Yoko Ono (born 18 February 1933), is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, and peace activist. She is the widow and second wife of John Lennon and is also known for her work in avant-garde art, music, and filmmaking. She first met Lennon in 1966 at her own art exhibition in London, and they became a couple in 1968. Ono and Lennon famously used their honeymoon as a stage for public protests against the Vietnam War with their Bed-Ins for Peace in Amsterdam and Montreal in 1969. Ono achieved commercial and critical acclaim in 1980 with the chart-topping album Double Fantasy, released with Lennon three weeks before his death. Public appreciation of Ono’s work has shifted over time, helped by the 1992 release of the six-disc box set Onobox. As Lennon’s widow, Ono works to preserve his legacy, such as funding Strawberry Fields in New York City. Ono continues her social activism, inaugurating a biennial $50,000 LennonOno Grant for Peace in 2002 and co-founding the group Artists Against Fracking in 2012. (More from Wikipedia)
Opposition to the unfair imprisonment of two women in Pussy Riot became a cause célèbre of many Western celebrities plus musicians from every genre imaginable: Bryan Adams, Beastie Boys, the Black Keys, John Cale, Peter Gabriel, Green Day, Nina Hagen, Kathleen Hanna, Paul McCartney, Moby, Yoko Ono, Pet Shop Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Patti Smith, Sting, Pete Townshend, etc. Pussy Riot was featured on 60 Minutes as well.
For their part, the bandmembers in Pussy Riot that were not in prison distanced themselves from all of this attention and were quoted as saying: “We’re flattered, of course, that Madonna and Björk have offered to perform with us. But the only performances we’ll participate in are illegal ones. We refuse to perform as part of the capitalist system, at concerts where they sell tickets.”
(December 2013)
* * *
Also gaining currency in the 1960’s was the notion of loving Jesus Christ and what He stood for, but not wanting to become involved in the Christian Church. John Lennon echoed these sentiments when he was asked to look back on the controversy in an interview in Canada in 1969 (from Wikipedia): “He repeated his opinion that the Beatles were more influential on young people than Christ, adding that some ministers had agreed with him. He called the protesters in the US ‘fascist Christians’, saying he was ‘very big on Christ. I’ve always fancied him. He was right.’” Also in 1969: “In a BBC interview . . . [John] Lennon called himself ‘One of Christ’s biggest fans’, talked about the Church of England, his vision of heaven, and unhappiness over being unable to marry Yoko Ono in [the] church.”
(September 2014)
* * *
