Jian Ghomeshi – One of the best interviewers I know

I don’t praise people easily but I just want to say if you have’t seen Jian Ghomeshi, QTV host, interview people, you are missing a lot. Jian is amongst the best interviewers I know (Charlie Rose, Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, 嚴浩 (he is a film director but his TV interviews on RTHK 品味人生 were a great joy to watch)).

I am posting this short note because recently some stupid people played a copyright takedown trick to remove the QTv YouTube channel (but it is ok now)! I was excited to see QTv came back online because I really found out how much I love QTv.

Have a listen to my new favourite found this morning,

* Woody Allen interview podcast (mp3, time code 1:35 – 17:05)

Have a watch of my all time favourite video interview with the wise & legendary Leonard Cohen,

* Leonard Cohen on Q TV

Leonard Cohen wins Ninth Glenn Gould Prize

Congrats Leonard Cohen! See reports from CBC and from LA Times,

“Leonard Cohen — the eclectic artist-musician whose output spans rock, classical and new music — has won the Ninth Glenn Gould Prize. The prestigious award, handed out once every few years, honors individuals for lifetime contribution in the arts.

The prize, named after the late Canadian piano virtuoso, comes with a cash award of 50,000 Canadian dollars ($51,845 American) as well as the opportunity to name a young artist as a “prize protégé,” who will receive an award of 15,000 Canadian dollars.

Cohen said in a statement that the award is “a great honor, sweetened by my love of the work of Glenn Gould, and our collective appreciation of his invigorating and enduring presence in the world of Music and Imagination.”“

Here is Leonard’s video interview on Q (one of the best I’ve seen). Have a listen of his Hallelujah.

P.S. Have a read of the interesting article, “Shades of Leonard Cohen” to find a few things you may not know about Cohen (including pictures of two pieces of his artworks).

Two Hallelujah (k.d. lang & Leonard Cohen)

Watched k.d. sang Hallelujah at ”2010 Vancouver Olympic Opening Ceremony” and really enjoyed it. Here are two other versions I enjoyed.

k.d. lang‘s version.

Leonard Cohen‘s version.

Neil Young & Leonard Cohen – Cool to be Canadian

Celebrating Neil Young and Leonard Cohen. Here is a CBC video clip, Cool to be Canadian.

Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah & on Q TV

Leonard Cohen is a Canadian treasure, here is his beautiful Hallelujah (YouTube video).

Here is Leonard on Q.

Here is a K. D. Lang version.