- published: 12 Nov 2012
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The Aotea Centre is a performing arts and events centre / theatre in the Auckland CBD, Auckland City, New Zealand. Located at the western edge of Aotea Square, off Queen Street, the centre provides cultural venue space in the heart of the city and is managed by 'The Edge' (which also operates the Auckland Town Hall and the Auckland Civic Theatre, both close by around the square).
The main construction of the centre was finished in 1989, with the centre opening in 1990 having cost NZ$ 128.5 million.
Designed by the City architect Ewen Wainscott in 1974, this building was not actually built until the late 1980s. It won the NZIA Silver Medal award. Costs escalated greatly during construction resulting in several features being omitted. Due to poor acoustics the main auditorium required an expensive refit in the mid 1990s.
The centre provides a range of foyers, gallery spaces and function rooms as well as a 2,256 seat 'ASB Auditorium' and the much smaller 186-seat Herald theatre, which is mainly used by small independent theatre companies.
Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. Cohen has been inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour.
While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."
Cohen was born on 21 September 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, into a middle-class Jewish family. He attended Roslyn Elementary School. His mother, Marsha Klinitsky, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, emigrated from Lithuania while his great-grandfather emigrated from Poland. He grew up in Westmount on the Island of Montreal. His grandfather was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen has said that, "I had a very Messianic childhood." He told Richard Goldstein in 1967. "I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest." Cohen attended Westmount High School, beginning in 1948 where he was involved with the Student Council and studied music and poetry. He became especially interested in the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca. As a teenager, he learned to play the guitar, and formed a country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys. Although he initially played a regular acoustic guitar as a teenager, he soon switched to playing a classical guitar after meeting a young Spanish flamenco guitar player who taught him "a few chords and some flamenco."
Heard he shot another
No one knows a reason
It didn't make the paper
It's just another white lie
Here in white center
Here in white center
Here in white center
Here in white center
Can I take out the flowers?
Sunday packed the churches
Morning comes too slowly
For us who feel like victims
Here in white center
Here in white center
Here in white center
Here in white center
Turn off your headlights
Here comes a cop car
Music for the bad boys
Music for the good boys
Here in white center
Here in white center
Here in white center