AFTER THE NEW YEAR FESTIVITIES IN NEW YORK LAST NIGHT, MY HEAD WAS JAZZY AND I COULDN'T SLEEP. THAT, IN ITSELF, ON LENNON WAS FAIRLY REGULAR. WHERE I OFTEN GET JERKY AND LESS THAN THREE HOURS SLEEP PER NIGHT. JUDI HAD GIVEN ME A DOCUMENTARY ON JOHN LENNON, ONE OF MY MUSIC MENTORS. I AWOKE TO THE SOUND OF GUNFIRE AND THE QUICK SPREADING NEWS OF JOHN'S UNTIMELY DEMISE. I HAD WORKED BACKSTAGE AT THE CHARLOTTE ST THEATER DURING THE TIME THE BEATLES WERE MAKING "HARD DAY'S NIGHT". JOHN AND PAUL WERE ALWAYS WORKING SIDE BY SIDE AT A WHITE, BABY GRAND PIANO, AT STAGE RIGHT, COMPOSING NEW MUSIC. AT THE TIME I WAS 23, EIGHTEEN MONTHS OLDER THAN JOHN AND THREE YEARS OLDER THAN PAUL.! IT WAS 1963 , BEFORE THE BEATLES WENT TO THE USA AND THE BEGINNING OF THE "BEATLEMANIA" PHENOMENON. KIDS IN LONDON WERE REALLY PUMPED AND TRYING TO BREAK INTO THE THEATER BY CLIMBING UP THE OUTSIDE DRAIN PIPES. ONE OF MY JOBS WAS TO KEEP THEM OUT.
Well Dude! Welcome to the 21st Century. No more kickin' and screamin'! tc
ReplyDeleteWow- Right in the thick of it. Something about the gunfire made me think of Ken Keseys essay "Now We Know How Many Holes It Takes To Fill The Albert Hall" found in Demon Box- a short story collection. A descriprion of his days at Apple records and his "Visitations". Love the blog so far and heres a qoute from the above mentioned
ReplyDelete"The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer-- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."
-- Ken Kesey
later..........Sean