#&&. be my yoko ono muse

[ursovained]

“     all     i     wanna     spend     is     one     more     night     between     your     sheets.     ” ──  *  @ruinedtendencies !

[officialpenisenvy]

no way i just saw someone call charlotte martin a "rock muse" 😭 the drag queens they used to hang with at gay bars were more rock muses to them than fucking charlotte martin of all people. like be so serious right now

[rhapsodynew]

#love story

One soul for two.

58 years ago, on November 9, 1966, John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at an art show in London, where she presented her exhibition "Unfinished Paintings and Objects". To this day, many believe that this was the beginning of the end of the holiday era called the Beatles.

Without realizing it, he had long been looking for a woman who looked like his frivolous mother Julia and domineering aunt Mimi, who raised him. Everything was smooth in his marriage with his wife Susan — she did not burden him with herself, did not bother him with conversations, cooked well and was great in bed. Another man would have carried such a woman in his arms, but not Lennon. He lacked madness, passion, hooliganism. Critics will later write about this period of John's life:

"When you get everything in your youth, life becomes insanely boring and insipid. You will involuntarily start looking for adventures."

They first met in November 1966. Lennon, on the recommendation of a friend, went to the Indica gallery for an exhibition of "anti-art". The spacious hall was crowded, everyone was talking about something, discussing the latest news. John has always resisted this society of snobs and mawkish intellectuals. Out of boredom, he decided to take a walk and suddenly came across an inscription: "Beat it up." Lennon wanted to carry out his plan, but a voice called out to him: "Only for five shillings." That's what Yoko said.

This was the first time he saw the woman of his whole life, but he did not attach much importance to the fateful acquaintance. And the very next morning I received my first message from her — a book where She talked about the world order, the meaning of life and all that, which the famous musician, who had had enough of the love of the audience, did not care about. From that day on, the persistent Japanese woman continued to attack John with notes, calls and sudden meetings.

It was not the first time that the Japanese woman bewitched men with her unflattering beauty. She has already had two marriages under her belt — the first with the talented but poor composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, the second with producer Anthony Cox, who pulled Yoko out of depression several times, but, alas, did not deserve her love. The couple divorced as soon as Lennon's muse managed to win over his genius.

Susan immediately suspected something was wrong and demanded an explanation from John. He waved it off, saying that she was a crazy artist. But Yoko did not even think about giving up, she bent her line until Lennon's marriage finally fell apart. Leaving his wife, he shouted in his heart that their son Julian was the result of an extra bottle of whiskey. Then it seemed to Lennon that he had finally found true freedom. He would later say that Yoko had replaced all those who had left his life and forced him to look at himself and the world around him differently.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr still remember the day when Ono first entered the recording studio with Lennon. John didn't even want to listen to his friends who tried to explain to him that a woman didn't belong here. "She didn't know a damn thing about music, but she was telling Paul how to sing and me how to play the drums. We were furious, but there was nothing we could do about it. John didn't seem to hear us," Ringo said in an interview. In 1970, the legendary Liverpool Four broke up.

The band's business had not been good for a long time, the Beatles stopped writing new songs and were engaged in creativity separately, but millions of fans around the world refused to believe that the former team was no more. The angry audience immediately blamed Yoko for everything. The newspapermen happily picked up on this idea, and at the same moment headlines appeared in the press: "The Black Witch destroyed the Beatles", "The devil possessed the Liverpool four," but Lennon didn't care about it either: they completely dissolved into each other, even looked the same: shapeless clothes, round glasses and long Her hair was parted in the middle.

Shortly before the breakup of The Beatles, Lennon and Yoko set up their own studio where they could create whatever they wanted. It is here that John will record his famous album Imagine. Later, critics would recognize him as the best musician's record, and the real "Beatlemans" would grab their heads and curse his Japanese muse with renewed vigor.

In 1969, the mad lovers will get married in Gibraltar, the ceremony will last a record 72 minutes. And again, all traditions will be broken, it's not Yoko who will take John's last name, but he will take hers. Back in Amsterdam, the happy newlyweds will rent a presidential suite in one of the city's hotels, change into pajamas and... call together journalists. This "recumbent conference" lasted for several days, as the couple fought for world peace.

They were inseparable for four years, but the family idyll ended when Lennon noticed another woman at a party in honor of the election of the next American president. Tipsy, John took the guest into the next room and made love to her. Like a true Japanese woman, Yoko did not make scandals for her husband in public, but only asked him to hand over the flower and say that she still loves him.

John spent the next year and a half in Los Angeles, where It allowed him everything he loved so much: alcohol, fun, women. She even picked up her secretary, the pretty Mei Pang, as a lover. Lennon was happy at first: "You are the most understanding woman in the world," he told his wife on the phone.

Loneliness quickly got tired, John wanted to return, but Yoko was adamant. To her husband's pleas, she replied sharply: "You are not ready yet." As Mei Pang later told me, it all ended abruptly. Ono called her and said that she had found a person who would help John quit smoking. So Lennon came home. Reconciliation with his wife ended with the conception of a child, whom both had long despaired of waiting for after several miscarriages. The birth of Sean's son finally put everyone in their place.

Now John was tinkering with the baby, and Yoko was arranging exhibitions and buying up expensive real estate with the money left over from the Beatles ships. Friends often teased Lennon. "You sing about freedom, a world without property, and you live in a six-room apartment with separate rooms for furs and shoes." John himself had long been sick of such a life, but how could he contradict a woman he loved to distraction.

In 1980, the former Beatle would record the last Double Fantasy album in collaboration with Yoko Ono, and a week later he would be shot by a mad fan Mark Champion. In an interview, Lennon's killer will say that he thought John was a god, but at some point he came down to earth and became an ordinary person. "Then it seemed to me that I was going to shoot the picture on the album cover, a two—dimensional celebrity without real feelings," Champ confesses to reporters while already in prison. Former detractors will suddenly begin to sympathize with Yoko and feel sorry for the woman who lost the best man. But It will not even think of grieving.

A week after her husband's death, she will put up for auction his letters and albums, and six months later the media will tell that the eccentric Japanese woman has remarried. However, this marriage will be short-lived.

[littlequeenies]

‘I’ve been called a witch, slut, murderer’: the ultra-creative women dismissed as rock star girlfriends

Despite their artistic skill, Anita Pallenberg, Suzi Ronson and Yoko Ono were cast as mere lovers or muses. They're now being allowed to tell their own stories – even if it's after death-Annie ZaleskiTue 21 May 2024 11.46 CEST

In a 2008 interview, Anita Pallenberg swore she would never write her autobiography. The artist, model and actor was weary of publishers who only wanted to read about her intimate dealings with the Rolling Stones – she dated both Brian Jones and Keith Richards, and had an affair with Mick Jagger. “They all wanted salacious,” she said then. “And everybody is writing autobiographies and that’s one reason why I’m not going to do it.”

Yet when Pallenberg died in 2017, she left behind pages of a neatly typed manuscript, titled Black Magic, that contained her life story. True to form, she characterised these memoirs as “memory images, a traveller’s tale through a landscape of dreams and shadows” rather than an autobiography. But she held little back while chronicling her spirited and frequently tumultuous life, quipping: “I don’t think the lawyers will like it very much.”Read in a narration by Scarlett Johansson, her unpublished words are the backbone of a compelling new documentary, Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg. Kate Moss celebrates her as “the original bohemian rock chick that people still aspire to today” but more valuable is Pallenberg reframing her legacy on her own terms from beyond the grave. “I’ve been called a witch, a slut, a murderer. I’ve been hounded by the police and slandered in the press,” she wrote, before adding, “But I don’t need to settle scores. I’m reclaiming my soul.”Given how much ink has been spilt on the Stones over the years, it’s refreshing to hear Pallenberg share her own perspective on her experiences. She’s not the only high-profile rock girlfriend now getting a chance to tell their own story, asserting their place in, and influence on, male-dominated music culture.

Suzi Ronson, who was married to the guitarist Mick Ronson, just released a candid memoir, Me and Mr Jones: My Life with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars, that’s a clear-eyed look at rock star mythology. Pattie Boyd, married to both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, was interviewed in 2018 by Taylor Swift for Harper’s Bazaar (“George and Eric had an inability to communicate their feelings through normal conversation,” Boyd said, “I became a reflection for them”) and this year she eloquently reminisced as she auctioned her memorabilia, including love letters from Clapton and handwritten Harrison lyrics, for a staggering £2,818,184. “The letters from Eric – they’re so desperate and passionate, a passion that blooms once in a lifetime,” she said. “They’re too painful in their beauty.”

Tate Modern, in London, is meanwhile celebrating Yoko Ono with a career-spanning exhibition, Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind – a pointed reminder that Ono’s artistic collaboration with John Lennon was only a relatively brief part of her career. It shows how her artistry spans theatre, writing and music, but also how it makes space for her story to change over time – for example, the various performances of Cut Piece across the decades – and for others’ perspectives. Take Ono’s 1964 artist’s book Grapefruit, which uses short, abstract action items (“Imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put it in”) to generate a huge potential variety of creative responses.

Among those was Lennon’s Imagine. In a 1980 BBC interview, Lennon said Grapefruit provided “the lyric and the concept” of the song, but Ono didn’t receive a songwriting credit until 2017 even though Lennon was aware of the oversight in his lifetime. “But those days I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho,” he told the BBC, “and I sort of omitted to mention her contribution.”

Pallenberg, too, served as inspiration for Rolling Stones songs such as Gimme Shelter. But Catching Fire reinforces the idea that even if sexism meant she was underestimated by the public, she wasn’t a passive presence or muse. “Neither Anita nor I wanted to be with them because we wanted some of their power,” Marianne Faithfull says in voiceover – she was in the band’s orbit alongside Pallenberg owing to a relationship with Jagger. “We had our own power.”

Faithfull’s power was her own music career; Pallenberg, who spoke several languages and worked as a model, influenced the Stones’ look. (“I started to become a fashion icon for wearing my old lady’s clothes,” Richards quipped in his bookLife.) And she refused to rearrange her life for the Stones. “No girls were allowed in the studio when they were recording,” she said. “You weren’t allowed even to ring. I did other things; I didn’t sit at home.” She maintained an acting career, notably in 1968’s movie Barbarella and 1970’s Performance – though her voice was dubbed out in the former: you wonder whether her “muse” tag meant casting directors underestimated her.

Suzi Ronson, a colour-loving hair wizard who brought David Bowie’s tomato-red Ziggy Stardust coif to life, also took a different path from other women of her time. She left a steady job and went on the road, steering the Ziggy Stardust tour aesthetic by handling hair, makeup, and other tasks.

Me and Mr Jones illuminates her part in helping Bowie crystallise his vision – and shows how fame and rock stardom corrupt. On a Mott the Hoople tour, she seethes while Mick, cozying up to a baroness, orders Suzi to find his hairbrush, treating her like an assistant rather than a girlfriend. It wasn’t the only time she was underestimated. “I’m now the pathetic girlfriend, clinging on to my man, a position I never thought I’d find myself in,” she writes after joining Mick on tour with Bob Dylan for a few days, after not being invited. “I try to be understanding, but truthfully I’m infuriated at being left out.”

These new works also highlight how each woman, at a time when women struggled to “have it all”, cultivated agency through one of the only paths open to them: motherhood. Rather than being something limiting, becoming mothers allowed them to reinvent their lives. Suzi Ronson, long out of Bowie’s orbit and living in England with her parents after giving birth, reflects that “the life I created for myself has disappeared, and my career with it,” she writes, but her daughter brings joy and solace – and encourages her to stay optimistic and keep striving for a unique path. “As I push her around the same streets my mother used to push me, I swear to her: this isn’t going to be it, and I pray I’m right.” Ronson closes the loop by noting that she and Mick return to the US, living in the singer Maria Muldaur’s house and finding equilibrium.

Ono confronted motherhood’s messiness. Her installation My Mommy Was Beautiful used photos of breasts and vaginas to demystify birth and celebrate the strength of the body, and the 1969 song Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking for a Hand in the Snow) – which Yoko wrote for her young daughter Kyoko – conveys primal agony and frustration. “Society’s myth is that all women are supposed to love having children,” Ono said in 1981. “But that was a myth. So there was Kyoko, and I did become attached to her and had great love for her, but at the same time, I was still struggling to get my own space in the world. I felt that if l didn’t have room for myself, how could I give room to another human being?”

Pallenberg also navigates this conundrum. Jake Weber, the actor son of notorious Stones associate Tommy Weber, becomes visibly emotional when talking about how “generous and funny” Pallenberg was to him after his mother died in 1971, during the Stones’ debauched French summer. “She filled a vacuum of a surrogate parent,” he said. “She was lovely like that. Her thing was trying to give us joy.” Catching Fire also visits the agonising fallout of the sudden June 1976 death of Pallenberg’s 10-week-old son Tara.

Pallenberg has the last word in Catching Fire, and her conclusion illustrates the importance of women directing their own narratives. “Writing this has helped me emerge in my own eyes,” she noted. “Reading over what I’ve written, I get a lump in my throat. But it doesn’t need to be a doom and gloom kind of story.” The film makes it clear that Pallenberg’s chief power was, ultimately, resilience, which she needed during an often-challenging life (she lived with various addictions, including to heroin and alcohol) and several tragic events, such as when a 17-year-old shot and killed himself in Richards’ bed.

“I felt like some nasty person who caused death and destruction around her,” Pallenberg said after the 1979 incident, but Catching Fire refuses to let Pallenberg become a tragic figure or cautionary tale. The film ends noting that she got sober, graduated from college, and aged with iconoclastic gusto. The lessons are clear – redemption is possible and we are not our worst moments – while also reinforcing what we miss when women’s voices are silenced or ignored. Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg, directed by Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill is in UK and Irish cinemas now

[danime25]

Mistletoe Kiss

ao3 // normal masterlist // christmas masterlist

*Summary: Holly has official called her father uncool. And now he needs to buy some new clothes for his holiday party.

*Rating: E for Everyone

*Content/Tags: Fluff

*Status: Oneshot/Complete

Holland turned up the volume of the song in his car. Up until then he hadn’t been in a very festive mood. He sang along with John Lennon’s bits in the song, leaving Yoko Ono’s scratchy voice alone. He honked his horn as some idiot stole his parking spot from right out under him and he made a loop around the mall parking lot one more time. He ended up finding a spot closer to the door, thank Nixon for that. He got out of his car and strolled into the mall. He did a lap around the mall without an idea where to go clothes shopping. Holly had told him that he needed to get “cool clothes” that made him look more professional. He decided to roll the dice on one of the anchor stores of the mall and went to the men’s section. He looked through a couple of jackets and didn’t see much of a difference between what he wore on the regular and what was on the racks

“Excuse me, sir?”

“What?” Holland turned around quickly at the sound of a woman’s voice behind him. He leaned up against the coats before realizing that the clothes were not solid and he stumbled to the side

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.” She apologized and helped Holland back up onto his feet

“You’re fine. What did you need?” He brushed himself off and tried to act cool

“Well, I was going to ask if you needed some help.”

“And now?”

“... And now I’m still wondering if you need some help with picking some clothes out.” She laughed a little bit, hiding her smile behind the back of her hand. Holland’s body eased up and he got to laughing too

“Um, I think I’m ok…” He started to reply automatically but stopped himself. “Actually I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I can tell. The 60’s called. They want their floral print back.”

“Ouch.” He stumbled back with purpose this time, acting as if he’d been shot by her comment. She rolled her eyes at him, “Not a humorous person?”

“Oh no, I’ll laugh when I think something’s funny.” She replied, “Now how can I help you with your clothes?”

“Well my daughter said I needed something ‘cool but professional’.”

“I see.” She looked him up and down. He thought his current ensemble was okay with his white suit jacket combo and light blue shirt. He had a floral print handkerchief in his coat pocket, but she couldn’t have noticed that small a detail on his person. “Follow me, if you will.”

“Okay.” Holland followed her to a different section within the men’s department

“How do you prefer your fit?”

“What?”

“Do you prefer shirts that are loose on you, or more form-fitting?” She asked him, holding up different styles of shirts to emphasize her point

“I mean I tend to tuck all my shirts in anyways…” He hummed

“Form fitting.” She talked over his musing and handed him a pile of clothes that she thought would fit him, “And now pants.”

“What about shorts?” He joked. She did not find this nearly as funny as he did. She took him across the hallway and into the men’s pants, grabbing only three pairs this time. Then she dragged him over to the accessories.

“Give me your wrist really quick.” She held her hand out before him. He dropped the clothes onto the ground and put an arm for her. She held up two watches, one band that was silver and one that was gold. “Warm undertones…”

“So that means?” Holland looked at her as she touched his hand

“It means that gold complements your skin better. No wonder you looked so dull when you walked in. There’s silver in your suit jacket buttons.”

“Oh.” He responded and looked at her, “Should I go try this on?”

“Here.” She picked up the heap between the two of them. “Try… these two together first.”

“Have a little fashion show?” He smiled at her

“I should really help some other customers…” She sighed, as promising as that sounded

“Okay, I’ll be quick then.” He smiled at her and hopped into a dressing room nearby. He put on the outfit she arranged and looked at himself in the mirror. Not too bad, but it didn’t feel quite like Holland. He walked out in it and she could sense his trepidation about the outfit. 

“Next one.” She replied. He turned back around and into the dressing room, putting on the next outfit for her. He walks out and she gives him a quick thumbs up. Someone approaches behind her and points her in the other direction, probably her boss.

“So sorry sir, I can help you if you’d like.” He offered

“I can just wait.” Holland replied

“She has to go help other customers, sir.” He huffed

“Okay.” Holland sighed back and got into the clothes he wore into the store. He brought the set up to the register and saw her handling a return with a difficult customer. The lady threw her sweater at the employee and stormed off. The other cashier offered to take him at least 3 times before she got the hint that he wanted to talk with her coworker. When he strolled up she gave him a soft half smile as she rang the items up. “So listen, my company is going to have a holiday party in a couple of days and I was wondering if you’d like to come along as my date.”

“Oh.” She smiled, “Well I’d like for us to have a real date first. If you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine with me.” He shot back with a quick wink

“Okay.” She smiled and grabbed a business card the boss kept around behind the counter. She quickly scribbled down her phone number for him.

“Are you free tonight?” He asked her, twirling the card in between his fingers

“Yes, I get off at 6.”

“Alright I’ll see you then. Thanks for the help.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled at him

---

He waited outside the mall and leaned against his car. He parked in the lot that was closest to the department store and waited for her. He had managed to find a place to run quick and get his car cleaned off while he waited for her. He saw her walk out of the entrance and pulled his car up to the curb. He got out and held the door open for her before she got in.

“What are we doing?” She asked him

“I don’t know.” He admitted, “Are you hungry?”

“I could go for some food.” She replied

“Alright. Let me take you somewhere nice.” He started the car back up and headed into downtown Los Angeles. He brought her to an Italian restaurant that was pretty nice and they talked until the owner had to hint with the bill that they stayed longer than they should have. On their way out she pointed out that there was a little mistletoe leaf hanging above the entrance way.

“Well it’s only in the spirit of Christmas, right?”

“Yes.” He nodded along with her and waited as her lips met with his for a brief second. He pulled her gently out onto the street and kissed her with more passion the second time they made contact with each other. He opened his eyes and looked at her to see how she was feeling about it. She took his bum arm and used it to wrap around her shoulders as they started walking back to Holland’s car.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

John Lennon Tribute Songs – Musings and Impressions

I decided this morning to look into what John Lennon tribute songs (+songs about John's death) are out there and found the results quite mixed but interesting. So here's some of my thoughts on them.

Includes songs by: Bob Dylan, The Cranberries, David Gilmour, Elton John, George Harrison, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Queen.

All Those Years Ago – George Harrison (1981)

Roll On John – Bob Dylan (2012)

Probably the most classic tribute song on this list, which is why I'm mentioning it first. I think it's somewhat misunderstood, because in my opinion it is far more personal than it's sometimes given credit for, even though it does fall into some clichés with how it references John's songs. It's overall positive, focusing on the good aspects of John and George's relationship as well as of John's legacy as a whole, with a few problematizing nuggets peppered in ("Living with good and bad"; "You had control of our smiles and our tears"). I see how the religious edge might be off-putting to some, but it feels incredibly earnest to me. The rock n' roll guitar riff is a lovely tribute to John's unabashed love for that genre.

(Also, I wrote a bit more in depth about the song and how I think it relates to George's view of John here.)

This is not a song I can justify the existence of. If it had been released shortly after John's murder maybe, but I don't see what it brought to the table 30+ years after the fact. It feels extremely gimmicky, dropping simplistic lyrical references and Wikipedia-page facts, and otherwise doesn't seem like it has anything substantial to say. I don't think these types of songs have to be written by someone who had a deep personal connection with the subject, but none of this feels natural, earned, or remotely insightful and the emotions are rather vapid.

Murder – David Gilmour (1984)

This song is musically interesting and the lyrics are quite compelling, but the centering of MDC's point of view is somewhat uncomfortable, given the actual context of his motivations. I feel this song works better as a reflection on murder as a concept, rather than a specific murder.

I Just Shot John Lennon – The Cranberries (1996)

The title of this one worried me but actually it sounds like it could be on Some Time in New York City if you threw a few saxes onto it; John wrote about tragedies in a very similar way (like the Troubles, which The Cranberries – of course – also wrote about). Despite the directness, this works and feels poignant rather than edgy.

Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny) – Elton John (1982)

I like the way this song opens with the metaphor of a gardener, giving the song a degree of universality, not just in the sense that John "belonged to the world" but also that it could be related to any loss. This is contrasted with the bridge ("And I've been knockin', but no one answers…"), where John is finally name-dropped, which adds such a personal touch to the song. It's masterful and heartbreaking, especially given the fact that Elton was having trouble getting through to John during his lifetime as well. A wonderful, heartfelt tribute.

The Late Great Johnny Ace – Paul Simon (1983)

This feels less like a tribute and more like a reflection on history. John's death in 1980 is contrasted with Johnny Ace's death in 1954, as well as John F. Kennedy's in 1963. The music is harrowing and intriguing, which really underlines the senselessness of all these deaths. I enjoy the observed parallelisms and the way Paul manages to make the song personal despite not having a close rapport with John. In that way it kind of reminds me of A Day In The Life.

I Don't Know Why – Yoko Ono (1981)

Life Is Real (Song for Lennon) – Queen (1982)

Like Here Today mentioned below, this is more of an anti-tribute song in my view. Ultimately it seems that to Yoko, the search for meaning in John's death is fruitless. Musically, the song is a bit long and repetitive, but as she sings: "You left me, you left me, you left me without words."

Also, the story the album cover tells is poignant, possibly more so than any song on it: a glass, which could be half empty or half full; the fog like an uncertain future, clouding the New York skyline; a pair of glasses, the ghost of a lost loved one; and vision itself, forever obstructed by the murder Yoko was forced to witness.

Musically, I find this one to be quite wonderful and I think I can see how it was influenced by John's sound to an extent. But it also appears to be so personal to Freddie Mercury as well as rather cryptic that it feels odd as a tribute, per se. That's not really a problem in my opinion, but it's notable that without the name-drop it wouldn't even be obvious this song was about someone – let alone John Lennon – having died. This makes the "(Song For Lennon)" part of the title feel a tad performative.

Here Today – Paul McCartney (1982)

It was thinking about this song this morning that prompted me to go listen to the other entries. While "All Those Years Ago" is a song in which George seems to proclaim that he understands John better than most people, on "Here Today", Paul discredits himself as a source on John basically immediately; within the first few lines of the song, he asserts that John would laugh in response to Paul claiming he really knew John. He's in a sense shooting down the idea of writing a straightforward tribute like George's because he does not appear to trust himself to make absolute statements on who John was. Instead, he shifts the focus to his own experience of their relationship, declaring that he loves John and is thankful, despite their possible lack of mutual understanding.

The song is fiercely personal and does not leave space for someone to relate to it as an uninvolved fan of John's, or even as one of John's loved ones who is not Paul, like Empty Garden and All Those Years Ago do. And yet Paul plays this song every night in concert as a tribute. It fascinates me deeply, not to mention it is lyrically one of his standout pieces as well as immensely moving musically.

[bageltheabductee]

About to end off April Fool’s by musing them with my my rendition of every song in the Yoko Ono album Fly

[greensparty]

Movie Review: Revival69: The Concert That Rocked The World / MaXXXine

This week I got to review two new ones: a documentary and a narrative.

Revival69: The Concert That Rocked The World

On September 13, 1969, Canada hosted their big music festival about a month after Woodstock in the U.S. Toronto, Ontario had the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, at University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium. I didn't know too much about the concert festival itself beyond John Lennon's performance. John and wife Yoko Ono put together the Plastic Ono Band for this festival including guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voorman, and drummer Alan White. That performance was released as a live album in late 1969, Live Peace in Toronto 1969. Beyond D.A. Pennebaker's 1971 documentary Sweet Toronto, the music festival never got the proper historical documentary treatment until now. Revival69: The Concert That Rocked The World began its festival run in 2022 and has been doing indie film screenings in recent weeks as well as a digital release.

movie poster

Using the original 16mm footage that Pennebaker filmed of the concert as well as archival footage, newly shot interviews and animation, director Ron Chapman does a deep-dive into this concert headlined by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Chicago, Alice Cooper, The Doors, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard as well as the Plastic Ono Band. This got some attention as it was the first big concert Lennon did outside of The Beatles. There's interviews with festival promotors John Brower and Ken Walker as well as Voorman, Cooper, and Robby Krieger of The Doors to name a few.

Ono and Lennon at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival Show

I had the same feeling watching this as I had when I saw Summer of Soul, Questlove's doc about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Concert. While that was a very different story (had more to say about the era itself and the story of unearthing the doc footage became a part of the story as well), this is also a doc about a 1969 music festival that was in the shadow of Woodstock, but had some of the biggest names of that era and I was blown away by the archival footage of both. The centerpiece of this festival is that Lennon became a part of it and performed. I had heard their performance on the live album, but seeing it as well as the interviews about it coming together is a gift for Beatle fans like me!

For info on Revival69

3.5 out of 5 stars

MaXXXine

Ti West is one of the most exciting horror directors of this century. His third movie The House of the Devil was a powerful homage to 80s horror films on an ultra low budget. His follow up The Innkeepers was a worthy follow-up in the same slow burn vein. The found footage VICE journalists investigating a cult film The Sacrament was uneven at best. But he quietly came back with the one-two punch in 2022: the 1979-set X and the 1918-set Pearl (both among my Best Movies of 2022 list). West also found his muse in actress Mia Goth. She did double duty in X as adult film star Maxine Minx and the elderly land owner Pearl. But then we got the prequel of the early days of Pearl in 1918 and what lead her to be the way she was in the first film with Pearl. It's been two years, but the third in the trilogy MaXXXine opens this week from A24 with West, Goth and bigger cast than one would expect from this series.

movie poster

It's now 1985 and Maxine Minx is in Hollywood a few years after surviving the massacre in Texas from the first movie X. This isn't glitzy Hollywood, this is sleazy seedy Hollywood in the mid-80s. Maxine is still pursuing fame not just as an adult film star, but in mainstream movies now. But while doing sleazy jobs in between auditions, the city is fearing the Night Stalker, a serial killer walking the city at night in L.A. There are some cops looking to Maxine for answers played by Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale. There's a studio horror movie Maxine is working on with a director played by Elizabeth Debicki. There's an agent played by Giancarlo Esposito. There's a porn star friend played by Halsey. There's a shady private eye played by Kevin Bacon.

Mia Goth and Ti West on the red carpet

I wanted to like this after really liking the previous two especially Pearl and being a fan of Ti West. But boy was this a letdown and a half! It is a film that thinks it's hip and cool and it's not. The previous two films were low-budget and West was pulling out some serious scares. Here it feels like he had a much bigger budget and bigger cast and "hey look how 80s this is!!!" production design and costumes. It had so much potential which is what's so frustrating about this: the idea of setting the Maxine in the Reagan 80s at a time when heavy metal music was bubbling up from the underground, video nasty VHS videos and low budget horror were on the rise, and devil worship was more than just something on Geraldo - and all of these things were converging in 1980s Hollywood. There could've been an awesome horror movie and instead it was trying too hard to be mainstream and glossy. And another thing - through this whole movie it's bowing at the alter of Brian De Palma's highly underrated 1984 erotic thriller Body Double and then in the last third (semi-spoilers ahead) West goes all-in and films the climax at a house in the Hollywood Hills that if it's not the house from Body Double it's a pretty darn close replica. Dude - I'd rather just watch Body Double at that point!?! There's elements of House of the Devil....but it lacks the undercurrent of fear and tension that film had. The two things that do deserve credit are Giancarlo Esposito who stole the entire film (look closely and there's an element of Gus Fring from Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul in his character) and Mia Goth who blew me away with Pearl and here she rose above the weakest film in the trilogy. But both Goth and West can do much better and I hope they do with their next film(s).

For info on MaXXXine

2 out of 5 stars

[canonrpfinder]

hi there! i use they/them pronouns. 25+ rp writer looking for 21+ discord rp writers. i am very friendly and i promise i don't bite. i write in english but i welcome anyone who is using online rp to practice their english. most of my writing will be 3+ paragraphs in length. i have only listed my preferred muses and comfort ships.

dm or like this post and i will get back to you.

(note: my ships will not be heavily based in smut or lewd - content will remain sensitive to the canon ages of each character listed)

doctor who:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ prefer to write jenny flint, clara oswald, 11th doctor, donna noble, rose tyler, amy pond, and river song

✒ ships: jenny x vastra; 10th x rose; river x the doctor

supernatural:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ prefer to write dean winchester, charlie bradbury, lilith, and meg

✒ ships: dean x cas

once upon a time:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write as henry mills, regina mills, ruby lucas, merida, peter pan, and belle french

✒ ships: regina x emma; merida x mulan; ruby x snow; belle x rumple

chilling adventures of sabrina/riverdale:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write as sabrina morningstar, theo putnam, dorcas night, lilith/madam satan, veronica lodge,

✒ ships: sabrina x betty; zelda x lilith; veronica x betty; toni x cheryl

marvel:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write nebula, rocket raccoon, mantis, yelena belova, deadpool, kitty pryde, rouge, loki laufeyson, and squirrel girl

✒ ships: kitty x rouge; yelena x kate

dc comics:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write kara zor-el, lena luthor, nia nal, and alex danvers

✒ ships: kara x lena; kara x nia; lena x nia; alex x kelly; alex x lena

broadway/musicals:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write janis ian (mean girls), karen smith (mean girls), barbara maitland (beetlejuice), delia deetz (beetlejuice), and elphaba (wicked)

✒ ships: janis x cady; adam x barbara; karen x gretchen; elphaba x glinda

merlin:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write: morgana pendragan, merlin, and morguase

✒ ships: morgana x gwen; merlin x arthur

the addams family/wednesday:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write: wednesday addams, thing, gomez addams, morticia addams, and yoko ono

✒ ships: wednesday x enid; yoko x divina; mortica x larissa; gomez x morticia

american horror story:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write: queenie, scarlett winslow, zoe benson

✒ ships: scarlett x ruby; scarlett x maya; zoe x madison

stranger things:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write: max mayfield, robin buckley, eddie munson, will byers, vicki, and eleven hopper

✒ ships: steve x eddie; will x mike; max x eleven; max x lucas; robin x nancy; eddie x cindy; vicki x robin

lost girl:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write: kenzi malikov, bo dennis, evony fluerette marquise

✒ ships: bo x tamsin; bo x evony; bo x kenzi

horror/indie:

(open to friendship/enemy connections)

✏ i prefer to write: mia (the fallout), tara carpenter (scream); mindy meeks-martin (scream); glen (chucky); glenda (chucky); tiff valentine (chucky); moira karp (some kind of hate); bonnie harper (the craft); sara bailey (the craft); z (warm bodies)

✒ ships: mia x vada; tara x amber; tara x quin; tara x mindy; tiff x chucky; moira x kaitlin

✒

[dustedmagazine]

M. Sage — Paradise Crick (RVNG Intl.)

Paradise Crick by M. Sage

Colorado-based ambient musician Matthew Sage draws influence from his everyday exploits to create magical sonic microcosms. Whether it’s sailing, exploring his former home city of Chicago or in the case of Paradise Crick camping, pleasurable pastimes form the core of Sage’s music. This sense of the quotidian muse calls to mind a quote from Yoko Ono: “Art is my life, and my life is art.” According to Sage, who is also an artist and an educator, art is both all around us and within us, so why not reflect on it, embrace it, and make something beautiful from it? If we all thought this way, the world would be a much happier place.

With Paradise Crick, Sage creates a reflection of the beauty and the chaos of our wilderness. With synths, field recordings, voice, and instrumentation, he builds songs that are organisms. They breathe and move, tangled within the underbrush. This is also his most visceral work, as he ornaments his typically ambient palette with an assortment of palpable shapes, colors, and textures. The record plays out like a journey, as Sage traverses a forested landscape, establishes a site to bed down, and then retraces his steps. He’s testing out his narrative chops with this album and has succeeded in weaving a captivating story. 

The adventure begins with “Bendin’ In,” a frothy brew of digitalia, harmonica, and guitar. This is a bold opening statement, mimicking the cacophony of forest fauna and setting the stage for the melodic “Map to Here,” in which Sage finds a well-worn path through the scrub. The outright glistening “River Turns Woodley (for Frogman)” introduces beats, chimes, and a delicate descending autoharp melody before the synthesized chirrup of robotic crickets calls forth “Fire Keplo.” At the center of the album is the lovely sunset of “Tilth Dusk Drains,” and its counterpart “Tilth Dawn Rustles.” These two crepuscular pieces signify the start of Sage’s journey homeward, as he breaks camp and sets off to conclude his journey. 

The second half of Paradise Crick feels almost uncanny and alien, as it becomes harder to discern the acoustic from the synthetic. It all becomes a blur. Sage is exhausted and ready to return to civilization. Someone once asked him in an interview where Paradise Crick truly resides. “In your imagination, hopefully. In your heart and in your memory,” he answered. Sage is indeed one with his art, and everything around him is a potential inspiration. What a wonderful ethos to have.   

Bryon Hayes

[blendergallery]

✨“And in the end The love you take Is equal to the love you make”✨💔RIP John Lennon 💔 9 October 1940 - 8 December 1980. 42 Years ago today, this now infamous photograph was taken by Annie Leibowitz for Rolling Stone Magazine on December 8, 1980, just hours before Lennon was murdered outside the Dakota building in New York City. Here is how she described it: "I sometimes think of that photograph as 10 years in the making. I met John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York in the early part of my career. It was 1980, and he had just finished the album Double Fantasy with Yoko. I had seen the cover, which was both of them kissing. And I thought, Oh my gosh. This was the 1980s—romance was a little dead. And I was so moved by that kiss. There was so much in that simple picture of a kiss. So, for the photo I wanted to take, I imagined them somehow together. And it wasn't a stretch to imagine them with their clothes off, because they did it all the time. But what happened at the last minute was that Yoko didn't want to take her clothes off. So, we went ahead with the picture, and it was this very striking picture of Yoko clothed against a naked John. And of course, John was murdered later that afternoon. It's actually an excellent example of how circumstances change a picture. Suddenly, that photograph has a story. You're looking at it and thinking it's their last kiss, or they're saying goodbye. You can make up all sorts of things about it. I think it's amazing when there's a lot of levels to a photograph." ✨ Incredible story, incredible photograph.. incredible man RIP John.. 42 Years on, your life continues to profoundly influence others.. 🕊 Swipe ⬅️ for some beautiful and moving photographs by Lynn Goldsmith, Allan Tannenbaum, Ethan Russell, Bob Gruen, Duffy, Rowland Scherman and Robert Whitaker Peace & Love ✌️❤️🎶 @johnlennon @yokoono #imaginepeace #johnlennon #yokoono #annieleibovitz #newyork #dakotabuilding #nyc #rollingstonemagazine #musicphotography #beatles #musichistory #rockandroll #doublefantasy #lovers #muse #legendsneverdie #rockroyalty #rockicon #peace #love #style #icon #culture #blendergallery #blendergallery (at Blender Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl5VLPiP5Wx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[hebatollah]

Girl Unlocked

Yoko Ono once said, “Some people are old at 18 and some are young at 90. Time is a concept that humans created.” How old are you?

To tell the truth or keep you guessing, that’s the question. But I’ll tell you the truth.

Take (5)

As 2020 was approaching, I started earning the treatment I deserved at work, and got promoted to my dream job. I joined the dream team as soon as Covid hit, and that’s also when my stomachache became pretty distracting.

The clinics were closed for weeks, and the medications they prescribed me over the phone didn’t work. While everyone was anxious about the lockdown and wanted it to end, I took it as my last break before seeing a specialist and finding out I’m going to die. All the food and every meal made my stomach cry. Luckily my 33rd birthday cake didn’t destroy me. It wasn’t my first birthday alone, but the first time I celebrate on my own baking a cake and ordering a gift. I bought a fancy skin care set for my sick body, hoping it will forgive me. Too late I guess? I wasn't scared of my body anymore, but both of us were very sad.

I spent a few days in hospital after the lockdown was lifted. Still nobody was allowed to visit me, but I wasn’t lonely or sad anymore. All I remember was the peace and gratitude, for my dark fantasies didn’t come true.. My stitched body and I, have become one. In that hospital bed I slept like a baby, pampered by the kindest nurses, and Suzanne Toren's motherly voice reading my first audiobook. For the record, it's a great work of fiction about trees.

I moved to Vienna a couple of months later, making another dream come true. Vienna had definitely been waiting for me, along with a heartwarming soul to see. Like most of the list by now, he’s younger than me, but something about him was old and new. His passion and energy were contagious, and like an expert, he oriented me to a door that I didn't know existed. Once opened, a curious and playful me came out. No need for the big girl who gives the big talk anymore. Things can be so spontaneous and effortless. No need to mother around in the cold to feel at home. It's already home wherever we were. I saw his soul, and he made me see mine. I caught the breath of fresh air without thinking too much.. It felt right.

After the lockdowns were over, I lost him to the busy city.

City of Vienna, are you really doing this to me?!

I still have myself unlocked, and I’ll roam you on my own!

I took myself to places and met new people over old hobbies, writing in Vienna’s favorite cafe’s, and taking photos of the trees. I decided to move to an even better job, and the one I wanted the most chose me. I travelled solo, and found that very rewarding. Also for the first time since college, I started meeting men who were actually born before I was, and found that hard to stomach! I wonder if their age was my problem? Or am I the problem?

This time I didn’t question myself. I’m not the problem, and I don't need to be fixed. I kept on reading non fiction though.. I found my muse in psychology. That’s where I started to understand myself and others better. I felt blessed, for I have what it takes to shine. Yes I don't have it all, but I realized how privileged I am. I can't complain.

I continued to read further, and remembered that girl at the door opened almost 3 years before. I opened it again, and found us crying.

[reining-disaster]

Say One of These Quotes to My Muse to see How They React:

"Most Romantic Quotes in the World" Edition

"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get–only with what you are expecting to give–which is everything." –Katharine Hepburn

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." — 1 Corinthians 13

"The only thing we never get enough of is love; and the only thing we never give enough of is love." — Henry Miller

"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place." — Zora Neale Hurston

"Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold." – Zelda Fitzgerald

"I am grateful that you were born, that your love is mine, and our two lives are woven and welded together." — Mark Twain

"Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time." — Maya Angelou

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." — Oprah Winfrey

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk through my garden forever." — Alfred Tennyson

"The giving of love is an education in itself." — Eleanor Roosevelt

"We are most alive when we are in love." — John Updike

"Love does not dominate; it cultivates." — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." — Aristotle

"We're all a little weird, and life's a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it LOVE." — Dr. Seuss

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you." — A. A. Milne

"I love her and that's the beginning and end of everything." — F. Scott Fitzgerald

"I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul." — Charles Dickens

"It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight." — Vladimir Nabokov

"Who being loved, is poor?" — Oscar Wilde

"I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you." — Roy Croft

"If I know what love is, it is because of you." — Hermann Hesse

"The regret of my life is that I have not said 'I love you' often enough." — Yoko Ono

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." — Dr. Seuss

"One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving." — Paulo Coelho

[littlequeenies]

Do you guys hate Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg?

I saw you involved in some misogynist hateration fuelled trash talking with a Stones fan about those two women. I hope i'm wrong because that would be disappointing considering you run a blog that is about humanizing and highlighting women in rock :C...

Hi! No, we don't!

This blog is runned by 2 people and while I guess it's me who's most of the time here, I didn't engage in any conversation with any Stones fans about Marianne or Anita (I don't know about my sis).

A while ago someone was posting about Marsha Hunt and Mick Jagger and said that Marianne was "Mick's girlfriend" without saying her name and I think I reblogged (instead of replying) that her name was Marianne Faithfull and that she was a very successful musician, actress and model on her own (plus later, author).

I even shared an article from The Guardian that said most of these girls (merntioned Anita because of a recent documentary on her life that has been just released, also Mariannem Yoko Ono, Pattie Boyd) were more than "just" muses, they were not passive in the musician's stories but they were actively living their lifes, contributing to culture, etc.

So it hasn't been me for sure, and I don't guess my sister either.

Hope that helps!

[bluebeatlesgirls]

"Life is a lesson and the answer is at the end" -Cynthia Powell

"Cynthia made me laugh and she definitely would tell you straight if she didn't like something. She never sugar-coated anything" -May Pang

"I fell in love with Cynthia. It's as simple as that" -John Lennon

"She was a lovely lady who I've known since our early days together in Liverpool. She was a good mother to Julian.. I will always have great memories of our times together" -Paul McCartney

"I always got on so well with Cynthia" -Pattie Boyd

"She embodied love" -Yoko Ono

"My mum taught me how to turn everything around: you just kill people with kindness. There is no need to be mean, nasty or cruel to anybody" -Julian Lennon

Rest in peace Cynthia Powell (1939-2015)

[itsladykaramazov]

guys

today we can get 25% off on shirts using the code CLOTHING25 on Redbubble

these are from my shop link and it would make me really happy if you guys liked it 

but either way there are lots of other cool designs on the site so i thought i should let everyone know