WUML CMJ Day 1

Fung Wah to NYC. After swarming the South end of Washington Square like some many other children, we settled in for the day. Ate lunch in Soho at a yuppie market called Jubilee and took in the scum, sounds and fashion of the area.

The Leonard Cohen Isle of Wight 1970 primere was rather well attended. Director Murray Lerner and Judy Collins were in attendance, both who were at the historic concert. Cohen presents an interesting contrast to Hendrix here, who incited a stage fire and trampling of sheet metal fences. The documentary meshed the performance perfectly with interviews from Collins, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez, and others who were at the show. Cohen's short set began at 4:00 AM as he crooned in his dark, prophetic voice to the unruly crowd, seeming to calm them to sleep. Such intimate shots of Cohen allow us to see his switching from comedic quips about sleeping with multiple girls or holding up matches and the circus to a philosophical one-liner which makes you ponder for an instant before he goes into a song. He was accompanied by a small group of electric guitar, banjo, violin, organ, and his usual two back-up girls adding a eerie hum to the background.

Opening with Bird on a Wire, Suzanne and Chelsea Hotel were soon to follow in his encore, for which the crowd was screaming. His high points include Sing Another Song Boys and Seems So Long Ago Nancy was very well done, in remembrance of her suicide, and perhaps his the highlight of the set. Even the likes of The Who, ELP, Miles Davis, Mungo Jerry, Donovan, Jethro Tull and the Moody Blues couldn't top Leonard Cohen.

Day Two soon.