Leonard Cohen held his audience spellbound through a three-hour show Friday night at the Milwaukee Theatre. His 3,700 fans spanned generations, much as his two long sets spanned the decades, covering favorite songs

 Leonard Cohen emerged as a recording artist in the 1960s, but even then, he seemed to be in but not of his era. The memorable songs he authored in those years, including

In commemoration of Leonard Cohen's first Milwaukee performance in 38 years, Mayor Barrett has proclaimed Friday, March 15, 2013 to be "Leonard Cohen Day" in Milwaukee. Below is the complete text of Barrett's announcement. WHEREAS: The City of Milwaukee joins community members, Shank Hall, the Milwaukee Theatre and concertgoers in recognizing the many accomplishments of Leonard Cohen on Frida...

 With nearly all the news filtering out of North Africa these days concerned with the anti-groove, zero-fun Islamic extremists holding Mali’s rich tradition hostage, a new release of sunny Afrobeat and the very first outside-of-Nigeria

 Love Changes was 40 years in the making, in a manner of speaking. In 1972 Gary Tanin, a young Milwaukee songwriter, released an LP of hopeful melancholy called Love Changes All. It was naked, just voice and piano, but

On this week's episode of The Disclaimer, WMSE's near-weekly crosstalk between station promotions director Ryan Schleicher, A.V. Club Milwaukee editor Matt Wild and I, we discuss Milwaukee's recent ranking as one of the city's top "Arts Places," and what, if anything, that ranking means. We use that as an excuse to talk about Mary Louise Schumacher's excellent end-of-the-year column considering wh...

A funny thing happened after financial crisis forced a reluctant Leonard Cohen back on the road in the late-2000s: Cohen realized he rather liked performing. The 78-year-old folk legend is now playing some of the best-received concerts of his career (not to mention some of the longest, with setlists that often near 30 songs). And as the tour behind Cohen's latest record, 2012's revelatory Old Idea...

Milwaukee expatriate Peter Mulvey, who busked in Boston as he established his career, continues to perform songs by other writers on his nationwide tours. Mulvey devotes his 15th CD to some of his favorites, lending a softly creased and folded...

Given the intimacy of Cohen's songs, and the worn warmth of his voice, there's something slightly off-putting about picturing him performing in a 20,000-seat arena. Maybe that's why it's so charmingly reassuring when, announcing a set break during the close of "Anthem," Cohen offers a "Thanks for your kind attention...

The bus television news ticker on my snowy commute to the office today clued me into this sad little news item: Leonard Cohen will play his first U.S. concert in over 15 years next month, apparently in an effort to replenish the retirement savings his manager squandered.  The sadness is two-fold: Not only does it conjure the image of a man in his 70s forced from retirement—an increasingly com...