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CHRISTIE'S TO AUCTION JOHN & YOKO TAPES
(Entered 4/28/02)
Pop Memorabilia
Sale 9368
30 April 2002, 2:00 pm
85 Old Brompton Road, London
The following is from the Christie's
web site:
Pop memorabilia collectors, Beatles fans and Lennon admirers are offered
a rare opportunity to bid on an archive of previously undocumented
recordings of John Lennon. The discovered material provides an intimate
yet playful portrait of the man behind the famous Beatle.
One cassette, approximately 25 minutes long, documents Lennon developing
the melody and lyrics for She Said, She Said
1966, later released on the Revolver album. Lennon gave this tape to
Tony Cox, Yoko's first husband, during a visit to Cox's home in Denmark.
Another recording features John Lennon improvising songs and telling
stories to Ono's then six-year old daughter Kyoko. On
another tape Lennon and Kyoko play acoustic guitar together, with
occasional interjections from Ono.
A rare
single-sided 7-inch acetate of Yoko Ono's song Don't Worry Kyoko bearing Yoko's
handwritten inscription, To lovely Kyoko-chan, from Mummy…,
completes this exciting discovery. The acetate is accompanied by a
moving letter from Ono to her daughter, explaining that she had not
forgotten Kyoko during the months they had been apart.
JOHN LENNON PIANO TO SELL
IN BEATLES AUCTION
(Entered April 28, 2002)
Photo from Fox.com
 NEW
YORK — From their old suits to the document registering the name
"The Beatles" in the U.S., a Sotheby's auction boasts many of the
Beatles' most prized possessions.
More than a hundred pieces of rock history are on the block and are being billed
as the last great Beatles sale from private hands. Autographs, handwritten
notes, photographs, signed albums, tickets, clothing, instruments and awards are
among the items up for grabs.
"It took us say 10 years
to put the high-end items together [for the auction]," said Bob Schagrin,
president of Gotta Have It! auction house, which provided the items for the
sale. "We went to Sothebys about eight months ago and said, 'We'd really
like to do a celebration of The Beatles.' We didn't anticipate that Paul
McCartney would be playing at Madison Square Garden during this time."
"I think The Beatles
will still be listened to for 400 years just like Beethoven and Bach, which
means people will still be interested in them," said Leila Dunbar of
Sotheby's.
And the items are not only
for sale. They are on display for all to see at Sotheby's New York headquarters
through May 2.
"It's not only for
people who want to buy, but they can also go have a look at some really awesome
collectibles," Schagrin said.
Among the most high-profile
items:
— The brown wool suits worn
by the band in the cover of their first LP, Please, Please Me:
Estimated price: $280,000.
— Original RIAA gold record for "Hey Jude": $8,000 - $10,000
— The Album of the Year Grammy for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band:
$80,000 - $100,000
— The Steinway & Sons piano on which John Lennon composed his last album:
$500,000
The prices are steep, but
fans say a piece of The Beatles is priceless.
"It's hard to put a
price on art," said Bruce Schnittman as he perused the items on display.
"It's hard to put a price on something as unique as these."
The story behind Lennon's
Steinway is particularly unique, said Schagrin. Lennon specially ordered the
piano from a Steinway store in Manhattan. Yoko Ono kept the piano until well
after his death, but in 1985 as a promotion for her album Starpeace,
created a give-away contest with the piano as the prize. A North Dakota woman
won the drawing and kept the piano until 1996 when a collector bought it from
her. Now that collector is auctioning off the piano.
"This is the exceedingly
rare instance where you have documented that this [piano] is really [Lennon's],
where it was purchased and when it was purchased...And that is everything when
you are buying an investment grade collectable," Schagrin said.
Also up for grabs is Lennon's
electric keyboard along with his notes about the vibrato that doesn't work. It
still doesn't work, but now it's worth $50,000.
If you don't have thousands
of dollars to spend, there are still tidbits to be picked up. There's everything
from a 1966 Suffolk Downs concert ticket that's expected to go for $200-$300 to
a Hard Day's Night screening ticket for about $150, and some
novelty items like a set of 1964 Beatles birthday cake figurines expected to
bring in $300.
"This is really a
people's auction," Schagrin said. "The items do go across the full
price point spectrum. It's something for everyone."
The sale runs online at sothebys.com
through May 9.
"SEASON OF GLASS" COVER PHOTO
SELLS AT AUCTION
(Entered April 17, 2002)
LONDON (Reuters) - A poignant photograph of John Lennon's blood-spattered
spectacles taken by his widow after the singer's murder sold at auction for
$12,720 Wednesday. Bonhams auction house said an unnamed American buyer bought
the photograph after reading about it in The New York Times last weekend. The
image, one of only six prints, shows John's glasses beside a glass of water on a
table set against a New York skyline. Yoko took the photograph in the couple's
New York apartment and used the photo for her emotional 1981 album "Season
of Glass." The proceeds of the sale will be donated to Artist
Residencies of Tokyo, a charity that supports aspiring artists in Japan, where
Ono was born. ($1=.6926 Pound) The photograph was put up for auction by
Johnnie Walker, a
fund-raiser for ART.
YOKO HONORED AT DINNER
(Entered April 15, 2002)
(Thanks to Richard Joly, Onovox,
Onoweb)
Summer Artists Program APRIL 23 -
Yoko Ono is to be among those honored at a dinner at the Plaza to raise
money for the scholarship fund of the Skowhegan School of Painting and
Sculpture. It operates a summer residential program for 65 artists. The
black-tie affair begins with drinks at 7, with dinner at 8. Tickets, $500, from
(212) 245-6570, ext. 21.
SEASON OF GLASS COVER PHOTO TO BE SOLD AT
AUCTION
(Entered April 12, 2002)
From Yahoo.com
A photograph of John Lennon's blood-spattered glasses taken by Yoko after John
was gunned down by a demented "fan" is to be auctioned in London for
an artists' charity. Yahoo reports that Bonhams' auction house expects the
picture, one of only six prints, to fetch up to $14,000 when it goes under the
hammer April 17.
The photo shows the glasses John was wearing on the night he was killed sitting
beside a glass of water on a table set against the window of John and Yoko's
apartment in the Dakota building near Central Park, revealing a blurred view of
the Manhattan skyline in the background. Yoko used the photo as the cover
illustration for her album "Season of Glass," which she released in
1981. A spokeswoman for Bonhams said the photograph has since earned iconic
reverence among Lennon fans.
Of the six copies printed under Yoko's personal supervision in 1994, she
retained one and gave four to close friends of the couple. The sixth print —
the one up for auction — was bought in a private sale by Johnnie Walker, a
fund-raiser for Artist Residencies of Tokyo, or ART. Walker agreed to abide by
Yoko's wish that he would only ever sell the picture to raise funds for ART, a
nonprofit organization that helps support Japanese artists.
Yoko set up the photo near a window of her apartment in keeping with the ancient
Oriental tradition of the Butsudan, or household family altar. In Buddhist
homes, the Butsudan serves as a repository for the souls of deceased family
members who are worshipped daily. According to Bonhams, the glass of water
represented the food and drink intended to feed the souls of the dead.
YOKO IN 9/11 TV AD...A UNION CONTROVERSY
SURROUNDS THE CAMPAIGN
(Entered April 10, 2002)
(Thanks to Richard at Onovox)
Headlined "9/11
STARS DEFY UNION BULLIES"..the New York Post's Page Six featured an
item in their Gossip column about a new TV public service announcement dealing
with the September 11th terrorist attack in New York City. SAG...the
Screen Actor's Guild...insisted that only SAG members could appear in the TV
spot, but John Grossman, whose production company, The Firm, is producing the
campaign, defied the union and used everyday citizens. Titled
"Imagine New York" and sponsored by the Municipal Art Society,
the ad campaign is meant to share ideas for rebuilding lower Manhattan and
memorializing the World Trade Center tragedy. Set
to air next week on the major networks, the spot stars Harvey Keitel, Kevin
Bacon, Richard Belzer, Bebe Neuwirth, Peter Boyle, and Yoko
Ono (who lent the first three bars of John Lennon's "Imagine" as
background music). In addition to the famous people, the ad features
non-famous Municipal Art Society members - who don't have a SAG card and would
have been edited out if SAG had its way.
Grossman was once a SAG signatory - meaning
he'd signed an agreement to only employ SAG members in his productions - but
says it's no longer valid. SAG doesn't agree, however. Grossman's production
manager, Rob Christoph, called SAG "bastards" for trying to
bully them into submission. "SAG is under the impression that they
have some control over the project, but they don't," says one production
insider.
SAG spokesperson Ilyanne Kichaven says,
"PSAs do fall under SAG contracts and SAG jurisdiction. I find it hard to
understand how SAG members could work in a non-SAG production, since that's
counter to SAG's Rule One."
Rule One states that "members will be
required to ensure that a producer is a SAG signatory and to get a SAG contract
wherever they work in order to get the protections of SAG's agreements."
Meanwhile, one Hollywood insider told Page Six
that SAG has threatened producers of the numerous other 9/11-related
productions, among them HBO, CBS, Showtime and Goldie Hawn-produced
specials, warning them that it's all SAG or nothing.
JOHN LENNON-BEATLE ITEMS IN AUCTION
(Entered April 7, 2002)
(From Yahoo)
SYDNEY (Reuters) - A lifetime's worth of rock and roll memorabilia goes on sale
in Sydney this month when rarities ranging from Michael Hutchence's Harley
Davidson to a jacket worn by John Denver hit the auction block.
The Dave Norman collection includes telegrams from promoters to Beatles manager
Brian Epstein bidding for concerts and letters relating to a bill from the
Deauville Hotel in Miami that went unpaid for five months after the Beatles
stayed there. Auctioneers Goodmans said on the auction Web
site that the sale of 458 lots would take place on April 15.
Norman, a former disc jockey, started collecting 30 years ago but wants to move
overseas without having to worry about a collection that now fills a 300 square
meter warehouse. "The collection has really restricted my
travel," he told Friday's The Sydney Morning Herald. According to the
auction catalog, most items are autographed posters and records but there are
also some unusual gems.
They include a signed publishing contract by
John Lennon for Wild Honey Pie, which was eventually sung by Paul McCartney,
John Denver's personal Spring Tour 1978 jacket, a Drizabone rainproof jacket
made for Celine Dion and a signed recording contract for The Doors, including
Jim Morrison.
"REAL LOVE" JEWELERY ON THE
HORIZON
(Entered April 7, 2002)
(From Onovox)
 Be
watching for Lennon branded jewelry from a company called JewelAmerica. The
company will launch the line in June according to a report by USA Today's
Theresa Howard. The "line is priced at $49 to $149," and will feature
"affordable metals" sold through "mass retail outlets." The
pieces include bracelets, cuff links, necklaces and a collection of etched
silver pictures and picture frames." The artwork is derived from the
sketches created by John for Sean, that were previously published in a book,
"Real Love: The Drawings for Sean."
JewelAmerica's Rachel Wertheimer thinks the line might also begin a new chapter
in the jewelry category: "Unlike watches and apparel, jewelry has never
really been branded," she says. However, branding consultant Al Ehrbar
thinks it will be a hard row to hoe: "The Lennon name would help most
anything at first pass. But it's hard to see this as a huge winner. The
association of Lennon with jewelry is a reach."
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