When you are interested in one of the world’s most respected songwriters, Leonard Cohen is your pick. He has written many different songs that people have really enjoyed over the course of the last few decades. One of his most famous songs is “Hallelujah”, which has been performed by many different singers and has been heard on many different television programs. His songs are introspective but also very beautiful. He hasn’t performed in America in almost 15 years, having moved elsewhere for a long time. His shows have been very well received over the course of his new concert series and we really like it. You can get Leonard Cohen tickets to see these great concerts.

While not a concert, the Oscars did have a lot of the same qualities as a normal concert. It’s become interesting to see what people have to say about the Oscars the day after. They always discuss who looked good in their formalwear and who didn’t. They talk about what the people said and did. For example, Sean Penn discussed his opinions about gay rights in America. There’s a lot of discussion about that, although it’s not like that’s a big surprise. Sarah Jessica Parker has been accused of looking awful, and also of looking great, so judge for yourself. It’s always one of the biggest award shows of the year but sometimes it’s more entertaining to hear what people are saying about it.

Ute Lemper has started performing in New York at the cafe where the late Eartha Kitt was always performing. Now Lemper has retooled her performances a little bit. The reviewer that I like to read seems to think that this isn’t the best show that she has ever performed. In the 80s, she made a name for herself doing German cabaret music, and has kept doing this for a long time. It’s not that this show is bad; it’s just that it’s a bit different from the usual, and it’s not quite as exciting for outsiders as other shows. Of course, the people who like the music will like this show. But her Tango section is reportedly not nearly as good as the others. Read the whole Lemper review here.

Spring will be coming soon, and then we will be able to look around and go crazy with the number of new tours that will be going on this spring and summer. Why does this happen during that time of year? Because there are outdoor venues available and the ability for people to hang out outside the venue a little bit too. People are just a bit more likely to see tours during that time of year. So there are lots of tours starting in the next month or two, including U2, the Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, and many many others. Do a google search and then you’ll get the chance to see what there is.

In London, the band Keane has been widely criticized again and again. The group had a debut album that spent quite a while on the charts. Then the next album spent half that time on the charts. Their most recent stayed half that time on the charts. Notice a trend? This band seems to be losing their influence quickly, and we’re not sure why. This is London suggests that it’s because they have tried to be more inventive, expanding from their original format. The original format wouldn’t have lasted this long either. Keep working at it, and they might be able to revive themselves.

Jennifer Hudson received a Grammy Award last night as having made the best R&B album of the year. Hudson has had a rough year and this was an emotional moment for her. Last fall, she lost her mother, brother and nephew in a murder in Chicago.  She thanked her “family in heaven” and knew that they were with her in spirit last night. Obviously, a Grammy cannot bring them back, but it does soften the year a slight little bit. Then again, they didn’t give her the Grammy for that reason, but instead because she’d actually produced a very good album, so it’s kind of unfair to link them. But it’s very difficult not to. But congrats to her and our best wishes are with her!

You know that Paul Simon is still working on things? If you missed it, he just released a book a couple months ago, a book called “Lyrics: 1964-2008″, which is almost like a poetry book. It has almost all the song lyrics that he has created over the last 40 years. It doesn’t include the music. Perhaps you could buy a CD compilation of his songs, so that you can read or sing along with his songs during the course of his song. You could also just read the lyrics for the nice style and imagery that it offers you. What could be better? On a cool winter’s day, you could just set there and look over some nice songs. “And the Sky/is a hazy shade of winter/yeah yeah yeah” would be a good one.

Variety doesn’t like Katy Perry. Not at all! Katy Perry has apparently been working hard to become a major pop star, maybe even eight years it seems. According to their review, she’s just much too calculating in almost everything that she does for this career. She thanks her agent, publicist and so on more than her fans. But when she needs fans, she expects them to obey. And the music seems to be planned to get the audience to think of her in particular ways. And she tries to play the whole gamut. Instead of being “the hot girl who likes other girls”, she tries to be that, and a tomboy and an innocent girl. It begins to sound like a pop star by committee. There’s a bit too much of that in the world anyway, with pop stars coming from marketing firms, rather than music schools or nightclubs.