What with all the dourness of the last 24 hours, you could probably use a pick-me-up: What if we told you that Little Mr. Sunshine himself, Leonard Cohen, is planning a tour for the first time since 1993? Cohen has more or less been absent from the stage in the last 15 years, but in a 2007 interview with Harp magazine about his forthcoming album, he remarked that "every so often you have that itch." Now a few of you lucky norteamericanos will get to help him scratch it, as a recent post to LeonardCohenForum.com—approved by the man himself—announced that Cohen will tour the U.S. and Canada beginning in May and throughout the summer, timed to follow his induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March. (Of course, as Uncut magazine speculates, "Cohen's financial situation could be behind the decision to tour—Cohen has accused his business manager Kelley Lynch of defrauding him of $5 million." But we're trying to focus on the positive right now.)
And while I've recently been chastised for allowing my personal opinions to bleed into our reporting, let me be the first to declare that this is fucking awesome news.