The Badge Guests
Wore Around Their Necks
at the Reception
How does one throw a party for John Lennon?
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did it by inviting 1400 people, providing endless food and drink (which would come into play later during the Billy Preston performance!), rock music performed by friends, a John Lennon light show for everyone in Cleveland to see and an official introduction to the opening of the John Lennon exhibit by Yoko Ono.
Tom and I arrived at the Rock Hall with our invitation in hand, wondering if we should have been fashionably late. But when we arrived about 20 minutes before the 7PM start time, we could see that most of the other party people were there waiting for the doors to open. Apparently for an event of this magnitude, the fashionable thing was to arrive early so you wouldn't miss anything.
It's very strange being in a confined space (even though the party was eventually spread out through the entire Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the John Lennon floors didn't open until after Yoko had made her introductory speech) with 1398 other people you've never met before. Now we can make that 1397. As we were standing there agog, gaping about at the various and sundry fashions, a young man came charging towards us and said, "Marsha?" I said, "Yes?" "Joshua Emerick!" In an e-mail prior to the event, I told Joshua to look for the short woman in the white blouse and black pants standing next to the tall man with a mustache, but Joshua had apparently checked my photo on the web site and recognized me from that. We ran into each other two or three times throughout the course of the evening, but eventually lost touch before Tom and I had to leave the party and head back to our hotel.
At approximately 7:30 PM, we heard announcements being made on the small stage that had been set up on the entrance-level floor. So we high-tailed it upstairs and were totally jammed and squashed in a crush of people who were trying to get viewing positions behind the roped off chairs that were set up for about 100 people who I assume were Rock Hall special guests.
Yoko Vocalizes.
Photo by Lonnie Timmons III
The Plain Dealer
Yoko had told me she wasn't going to be performing at the Grand Opening...but
it turned out, she did. Sort of. When her appearance was announced and she
came running from backstage, she accepted the wild applause for a few seconds,
then held the microphone up and let out one of her patented
screams that took everyone by surprise! Okay. I'll admit it..from my
rather claustrophobic position in that crowd, it scared me half to death.
Cleveland's The Plain Dealer
newspaper described it the next morning as "AARRGGHH! WAH! WAH! WAH! WHOAAA!"
With Yoko, expect the unexpected.
With a mischievous grin, Yoko followed that opener with, "I just needed to clear my throat."
Then she talked about Cleveland and New York and thanked everyone for coming to John's party. Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone magazine also said a few words and the Reception and the Lennon exhibit were officially opened.
At this point, security guards standing next to the escalators leading to the John Lennon exhibit floors stood back and let people pass by. The crowd dispersed into several different directions, some of us heading upstairs to get our first look at the items on display, some heading downstairs to where the food tables were, and some staying by the stage to hear the first of two bands performing spirited rock and roll music. Spirited, and very loud rock and roll music by Matthew Sweet and Dexter Freebish.
Spotlights projected John Lennon's image on the side of the building and into the sky during the evening. Special permission had to be obtained by the Rock Hall for this sky-show and it was definitely worth the effort and a fitting tribute to one of the world's most famous "Sky People."
When it was announced that Cyndi Lauper would be performing next, Tom and I worked our way down to a floor just above the stage level floor. The crowd around the stage, as seen from above, looked inpenetrable, so we watched Cyndi from above and on the giant monitors that were strategically placed throughout the Rock Hall.
Yoko had specifically asked for Lauper to perform at this event. And Cyndi obliged, beautifully. She spoke warmly about Yoko, telling everyone what a wonderful and special person she is and how privileged she feels to know her.
And she told about being a Beatles fan "like many of you probably were" and screaming at the TV when the Beatles performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964. She said the voice she heard that turned her on was John Lennon's voice.
She told about a dream she had in which she and John were brushing their teeth together. "It was deep, OKAY!"
Lauper's New York accent when she speaks disappears completely when she sings. Her voice is pure, real and haunting. She sang "Imagine" and at least four other songs. During her final song, she took her tall, sparkly, silver boots off to reveal bare feet and painted toes. She left the stage at one point during this dreamy tune and touched the hands of people in the audience.
Cyndi warmed the audience like the glow of a simmering fire on a cool October night... and left it to Billy Preston to fan the flames into an inferno!
As soon as Preston hit the stage, his band playing tight, revivalist-foot-stomping music, the crowd on stage level flew to their feet and started clapping hands and dancing around. Preston talked a little about how John Lennon had influenced him and how he had been a great friend. He also sang "Imagine" and his own tunes, "Nothing from Nothing" and "Will It Go 'Round in Circles," as well as doing a Ray Charles impersonation-song and dedicating "You Are So Beautiful" to John, Yoko and Sean. It was singalong time when he launched into "All You Need is Love."
Preston's performance lasted nearly an hour, with an encore ("You mean you guys aren't tired yet!!??") and one incident with a woman in a cowboy hat jumping onto the stage and grooving with the group. She was asked to leave, but didn't look like the type of woman who would take much stock in what a roadie had to say. (Translation: she looked rich.)
The evening wound down after the Preston performance - many of the people had left the building by 11:30. I filled out a "Wish Tree Piece for John" card and Tom hung it on the tree for me. Then we walked the six blocks back to our hotel, feeling amazingly safe in Cleveland at midnight and feeling that we'd just had one of the most memorable evenings of our life.
As Tom said to me later, "You always take me on such interesting trips."
Thanks Yoko. You always take me on interesting trips as well.
(Note: The John Lennon Exhibit is sponsored by, and the reception was catered and hosted by Enterasys Networks. I would be remiss not to mention that and to say they did an outstanding job.)
