Today at work, I was listening to John and Yoko's Double Fantasy and it brought back a load of memories. I remember it came out in the winter of 1980. Whenever I hear it, i feel cold and it reminds me of the the time leading up to John's death. The night it happened, I was watching Johnny Carson and the news scrolled on the bottom of the screen. I was completely gutted. John Lennon was my biggest hero since I could/can remember. I remember being in a daze and not believing it. Anyway, I also thought of how you have to have thick skin to be a Yoko Ono fan. I just love when idiots say how she broke up the Beatles. We all know they were tired of each other long before she came along. If John would have fell in love with a trombone, it would have taken him away from them. He just needed to do something else. I honestly feel that they would have stayed together longer if they would have taken a good size break from it all and regrouped after doing individual projects. We'll never know.
I really love Yoko's songs on DF. Kiss Kiss Kiss is like new wave from the period with excellent feedback guitar. I love her in the same way that I love Nico. Their stiffness and cold approach helps the material. Yoko can do no wrong as far as i'm concerned. The first brush I had with her is/was a signed book a friend of mine gave me a long time ago. He met her at an art show and got her to sign one of her books and he didn't want it. He had the same negative attitude most Beatlefans have. She's got fucking Ornette Coleman on her shit, for chrissakes! The second brush came when she was on tour for the Rising album (there's some heavy shit on that album and some yummy wurlitzer) and she had a stop at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. My roommate Mel and I got tickets and went.
During the show (which was awesome), I had the misfortune of standing next to this really weird guy from LA (who looked kinda like Jim Martin from Faith No More-the guy in the picture) with pink glasses and a very odd outfit. How'd I know he/it was from LA? He kept telling me over and over again. Apparently, he'd seen the show the night before and probably annoyed the crap out of everyone around him there too! He kept screaming "YOKO...YOKO, I LOVE YOU!!!!" whenever it was quiet. You HAD to be there. Sean was playing guitar and the rest of the band was made of John Spencer Blues Explosion members. At the end of the show, we waited out back for them to come out. I brought a Sharpie hoping Yoko would sign anything I had. An eyeball. An arm. A breast. She came out and saw this lady with a thousand lps going "Can you sign these?". She politely declined and moved towards the van that was taking them to the hotel. I got bold and asked if I could shake her hand and she allowed me to. I told her I loved the show and she thanked me. Sean came up behind her and said he saw me in there (we were near the front and I had fire-engine red hair at the time...hard to miss) and he liked my hair. Like a dork, I said "I like yours too!" Duhr!!! They split and all I could think about was I just shook the hand that touched John's penis. Granted, it had been washed many times since then but one can't help thinking of these things.
5 comments:
I was in bed at the time the news about John came through. As I was getting on the school bus the next morning (carrying, as always, my notebook on which I'd written in large letters "I'M A BEATLES FAN"), a kid said "John Lennon was shot". I looked at him in disbelief and then another kid said, "Yeah, they killed George Harrison too!" and smiled an evil smile. I figured they had to be fucking with me. The rest of the day is just a blank.
When the vigil was held in Central Park, it was snowing where I lived. During the silent portion, the snow stopped falling and the sun came out. When the silence ended, it began to snow again...
So, I've shaken the hand that shook the hand that touched John's penis?
Anybody got any Purell?
Yoko's Plastic Ono Band and Fly albums are great, I loved them when I was a kid, which my parents never understood but they thought it was funny, and I still love them now. Daring stuff. But then, I love Cecil Taylor and Stockhausen and lots of other very weird stuff, and Yoko fits right in with that. People would throw up their hands at her stuff and say, "You can't call that music!" And I loved that.
Mike and I were in 7th grade, finally back in the actual school building we were supposed to be in that year. My sister came into my room and woke me up on that Monday night, because it was kinda late and I had already gone to bed. She told me John was shot and killed, and I was kind of dazed and didn't know how to think about it. I felt sad and empty, but didn't really grasp it yet, it seemed so unbelievable and I was already half asleep. The next morning it began to sink in, but was still shocking and inexplicable. Did this really happen? I saw Vullo in class, and we just looked at each other and shook our heads. What to say?
I was 10. My mom went to bed early the night of the 8th and I walked downstairs that morning and she was standing in front of the tv with her hand over her mouth. When I said I was 10, I was a sheltered 10. I still played with Barbies and believed in Santa, so I didn't really process what happened to him until years later.
Thanks for the great read about Yoko. She's one of those figures I listen to and embrace when I'm feeling low and doubting myself. I really need to give Niko another chance. I can't figure out why she rubs me like blackboards rub my fingernails.
Yes, I'm Your Angel always reminded me of us. mwah.
Had to add:
I also thought of how you have to have thick skin to be a Yoko Ono fan. I just love when idiots say how she broke up the Beatles.
Wait. So you're saying a woman was blamed for something that was caused primarily by male egos?!? THAT'S PREPOSTEROUS!!!
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