Antonio G. Pereira © 2024 Antonio G. Pereira
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Well Folks, Folkies, Folkish and Folklike, even though I didn't realize it at the time, becoming aware of and purchasing these two books almost simultaneously, turned this into a double review. They are ' Confessions of A Rock N' Roll Name Dropper' by Laurie Kaye and 'In Your Mind: The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono' by Madeline Bocaro. Both thoughtful and well written interesting books.
'Confessions of A Rock N' Roll Name Dropper' by Laurie Kaye https://www.confessionsofarocknrollnamedropper.com https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Rock-Roll-Name-Dropper/dp/194902458X is a very thoughtful and moving autobiography. It covers Laurie's life story growing up in Los Angeles, and how a love of music impacted her life. This is a book I think she could not have written until now. It was time for her to finally tell this story, and I'm glad she did.
Y'know it's funny, from reading this book I began to get a picture of the changes that were happening in this country during the almost two years I was away finishing College in Japan. I completely missed the disco music phase (aside from being here when Van McCoy's big hit 'The Hustle' was being played non-stop on radio and kicked off what became Disco Music). And as far as Punk Rock went, when Cable TV was first laid here in New York in 1972-73 ( they'd had Cable out in California for years) and we had Public Access stations C and D, you'd see all kinds of kooky programming by people (Including me. My last year of high school was spent in an alternative school (which were very popular then) in Greenwich Village (The Geranium School) that had a video production class (everything was on reel to reel then, using Porta Packs for filming) where each student had the opportunity to do a video project on a subject they wanted to shed light on. The one I did was on a local African Art Store, which I titled 'Sometime Nairobi New York, as a pun on John and Yoko's then current album 'Sometime In New York City'; and using some of Jimi Hendrix' music from Electric Ladyland as the soundtrack to spotlite some of the beautiful art pieces.) There was a program I used to watch every week on Public Access called, 'The Underground Tonight Show', that broadcasted out of The Cafe Wha? ; which Richie Havens had recently reopened. One of the bands (along with David Peel and The Lower East Side) that performed on there was a new band named 'Television', that four years later, became one of the premiere Punk Bands; but at the time were a watered down version of The Stones. As far as Punk Music went, from over in Japan and what I saw in ' Music Life', Punk was The Sex Pistols in England. And I must say, aside from 'God Save The Queen' and Television's first album, 'Marquee Moon' (surprisingly, a very good album), which I heard on Japanese radio, most of that Punk Music just made me scratch my head. I guess I just didn't get it. I also remember reading in the Mainichi News (just before Elvis Presley died), an article that had originally been published in a Russian Newspaper, and republished in the Mainichi News, prophetically stating that Elvis Presley was one of the most exploited artists on the planet, and didn't have much longer to live, being shocking to read at the time; although recent articles in the International Editions of Time and especially Newsweek, that covered his recent concerts, showed him in a poor light and referred to him as the 'Roly Poly King of Rock'. All of these memories came back to me from reading Laurie Kaye's book. Her life story (told from a West Coast perspective) I found fascinating. Her interest in Radio Programming and meeting popular Disc Jockey B. Mitchell Reed (who gave her winning tickets to see The Stones' Nicaraguan Benefit at the L.A. Forum, promoted by Bill Graham) who told her that with her voice, she'd make a good candidate for radio. Her wild experiences in college. Her time spent on the island of Bali in Indonesia teaching English As A Second Language, and finally her entre into the field of Radio at KFRC, and the people there who mentored and guided her into what became a career. Her stories of the artists she interviewed (three of them from The Beatles) after having co-created a widely heard and syndicated radio documentary on The Beatles; among them, first George Harrison, then Paul and Linda McCartney, and finally John Lennon and Yoko Ono, are a pleasure to read (I couldn't put the book down!). Good on you Laurie Kaye! Well worth reading!
While reading 'In Your Mind: The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono' by Madeline Bocaro https://www.inyourmindbook.com https://www.amazon.com/Your-Mind-Infinite-Universe-Yoko/dp/1667813099 , I was brought back to when I purchased a small hardcover copy of Yoko Ono's book, 'Grapefruit' (with introduction by John Lennon, and a new Introduction by Yoko Ono; where she reminded me of a comical take on the type of writing John did in his books, 'In His Own Write' and 'A Spaniard In The Works'), that was republished by Simon and Schuster in 2000. I purchased that copy of 'Grapefruit', just before the local Tower Records (sadly and very much missed), went out of business in 2006. That book sat on a shelf with a couple of other books, all by itself, and seemed to say to me, 'pick me up and take a look and buy me'; which is what I did, and got quite a final sale discount. Of course, I had heard about 'Grapefruit' for decades, but never owned a copy. I took it home and enjoyed reading it over a couple of days. Yoko Ono's conceptual ideas were quite a challenge to understand, but as I went back to go over them again and again, the fascination with her ideas was what kept my interest.
'In Your Mind' reminds me of an expanded continuation of a window into the creativity (and in this case) the life story of Yoko Ono. Although her work as a conceptual artist has not always been easy for me to understand, I think when she hooked up with John Lennon (as he was an artist as well as a musician), not only did her work become more accessible, I think his work as an artist was greatly influenced by her as well; interestingly as John's close friend Stu Sutcliffe had also influenced his work as an artist. (That might make an interesting comparison by someone one day). I think the blending of their talents was most apparent in their films and recordings together. Their films at that time period (late '68 through 1969) like, 'Smile' and 'Rape' 'Apotheosis' the immortal 'Imagine' (film and LP -1971), and their recordings, 'Two Virgins', ' Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With The Lions', 'The Wedding Album' and 'Live Peace In Toronto' (as well as their 1972 album, 'Sometime In New York City' , without forgetting their twin Plastic Ono Band albums (1970) and Yoko's albums, 'Fly' (1971) 'Approximately Infinite Universe' (1973) and 'Feeling The Space' (1974)) were, (in my opinion) groundbreaking. I do think a good deal of the criticism hurled at them then, smacked of outright racism ( see the 'Press Clippings' Booklet included in The Wedding Album Box Set) , and the insults coming from some of the people who identified themselves as 'Counterculture', pretty much spoke for itself at the time.
Frankly, I don't think it will get much better or more detailed than this book. This is quite a biography. Among several things I did not know, was that besides the weeklong set of live performances with a current Plastic Ono Band (John was in Los Angeles) at Kenny's Castaways in 1974, Yoko Ono also subsequently toured Japan with this band that same year.
As someone who finished his College education ( the last quarter of my Junior Year and all of my Senior Year) in Japan, during a period (mid to late 1970s) when the Japanese were having a retrospective on the 60s era in their country, that began and lasted practically the whole time I lived there, for myself, it was a fascinating, once in a lifetime experience, and not likely to ever happen there again; along with the fact that John and Yoko (with a baby Sean), made an extended visit to Japan at that time, during which Yoko Ono conducted an entire solo interview on the NHK Television Network in Japanese. Instead of making this a complex chapter to chapter review of an extraordinary and unusual artist, I'll touch on a few instances that I remembered, that were sparked off by reading, 'In Your Mind'.
Madeline Bocaro has written a biography of Yoko Ono's life and work, which I think in the years to come, will be THE reference book that people will use to either refer to for information or (if they are just curious and discovering her work for the first time), will be filled with wonder when they read it. This is a very readable book and obviously a labour of love.
A few things that should be mentioned. Having personally experienced the Japanese love for different kinds of music besides their own, I found it a little strange that Yoko Ono's interest in Jazz was not more detailed. I remember Sue Simmons (whose father John Simmons was a very accomplished Jazz bassist, who played with Ben Webster, Billie Holliday, Tadd Dameron, Coleman Hawkins, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk, Erroll Garner and John Coltrane among others), having quite a fascinating brief, joyful and spirited conversation on remote on 'Live At Five' on NBC here in New York during the late 1980s with Ornette Coleman (when his career had a huge resurgence and his music became accessible to a wider audience), during which Yoko was mentioned by Ornette, and it was obvious that he had been good friends with and known Yoko Ono for quite a long time. The music Ornette (along with Albert Ayler and later on John Coltrane) had been making, the 60s continuum in the advancement of Modern Improvised Jazz, which began with the Birth of Be Bop, an existence of form, created by IDEAS, that have a HISTORY, should be pointed out as well. What's interesting about 'this area', is that 'The Lives of John Lennon' author Albert Goldman, along with quite a few of his Journalist friends, that date back to the very late '30s and 1940s, actually RESENTED the Charlie Parkers, Dizzy Gillespies, Bud Powells, Thelonious Monks, Miles Davis' etc.; as (with the exception of a few intelligent and open minded Music Critics like Leonard Feather (who was also a musician), Nat Hentoff and Ralph J. Gleason - not forgetting of course Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter (who ran guns for the French Underground during World War II) who came to this country and so loved the music and the musicians, that she became a champion of the music and a Patron To The Arts; having understood the freedom of thought, creativity and expression it represented), anything beyond Dixieland, went right over their heads. Ironically, when Be Bop became assimilated into Popular Culture years later (translated into easy to understand Doofus), Goldman and company ended up as 'Experts' and 'Authorities on Jazz' and 'Tenured Professors' of this music in Universities.
It should also be mentioned that the late Gil Noble, who hosted the program, 'Like It Is' on ABC here in New York for decades, had quite a fascinating and interesting interview with Clara Hale (who created Hale House up in Harlem during the 1970s, and was visited by (during the 1980s) among others, Mother Theresa and Princess Diana), on his show one Sunday, during which the discussion touched on then President (finger pointing HUAC and Joseph McCarthy participant and devotee, and while Governor of California, remembered for the immortal words directed at the poor, while hosting a barbeque at his ranch, "I hope they all get botulism" , and then there is the strange demise of San Jose Mercury Journalist Gary Webb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb ) Ronald Reagan, and his wife, the designer dress wearing and completely out of touch ('Just Say No' and 'Stop The Madness') Nancy, having recently used the opportunity of an appearance on television, to make an obviously vain and dishonest attempt to co-opt what Clara Hale had been doing for years, long before Ron and Nancy were in the White House, into their agenda of Reshaping America; (and they looked and sounded ridiculous doing so).
Clara Hale mentioned in passing to Gil Noble, that John Lennon and Yoko Ono had been donating money to Hale House for years; along with quietly coming up to visit.
In the last section of 'In Your Mind', after John Lennon's passing, we see that Yoko Ono continues her work as an artist and as a musician; even performing with her son Sean, in a new version of the Plastic Ono Band. She also continued with the work she and John had started, The Spirit Foundation. Then there were the Exhibitions of John's Artwork. (In 1988, while visiting some friends in England and walking down Oxford Street in London one afternoon, I saw a giant poster on a light pole with a picture of John Lennon, advertising ' The John Lennon Exhibition', which took place and was presented by The Business Design Centre and Johnathan Poole Galleries from Sept. 20th - 25th, and which I attended all day long (if I remember correctly) on the second day when a Virgin/BBC film crew was there filming. It was a wonderful retrospective of John's artwork and films, of and with Yoko. I stayed until almost closing time and signed the Guest Book. A few years later, during the time I lived in Seattle, in Sept. of 2003 I also attended 'The Art of John Lennon Exhibition', at the Pacific Edge Gallery downtown. Again, a wonderful retrospective of John's work with Yoko.)
In conclusion, what I find most fascinating about Madeline Bocaro's biography, is that you can turn to any section and catch a different glimpse of Yoko Ono's thought processes. Whimsical, thought provoking, humorous, deadly serious, questioning and probing. It's easy to understand why John Lennon and Yoko Ono found each other at the right time in history, when they both were searching and knew there was something they were destined to accomplish in their lifetimes. Well worth reading. BRAVO!
