Comments on: Happy Birthday, Yoko Ono

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 04:34:00 +0000

Also they played thousands of show together before making it big.

By: Petzl

Petzl — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:28:00 +0000

It wasn’t “each other’s hatred and loathing” that made them good. It was simply the dynamics of any good collaboration. Each reined in the other’s excesses and mistakes.

If you look at any of the Pythons when he struck out alone, they’re “good,” but no one Python’s work is anything close to brilliance of Monty Python collectively.

By: B E Pratt

B E Pratt — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:38:00 +0000

I was entranced by her when Live Peace Toronto 1969 (something like that) came out. Side one was pretty much just John jamming with the band doing some oldies and presenting a brand new song – Cold Turkey – which hadn’t been released at the time of performance. It was all good, if a bit, sloppy fun. But then you flip the record and John, sounding a wee nervous, says, “Uh, now, uhm, Yoko’s gonna do her thing.” And the band drops into ‘Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand in the Snow)’, a raw, raucous, more or less repetitive grind. And Yoko does indeed ‘do her thing’. The lyrics are pretty much contained in the title, but that piercing, grating, swooping, screeching voice has plenty of other things in mind. I would have been 15 or so and I was dumbstruck. THIS, oh my FUCKING GOD! THIS is pure unadulterated rock’n'roll!!! Jesuslordamercy.It is around five minutes long. But there’s one more surprise and it is a doozy. ‘John, John (Let’s Hope For Peace)’ is next up. It starts off fairly quietly, yet menacingly with just feed back and Yoko singing the lyrics which again is just the title while the feedback just keeps feeding back and she just keeps ratcheting up whatever it is that she’s doing. If you had thought that she’d assaulted you before, well, THIS time, baby, she’s gonna open Hell. After a while, the feed back is just one goddamighty roar and Yoko just starts this repetitive screaming that…. Well, you know how dogs just ignore whatever is on the stereo pretty much, no matter how loud? I’ve actually seen dogs cringe and then run and hide at this point. She eventually tapers off and stops while the feedback rolls on, sounding for all the world as if the ocean had been turned up to 11. Then finally, that stops also. It’s palpable just how stunned and disoriented the audience is, especially when an announcer comes on and tries to speak. “Ladies n gennl…ladies n….[whomp,whomp,whomp]…this thing on?…The Plasti….The Plas….”

And then it’s over. I get goosebumps just thinking about that. Awesome.

By: peregrinus

peregrinus — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:25:00 +0000

I showed the videos of Imagine (33m views on Youtube!) and Woman to my daughter the other day – new Yoko fan, although wishes she smiled more.

By: Stephan

Stephan — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:45:00 +0000

I saw her show in Berlin on Sunday. The crowd went wild. She rocks. The best one came when Peaches sang “Yes, I’m a witch” with her.

By: Richard Pusateri

Richard Pusateri — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:58:00 +0000

Yoko was in and out of her bag long before she met John. Let me be clear… make no mistake, Yoko started Bagism, not John and Yoko; Yoko Ono created Bagism. Oh, and Paul was bat shit crazy before John met Yoko.

By: jmcgarry

jmcgarry — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 04:41:00 +0000

I took my (then) 4 year old to an exhibition of hers last year. We were both engaged and moved by her art. I try and go to a lot of galleries and I think I’ve seen a lot more than my fair share of art and I’m rarely so moved.

By: Shane Simmons

Shane Simmons — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 04:23:00 +0000

We’re all water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfZvHuh7wKM

By: Shane Simmons

Shane Simmons — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 04:16:00 +0000

To tell you the truth, I think a lot of the post-Beatles stuff, from all of them, was pretty cringe-worthy. It’s almost like they needed each others’ hatred and loathing to be good.

I mean…really?…great sentiment, but…uh… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asf4InKVo8k

By: nem0fazer

nem0fazer — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 04:01:00 +0000

I was looking for that clip when I stumbled on the one I posted. Suffice to say I think her musical abilities may have been overestimated by some.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 03:27:00 +0000

My understanding for along time has been that everyone in The Beatles was willing to gnaw off an arm to escape from McCartney who was a horrible control freak and insecure.

And after the breakup, John and Paul went on to distinguished careers, Ringo went on being Ringo, and nearly everything Paul did was cringe worthy.

I heard there was an effort to hook up McCartney with song writer Johnny Mercer (Moon River, The Days of Wine a Roses, That Old Black Magic) in ’75 but Mercer was acting strange and a year later died of a brain tumor.

By: Bangorian

Bangorian — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 01:52:00 +0000

It’s not possible to appreciate Yoko Ono until one has had a chance to take in this gem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=495VEzYjABg

Be sure to check out Chuck Berry’s eyes at 1:15, when Yoko presents her contribution to this jam session. The question WTF? may well have been invented for this very performance. For those who couldn’t get enough – there are several other cameo’s later in the song, though mercifully, the soundboard appears to have killed her mike by 2:13

The question is who was more tweeked, Ono, or the guy rocking out on the bongo next to her.

By: nem0fazer

nem0fazer — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:54:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZ9weP5i68

By: Quiet Wyatt

Quiet Wyatt — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:34:00 +0000

80 years old and still making amazing music and art. I hope that some day I may be one-tenth as bitchin’, in every sense of the word, as Yoko.

By: Steve White

Steve White — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:31:00 +0000

“YES”

By: geekzapoppin

geekzapoppin — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:10:00 +0000

I grew up hearing her bad-mouthed on a regular basis. When I was in college, I discovered her art. Wow. I was so wrong about her. She has a truly beautiful soul and mind. Happy Birthday, dear lady!

By: franko

franko — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:03:00 +0000

happy birthday yoko. thank you for everything.

By: tamgoddess

tamgoddess — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:02:00 +0000

I respect this woman tremendously. What courage it has taken to live her life.