Yoko Ono

Woman: The Incredible Life of Yoko Ono
$19.95
Yoko Ono is, without a doubt, the greatest artist of any genre of all time. It is rare enough that a book is devoted to this musical legend, let alone one that is of the quality of this. Previously, books about Yoko Ono were either extraordinarily hostile, or squeezed between page, after page of information about John Lennon. This unique book, however is off the beaten path. It is written in a refreshingly favorable manner towards Yoko Ono. It is loving. We get the most complete information about Yoko Ono from the very early days of her life, until the current times. The book provides ample information which is not available elsewhere about her troubled childhood until her marriage with John Lennon, and after that, and of course, her legacy on popular music. Overall, "Woman: The Incredible Life Of Yoko Ono" is well worth the cover price, and more. You will not be able to find a more complete source of information about this wonderful and historic woman. It is an absolutely essential edition to any Yoko Ono fan's library. I hope this was of help, and that it inspires you to purchase this magnificent book.

Approximately Infinite Universe
$19.98
So many of these songs are just plain amazing...I guess it's hard being original- but she is. One of a kind, John saw it and so did a few of us. Glad to see it's taken a year or two and people see what we saw all along. Check out SEASON OF GLASS.

Yoko Ono: Between the Sky and My Head
$45.00
Between the Sky and My Head is a lovely collection of photos of Yoko's exhibits at Kunsthalle Bielefeld and Baltic Center for Contemporary Art in Germany in 2008. The shows featured work from 1961 to the present and include the Franklin Summer pointille' drawings which I greatly admire. I also saw a new artwork, Bastet, which I had not known about. Wonderful, quixotic, and born to inspire and make us think, Yoko Ono's artwork truly is special and justifies her fame as an artist long before she became Mrs. John Lennon. (Her work to keep John's name alive in the art world is touching too, but there are no Lennon works in the exhibit.)

Season of Glass
$11.98
I still have the vinyl version of this album. With the 45 rpm single version of Walking on Thin Ice. I ran across this album (dating myself) on my Amazon recomendations. I stopped to read the other reviews. The ones rated 4 & 5 stars I have little to add. I, too, was a Yoko fan before she became "the woman who broke up the Beatles." I owned her book Grapefruit, and actually remember one of her exercises from the book (paraphrasing): Pretend you are a child playing hide and seek. Pretend no one is looking for you.

I own "Two Virgins". I actually like her singing. I hear her influence in the B52s (as did John.) On December 8, 1980 I was watching Monday Night Football. My friend Lisa and I used to bet, successfully, on football games. I heard, of all people, Howard Cosell announce that John Lennon had been shot. I was devastated. I don't remember who won the game that night, whether I won money or had to pay the bookie. The world stopped.

One afternoon, in the 1970's, I was walking in Central Park, walking from East Side to West, near the carousel. Coming up the same path, West to East, was John & Yoko. It was a brisk Fall day. Heading towards dusk. Like everyone in my generation, the Beatles changed my life. I remember palpatations and thinking, "Do I ask for an autograph? Or do I do what a native New Yorker should do - respect their space?" I decided the latter. I'm sure my face gave my thoughts away because as John & Yoko neared they slowed down, waiting for the inevitable pen and paper. I pulled up alongside them. "Hi, John; hi, Yoko," smiled and kept walking. They both smiled and said "Hi." We kept walking. New Yorkers all. I will always remember their smiles.

Inside my vinyl album is a greyed letter to Yoko. Expressing my grief, my sympathy to a woman who'd just lost her husband, lost the father of her son, the man who'd just returned to his career with "Double Fantasy". It is a personal, heartfelt letter I never sent. Instead this album said everything and more on the subject of loss. I just put the letter inside the record jacket.

This is a evocative collection of songs, poetry, about dealing with loss and anger and grief and love. Walking on Thin Ice is a brilliant song, right on the cutting edge of the punk revolution sitting on the high wire of new wave and disco. It was revolutionary, and had it come just a little earlier could've done for Yoko what "Broken English" did for Marianne Faithfull. Her break through moment. This album was the breakout work John felt was finally her moment. Instead, tragedy.

Ignore the one star reviews. By now you know Yoko's eclectic style. You either like it or you don't. I think the oddest, and most ridiculous, comments are the ones suggesting she doesn't have a right to include gun shots, doesn't have the right to put her husband's glasses on the cover. It reminds me of the comment Pete Townshend has made about the losses of Jimi, Janis, and Keith: "They may be YOUR rock stars. But they were my FRIENDS." Those glasses belonged to her murdered husband. She has the right to do whatever she wants with them, and sing whatever she wants to sing.

John & Yoko courted in public. Married in public. Had to put up with the entire world commenting on their relationship. Their ups & downs were public. That Yoko would choose to document her very private feelings in this public arena is an extension of that invasion of privacy that they put up with for years. Her effort is nothing less than courageous and brave. That she did so in such a touching, heart breaking, effective manner is art.

Like the service she requested in John's memory, worldwide, 10 minutes of silence, it's quiet and powerful. I initially didn't want to go to that memorial in Central Park. At the last minute I jumped on the subway and just made it as "Imagine" was ending, and the silence began. I remember hearing the news copters above the park. In the middle of New York City, no noise. Peace and tears. This album opens up a floodgate of memories for me. Sad, but fond.

If you have an open mind, know what it's like to lose someone you love, or have a will to survive, give this album it's due. Every day I'm still glad I never asked for that autograph. It's a New York thing.