San Francisco All Stars Pay Tribute To Late Songwriter
By Dave Pehling
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Given the numerous deaths of important musical figures in 2016, it feels as if San Francisco hasn't gone more than a few weeks without hosting a tribute to a recently passed legend. That sad trend continues this Sunday as the Chapel hosts an all-star salute to Canadian poet and songwriting hero Leonard Cohen who died at age 82 earlier this month.
Cohen's mix of literate lyrics and folk music with a darker, sexual edge won him fans around the world and admirers among fellow musicians including Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and R.E.M.
While he initially tried to make his living as a poet and published numerous collections of his work, Cohen rose to prominence during the folk music revival of the 1960s. Traveling the folk circuit with the likes of Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and others, Cohen was among the artists who helped move popular music away from a reliance on lightweight lyrics to songs that contained deeply personal meanings.
His song "Hallelujah" became a cult hit when it was covered by musician Jeff Buckley in 1994, singing an arrangement by John Cale, and has become a modern standard since, an unending staple on YouTube videos, reality shows and high school choir concerts.
Cohen had returned to live performance after many years away from the stage in 2009 and toured at a relentless pace for a singer in his 70s, selling out concerts and earning critical accolades for his powerful concert across the globe. Earlier in 2016, he released his 14th and final album You Want It Darker to wide acclaim.
For this special show, a stellar line-up of Bay Area musicians will grace the stage leading up to a closing performance by renowned a capella all-male Cohen tribute choir Conspiracy of Beards. Cohen's biographer and friend, noted writer and musician Sylvie Simmons will offer some personal reflections in addition to renditions of classic Cohen songs by Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon singer Mark Kozelek, songwriters Chuck Prophet, Sean Hayes, Tim Cohen and Greg Ashley, former Girls leader Christopher Owens, Mother Hips principle Tim Bluhm, Sonny & the Sunsets leader Sonny Smith, keyboard player and Marc and the Casuals mainstay Marc Capelle and a capella choir Conspiracy of Venus. The concert will benefit the San Francisco Community Music Center.
Songs of Love and Hate: A San Francisco Tribute to Leonard Cohen
Sunday, Nov. 27, 7 p.m. $14-$20
The Chapel
