Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Leonard Cohen Day Proclaimed in Milwaukee

We’re not sure if he’s going to be presented with the keys to the city, but we do know that March 15 has been officially declared Leonard Cohen Day in Milwaukee by Mayor Tom Barrett.

It’s not every day…or every year…or every decade that the legendary singer-songwriter plays Wisconsin’s largest city. So, his first performance there in 38 years is indeed a reason to celebrate.

Friday’s show at the Milwaukee Theatre is part of his “Old Ideas” 2012-2013 tour. Cohen, 78, is doing gigs in 12 cities in March alone, with the Milwaukee stop squeezed in between Chicago and Tampa.

Fans may refer to Cohen by one of his 156 (and counting) nicknames, like Lord Byron of Rock ‘n Roll, Poet of Holy Sinners, Troubadour of Travail and Maestro of Melancholy, but we can tell the people running Milwaukee know who he really is. He’s the guy who was “born to Nathan Cohen and Marsha Klonitsky” of Montreal, according to the second paragraph of the official Leonard Cohen proclamation:

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.