John Lennon

John Lennon's 1st wife, Cynthia, died of cancer over the weekend. She was 75

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11509668/Cynthia-Lennon-obituary.html

Cynthia was Lennon’s first real love and was with him, as Julian Lennon pointed out, for half his adult life . Julian resented pop historians relegating his mother to “a puff of smoke in Dad’s life”.


Yet the bell-curve of Cynthia Lennon’s career as a Beatle wife peaked early, and even before she was confronted by the bleak reality of her husband’s infidelity with Yoko Ono – walking into her own house in 1968 to find them sitting cross-legged on the floor, gazing raptly into each other’s eyes – Cynthia knew that her marriage was doomed.

RIP

There were several shows on Tuesday to commemorate the 35th anniversary of John Lennon being shot dead.

Beatles' Indian retreat opened to public

An abandoned spiritual retreat in the Indian town of Rishikesh where The Beatles learned to meditate has been opened to the public.

The Beatles spent time at the 18-acre ashram, meditating and writing songs in 1968. Many of the songs made it onto the band's iconic White Album.

The ashram was run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a flamboyant self-styled Indian guru, who died in 2008.

It was abandoned by the guru and his followers in the 1970s.

Worth remembering that Paul didn't bother with the Maharishi for long, John soon saw the man was all too fallible, and it was only George who believed in the importance of the teachings.

Mojo Working: John Lennon
A curious series from 1992 looking at various key figures from rock history, mixing live performances of theirs and somewhat random celebrity talking heads, such as Suzi Quatro and Marti Pellow.

The Last Lennon Interview
English radio DJ Andy Peebles met John Lennon (and Yoko Ono) on December 6th, 1980 for a short chat, his 1st radio interview for years. It turned out to be a 3 hour+ epic, and by the time Peebles and his crew were on their plane home, their interviewee was dead. Peebles spoke about those events, the interview at New York's Hit Factory, and how he handled the attention when the interview was finally broadcast.

Lennon & Harrison - The Guitars Gently Weep
Various friends spoke kindly of their memories of the two fallen Beatles, though Lennon seemed to get the bulk of the coverage. One comment on Lennon was "John's problem was that he was a genius, and he knew it", which speaks volumes, rightly or wrongly. Paul McCartney's "it's a drag" response to the death of Lennon has always come in for criticism. Better than wailing and gnashing of teeth, I guess.

Classic Albums: Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon's first major statement after the end of the Beatles. Yoko, Ringo and Klaus Voormann handled most of the story-telling here, with Dr Arthur Janov (primal scream expert) and Mark Lewisohn (biographer) happily fleshing things out. The less familiar numbers like Isolation came through freshest, whilst the narrative rationale for the band itself was both typical of those involved, and an unlikely attempt to salute a power trio of Lennon, Starr and Voormann.

A draft letter of that sent by John Lennon when returning his MBE in ire turned up recently:

Valued at £60k

A letter John Lennon wrote to the Queen explaining why he was returning his MBE was found tucked in a record sleeve from a £10 car boot haul.
The anonymous owner took the document to a valuation day at The Beatles Story in Liverpool on Wednesday - and discovered it was worth about £60,000.

A similar Lennon letter is coming up for auction, and this one, from 1971, has some caustic stuff against Paul in it:

An undated letter thought to have been written by Lennon in 1971 is up for auction for $20,000 (£16,000) with RR Auction . 
Addressed to “Linda and Paul”, the typed letter – which has a letterhead of the faces of Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono – doesn’t hold back in addressing the recent break-up of The Beatles, Lennon’s relationship with the press and with Ono. It’s thought to be a response to a letter Linda McCartney had sent Lennon, chiding him for not openly announcing his departure from the band.

More auction wackiness:

Lennon's forged Beatles autographs

An old newspaper with autographs of the Beatles that were forged by John Lennon has sold at auction for £2,000.
A front page photo shows Paul McCartney crowning the carnival queen in Northwich, Cheshire, in 1963.
It was taken by photographer Les Goode and featured in Alkali News - an in-house magazine for chemical company ICI.
He sent it off to the Beatles to be autographed, but John Lennon signed it on behalf of all four band members.

There's no limit to this sort of silliness

The historic site known as Strawberry Field, is to be revived:

Lennon's masterpiece

Liverpool's Strawberry Field, the inspiration for one of the Beatles’ greatest hits, is to be revived.
The former Salvation Army children’s home, where John Lennon played as a child, is to open its gates to the public under new plans to redevelop the historic site.
Today, (Friday, February 17), the charity launched a public appeal for funds - 50 years to the day since Strawberry Fields Forever was released in the UK as a double-A side single with Penny Lane

John, by Cynthia Lennon
The saga of how she met her 1st husband at art college, why they got married so unexpectedly, and their struggles during the rise of the Beatles, and where things went wrong. I've seen comments that this is just about hatred of John, but actually she gives him the benefit of the doubt for a lot of the time. When he starts taking drugs, she recognises the impulse from his home-life that might have led him down that path, and later, when he seems to become the feckless puppet of Yoko, she doesn't flinch from seeing hope for redemption in him. Their son Julian loses out a lot from their split, and ultimately from having his rapprochement with his father cut short forever.

Yoko Ono has been given a co-credit on her widow John Lennon's song "Imagine", since John supposedly felt she contributed to it, and yet somehow never actually bothered noting it when he was alive. Since she must get his royalties anyway, the point of the exercise escapes me.

Playhouse - Snodgrass
This short comic drama from 2013 by David Quantick is set in the spring of 1991, but where John Lennon left the Beatles in 1962 in a row over recording "How Do You Do It?" So he's now an unemployable 50 year old using Snodgrass as an all-purpose abuse for all authority figures, whilst Paul has made a middling success keeping the Beatles going with tracks like Mull of Kintyre. The resolution involves Paul coming round to apologise, but John's not home yet, and he's not sorry anyway. These sorts of What Ifs usually fall down because they need the assumption that most events have run similarly to how we expect. I get it was meant to be funny, but Lennon appears here as someone with a mental imbalance in his incessant sarcasm to everyone.

VH1 RockDocs: The U.S. vs John Lennon
A lengthy effort looking at why particularly Richard Nixon's government took an interest in the revolutionary antics of the Beatle-turned-solo act. His "bigger than Jesus" mistake led to the anthemic Give Peace A Chance, helping at a concert to free John Sinclair, supporting the Black Panthers, and his immigration problems. The quality of the talking heads elevated this, not just activists like Tariq Ali, Dr Angela Davis and Bobby Seale, but journalists like Walter Cronkite, Gore Vidal and Geraldo Rivera, and FBI and Nixon supporters like G. Gordon Liddy. Plus archive of J. Edgar Hoover, Strom Thurmond, and of course John himself. Ultimately, Lennon outlasted Nixon and won his freedom. For a while...

Imagine - by John + Yoko '71
Quirky film, now restored, with soundtrack from albums by John, and by Yoko, with accompanying footage (the opening title track is most famous for the white piano and the window opening routine). Later skits are less successful (some of which seem designed purely to show off the famous names who have agreed to be part of it (Jack Palace, Dick Cavett, Fred Astaire and George Harrison)).

John & Yoko - Above Us Only Sky
A new doc looking at the early years of John Lennon's post-Beatles career, his home at Tittenhurst Manor, and the Imagine LP. His son Julian was present and a happy contributor, given it would have been a tricky time in his life. Klaus Voormann was predictably present to talk about helping out musically, and Yoko herself eventually deigned to chip in some points. David Bailey and Tariq Ali were other 60s icons whose orbit brought them into the story. There was some talk about making the above film, which made a shade more sense now. John's musical powers were given credit. The story ended with Yoko persuading John to move to New York, where they left Tittenhurst, and England, behind.

Looking For Lennon
A rather ponderous effort from last year, which covered his life up to their recording career. So, friends from school, college & so on. The general tenor was "what a genius he was", although there was a bit of "he was deeply unpleasant, really". His wonky home life (custody battles of his parents etc) probably made him the attention-seeker he remained throughout. Someone charitably suggested his later efforts for charitable causes were compensation for having been such a scumbag when younger.

It's telling that the Quarrymen formed without him, and after he joined and met Paul separately, he worked him in, Paul brought George, then they tacked Pete Best in because they needed a drummer, and once they got Brian Epstein, he swapped Pete for Ringo. Fellow travellers like Stuart were little missed, and even their rocking image in Hamburg in '61-'62 was just an evolution to their final "suited & booted" look.

A pair of sunglasses that belonged to John Lennon sold at auction for £137.5k! 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-50793862

The Beatles star left the round-rimmed glasses in the back of Ringo Starr's Mercedes in the summer of 1968.
Former chauffeur Alan Herring, who sold them at auction at Sotheby's in London, said he noticed at the time that they were damaged.

Whatever next?

Songs of Praise - Strawberry Field
Aled Jones visited the former children's home back in March. The Salvation Army have owned the site since the 1930s. There are now 2 sets of red gates, the originals separate from the replacements. John Lennon lived locally as a child, with his aunt. It originally closed in 2005, but was reopened last Autumn to play up the links with the Beatles, to inspire children.

Meanwhile, hand-written lyrics to "Hey Jude" went up for auction lately, among other Beatles items:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-52255022

and a rare photo of the early Quarrymen (John, Paul & George) was unearthed too:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-52233396

Gimme Some Truth
A behind the scenes look at the making of John's Imagine album, with producer Phil Spector, guest help from George Harrison and Klaus Voormann, several songs, and an encounter with an unfortunate fan who wants more guidance than is available.

John Lennon's 25 Greatest Songs
A rundown put together for a run of special programmes.

25 The Ballad of John and Yoko
24 Watching The Wheels
23 Please Please Me
22 Love
21 #9 Dream
20 Ticket To Ride
19 Power To The People
18 Come Together
17 (Just Like) Starting Over
16 Gimme Some Truth
15 Mind Games
14 I Feel Fine
13 Jealous Guy
12 Nobody Told Me
11 Beautiful Boy
10 Day Tripper
09 Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
08 Help!
07 Give Peace A Chance
06 Instant Karma
05 All You Need Is Love
04 Woman
03 Revolution
02 Strawberry Fields
01 Imagine

Some unexpected stuff there.

Imagine Peace Tower
A short from 2007 as Yoko opened this memorial on Videy Island, Reyjkavik.

John Lennon's Jukebox
More tracks which John was supposedly very keen on, and they ranged from Dave Edmunds and George McCrae to Lene Lovich and Donna Summer, to Bob Marley and Madness. Supposedly, the B-52's Rock Lobster was inspired by Yoko Ono in some way.

John Lennon - From The Archive
Another compilation, this time running from Plastic Ono Band efforts, through mid-70s works, and stuff from the Double Fantasy comeback, as well as a track with Cheap Trick, and one from the mid-90s Beatles project.

John Lennon - 75th Birthday Concert
From Madison Square Garden, the likes of Steven Tyler, Brandon Flowers, Sheryl Crow, John Fogerty, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and many more, had their go at covering his songs, with varying success and sincerity.

Lennon: The New York Years
From a 2011 series, this covered his time between the end of the Beatles and the end of his life. His early musical forays were mentioned, as well as his issues with Richard Nixon and visa problems. His support for Yoko Ono, and variable musical projects sometimes asked too much of his audience. His "lost weekend" when he cheated on Yoko seemed to be passed over as forgivable.

Parkinson - John Lennon and Yoko Ono
From 1971, when Michael disliked Yoko's Grapefruit book. They made Parky sit in a bag if he wanted to ask about the Beatles. They all smoked. John poured cold water on any prospect of the Beatles reforming, as their sales were all much higher now. He compared Paul with the game Monopoly. He also mentioned their management disagreements.

Lennon's Last Weekend
A new prog based in part on Andy Peebles' last interview with John, conducted very shortly before his death, with Andy in the air over the Atlantic with the tapes as John was killed. The wide-ranging aspects of the interview became a framework to relate his story with Earl Slick among the more unpredictable new interviewees.

Old Grey Whistle Test
A repeat from 1975, with genial host Bob Harris introducing live performance from a band called O (or Oh, or even Eau), then an early showing from Emmylou Harris, but most of it was taken up with an interview with John Lennon (and he did a couple of tracks from his covers album of the time). These are always the gems, a full presumably unexpurgated chat, rather than just spurious highlights. John talks about life in the US, preferring NY to LA, spells of depression, being hooked up with by other Brits like Mick Jagger, being close to Elton John and his collaboration with David Bowie. He preferred the studio to live work, and was even OK with Paul McCartney. He was used to an 8 week process for making albums, which working with Phil Spector had proved impossible.

Lennon
From 2005, a Welsh look at the legend, with friends and fans talking of their tenuous connections to the singer-songwriter-activist. At least Victor Spinetti had worked with the guy. The closing stuff with the Strawberry Fields memorial garden in New York was different, I guess.