--Photo: El Mundo Newspaper - Crowd Gathers to say "Adios" to Buesa in Zaragoza
(Entered February 29, 2000)
JOL on Wonder Boys Soundtrack
"Watching the Wheels" from the John and Yoko album, "Double Fantasy" is one of the songs featured on a new soundtrack disc from the Michael Douglas movie, "Wonder Boys."
A brand new Bob Dylan song is also included, but the song that is used for the background of the movie ads I've seen on television is "Watching the Wheels."
Dan Aquilanate, writing for the New York Post wrote this about the "Wonder Boys" CD: Most "various artists" soundtracks are at best party tapes and at worst marketing tools to squeeze more green from film and music fans. What sets the musical companion to the picture "Wonder Boys" apart is the new Bob Dylan song "Things Have Changed," his first recording since his Grammy-winning '97 disc "Time Out of Mind."
This single finds Dylan again as a life observer singing in hushed tones to driving acoustic rock. It won't be remembered as one of Dylan's great works, but it is a very nice piece of music nonetheless.
As for the dozen other songs, there are another couple of old Bob numbers, and single offerings by Buffalo Springfield, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and John Lennon.
Ultimately, this is a good party disc featuring '60s icons and the treat of a new Dylan number."
The soundtrack is available online at CD Now.
(Entered February 24, 2000)
--Photo: El Mundo Newspaper -
Crowd Gathers to say "Adios" to Buesa in Zaragoza
(Story Info From El Pais; El Mundo; Europe Press)
While in Spain to open her one-woman show, "Yoko Ono Ebro," Yoko had planned to read a Manifesto by La Paz for the 21st Century on Wednesday, February 23. Instead, she participated in a silent vigil as the country mourned the death of a leading socialist politician, Fernando Buesa, who was killed when a car bomb exploded as he walked past. His bodyguard was also killed.
Though no one had claimed responsibility for the murders, it was widely thought to be the handiwork of Basque separtists, ETA. Buesa was one of their most outspoken opponents. In Madrid, thousands of people took to the streets to protest the killings. Many people see the recent bombing as an end to an opportunity for peace. ETA had been observing a 14-month cease-fire, but turned violent last December. ETA has been blamed for approximately 800 deaths in three decades of violence.
According to the president of Cortes de Aragon, Jose Maria Mur, Yoko knew of the terrorism of ETA, but was made more aware of the brutality by the television images she witnessed Tuesday night. He said the violence had affected her deeply and that she was visibly shaken.
Instead of publicly reading the Manifesto, Yoko participated in a silent vigil against the terrorist attack. The vigil was held in front of the Palace of the Aljaferia in Zaragoza. She reportedly left the hotel without speaking a word, and did not accept flowers that were offered. Yoko was said to be unable to participate in reading the expressions of "hope and joy" that the Manifesto contained while such violence was taking place. Sean did not accompany her to the vigil.
A Spanish version of this story
here.
(Entered February 23, 2000)
--Photo: Fabian Simon -- ABC Newspaper
(Story Info From Europe Press)
While Yoko was in the Argonese capital of Zaragoza for the opening of her one-woman show, "Yoko Ono Ebro" (Named for the river that runs through the area), she spent an afternoon working, alongside Sean, in the School-Factory of Ceramics of Muel. Yoko will use the works created there in an exhibit planned for Budapest, Hungary in October.
Yoko and Sean learned about the making of ceramics during their three-hour visit in the Muel facilities. Yoko wrote Japanese characters relating to peace on 99 units of tile.
Yoko also drew on eleven ceramic plates "Instruction Paintings" messages: Yes, Touch, Fly, Imagine, Breathe, Reach, Forget, Feel, Dream, Open, Remember.
Pablo Rico, one of the commissioners of the "Yoko Ono Ebro" exhibition, said that this is the first time that work of conceptual art, with a Japanese origin, has been worked into ceramics.
Sean Lennon also learned the technical traditional methods of the Muel ceramists and painted drawings on plates and other pieces.
Spanish version of this story
here.
(Entered February 21, 2000)
(Story Info From Europe Press)
Yoko Ono: " I hope that my exhibition in Zaragoza gives inspiration, spirit and good energy to the people who visit it to continue with their own work and life, that sometimes can be very difficult ".
That was the message Yoko was giving to Spanish art patrons as she attended the opening of her one-woman show in Zaragoza.
" Yoko Ono Ebro ", named for the river that runs through the area, is open now through April 23rd in the Palace of Sástago of the Aragonese capital. In a press conference, Yoko said that with each piece in her collection, she wants to demonstrate that " each one of us, we are important, like a drop of water within the ocean called the human race ".
Although some of Yoko's art pieces carry elements of painful emotion, related to painful situations, she explained that humor plays an important role and "that you must discover you, yourself."
"Yoko Ono Ebro " is presented as a collaboration of the area of Culture of the Provincial Delegation of Zaragoza (DPZ), through the Center of Exhibitions of the Palace of Sástago, and the Museum Vostell de Malpartida de Cáceres, dependent partnership of the council of Culture of the Meeting of Extremadura.
Yoko is presenting in Spain a new, original exhibition, with 15 important works of all types, featuring conceptual facilities, paintings, sculptures, works, drawings, texts or actions, among others. The 15 pieces are representative of her work during the last decade, with some being new expressions of works from the 70's and 60's. Organizers are calling this a major exhibition. After the show has run in Zaragoza, it will travel to the Vostell Museum in Caceres.
The name of the show, "Yoko Ono Ebro" was intended to honor the city of Zaragoza, "hoping that the name of its river circulates everywhere next to mine." Yoko said the name of the exhibition brings her great contentment: "I have the idea that the river is something for eternity, like the inhabitants of Zaragoza and their descendents."
One pleasant surprise : Sean accompanied Yoko to the opening of the Zaragoza exhibit, which Yoko explained is the first time her son has appeared at an opening outside of New York City. Yoko indicated to the media that she felt this was a very special event because of Sean's appearance.
When asked about her relationship to John Lennon, Yoko told the Spanish press, "we both taught much to each other."
Yoko will be in Muel on Tuesday (22) to "work the mud" in the Factory School of Ceramics of the municipality.
Yoko made use of the press coverage to talk about peace. She emphasized that at the moment in the world there are two industries " the one of war and the one of La Paz ". She said that while the war industry is always there to conquer and make money, the defenders of Peace (La Paz) "are always discussing, they are idealistic and protectionistic, and they are not united absolutely."
For this reason, Yoko asked people to "use our energy in uniting us, to love each other and I believe that someday we will obtain La Paz. We are going to be united as much as they are."
The president of the area of Culture of the DPZ, Miguel Gargallo, emphasized that the exhibition, " Yoko Ono Ebro " will allow the public to enjoy not only in the visual aspect, but they will be able to participate in the expositions and to reflections raised by the artist, as well as of their messages of peace. In this sense, Gargallo explained that the visitors will be able, among other things, to participate in the " river of the life ", to hang its desires in the tree of desire, to nail nails who represent the martyrs worldwide, to express its feelings in notebooks displayed for it, or by seeing films.
Spanish version of this story here.
(Entered February 21, 2000)
Photo: From Yahoo
(Story Info From Reuters News Agency)
Speaking to Spanish media at an exhibition of her art work in Zaragoza, Spain, Yoko denied reports which have resurfaced that John gave money to the Irish Republican Army.
``My husband did not give money to the IRA. My husband gave money ... when it was asked (for) by people who were in need.''
The British weekly, The Observer, said Sunday it had seen a court statement by a former spy saying he was shown secret files that included references to John giving money to the IRA in the early 1970s. The IRA fought a 30-year armed campaign to try to force Britain to abandon its rule over Northern Ireland. Yoko told reporters in Spain that she and her husband sent money to Ireland and other countries, but the cash was intended for ``children, orphans and women in need.''
``Even in the 1960s, I did not believe that violence was a way of getting things,'' she said. Both John and Yoko have given many interviews speaking out against violence, even in a revolutionary cause.
The files cited in The Observer referred directly to John's support for the Trotskyist Workers' Revolutionary Party (WRP), whose members included actress Vanessa Redgrave. The newspaper said the statement by the spy, David Shayler, claimed a British intelligence source within the WRP said John had contributed tens of thousands of pounds to the WRP as well as funding the IRA.
Shayler's claims came amid a court battle in the United States over confidential letters about John from an unidentified foreign government, believed to be Britain. A U.S. federal judge has ruled that three letters should be turned over to Jon Wiener, a history professor at the University of California who is trying to obtain 10 classified documents on Lennon. The documents remain in a file on Lennon held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Professor Wiener told the BBC that while John was sympathetic to the Irish civil rights movement, the British intelligence service could have been misinformed about any link with the IRA.
A mistake like this is not unbelievable when you consider that the FBI had identified a picture of David Peel as John Lennon in their files. Well, they both had long hair and dark glasses, didn't they?!
(Entered February 21, 2000)
The Associated Press has reported that a federal judge ordered the FBI
to release notes from a phone conversation and two letters about John Lennon.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Q. Robbins made the ruling Friday. According to the FBI,
10 pages of John's file were withheld at the request of a foreign government
that had given the FBI the documents. Peter Eliasberg, attorney for
the American Civil Liberties Union, said he believes the request to
block the release came from British intelligence officers. The
release of the documents was prompted by author and historian Jon
Wiener, who filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request in
1983 to obtain all U.S. government documents on Lennon.
"We don't think that the national security is really at stake here," Weiner said. "We think this is 30-year-old, trivial information about the activities of a dead rock star." Wiener's book, "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files," was published in January by The University of California Press in Berkeley. The book reproduces 100 pages of FBI files on John that have been released, including some that were entirely blacked out for security reasons. The ACLU, which joined Wiener's attempt to obtain the files, said the FBI under the Nixon administration used surveillance in an attempt to deport John due to his opposition to the Vietnam War.
Read about Jon Wiener's "Gimme Some Truth" Book
Visit Jon Wiener's Lennon FBI Files web site
(Entered February 19, 2000)
On February 18, The New York Post published news about a book that's just been released
that was written by one of Fred Seaman's pals who had access to stolen property from the Dakota.
Bob Rosen (pictured from a newspaper article several years ago) was one of the people named in the David Sheff "Playboy" article, "The Betrayal of John Lennon" in March, 1984 as being part of a plot to take over John's estate, discredit Yoko and generally try to make a name for themselves after John's murder.
Rosen had access to John's stolen diaries and has created his book "Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon" "from memory" and from what he calls "investigative journalism and imagination." The book is reportedly loosely based on what Rosen read in John's diaries 18 years ago before they were returned to Yoko. In the 1984 Playboy article, it was reported that the diaries had been tampered with while they were out of Yoko's possession.
I'll say this for Rosen: he's admitting upfront that his book is a sham. Imagination, indeed.
Yoko's longtime friend and spokesperson, Elliot Mintz, said, "If Rosen says that the book is a work of imagination, the one thing we can construe is that it's not real. We are not reading the written word of John Lennon, which is the important thing to keep in mind. Considering the writer as the source, the title seems appropriate."
IK! seconds that motion.
(Entered February 18, 2000)
The famous Steinway piano which John Lennon used to compose "Imagine" went on public view today - Yoko's birthday - in anticipation of an online auction in July. Organizers of the auction are expecting the piano to sell for at least $1,000,000. An ABC Radio report put the estimated sale at $2,000,000.
The upright Steinway Z is being exhibited now at the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool and will be auctioned on a new Web site, eoffer.com sometime in July but will remain on display until October.
John bought the piano in 1970 for around 1,000 British pounds and composed ``Imagine'' a year later. Shelagh Johnston, the curator of the museum told Reuters News agency: ``To look at it, this is just another piano. But hear the magic that came out of it and you can see it's unique.''
The piano has been insured for 3-million pounds and will be kept under 24-hour guard while at the Beatles Museum. The Steinway has been owned by a private collector for the past ten years.
``Because John Lennon used it to work on `Imagine' and do the full recording, it has become special,'' Colin Turner of Steinway told Reuters. ``Most of the world's great classical musicians love Steinway but pop artists use it to a lesser degree, so it fills us with pride that such a genius chose Steinway.''
More at: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000217/re/britain_lennon_1.htmlp
(Entered February 7, 2000)
The John Lennon FBI Files
Booklist's review of "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files" said in part.."Return with Wiener to another, not necessarily simpler but very different time when governments feared revolution by the young, fomented by a rock star...The documents constitute an impressive display of wrong-headedness..A great period piece."
Dan Rather, CBS Evening News, reporting on the settlement of Wiener v. FBI: "Just when you thought there may be nothing left to say about The Beatles or the Nixon years, the FBI has opened up its secret files on the late John Lennon."
Jon Wiener's first book about John Lennon, "Come Together: John Lennon In His Time" focused on John and Yoko's political activism. During the course of trying to get background information for his book, Wiener found himself up against the FBI's refusal to reveal the truth about their shenanigans where John Lennon was concerned. Wiener went to court, using the Freedom of Information Act as his weapon of choice to try to force the FBI to open their files, minus all the blacked-out sections that they had previously released to him.
The end result of his battle is "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files" - which details Wiener's 14-year battle to win release of John's files in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. One-hundred key pages of the Lennon FBI file will now be available, complete and unexpurgated, fully annotated and presented in a "before and after" format.
The FBI started compiling John's file in 1972, when the war in Vietnam was at its peak, when Nixon was facing re-election and when John was living in New York and joining with the New Left and the anti-war movement. The Nixon administration's efforts to "neutralize" John are the subject of the file.
Just taking my first glance through the pages of the book and seeing the FBI files reprinted with their notes, scribbles and big, black, marker blots gives one the sense of peeking in someone's desk drawer and finding something naughty that one wasn't supposed to find. Can't wait to read the book from start to finish..
Jon Wiener's credentials: Professor of History at the University of California; contributing editor of "The Nation."
The book is published by University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. And University of California Press,Ltd., London, England.
Visit Jon Wiener's Lennon FBI Files web site here
(Entered February 7, 2000)
(Thanks to Larry McGahey)
John's classic lives on
Yoko has been working diligently on several new projects for the New Millennium..and
we are about to feast upon two of them.
The 1971 "Imagine" album featuring John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band has been remastered and remixed at Abbey Road Studios in London. The project was supervised by Yoko and will be reissued on vinyl, CD and cassette by Capitol Records on March 28th.
The reissue retains the album's original track listing: ``Imagine,'' ``Crippled Inside,'' ``Jealous Guy,'' ``It's So Hard,'' ``I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mamma I Don't Wanna Die,'' ``Gimme Some Truth,'' ``Oh My Love,'' ``How Do You Sleep?'' ``How?'' ``Oh Yoko!'' Also included is a 16 page booklet with full lyrics (including John's hand-written lyrics to ``How Do You Sleep?'') and rare photographs from the Lennon/Ono archives.
The album release coincides with the premiere of a 56-minute documentary, ``GIMME SOME TRUTH - THE MAKING OF JOHN LENNON's IMAGINE ALBUM.'' The documentary promises to take us behind-the-scenes of the creative process that took place at John's home recording studio in Ascot, England during the recording sessions. The film is directed by Andrew Solt and executive produced by Yoko. It was edited from 16mm film footage shot by John and Yoko and never before shown to the public.
``GIMME SOME TRUTH'' will premiere on BBC2 in England on February 13 and will be shown on Bravo in North America April 17.
Also on April 11, the extended 63-minute version of ``GIMME SOME TRUTH,'' containing seven extra minutes of rare film footage, will be commercially issued by Capitol Records as an interactive DVD and VHS home video. The DVD will contain a stereo soundtrack and a 5.1. surround-sound mix plus approximately 40 minutes of unique audio/visual interview material recorded at the time of the album sessions. The DVD will employ English language subtitles for all speech and songs in the main program; will be fully chaptered for each recording; will feature its own set of production credits; and will contain an album discography to enable the listener to hear a sample of one track per album.
The essential lineup for IMAGINE in 1971, as indicated in the credits for ``GIMME SOME TRUTH,'' comprise: John Lennon on piano, guitar and vocals; George Harrison on guitar; Nicky Hopkins on piano; Jim Keltner on drums; Klaus Voorman on bass and guitar; and Alan White on drums. Numerous other musicians are listed in the album track credits, including King Curtis on saxophone; Mike Pinder (Moody Blues) on tambourine; Jim Gordon on drums; Joey Molland and Tommy Evans (Badfinger) on guitars; and of course Phil Spector.
Get the whole story from the EMI-Capitol News Release here.
(Entered February 1, 2000)
Tonight at 9PM Eastern Time, VH1 premieres their original movie, "Two of Us-A Fictional Account." VH1's description of their movie is as follows:
"After years of bitter conflict, John and Paul give peace a chance. In 1976, six years after the Beatles' breakup, rock legend has it that Paul McCartney paid an unexpected visit to John Lennon's home in New York City.
"VH1's newest original movie, 'Two of Us' is an account of this highly charged reunion.
"Aidan Quinn portrays McCartney and Jared Harris plays Lennon. The film was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, whose credits include the Beatles' final documentary 'Let it Be' and was written by longtime Beatles fan and Beatlefest attendee, Mark Stanfield."
If you plan to watch the movie this evening...stop back to IK! Online tomorrow and rate it in our new "Review It" poll. You'll find the poll on our front page tomorrow morning.
