When I woke up this morning, it was to the Leonard Cohen ballad “Suzanne.” No, not on my stereo, but stuck inexplicably in my head. Perhaps “inexplicably” isn’t the right word — the song is just a thing of beauty, lyrically descriptive, mood-setting and without flaw. It just gets in there sometimes, you know? Then, just now, while on a coffee run I listened to a street performer sing “Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye.” KISMET! That means it’s a Leonard Cohen day….and me without my black turtleneck.

Here’s a clip of Leonard Cohen performing “Suzanne” from the isle of Wight Festival in 1970.

Having never seen Cohen perform live, I am really looking forward to his upcoming tour…and, of course, hoping he announces some US dates.

From the official Leonard Cohen site:

Immediately following his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel tonight, Leonard Cohen announced his world tour, marking a return to the live arena after 15 years. He is scheduled to open in Toronto on June 6 and 7, the city that gave birth to his career as a recording and literary artist, and then play Europe in the remainder of June, July, August and early September.

Tour dates will be found after the jump: (more…)

Last night, after I finished reading Immortal Technique’s blog on the Police State Chronicles, I stumbled upon a very interesting video of Scientology Dissent presented by Anonymous, YouTube user Church0FScientology. While it doesn’t consist of much more than time elapsed footage of the sky and an eloquent attack on the organization of Scientology courtesy of AT&T’s Text-To-Speech demo, it’s definitely worth the two minutes and 3 seconds. I didn’t know Scientology existed until I read about the Norwegian girl that died last month, and that she was only one of many Scientology provoked deaths. Do you have the brainwashed by Scientology blues? Take a gander at these sites.

Hey ladies and gentlemen, a joyous Mayday to you! The birds are twittering, the roses are blooming, and wait—what’s that noise? It’s a crunchy sound… Could it be??? Yes… I think it is! It’s the crumbling of a megastar’s musical credibility…

This Friday (May 2nd) you can watch your favorite richass popstar sell-out big on BET’s 106 & Park. Who could it be? Here’s some clues: she’ll be there promoting her new album Hard Candy, rappin’ with the hosts about what to expect in the next 50 years of her career, making them do dumb yoga poses with her, and most importantly, introducing the debut premiere of her single “4 Minutes” with Justin Timberlake, produced by Timbaland. Have you figured out who it is yet? Nope, not Rhianna. Not Beyonce. No, it’s Madonna, dude! And judging by the comments on XXL’s blog, the rap community isn’t exactly stoked that this 50-year-old white chick is reinventing herself on their turf.

Sorry, Madge, you’re just too successful for anyone to relate to you anymore. You should hold a free concert or something.

Roger Clemens’ reputation spirals further down the rabbit hole with his latest alleged affair surfacing. This time it’s the ex-wife of golfer John Daly, Paulette Dean Daly. But who cares about Clemens this time around; let’s talk some John Daly!