this annual three-day leonard cohen festival in san francisco features his music and poetry, performedand poets, many of whom had never had a chance to experience his performances in life. >> i think after leonard passed, i think people are eager to keep his memory alive, and the passion that he brought to his words and poetry and music. and it's a little cathartic, to revisit it annually. >> there's so much comedy and humor in what he said. >> clay eugene smith started the festival in 2018, soon after leonard cohen's death at age 80. he also performs in it, with an a cappela men's choir sporting cohen's signature fedoras and suits, whose repertoire is exclusively leonard cohen music. calling themselves "the conspiracy of beards," they've been performing at clubs around the san francisco bay area for more than two decades. >> ♪ i remember you well in the chelsea hotel ♪ >> they held impromptu, memorial concerts at local transit stations the night cohen died. >> i think his passion for poetry, his words that draw on questions, a little bit of religion, a little bit of politics, you know