Leonard Cohen & Pres. Obama touring Australia

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

Articles in Melbourne newspaper The Herald-Sun 26May2010:

COHEN TO RETURN
Musician Leonard Cohen is returning to Australia this year. Cohen, who played sold-out shows last year, will perform at Rod Laver Arena on November 12. His timeless song Hallelujah has become a hit again this year thanks to singer k. d. lang. The Canadian's 2009 tour was the first time the 75-year-old had toured Australia in 24 years. Tickets go on sale from June 3 at Ticketek.

G'DAY, MR PRESIDENT
US President Barack Obama will bring his family to Australia next month for a 3-day visit that will include a meet-and-greet with koalas, wombats and kangaroos. A Secret Service team has checked out zoos, hotels, hospitals and likely routes for the President's motorcade when he visits Canberra and Sydney. Mr Obama is tipped to arrive about June 17 after a trip to Jakarta. He will be the 5th US President to visit Australia.

[charlene]

geeze - doesn't Obama have things to occupy himself with at home? Like oil in the gulf of mexico? (financial crisis, war...etc.?)

Will you be seeing Cohen???

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

No, Char, I'm not seeing Leonard Cohen in concert. I don't like or dislike his music. Melbourne newspaper The Age said the two best concerts here last year were Cohen at a Yarra Valley winery and Neil Young at Melbourne's Music Bowl. The last concert I attended was Irish band The Saw Doctors who played at the Corner Hotel and the Ferntree Gully Hotel. I'm attending one of the Jun16&18 Rod Laver Arena concerts by Yusuf (formerly Cat Stevens) on his first Australian tour since 1974. As with Gordon Lightfoot, I had enjoyed his music since the early 1970s, been too young to see him in Melbourne then and been thrilled to get the chance 3-and-a-half decades later. His 2006 CD "An Other Cup" and 2009 CD "Roadsinger" sound amazingly like Cat Stevens in the 1970s.