organized a series of tribute concerts featuring the music of Leonard Cohen. The 2005 show at the Sydney Opera House was featured in a documentary about Cohen titled “I’m Your Man,” by filmmaker Lian Lunson.
Cohen didn’t perform at that show, but Willner later arranged for him to record “Tower of Song,” accompanied by U2. Willner spoke with The Frame about the effect of the video on Cohen's career and his life:
It was done in this place called the Slipper Room in New York City. And I think that was one of the first times that Leonard sang in front of people in a very long time. You can see he's sort of fragile in the video. It was interesting — when he started touring again, it gave him 20 years of youth back. You know he was a whole different guy, skipping across the stage and everything.
Rufus Wainwright:
We also reached out to Rufus Wainwright, one of the many great musicians to have recorded Cohen's "Hallelujah." Here is his response:
I had very few deeply personal experiences with Leonard, enough to count on one and a half hands ... Like for most of us, for me he dwelled in a higher strata inhabited by some living but mostly passed icons who seemed to have this direct line to the galaxy, whilst at the same time knowing exactly when to take out the trash. Formidable in both the sacred and the mundane. But fortunately I now covet these few personal moments — I'm pretty sure it's about 7 in total (a sacred number of course!) — and credit them with grabbing hold and shifting the direction of the restless path my life has always taken. It was never a fundamental shift, just a kind yet brutally strong nudge towards where I really ought to be heading. I would have liked to have had more time to ask him more questions, and certainly now in this pathetic dinghy, adrift in a violent sea, we all need help in maneuvering a truly busted rudder through a series of magnificent typhoons. But it's ok, it's all in the music. Farewell Leonard, we need you now up there as much as we did down here. Love always, Rufus.
Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokno on Donald Trump's election
Pussy Riot became a household name in 2012 when members of the Russian punk rock collective got arrested. They put on a performance to protest against their government inside a Moscow cathedral.
One of the members who served time in prison was Nadya Tolokno. She was convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and received a two-year sentence. But that hasn’t stopped her from writing and performing politically charged songs. Pussy Riot recently released an anti-Trump song and video called "Make America Great Again," from the EP "xxx."
Tolokno says she wanted the video to send a message of what she thought would happen if Donald Trump was elected president. "I really felt like a lot of people treated it as a joke," Tolokno said. "What I was trying to say then was that it's not [a joke], and I was right. I didn't want to be right."
KPCC reporter Priska Neely spoke with Nadya Tolokno about where she was during the election, how she talks to her daughter about politics, and censorship in Russia.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On watching the election night results
I was hanging with Masha [Alyokhina] from Pussy Riot. The fact that we had this common shared experience of being in jail helped us a lot, because we were like, Okay, we've been through some s---. It's not just for America. It's really [hurtful] for me because I understand how much it will encourage [Vladimir] Putin to be more aggressive towards his own people in my country.
On how she talks to her daughter about world affairs
I speak a lot with [my daughter] about politics. I started when she was four and we actually started by watching [animated films] by Hayao Miyazaki. It was really heavily political cartoons, but she more or less understands what's going on.
It's better to just prepare them with, Oh, there is a patriarchy. There are some really bad men who don't want to treat us as equal.
On artists' freedom of expression in Russia
There are people who are criticizing [Putin through art], but it's f----- up right now in Russia. So that's why this American election made me so sad, because I don't want America to be the same place where Russia is right now. People are apathetic and have given up because they don't feel that it could change.
But we have some amazing and super brave people who are still trying to make some changes. Some people are trying to do that through music. Besides music, we have our own media outlet in Russia. We founded [MediaZona] when we got released from jail.
It was an easy time [to release it] because Putin just shut down almost every independent voice in modern Russia. So we asked people who have been fired, really brilliant journalists who had been fired just because they didn't want to face censorship. We then [included] them in our media outlet.
On if she believes her country's government can change
Could you have ever imagined that Donald Trump would become the president of the United States? Things that you couldn't really imagine could happen. History is open and it depends on luck in the end. But I believe that we could bring changes in Russia.
I know there are a lot of people who are not in line with what Vladimir Putin brings to Russia, and they don't believe they can bring changes. I know that if they have this hope, something could change.
The new EP by Pussy Riot, "xxx," is out now.
At an open mic for veterans, a chance to bond and jam
On any given night in Los Angeles, there are probably dozens of open mic events for musicians and comedians. One night this week, Shannon Corbeil took the stage at Molly Malone's, an Irish Pub in West L.A. She's an actor and singer, but described herself as a "baby guitar player."
"I have no business being on this stage," she told the crowd, "and you guys are OK with that, so that’s nice."
On the surface, the scene resembled a lot of open mics around town — a performer with the jitters, a supportive crowd. But there was an even more intense bond among this audience. Corbeil served in the Air Force and almost all of the other performers are also veterans.
"This is the only place in town where you can come out and see the talent that’s in the veteran community here," said Michael Broderick, an actor and Marine veteran, who hosts the open mic.
The event has been running for almost a year now on the second Wednesday of every month. For the veterans, it's a kind of therapy.
"Veterans Day is one thing, but when you’re a veteran, it’s not just once a year. We need our brothers all the time, especially after we've left the military," said co-host and comedian Thom Tran. He served as a Special Operations soldier in Iraq and survived a gunshot wound to the neck.
"So at least once a month I know I can come here and be with other great people – other great veterans."
This is just one of the activities put on by Veterans in Film and Television – a networking group for veterans working in the entertainment industry. The group was founded in 2012 and now has nearly 3,000 members in Los Angeles.
"Los Angeles, the entertainment world, is a difficult place to try to make your way in, it's a very lonely place," said Karen Kraft, an Army veteran, filmmaker and chair of the VFT board. "Even though there’s millions of people, they're all aspiring for different jobs, there's [not] one set path. What Veterans in Film and Television provides is a home."
Tucker Smallwood, a Vietnam vet who's made a living as an actor, is one of the regulars. He comes to the open mic to sing the blues.
"The nature of war doesn’t really change, it’s traumatic," Smallwood said. "So whenever we can find something that we can do in common, whether it’s a softball team or a music night, I think that’s a very positive thing."
Army veteran Mark Valley, echoed that sentiment: "I think sometimes it’s hard for veterans to sit around and experience things on a deeper emotional level."
Valley is also a regular at the open mic. He’s a square-jawed actor you might remember from "Boston Legal": "We all have emotional depth, obviously, but it’s a little harder to access for a lot of these people, myself included. So music is a way to – I don’t want to pathologize it or anything, but it’s a lot of fun for us to come out here and play music and take chances in a safe environment."
For emerging artists, this can be a venue to meet people in the industry and possibly even get discovered. Jessica Young, who performs as Young The Great, lived in L.A. for three years before she got the courage to perform her own music. After her first performance, someone at the VFT open mic saw her and offered to sign her to a small label.
When organizers first put this event together, they thought about having it at a veterans center. But they decided to hold it in a civilian space. Part of the aim is to bridge the civilian-military divide. And it seems to work; anywhere from 30 to 100 people show up each month.
"Most people out in the public would think that we just come back from war and we may have construction job or a police or security job," said Raymond Lott, an artist who goes by TMR – The Marine Rapper. "But we actually have individuals who are in the entertainment side of things. So it's just a unique atmosphere of support and confidence."
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