PEN NE chairman-"Leonard Cohen may attend" on Feb 26

[bridger15]

http://www.boston.com/Boston/names/2012 ... index.html

Chuck Berry coming to Boston pick up PEN award
01/20/2012

Roll over Beethoven, Chuck Berry is headed to Boston to pick up an award from PEN New England. The writers group has established the Award for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence, and the inaugural recipients are Berry and Leonard Cohen. PEN New England chairman Richard Hoffman told us yesterday that Berry, the 85-year-old rock n’ roll pioneer whose hits include “Maybellene” and “Johnny B. Goode,” will be at the awards ceremony Feb. 26 at the JFK Library, and Cohen may also attend. “We’re hoping he can make it,” said Hoffman, noting that the Canadian singer-songwriter has a new CD. “This doesn’t require him to perform. All he has to do is receive laurels from us and have a dinner.” The recipients were chosen by an A-list panel that includes Bono, Rosanne Cash, Paul Simon, Paul Muldoon, Bill Flanagan, Smokey Robinson, Salman Rushdie, and Elvis Costello, who’s expected not only to attend but also to perform a Chuck Berry song.

---Arlene

[sharney55]

I live in Boston and I'm surprised there isn't more information in the Files about this. Does anyone know if Leonard is planning to show up?

[bridger15]

I live in Boston and I'm surprised there isn't more information in the Files about this. Does anyone know if Leonard is planning to show up?

I think I heard LC say on the BBC Jarvis Cocker interview that he was looking forward to meeting Chuck Berry.
Perhaps, this is a clue that he will attend?

---Arlene

[gussiecat]

It certainly does seem strange that there has been no word on this event. The PEN New England website just says something about information coming soon and they do not answer emails. I'm a PEN member, and have received no announcements. It's already Feb. 14th! Has anyone heard anything about LC attending or about the event itself? Thanks.

[DrHGuy]

This does appear to be a stealth award. After I published a couple of posts about the award the lack of information, I did receive an email, with an attached Save The Date announcement, from Karen Wulf of PEN New England, who included this message:

Dear Heck of A Guy,
… Re: Leonard Cohen & Chuck Berry — Just visited your site… here’s some info and sorry you did not receive it earlier.

It was a nice gesture, but I would have preferred some additional information. The email and Save The Date announcement are posted at http://1heckofaguy.com/2012/01/21/song- ... -the-news/