This is the Song to Calm the Crazy Master of Your Heart

I maintain that music sustains me, it is my form of prayer, how I measure time and place, music is oxygen, music is life and love and longevity.  It inspires me to write, rocks my core, brings me to tears and raises me up to religious heights.  For someone who can’t play an instrument and his highly uncoordinated, I am a slave to every note, every pulsing beat, taking each waltz to the edge of everywhere; music is everything.  Music solves the sunset, muses the moonlight.  It’s hard to not wax poetic about the most beautiful and unifying language on the planet.

I have attended a plethora of shows this year, discovered new and exciting artists and value each experience for the energy and stimulus I garnered. 

Here’s a loose list of many of 2014’s musical highlights:

Matt Mays – NYE @ Casino NS w/ Carmen Townsend, Big Red Festival in PEI and at The Shore Club in Hubbards, NS.

Blue Rodeo - Halifax Metro Center

Adam Baldwin CD release party with Sam Cash & The Romantic Dogs - Seahorse Tavern

Wintersleep/USS/The Trews  – The Marquee

Matt Epp – The Carleton

Royal Wood – St Matthew’s Church

City and Colour – Halifax Metro Center

The Stanfields (acoustic) – The Carleton

July Talk – Alderney Landing for Canada Day, Big Red Festival in PEI

Sam Roberts – Alderney Landing for Canada Day

Ben Caplan, Alderney Landing for Canada Day

Drive By Truckers – Big Red Festival in PEI

Platinum Blonde – Casino NS

Brian Byrne – The Carleton

Gloryhound CD release w/ The Motorleague – Seahorse Tavern

Dave Marsh & True Love Rules, The Navy Brats – Jacob’s Lounge & The Carleton for HUFF

The Killers – Big Red Festival in PEI

Nashville Pussy w/ Fifth on the Floor – Seahorse Tavern

Dropkick Murphys – Cunard Center

Ashley MacIsaac – The Carleton

Dylan Guthro & Mo Kenney – Casino NS

Dwight Twilley (soundcheck) – The Carleton for HUFF w/ an honourable mentionable hug from Garland Jeffreys

Adam Cohen – The Carleton

My list is missing bits and bobs I am sure, things like remarkable Saturday nights at The Carleton with The Carletones etc etc but what I really want to discuss is the last entry on my list, Adam Cohen.

For those of you born under a rock, Adam Cohen is the song of Leonard Cohen but stands beautifully on his own two feet as a singer/songwriter/performer.  While he acutely resembles his father and has the same awe-inspiring voice, his songs are all his own.  It’s true, there is homage present to the music he was born into but there is a definite tone of originality and songs that express what he so deeply wishes to share with his audience.

I’m not sure I have attended a show at The Carleton with such palpable energy, a loving energy that boasted a sheer veil of faith and hope, creativity and grace.  Adam took the stage with his outstanding band and straight out of the gate, just from the ambiance of humanity circulating through the room, from person to person, a tiny and constant tear streamed from my left eye.  I tried very hard to stop it but an overwhelming wash of emotion was too powerful to defeat. 

His stories of his family and his father, his sweet sense of humour and his songs made for a beautiful evening.  He speaks like a poet, performs like a rock star and accepts his accolades with a humble heart.  When he played a new song from his new record called ‘Love Is’ he had the whole bar singing it with him and those as you know are moments I live for; harmony among humans, unity in one voice.  It fills me up and it pours out of my silly face.  He continued to overthrow my heart when he finished with Dad Cohen’s ‘So Long Marianne’.  If I was permitted and it wouldn’t made me look like a complete wiener I’d have let the tears come like Niagara Falls.  It was really hard to sing along without my eyes bursting and then my concert company would have clocked me for crying.  Thankfully her back was to me for the duration of the show.  I was singing ‘Now so long Marianne, it’s time that we began to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again …’ but not at the top of my lungs like I wanted because it would have come out in sobs.  This is how I know that the time he shared with his last night will resonate for a long time to come.  After the encore I made a mad dash for a mascara check and to catch my breath.

I had the opportunity to shake his hand, compliment his artist and offer my gratitude for making my Saturday perfect.  He spoke very highly about his father’s command of the English language and his elegance.  I told Adam Cohen I loved the words he spoke about Leonard but they truly mirror back at him in his own right.  His handshake was firm and warm and appreciative.  It was an honour to look a Poet in the eye and speak about words and music and for it to have meaning.  It was a small but mighty exchange but I can’t tell you what it meant to me.

For me, Adam Cohen, who sold out every single seat for three nights straight, was the BEST show I’ve seen to date at The Carleton.  It runs dangerously close to every Matt Epp show I’ve seen there because his shows and music and artistic intention moves me in the very same way. 

I am compelled to spend today writing, musing, thinking creatively, counting blessings and filling my ears with beautiful music.

Music like this:

In propinquity,

Nic