Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Lennon Lives On!
The 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s death was earlier this month. Rolling Stone had an article on Lennon. He lived a tortured life. His mom and dad split up. His dad was often gone at sea. When they split up, his dad asked John to choose between mom and dad at age 5. At first young John chose dad, then saw the distress this caused mom and chose mom. The family forced mom to let Aunt Mimi raise John. John was finally reestablishing a relationship with mom at 18 when she was killed in an auto accident by a drunken off duty policeman. When he started the Beatles they became his family, later he left them because he felt they constrained him. He met up with his dad around 1970 and told his dad he had messed his life up. Lennon had been in psychotherapy and tried Primal Scream Therapy. He met and married Yoko, he later spent a year separated from her in ’74. He felt he never had much of a relationship with his son Julian, when Sean was born in “75 he vowed things would be different. He acknowledged his past moods and violent tendencies and committed to work towards inner peace and change. He spent 5 years being a house husband and dad. He finally achieved some peace in his relationship with his son, seeing “Double Fantasy” go gold and recording another piece with Yoko. The night after finishing the final recording and learning of the Gold Record he returned home to be shot by an assassin in front of his home at the Dakota in NYC.
It seems a lot of John Lennon’s creative talent came out of the torment and depression he experienced. The theme of searching for love (Early Beatles – romantically and Later Beatles – socially and for world peace) came out his own lack of positive emotional experiences and the resulting torment. He tried drugs; speed, pot and LSD, these didn’t provide relief. He tried meditation, but that didn’t seem to fill the void. A lot of great creative minds seem to suffer from inner turmoil, torment, addiction, depression or psychological conflict. I can think of Van Gogh, Mozart, Johnny Cash, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Joaquin and River Phoenix, Courtney Love and countless others. Is it necessary to experience this torment to be a creative success? What happens when that torment is resolved? Does the creativity go away? I have heard that people who are on anti-depressants sometimes experience a lack of the creative sense they used to feel. Is torment and turmoil the only source of creativity? Tragically as John Lennon reached a point in his life where it seemed the torment had subsided, his life was cut short and we will never know if he yet had creative gifts to offer. The talent he left us expresses the feeling he had personally in life as well as Paul, George and Ringo speaking of life in working class Liverpool. Maybe that is why we identify with the music of Lennon individually and the Beatles as a group, they touch similar feelings within each of us. Or is that why all music resonates, it touches the emotions of our lives, the struggles, the estrangements, the search for self and the search for meaning?
I hope Lennon truly found the peace that he sought.
“All I am saying is give peace a chance!” Rock on John!
The 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s death was earlier this month. Rolling Stone had an article on Lennon. He lived a tortured life. His mom and dad split up. His dad was often gone at sea. When they split up, his dad asked John to choose between mom and dad at age 5. At first young John chose dad, then saw the distress this caused mom and chose mom. The family forced mom to let Aunt Mimi raise John. John was finally reestablishing a relationship with mom at 18 when she was killed in an auto accident by a drunken off duty policeman. When he started the Beatles they became his family, later he left them because he felt they constrained him. He met up with his dad around 1970 and told his dad he had messed his life up. Lennon had been in psychotherapy and tried Primal Scream Therapy. He met and married Yoko, he later spent a year separated from her in ’74. He felt he never had much of a relationship with his son Julian, when Sean was born in “75 he vowed things would be different. He acknowledged his past moods and violent tendencies and committed to work towards inner peace and change. He spent 5 years being a house husband and dad. He finally achieved some peace in his relationship with his son, seeing “Double Fantasy” go gold and recording another piece with Yoko. The night after finishing the final recording and learning of the Gold Record he returned home to be shot by an assassin in front of his home at the Dakota in NYC.
It seems a lot of John Lennon’s creative talent came out of the torment and depression he experienced. The theme of searching for love (Early Beatles – romantically and Later Beatles – socially and for world peace) came out his own lack of positive emotional experiences and the resulting torment. He tried drugs; speed, pot and LSD, these didn’t provide relief. He tried meditation, but that didn’t seem to fill the void. A lot of great creative minds seem to suffer from inner turmoil, torment, addiction, depression or psychological conflict. I can think of Van Gogh, Mozart, Johnny Cash, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Joaquin and River Phoenix, Courtney Love and countless others. Is it necessary to experience this torment to be a creative success? What happens when that torment is resolved? Does the creativity go away? I have heard that people who are on anti-depressants sometimes experience a lack of the creative sense they used to feel. Is torment and turmoil the only source of creativity? Tragically as John Lennon reached a point in his life where it seemed the torment had subsided, his life was cut short and we will never know if he yet had creative gifts to offer. The talent he left us expresses the feeling he had personally in life as well as Paul, George and Ringo speaking of life in working class Liverpool. Maybe that is why we identify with the music of Lennon individually and the Beatles as a group, they touch similar feelings within each of us. Or is that why all music resonates, it touches the emotions of our lives, the struggles, the estrangements, the search for self and the search for meaning?
I hope Lennon truly found the peace that he sought.
“All I am saying is give peace a chance!” Rock on John!
Another Livingston Saturday Night!
This image appeared on a Hank Williams, Jr.
album 20 plus years ago.
It is a classic art deco style neon.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Walk the Line
I saw Walk the Line over Thanksgiving weekend. This was a more poignant movie than I expected. Juaquin Phoenix was very good, especially the guitar playing and singing. The story followed Johnny's life pretty accurately from what I know. What struck me intensely was the story of addiction and it's portrayal on the silver screen. This movie does as good a job as "28 Days" and "When a Man Loves a Woman". I had known that Johnny Cash had a problem with pills and beat that addiction in the late sixties. I guess I didn't realize the extent of the addiction and how it affected all aspects of his life. This is interesting because I have shared those same experiences in my life. I guess somehow it is easy to place public celebrities on a pedestal and assume they are immune from what affects the rest of us! There were a lot of great lines in the film. I especially enjoyed the questions of his wearing all black and looking like he was going to a funeral, Juaquin's response, Maybe I am!
I have always liked Johnny Cash's music. His songs resonated on the reservation. The Ballad of Ira Hayes was initially refused airplay but Johnny made a personal plea to radio stations for airtime. It is one of only a few popular songs that highlight the plight of the American Indian. Folsom Prison was a way popular song, especially after the concert at Folsom. It was personally meaningful to me because I had a close friendship with a family of seven sons named Folsom. Their dad was in and out of prison all his life. I had a portable record player when the Folsom Prison album came out and the Folsom boys would have me bring the record and player up to their house, especially if they had a weekend beer bust going on. I would usually get to stay and drink a few Budweisers with them. If the place really got wild one of them might get on the kitchen table and dance while the Folsom Prison Blues played.
The movie made such an impression on me, I went out and bought the book "Man in Black" that is Johnny Cash's autobiography and a basis for the movie. Johnny was actually involved in the early development of the movie before his death a couple of years ago. Although Folsom Prison Blues was widely popular, Johnny's best selling song of all time was "I Walk the Line". The song sings of his committment to a relationship, but has broad appeal because of struggles we all face in being true to relationships, committments and to self. Trying to live an ideal is hard and no doubt a universal struggle. Walking the Line can mean being true to a love, to one's self, to a set of principles or to a higher power. Reflecting on this movie and Johnny's life as retold in his autobiography walking the line isn't something one does consistently and is far often less than perfect. This is a true statement for me and I suspect for all humanity! Another great song along this line is Waylon's "Only Daddy that'll Walk the Line".
Walk On! Chaske'
I saw Walk the Line over Thanksgiving weekend. This was a more poignant movie than I expected. Juaquin Phoenix was very good, especially the guitar playing and singing. The story followed Johnny's life pretty accurately from what I know. What struck me intensely was the story of addiction and it's portrayal on the silver screen. This movie does as good a job as "28 Days" and "When a Man Loves a Woman". I had known that Johnny Cash had a problem with pills and beat that addiction in the late sixties. I guess I didn't realize the extent of the addiction and how it affected all aspects of his life. This is interesting because I have shared those same experiences in my life. I guess somehow it is easy to place public celebrities on a pedestal and assume they are immune from what affects the rest of us! There were a lot of great lines in the film. I especially enjoyed the questions of his wearing all black and looking like he was going to a funeral, Juaquin's response, Maybe I am!
I have always liked Johnny Cash's music. His songs resonated on the reservation. The Ballad of Ira Hayes was initially refused airplay but Johnny made a personal plea to radio stations for airtime. It is one of only a few popular songs that highlight the plight of the American Indian. Folsom Prison was a way popular song, especially after the concert at Folsom. It was personally meaningful to me because I had a close friendship with a family of seven sons named Folsom. Their dad was in and out of prison all his life. I had a portable record player when the Folsom Prison album came out and the Folsom boys would have me bring the record and player up to their house, especially if they had a weekend beer bust going on. I would usually get to stay and drink a few Budweisers with them. If the place really got wild one of them might get on the kitchen table and dance while the Folsom Prison Blues played.
The movie made such an impression on me, I went out and bought the book "Man in Black" that is Johnny Cash's autobiography and a basis for the movie. Johnny was actually involved in the early development of the movie before his death a couple of years ago. Although Folsom Prison Blues was widely popular, Johnny's best selling song of all time was "I Walk the Line". The song sings of his committment to a relationship, but has broad appeal because of struggles we all face in being true to relationships, committments and to self. Trying to live an ideal is hard and no doubt a universal struggle. Walking the Line can mean being true to a love, to one's self, to a set of principles or to a higher power. Reflecting on this movie and Johnny's life as retold in his autobiography walking the line isn't something one does consistently and is far often less than perfect. This is a true statement for me and I suspect for all humanity! Another great song along this line is Waylon's "Only Daddy that'll Walk the Line".
Walk On! Chaske'
