Leonard Cohen

In the very early 1990's, I worked as a bellman at the Whitney Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  We were really the only upscale hotel in town at that time, so we got all the musicians, actors, and general celebrities.  My goodness, that was a fun place for a college kid to work.  Anyway, one early afternoon I was summoned to the room of Mr. Leonard Cohen.  He and his then girlfriend, actress Rebecca De Mornay, had laundry that would need to go out.


After arriving at their room, we spent a few minutes chatting as they sorted their clothes.  How cool it was to be there, just the three of us (I wonder if he and Ms. De Mornay remember it as fondly as I do).  Anyway, Leonard Cohen, one of the world's great songwriter/poets called me "man" perhaps 50 times, "hey man,"  "thanks man," "how you doin' man?"  After a few minutes I was handed five identical button-down gray, Dickies style "work" shirts , all monogrammed in script with  Leonard Cohen over the left pocket.

Leonard Cohen, nice guy, genius.   And I love this quote, now in glass on a beat up old window: