Yoko Nixes Film Showing

[JoJo]

Seacoast Online

Bummer, as I was going to try to see it.

Ono: Goddess or cold-hearted? Online debate heats up after film nixed

By Deborah McDermott
[e-mail]

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine -- Oh, Yoko.

News that Yoko Ono blocked a showing of a John Lennon documentary at Berwick Academy on Tuesday sparked a serious online debate on the forums of seacoastconnects.com.

The story also spread like wildfire on the Internet Wednesday, appearing in newspapers from England to India and throughout the United States.

On Monday, Ono threatened to sue the private academy if it showed "3 Days in the Life," a film about her late husband made in 1970. Although World Wide Video LLC owns the footage, Ono claimed she has a copyright interest in the film about the legendary Beatle and it cannot be shown without her legal permission.

Many forum participants on seacoastconnects.com took Ono to task, calling her decision more of the same kind of behavior that she has exhibited over the years.

One of her harshest critics pulled no punches.

"What I think about Yoko Ono would likely get me banned," the writer said. "However, when you think that Mark Chapman hits John Lennon six times and never hits Yoko once, this is proof that there is no God."

"This should not surprise anyone," said another. "She always had to be in control and has always been a little eccentric. Now she wants to feel like it is up to her if the world gets any part of him and all it does is confirm the cold-hearted, self-centered woman she is."

But not everyone was a detractor. Several said Ono had every right to protect her late husband's name.

[TotalInformation]

A private academy! That's educational use... What is this film? What is she trying to hide?

[TotalInformation]

3daysinthelife.com/sch1.htm

The dates were February 8, 9, and 10 and the year, 1970 (only weeks before the break up of the Beatles) and a "crowning date" when a solo John Lennon (and The Plastic Ono Band) scored his first #1 song with "Instant Karma." John Lennon was about to make history (again) – 37 years ago.

John Lennon and newfound buddy Tony Cox (Yoko's former husband) were in the midst of an untitled, intimate, no-holds barred film based on "three days in the life of John Lennon and company." Hours upon hours of documentary, black & white videotape were shot and today the film is owned by World Wide Video LLC. They had, in the past, attempted to market the unseen raw footage. WWW ultimately decided against it and now, there is a new, distinct purpose being planned for the film. The Boston are based partners of World Wide Video LLC are initially planning to offer and distribute the film for "educational purposes."

This formerly untitled film is called 3 Days in the Life. Now, film and music students across the country will have an opportunity to see this one-of-a-kind, historic, black and white documentary beginning in the Spring of 2007. Exclusive screenings are scheduled at private schools and universities nationwide.

3 Days in the Life is in pre-production stages of an early edit. Originally the film was shot in a cinema verite' style (let the camera roll – edit later) and plans call to develop and cull the footage into a full 90 – 120 minute documentary format. There are almost 10 hours of 37 year-old raw videotape and when you consider that "production" stemmed from a 1970 Sony, reel-to-reel, pre-Beta professional video deck, the film is in need of a full restoration and cleansing. While that process is underway, a 15-minute promotional viewing of portions of 3 Days in the Life debuted at GEMS – The Global Entertainment and Media Summit in New York – www.globalentertainmentnetwork.com in early December '06.

The film's partners, John Fallon and Ray F. Thomas, have culled the documentary into a promotional 2-hour video. The documentary is now going through the last stages of its time-consuming production. It's interesting to note upon viewing 3 Days in the Life that it could be said that the film is "the granddaddy of all reality shows as we know them today". In the next few months 3 Days in the Life will finally be shown in a 2-hour format at selected colleges and private schools in the greater Northeast – New Jersey , New York , Massachusetts , and Connecticut initially - with plans for a California showing in the works.

3 Days in the Life is taking on another life of its own. Also on the agenda is to show never before seen, black & white pictures will include: Lennon at home, strumming his guitar, composing, joking, reading the morning paper, talking candidly, awaiting word on "Instant Karma," touring the estate, in the "creative process of songwriting," going to the office, on a London street, filming footage himself, discussing politics., testing his solo status, etc. Maybe, they knew it (or maybe not) but as the film unfolds, it would be promoted today as a reality show in a documentary format starring John Lennon.

Oddly enough, 3 Days in the Life is still a "best kept secret" but this year, the film will finally debut at pre-selected educational institutions nationwide. The students of today can "travel back in time." Lennon speaks of the coal miners' strike in the UK (and his support) during one segment. Early 1970 was a turning point in John Lennon's life and career, as well as for those around him. This unseen film footage culminates with John Lennon's rehearsal for the BBC show Top of the Pops where he performed "Instant Karma" for the first time publicly. The song had just gone to #1 in the US and its solo success certainly drove a stake into the collective heart of The Beatles (the official break up was formally announced two months later).

Presently, 3 Days in the Life will be limited to college and university audiences. The reason? World Wide Video LLC felt that after all these years, they would maintain the integrity of the film by doing the right thing and holding true to its overall purpose – seeing the "real" John Lennon. Although Tony Cox sold the film, he did copyright the video under the name of Tony Cox ' Video of John Lennon dated May 2, 1997 – it was his property until the sale was consummated in Jan. 2000 to World Wide Video LLC. 3 Days in the Life is a rare, powerful and in many ways a voyeuristic journey into "three days in the life of John Lennon (circa 1970) – a black & white view of an iconic composer (plus family and friends) in residence, and a reborn solo artist in the process of creating and evolving.

There is a quote (or two) that might give one additional insight into 3 Days in the Life:

"No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time. It is just that others are behind the time." – Martha Graham

Or better still:

"An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why." – William Faulkner

3 Days in the Life is a film in progress. This documentary will offer music students, film classes and industry conventions a unique documentary glimpse into what some Beatle fans call "the missing year – 1970".

3 Days in the Life allows the viewer to capture and chronicle the time, place, and the man behind the music.

CONTACT: George Dassinger ([e-mail])

3daysinthelife.com/sch1.htm

[TotalInformation]

3daysinthelife.com/thetimes.htm

The Times [London]

Friday March 24 2000
Scenes of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from film footage, now bought by a group of American Beatles fans, in which support for the Black Power activist Michael X is discussed.

Film Shows Lennon's Mind Games

From Damian Whitworth in Washington

It is February 1970, the Beatles are just a couple of months away from breaking up, and John Lennon's mind is full of many things.

What can he do to help the drug-dealing Black Power leader with whom he is smoking what appears to be hashish? Should he try to "con" his record company into building him an ornamental lake? How about finding a way to put LSD in President Nixon's tea?

The private life of John Lennon is revealed in more than nine hours of black-and-white footage that has come to light 30 years after it was shot by Yoko Ono's ex-husband, Tony Cox. The tapes have been sold to a consortium of US Beatles collectors who hope to turn them into a documentary.

According to Mr. Cox, several scenes focus on Lennon and Ono's visit to the Black House, a centre run by Michael X, a Trinidadian counterpart of Malcolm X who was later executed for murder. The couple shoot a promotional film for the Black House and then "smoke hashish with Michael X". John asks: "Is the front door locked? Most important." Michael X reassures him and explains how his group decided that drugs we're a more valuable commodity than money and speaks of playing "rough games, fighting games" to establish their bank.

The script describes Yoko as "stoned" and "John snaps at Yoko: 'As usual she doesn't know what we're talking about.' John is handed a joint and launches into a long rap about contracts, continuing to hog the joint. Finally Yoko nudges him to get the joint."

How Ono will react to scenes such as this will determine the future of the film. She must sign a release if it is ever to be made public.

Ray Thomas, a member of the consortium that is believed to have spent $1 million (£625,000) on buying the tape, said he had asked her to be executive producer but had not had a response. Many scenes show her to be a very intelligent and articulate woman".

In a more intimate scene, Lennon is perched on the edge of the bed, humming and strumming, trying to pick out a tune that would eventually become the song Mind Games. His wife is tucked up under the covers, apparently sleeping. In another they are in bed talking about her new hair style. "It took years off her," says Lennon. "She was an old bag when I got her." They discuss whether he should pay for a new lake at his Tittenhurst Park estate in Surrey , or consider "conning Apple again".

In an interview with an underground newspaper, the couple talks about infiltrating governments and Nixon's White House in particular. On a tour of London sights, Lennon gives vulgar names to landmarks such as Nelson's Column and refers to piles of rubbish in the streets as "Prince Philip's mess".

Mr Cox initially remained friendly with Ono after their divorce and the film was shot over four days while staying with her and Lennon in Surrey . They later had a bitter custody battle over their daughter, Kyoko. Ono won, but Mr Cox disappeared with the girl, and mother and daughter we're only recently reunited.

"These provocative and historic films capture John's creative genius in his most intimate surroundings, the couple's behavior together, interaction with their two children – Julian and Kyoko – strong opinions about drugs, politics, communism, music and plans for manipulating the critics, reviewers and the general press," Mr Thomas said.
.

[tafultong]

Yoko has a different view of history.

This comes from the Times of India
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Entertainment/Ono_dreamt_of_marrying_a_priest/articleshow/2492387.cms

Ono dreamt of marrying a priest!
26 Oct 2007, 1344 hrs IST,ANI


"I wanted to marry a priest. As his wife I would have taken care of the Sunday school," the Daily Express quoted her, as saying.


Avant-garde artist and wife of late Beatles legend John Lennon, Yoko Ono has confessed that she dreamt of marrying a priest.

Ono, who married Lennon in 1969, admitted that she wanted to be a member of the clergy as a young girl.

"I wanted to marry a priest. As his wife I would have taken care of the Sunday school," the Daily Express quoted her, as saying.

However, she added that after marrying Lennon, she almost realised her dream because he was "priest-like".

"This almost became true. John's spirit was priest-like," she said.
___________________________________________________

Prester John indeed.

[horseloverphat]

I think I know a 'psychic vampyre' when I see one....and Yoko is just that.

[mommybird]

She's that & much, much more.

[horseloverphat]

aye....I was going easy on her tbh.

She probably was an integral part of making sure he didn't get beyond 9th/10th Dec 1980.

As for pulling the trigger.....the jury is still out.