Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 50
Sign: Aquarius
City: MINNEAPOLIS
State: Minnesota
Country: US
Signup Date: 4/4/2006
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Monday, December 08, 2008
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St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
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December 4, 2000
Section: Express
Edition: City
Page: 1F
Memo:See related story: WARM LOCAL TRIBUTE IS A KEEPER OF THE LENNON FLAME
WHEN YOKO MET CURTISS//CURTISS A, KNOWN FOR HIS ANNUAL TRIBUTE TO JOHN LENNON, SHOOTS THE BREEZE WITH YOKO ONO ABOUT CAREERS, THE BEATLES' BREAKUP AND THE ART OF REMEMBERING WISELY.
Jim Walsh, Pop Music Critic
On the night of Dec. 8, 1980, Yoko Ono and John Lennon were returning home to the Dakota apartment building near New York's Central Park, when gunman Mark David Chapman murdered the ex-Beatle.
A couple of hours later in Minneapolis, after hearing the news, Curtiss A got up onstage with Safety Last and Slim Dunlap at the 7th St. Entry to sing a few Beatles and Lennon songs. | ..TABLE>
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| Since then, Ono and Curt have been keeping the Lennon flame alive in their own ways. Ono has showcased Lennon's artwork, lyrics and recordings, while Curt has staged his Lennon tribute every year around this time.
The two artists had never spoken to each other, but to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Lennon's death on Friday, we thought it would be a good idea to get them on the phone together.
A good idea? On one hand, we have the woman who has been myopically painted as the reason the Beatles broke up. On the other, the local legend notorious for saying exactly what's on his mind (....When I met Chuck Berry, I asked him why he always plays with such s-----y bands,'' Curt said before the interview) and for his status as one of America's great lost soul singers.
Why not? The call happened Sunday morning, Nov. 26. Over the course of 45 minutes, the two discussed Lennon's legacy, Elvis impersonators and the simple fact that all our cells are connected.
Some excerpts:
Walsh: Good morning, Yoko. I have Curtiss A with us here. Curt, can you say, ....Hi?''
Curt: Hi, Yoko.
Yoko: Hi, dear.
Curt: She called me ....dear''!
Walsh: The reason I wanted to get you two together on the phone this morning is because in your own ways, you've both been responsible for keeping John's flame alive. Yoko, Curt has been doing his tribute to John for 20 years.
The great thing about it is that it attracts some of the best musicians in town, and it really is a celebration of John's music that has retained his spirit, and irreverence and message of peace and love unlike any other live music experience that I know of. You'd be amazed by it - seeing all these people in the same room, lifted up by John's music every year.
Yoko: That's great. That's so great.
Walsh: Curt, is there anything you'd like to add to that?
Curt: Yeah. A couple days ago, when I found out I'd be speaking to you, I was sort of amazed. And I called up some friends to ask, ....What do you think I should ask Yoko?'' Because there's so many things one could ask. And one thing that I wondered about ... I'm kind of nervous.
Yoko: It's OK, go ahead.
Curt: OK, they said they'd read an article recently where you had mentioned that you weren't really that thrilled with people celebrating any John stuff on the 8th because, you know, of what happened and that you'd prefer that it be on his birthday.
Yoko: Right. I just think that's really weird, you know, to be celebrating. I mean, what's that?
Curt: Exactly. I don't know if I would call it a celebration. It's been called a tribute, and I guess that's true, because he wrote all the music and we're singing it because it touches us ...
And I just wanted you to know, too, there was this other weird thing. Me talking to you ... Like, you've heard of Elvis impersonators?
Yoko (dubiously): Yes ...?
Curt: Well, I don't want this to be like an Elvis impersonator talking to Priscilla (Yoko chuckles). Because I'm not an impersonator. I was a kid, and I think that when you hear music as a child, that's new, and when you hear something as mind-blowing as the Beatles were, even in the beginning ... You know, rock bands didn't use the chords they used.
I know you've probably read all the books, and I know John has probably told you (adopts a Liverpool accent), ....I'm a f---in' genius!'' (Yoko chuckles). But to have such a visceral feeling, or an epiphany, and you have this feeling of ....Wow. I'm really alive, and I'm experiencing this, and look, the whole world is, too.''
Walsh: Yoko, have you heard of any other tributes to John?
Yoko: Well, yes. I think it's a worldwide phenomenon, in a way. As you know, in tribute to John, the John Lennon Museum was set up this year in Japan and also, in Cleveland, the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is doing a tribute exhibition that's going to go on for six months. So there's a lot of big tributes, as well, but small tributes from different countries for the birthday. And on December 8th, there are many tributes in every country.
Walsh: Getting back to what Curt was talking about, the birthday vs. Dec. 8th. Do you personally commemorate Dec. 8th in any way?
Yoko: Yes, well, for me it's a day of remembrance ... and it's a very different feeling from celebrating his birthday (Oct. 9, 1940). So for his birthday, because it happens to be Sean's (Ono and Lennon's son) birthday, as well, we really celebrate.
Dec. 8th is a different story. I just stay in the Dakota, quietly, a lot of meditation, etc. And many people come to Strawberry Fields (in Central Park outside the Dakota) with candles and all that, and they like to sing John's songs and everything. But it's a very different feeling.
Sean and I put out a few candles in my bedroom window, just to say, ....Hey, we're with you.'' And if it's a cold night - I don't know if I'll do it this year - sometimes I send hot chocolate or something down to Strawberry Fields. The point is to share.
Walsh: Would you ever come to Minneapolis to see Curt's tribute? (Curt and Yoko chuckle).
Yoko (after a long explanation about how scientists have discovered through DNA testing that we are all connected by our cells): On Dec. 8th, we're all united in spirit. Time and distance is human creation, and cells react to each other, regardless of what we're thinking. So if you're doing this thing in Minneapolis, we're all joining. I'm doing this thing in New York, and you're connected. Regardless of what you're thinking, our cells are connected, because we're just one world, one people.
Curt: ... I loved what you were saying about the cells and all that. I think that all the time. I'm one of those people who thinks that the sun exploded and it cooled, and I guess it was Joni Mitchell who said, ....We're all stardust.'' That's true. We're all part of the same thing.
I'm gonna ask one question ... you know, I was worried. I didn't know what I was going to say because I don't know you.
Yoko: You do know me as much as anybody else, John Lennon included. Would you say to John, ....Well, actually, I don't know you''?
Curt: This is so funny. Somebody asked me once if I thought you broke up the Beatles. And I just thought that was the stupidest thing I ever heard because, enough already. For one thing, I don't know you personally, or any of those guys, so I couldn't really have an opinion. But I've been in bands and usually, in a band, they break up because ...
Yoko: They break up.
Curt: They've been together too long, and it's musical, and there's so many people in the world to make music with. I mean, all the time (the Beatles) would bring other guys in. That's what I do (with the Lennon tribute). I don't just have four guys up there. We start the beginning with four, and then I start bringing up other guitar players because I want to ...
Yoko: You want to explore, you want to experiment.
Curt: Right. I have this friend, Dave Hill, and I asked him, ....What would you ask Yoko?'' And he didn't want to really ask anything. He just wanted me to say that he thought that you had freed John. He said that he thought you were the best thing that could have ever happened to Beatle John, because he was depressed, and all of a sudden ...
To me, being in love is the best thing there is. When you're in love, you don't care about how horrible things are. I mean, you do, and you want to do something about it. You want to survive. You want to make life better if you're in love. And you guys, for years there, everyone was going, ....Yeah. John and Yoko. That's love.'' You know (laughs sardonically), more than Dick (Burton) and Liz (Taylor).
Yoko: It manifests as love, but I really think it has a lot to do with logical direction for survival. And when I say survival, that includes physical survival, but also mental survival, you know?
Curt: They go hand in hand.
Walsh: People have so much invested in John's music, in their memories and in their personal experiences, but those are all experienced individually. Curt's tribute every year allows everyone to be in the same room. And many times during the night, the room actually surges and almost levitates.
Yoko: That's beautiful. You know what it is? It's a very strange thing. Whenever people gather, it's an incredible power. The thing is, that's what you're doing, Curt. When you gather people, through music or singing, you're levitating those people to the highest platform, which is great.
Walsh: One year, it was 30 below and the television newscasters were telling everyone to stay home. I got down to First Avenue, the club where it's held, and there were a thousand people rocking to John through Curt. The streets of Minneapolis were dead, except for that club and John's music. It was really amazing.
Yoko: It's a microcosm of the world, in a way, in the big picture of the universe. I think the universe itself responds to any healing. And that's what you're doing. And I'm very, very ...
Curt: So it doesn't bug you? (laughs)
Yoko (chuckling): No, it doesn't bug me.
Curt: Do you ever feel like ... um, OK, you're an artist. And you were an artist before you met John. And actually, the way you do things, it's like this business sense. You're supersmart about getting someone's attention.
Yoko: I don't know what you mean about ....supersmart about getting someone's attention.''
Curt: What I mean is, you always hear this story (when John came into a London gallery showing Yoko's work) and he climbed up on the ladder (that was in one of her artworks), you got his attention. And you got it in a different way. You didn't know you were going to get his attention.
Yoko: No, of course not.
Curt: When he put the magnifying glass up there, and it said ....Yes,'' rather than ....No.''
Yoko: It wasn't that I got his attention, it was that John woke up. And that's different.
Curt: It could have been anyone, though. Who knows how many other people got up there and you changed their lives with that statement? I guess what I wanted to know was... You're you, and you're not him. And so people always talk to you about him. Like, I do my own stuff. I don't do John all year. I spend about a month ahead of the time every year rehearsing, but I don't spend my whole artistic existence trying to do John's songs. Like, do you still feel the need to be artistic, or isn't it as visceral?
Yoko: I really think that everytime that I'm expending energy, then I should be creative in how I expend my energy.
Curt: Well, you seem very likable, I'll tell you that. You seem nice (laughs). See, I was afraid of being too gauche.
Yoko: I don't like you being so patronizing of me. Why would you say that I'm likable? Is it under that assumption that maybe I shouldn't be likable? I mean, you're likable, everybody's likable, Jim Walsh is likable, we all love each other. So what is this, ....You're very likable,'' like you're surprised?
Curt: Because I'm always scared to meet new people, I'll tell you that. That's my own problem.
Yoko: No, you're saying that because most people you think don't like me, and then you're protecting me, saying, ....She's really likable.''
Curt: I've always thought that was mean, because they don't know you.
Yoko: It's their karma, and it's their loss. If I don't like something, then that's my loss. It's sad, because people want to undermine what happened. What happened between John and I was incredible. It was just like magic. It was like a miracle. It was a miracle. It was beyond us. And the thing is, I'm very thankful about that.
And the result of all the stuff that happened, it's beautiful, but I think it would be nice if people believed that, if, from the point of view of if you believe that such a thing could have happened, it could happen in your life, too. And I would like you to know that. That miracles could happen.
Curt: Well, I'm talking to you, and I never thought that would happen. When I heard I was gonna talk to you, I was just stunned, because I never thought that would happen.
You know, I only know you guys from ... well, like you said, we all know everybody. But you read things, and I don't like reading things, because there's always two sides to every story. But when you hear the music and see the way you act, that's a whole different thing. To me, that's more real than other people's perceptions.
Yoko: We all know each other much more than what we think. Even people who are saying something like, ....I love chocolate.'' We use the word ....love'' and ....hate,'' and it's just words. And I think that people who don't believe in miracles, or say they don't like me, actually are totally afraid that they know me so well. It's just words.
What I really think is, whenever you were thinking of John, I was there with you, probably. And whenever you've had this concert, I probably experienced it. And I'm very thankful to you for doing so.
Curt: Wow.
Walsh: Curt, is there anything else you'd like to ask?
Curt: I'm afraid of saying something else kind of stupid.
Yoko: You're not stupid. You're wise, Curt. I don't know if you know the extent of what you're doing and how important it is. I think you're just sort of led by your love for it. That's why you're doing these concerts. I mean, you're part of the healing process of the universe.
Pop music critic Jim Walsh can be reached at jwalsh@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5553.
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Illustration:Photo: Scott Takushi/Pioneer Press
Curtiss A speaks on the phone with Yoko Ono about a man dear to both.
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Copyright (c) 2000 St. Paul Pioneer Press
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12:13 AM
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