Music means everything because it informs everything if you let it.

 

Harvey Kubernik

 

Harvey Kubernik is to music journalism as Shane Battier is to Duke basketball. Harvey is also one of the few individuals likely to read this post who will understand that analogy without an explanation: Harvey and Shane have achieved distinction in their respective fields because of their hard work, energy, enthusiasm, dedication, perseverance, and commitment. They are both hustlers.

Harvey Kubernik is a guy who knows 97% of the individuals associated with popular music and knows folks who know everybody in that other 3%. During his 40+ years career, he has authored six books, including This Is Rebel Music (2002), Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon (2009), and, most recently, Turn Up the Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll in Los Angeles 1956-1972. He has written liner notes for Carole King and Allen Ginsberg, appeared on documentaries about Bobby Womack and Queen, collaborated with Brian Wilson on a limited edition volume, and published multiple articles in Melody Maker, The Los Angeles Free Press, Crawdaddy!, Musician, Record Collector, Goldmine, MIX, The Los Angeles Times, MOJO, Discoveries, UNCUT, Music Life, Classic Rock, HITS, and Record Collector News. In addition, he has worked as a broadcaster, producer, and musician.

Harvey has a knack for turning up in the right place at the right time. He was, for example, in the studio during some of the sessions of the Leonard Cohen-Phil Spector collaboration that spawned Death Of A Ladies’ Man. That experience resulted in two classic Harvey Kubernik articles: What Happened When Phil Spector Met Leonard Cohen?1 and The Great Ones Never Leave. They Just Sit It Out Once In A While.2

Most significantly for our purposes, Harvey Kubernik is the author of Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows,3 which I described in my review of the book as “either the most textually substantive coffee table book ever published or the most lavishly illustrated narrative about a Canadian poet-novelist-singer-songwriter-icon on the market”4 and the subject of today’s Q&A.

The Harvey Kubernik Q&A

Q: How did you come to write this book about Leonard Cohen?
A: A couple of years ago I was contacted by Colin Webb of Palazzo Editions, an England-based book company and packager. He has read my three interviews I conducted with Leonard from the mid and late-seventies, and was mulling over a Leonard Cohen book. He was preparing a sample text which would include all my archive quotes along with photos for a presentation at a book fair he was visiting.

Colin asked me for permission to utilize my archive, and, if things went further, would I be receptive to writing a book on Leonard? A year later his name showed up on my computer screen and we put it in motion. I did stress the aspect of a multi-voice narrative for the book and he was receptive.

Q: How would you describe the readers you view as the primary audience for Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows?
A: That’s a good question but early in the game, like a basketball match, before the opening tip off, I decided it would be a book I wanted to do for myself. Yes, it would be geared a bit to readers who already know lots of things about Leonard’s work, books, recordings and his road work, as well as the uninitiated, or new potential readers who might have just Greatest Hits package or checked him out only after hearing ‘Hallelujah” in some capacity.

Always ticking just a little in the back of my mind are the hardcore collectors and “Cohen Heads,” including website principals, previous Cohen book authors and pop music history book buffs that I knew would relish the information and data I would present.

Why even bother with the gig if I don’t deliver some new “voices” and observations as well as photos with visuals never displayed before. For a well-documented artist like Leonard Cohen I know I tossed in plenty of three-point baskets.

Even without this Cohen book scheduled. I have written and conducted interviews for decades without formal assignments or the security of publication. I like the education, the fun, the struggle, and the results. The last ten years book publishers have come to me about potential titles and suggestions for books. They are also mining Los Angeles and Hollywood for literary subjects or regional studies and not exclusively possessed or obsessed with New York subject matter or New York authors.

Secretly a lot of publishers and literary agents love and worship the lore and lure of L.A. and Hollywood, but most won’t admit it, let alone fund it. But the literary game has now changed and I’m in the league as team Kubernik.

Q: This book clearly required a massive effort to produce. Would you describe the research you did?
A: Living and surviving in Los Angeles is enough research.

Leonard’s record label in New York sent me a handful of CD’s for starters. They arranged a few interviews as well. I had a dozen of Leonard’s records on LP and a few recent CD’s already. I had read a few books already published on Leonard, I was already quoted in all of them or my archive licensed for inclusion, so the vibe was pretty groovy. My publisher provided a timeline and chapter suggestions after I sent in a sample chapter and a list of interview subjects I would approach.

Along the way I was seeking — and finding — many new subjects never interviewed for previous Cohen studies. I was also not doing a bio or veering into any love or sex scenes. Not my bag. I truly wanted to create a Cohen book that contained new information in the voices of his recording engineers, previous producers, disc jockeys, music journalists, the devoted throng, chroniclers, and English and Literature teachers and select music journalists and writers.

Maybe there was a sense of destiny involved. Decades ago I met John Hammond, Sr. I interviewed Clive Davis. So I was carrying on their joint mission when they first brought Leonard to the Columbia Records label. I tracked down engineer Fred Catero who worked on Cohen’s debut LP. I was later at many of Leonard’s sessions for Death Of A Ladies’ Man. I recorded at Gold Star studios. I interviewed Phil Spector. I recorded at Kitchen Sync studios when Leonard was in the same studio with Henry Lewy. I’ve been to A&M studios.

I am fortunate to know people like Chris Darrow, a member of the Kaleidoscope who played on the debut Cohen LP and who has been my close friend for 40 years. In 1976 he first told me he played on Leonard’s debut for Columbia, but his name was not on the credits. I’ve been saying to him for four decades, “at least in my books and records I’ll have your name listed!”

Let me also add, just in case reviews point out that Chris Darrow has previously been quoted in Cohen books, I suggested to authors Sylvie Simmons and Anthony Reynolds that Darrow would be a great addition to their own wonderful books about Leonard Cohen and happily supplied his contact information.

Consequently, I felt I had license to ask Chris, and Chester Crill, who also recorded on the Songs Of Leonard Cohen, to once again discuss working with Leonard on that first studio album. Chris didn’t just repeat the same material but offered previously unreported facts and memories, much like you’d find on an audio track to a DVD.

I had to come up with a new slant and some technical anecdotes for him, and guitar or instrument-driven questions so it felt or read like new information. That’s my karma for helping others.

I also watched a couple of Cohen documentaries that led me to even harder to secure interview subjects from the west coast. It seemed most of the books and a lot of Cohen products used in the documentaries neglected the west coast voice and were instead centered on and driven by New York, Canadian, and British themes. So I did make it a point to weave in a few fascinating college professors and a DJ from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo that enhanced the narrative and collaborated with the other global observations.

The inclusion of the SLO folks, my brother Kenneth Kubernik, Kim Fowley and a few other west coast pundits changed the rhythm and provided some new energy and observations I know have never been published before about Cohen or any music or literary subjects.

As Dr. James Cushing said to me, “it’s not nostalgia but actually history if you are bringing new information forward.” And, I got a quote from Rock and roll Hall of Famer Andrew Loog Oldham for the text. You’ve never seen his name or a quip in any Cohen-related articles, books or documentaries.

Q: A number of books about Leonard Cohen have been published in the past few years and more than a half dozen are scheduled for publication in 2014. How does your book differ from other books about Leonard Cohen?
A: I know the photos displayed and the layout make it way different. I feel the multi-voice and prose combined make it special and absorbing. I also gave forum to some Cohen authors and devoted Cohen fans and bloggers. I was involved in a basic chronology but veered into some paths and tunnels no one explored before. I think people like yourself and viewers of your website will especially appreciate the research and knowledge provided.

Let’s acknowledge one thing: Leonard Cohen has been pretty much living or based in my hometown since 1978. I know the regional geography that underscores this specific book. I have produced records with musicians whom have worked with Leonard. I was west coast director of A&R at MCA Records. I met Bob Johnston in 1978! I interviewed him long before I went on this Cohen trek, and we did another interview. I saw John Lissauer in 1974 perform with Leonard and put his name in Melody Maker at the time. And I was able to ask some musician and recording-themed questions. I’ve been in and out of the Columbia Records (now Sony Entertainment) for decades. So I inherently came at this book gig with a more of a record and music slant. I’m a record geek.

If I had been granted a 2013 interview with Leonard, I would have asked him about writing songs, poetry, and his books. These topics are addressed and cited in Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows, but his tours and recording catalog were the primary focus.

Q: You first wrote about Leonard Cohen when you were a teenager, choosing him as the subject of a term paper in high school. Since then, you’ve interviewed him, published articles about him, sat at night club and concerts with him, talked about him with others … so you were very knowledgeable about and familiar with Leonard Cohen before you began working on this book. Were you surprised by any discoveries you made in putting this volume together?
A: Not tons of surprises but I made some discoveries and provided a batch of new facts. There are going to be fewer discoveries in constructing a book weaving music, recording and live performances along with narrative discussions from multiple interview subjects than in researching a biography or a story article that includes or integrates romantic encounters, ex-friends, gurus, lust, and forms of turmoil that are part of the life of Leonard Cohen and do add spice to the content.

Having former Columbia staff engineer Fred Catero discuss his stint with Cohen was fascinating and revealing. Years ago interviewing Clive Davis and describing his 1967 life at Columbia, when he and John Hammond, Sr. green-lighted Cohen to the label was priceless. I know I set the scene of Leonard’s arrival to the record label and the musical climate of 1967 America.

I’ve interviewed Phil Spector a handful of times. I’ve been in Phil’s mansion with Leonard in the late seventies. I made it a point to ask drummer Jim Keltner about recording with Leonard. We’ve been on Cohen sessions together. I asked both Dan and David Kessel to really remember details about recording with Leonard and Phil. I was often at those sessions. Running for food or hanging out, or on occasion, handclapping on tracks at Gold Star or Whitney studios.

I ran into the visual artist Kathi Martin at a restaurant one night. I asked her about Leonard Cohen on the spot because she was always a fan. “Last night I just watched his most recent live concert DVD!” ‘OK. Send me two paragraphs in the morning.” I like to do impulsive things. It can benefit the process. It’s not all scripted. I have to remain excited. I have to allow for impulse and the deep diving navigation and improvisation during my own journey.

One discovery that is quite evident is that Leonard Cohen does connect all of us together. We all have history and mystery with him.

In 1974 I met the poet Michael C Ford in Hollywood at the Gene Autry owned Continental Hyatt House hotel. He was interviewing Leonard for The Los Angeles Free Press. Justin Pierce and I were next for Melody Maker. So Michael and I met again when we were in the hotel room with Leonard. I recall Cohen taking vitamin packs. At the immediate time, he had to be close to age 40, I thought, ‘man, if you go out on tour you gotta take care of yourself. Maybe I’ll go to a vitamin store and try some of this stuff.’ In the eighties I recorded Ford and did many readings and FM radio interviews with him. I called him up two years ago, we hadn’t talked in quite a while, and I said, “I remember your Cohen interview from 40 years ago. I haven’t ever seen it referenced in any books. Do you have a copy?’ “Yes.” “Meet me at a Xerox place in West L.A. on Westwood Boulevard.” It was 20 yards from a former site of the Senator Eugene McCarthy headquarters for his 1968 U.S. Presidential campaign. The same room I first encountered fellow teenager James Cushing, one of the other interview subjects in my Cohen book. We both liked McCarthy because he was a poet.

I first met Michael in 1959 when I was a child in the Crenshaw Village section of Los Angeles. I was buying baseball cards and bubble gum and he was way older, asking about jazz and beat literature. This was years before he knew the Doors and published one of Jim Morrison’s poems in his Sunset Palms magazine.

I’ve been on the poetry, spoken word, comedy, record and live and concert circuit for over a half a century. I didn’t just discover Leonard Cohen from hearing his name mentioned on some NPR or college radio program. I had my Bar Mitzvah right around the corner from a Jewish temple Leonard attends. Leonard moved into my ‘hood and my city.

I honestly think at times, or in some chapters, we have a geographical and telepathic collaboration in this book, illustrated by graphics and unseen photos. Or at the very least I contacted some Los Angeles-based photographers who had some images never widely published. I felt a territorial obligation to push for this subject specific visual documentation. I carry both the literary and musical heritage of Los Angeles in everything I do to the world.

Ten years or so ago I interviewed the screenwriter and movie director Curtis Hanson about his film “Wonder Boys.” There’s a Cohen record on the soundtrack. I would always ask filmmakers when I encountered them or did movie-related interviews that had Cohen tunes in their movies about him.

I think the FM DJ’s I spoke with really deliver some cool Cohen riffs we’ve never collectively read before. The Webb Sisters, Sharon Robinson, Julie Christensen and Perla Batalla really extended to me. A third of a century ago I interviewed Jennifer Warnes for “Melody Maker.”

I’ve been in the hunt a long time. A lot of these people I contacted grew up reading me in music magazines in the seventies and eighties. Some have read my liner notes on CD’s by Allen Ginsberg, Carole King, and the Ramones. Authors and music journalists like Paul Zollo gave me unedited magazine articles with their Cohen interviews in their word documents and let me use what I wanted. I like re-connecting with friends like Sylvie Simmons and particularly Ellen Sander, she was there in 1967 in New York and did a seminal piece on Leonard that was reproduced in the pages.

Other Cohen book authors and people like yourself were very generous with their time and archive to me. A handful of email addresses were given that got me in touch again with interview subjects for the book. They are all duly thanked and acknowledged in the credits.

 

In Q&A With Harvey Kubernik, Author Of Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows (Part 2):

• The funniest & most moving stories about Leonard Cohen
• Why musicians in the book are “a top priority way over the women or lovers in Leonard’s life”
• How Cohen’s singing & songwriting have changed over the years
• What the future holds for Leonard Cohen
• Leonard Cohen’s legacy

I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). This entry was originally posted Aug 26, 2014 at 1HeckOfAGuy.com.
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1. The Los Angeles Phonograph, January 1978 [↩]
2. Melody Maker: November 26, 1977 [↩]
3. Palazzo Editions: Sept 9, 2014 [↩]
4. As I’ve previously pointed out, I wrote some material and assisted with some of the art for Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows. Nonetheless, I can in good faith assure readers that the enthusiasm expressed in this review is not simply a function of me sucking up to the author, the publisher, and, indirectly, Leonard Cohen – it’s also a matter of self-aggrandizement. Happily, my  enthusiasm is absolutely justified. [↩]