Camera: Leonard Cohen at the Glenn Gould Award Gala (and Fran’s Restaurant)

By Andrew Wallace | Photography by George Pimentel

May 14, Fran’s Restaurant. By the time the VIP after-party rolled around, few attendees expected the man of the hour to show. Leonard Cohen is 77, after all, and it had been a long evening: first a lavish dinner at the Arcadian Court, then a tribute concert at Massey Hall, where Cohen was awarded the Glenn Gould award (the so-called Nobel Prize for the Arts). The late-night doubters spoke too soon: as the clock struck 11:47 p.m., Cohen swept into the diner to a buzz of excitement and a striking-up of the band (CanCon rockers Lighthouse) and began to boogie, an inexpert little shuffle that the legendary troubadour made look effortlessly cool.

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