Sol & all
I had a look at this book at St. Marks Bookstore while I was
in New York. It's a big silver coffee table-type and it's priced at
only $60 which I thought was a great deal. Having just bought
a copy of "Grapefruit" though I didn't feel the book Jones as
much and didn't buy it.
RA
Sol Nte wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Received this group mailing from Francie Schwartz the other day on Yoko
> Ono's new book. Thought you'd all be interested in the personal perspective
> of this mail, Francie and Yoko have been friends since the sixties when they
> met via their respective relationships with Lennon and McCartney.
>
> cheers,
>
> Sol.
>
> ---------------------------
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Francie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: 07 October 2000 16:51
> Subject: For Immediate Release!
>
> >YES YOKO ONO (Abrams/Japan Society, 2000)
> >
> >I come to YES YOKO ONO from a long, personal relationship to the
> >Artist. But let's keep it real: I heard of the CUT PIECE when it was
> >announced and after it was performed because I was a recent college
> >graduate with a minor in Art History, and the Arts section was the
> >first thing I grabbed in the New York Times. I happened to be living
> >in NY from 1966-68 and again from 1979-81. I had had no direct
> >contact with Yoko for nearly 31 years. More about that (contact)
> >later.
> >
> >My copy of YES YOKO ONO arrived via Federal Express last week, and
> >the moment I cut away the different coloured layers of bubble wrap I
> >nearly gasped as if the thing were radioactive and glowing like
> >something in a John Sayles movie. The following night I went through
> >the sections again and the Indexes and Bibliography and Footnotes.
> >It was like an acid trip for me.
> >
> >I own hundreds of art books, and this is the best I've ever had. Do
> >I say this because the subject is also my friend? I don't know; I'm
> >just doing it.
> >
> >It is also a fine teaching text on the avant garde movement in
> >post-war America. It acknowledges influences graciously. The Lennon
> >factor is in proper balance. This is a book about the woman of whom
> >John Lennon once said, "She's the most famous unknown artist in the
> >world." YES YOKO ONO *is* the art of Yoko Ono as well as her poetry,
> >music, and instruction pieces. She is also a woman, perhaps the most
> >maligned woman now living on this planet.
> >
> >How does a woman work through the oceans of negativity flowing
> >toward her for decades? Making art can help. In the first moment of
> >my own relationship to Yoko, (May 1968) I didn't associate the
> >artist I'd read about in the New York Times -- the woman who sat on
> >the stage at Carnegie Recital Hall and let people cut pieces of her
> >clothing off -- with the tiny figure off in the corner of Abbey Road
> >studios. When John introduced me to her, I was immediately struck by
> >the truth: these two were well matched. I found them both beautiful.
> >I still cannot think of them separately; they are JohnandYoko
> >henceforth and forever to me. If only...
> >
> >Receiving YES is a heady thing. Just as John found Yoko via the tiny
> >YES at the top of the ladder, you may find her in the pages of this
> >sumptuous and thoroughly classy "coffee table book" (I would never
> >put it on my coffee table. Might get coffee on it).
> >
> >SMILE FILM (#5 Apple, soon to be available) is the only Ono film
> >I've seen from its inception.
> >The unedited film came out of the lab when JohnandYoko were staying
> >at "ours" (Paul's house). The sound of John's voice asking: Where's
> >the projector?, the unrolling of the great old movie screen on its
> >tripod legs, the projector just the same sort of sixteen millimeter
> >projector my family had back home in New Jersey, it's all intact. I
> >don't remember who did what, but one of these two odd new boyfriends
> >of ours got the job done. We rolled the film. Paul sat back in the
> >Daddy chair, slumped down with his Scotch and Coke. John and Yoko
> >screened the silent smile. In memory, it was only one long shot, but
> >it was truly a story told in John's face, in superslomo.
> >
> >I was digging it. In the background I hear Yoko saying "They have so
> >much to get over. They have to get over the subject. They have to
> >get over who the artist is. Then the relationship between the artist
> >and the subject... Do you think I should put in the bird sound?"
> >
> >Then John says "Oh it's fine as it is dear, let's go to bed!" They
> >were almost like an old married couple, endearing young charms
> >dancing in their eyes. This is one of my most precious memories. I
> >to give it away, the way you do with priceless things.
> >
> >In 1968, neither Yoko nor I had any idea these guys were going to be
> >remembered in great detail thirty years on. We were just two young
> >women trying to live with two guys. Yoko Ono, always focused and
> >always productive, did not slow her fountain of ideas just because
> >she fell in love with John. Until I had my YES, I had no idea that
> >during that spring and summer, Yoko had several shows in different
> >countries. I did attend the first show she did jointly with John in
> >London, nearly six months before they were married. I looked up the
> >name and date of the show in the Filmography/Gallery show listing
> >but the name escaped me. I remember all the refreshments were clear
> >cool water in elegant bottles, and balloons had been released with
> >tiny tags that said "You are here." I remember a couple of those
> >tags came back with nasty slimy notes addressed to John or Yoko or
> >both. But that's another story.
> >
> >Yoko's face circa mid-sixties is gazing at me from its deep foil
> >dust jacket. I must go back to The Book and have another marvelous
> >time with the Artist. I will use this book forever. Thanks, Yoko!
> >
> >--
> >http://sites.netscape.net/fabest
> >
> >"Everybody has a heart... except some people."
> > ~~ Bette Davis, ALL ABOUT EVE
> >
> >
