NYC John Lennon Tribute

[MalEvans]

Did anybody watch the whole thing last night?

I caught some parts & the very tail end of it. Saw Kevin Spacey(!) sing "Mind Games." He's got a awesome voice! Who knew?

At the end, Sean sang 2 songs: "This Boy," with 2 other guys whom I didn't know -- were they from Sean's band? For all I know, they could've been James McCartney & Dhani Harrison!

He also did "Julia," which he dedicated to Yoko.

Very cool!

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"Limitless, undying love which shines around me like a million suns."

[Beatle79]

I enjoyed the show and I also liked Spacey's performance of "Mind Games." Stone Temple Pilots did a great job of "Revolution" http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif
My dad listened to the performances and watched the end of the show, but unfortunately I guess he didn't enjoy hearing Yoko's speech for some reason. But all in all, it was an interesting show. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/thumbsup.gif

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[jami]

I watched it all ....... looooooved it! Everyone did such a fabulous job with his songs. Kevin Spacey is one of my very favorite actors, and he sings too! He rocks! Sean sounded really good, I thought .... not anywhere near as good as Julian, in my book, but he was really pretty good!

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[CynicalBeatle]

I loved the concert...I cried and cheered and felt like a wrung-out washcloth afterwards!

It was great to see Sean. He definitely doesn't have John's or Julian's voice, but I thought he did a credible job on "This Boy." He has Dad's smile for sure, and seems to be going through a "fat Elvis" period at the same age too. ;-)

I've always loved and admired Kevin Spacey as an actor; now I worship the ground he walks on.

One thing I do need help on: I was taping the show on TNT, and the timer shut off at 2 hours, meaning I missed the great group rendition of "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People." Does anyone have a copy that includes the whole thing? I'm happy to pay for postage if you want to send it for me to copy, or blank tapes if you want to copy it yourself, and I'd be happy to reciprocate with any Beatles stuff I might have.

Please don't make me resort to begging. ;-)

~ cyn

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[ImaginePeace78]

I liked the show, it was alright. STP's 'Revolution' was good...but they forgot to say "in" when singing "count me out..." oh,well. I also liked Alanis Morrisette's version of 'Dear Prudence', even though I'm not a fan of hers. Cyndi Lauper's 'Strawberry Fields' was interesting and a nice tribute since it was sung in Strawberry Fields in Central Park. I did like Kevin Spacey's 'Mind Games.' And Sean's performance was very good--of 'Julia', 'ATU,' and 'This Boy.' That one segment with John and young Sean talking about how there are 365 days in a year was so cute! I've never heard that dialogue before.
There were performances I didn't care for like the R&B/Gospel-like 'Imagine'. It was *way* overdone. Lou Reed's 'Jealous Guy' sounded too angry compared to John's soulful and heartfelt version. Dave Matthews guitar playing was good on 'In My Life' but I didn't really care for his vocal. I really didn't care for the rap in 'Come Together.' The ending was okay...it was funny that no one remembered the lyrics to 'Power to the People.' Yoko's speech almost made me cry.
I've been on some other boards where people were complaining about there not being any pictures of Julian and John and that they made it sound like he only had one son. Whatever...people will find anything to complain about. The reason Julian didn't show up...that's his problem. I kept wondering who the special guest was...was it Sean? I thought it was going to be Ringo, Paul, or Elton John.
What do you think of Paul putting on his own concert (when he could've showed up for a tribute to his partner and bandmate). Do you think he's trying to "be equal" to John? Has his ego grown too large? Or is he just wanting to perform for a benefit concert? There were things about that on another list too, about Paul not showing up and then doing his own concert. I don't know...I think he could've showed up. I heard Ringo was on tour, and George probably wouldn't have been well enough to perform. But, oh well, the concert was pretty good. I wished there were more well-known performers, than mediocre ones. Just my opinion...
All You Need Is Love,
Kristi

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You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..." ~John Lennon

Kristi's Writing Desk (http://www.geocities.com/lennon4080forever/index.html)

[HeyBeatle]

I haven't watched the whole thing yet my dad recorded it for me because I was at a game. But from what I saw it seemed pretty good. My two big points were that the John and Sean sound bite about the days of the year got me all vaklempt and my other point is that Lou Reeds attempt at singing 'Jealous Guy' was (atleast to my ears) like fingernails upon a chalkboard. The thing is is that I like other Lou Reed stuff but I really didn't like that job.
I do have to agree that Kevin Spacey rocked on 'mindgames' besides Sean he was the best of what I've seen.

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" Are you a mod or a rocker?"
" No I'm a mocker."

[CynicalBeatle]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By jami:
Originally Posted By ImaginePeace78:
The reason Julian didn't show up...that's his problem.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>But I'm not so sure if it was a matter of Julian just not showing up, was it? Was he even invited?


I don't know the ins and outs of this, but I do know that Julian made a public statement about a year and a half ago, saying that he was through talking about John. Take that for what it's worth. Maybe he didn't want to be too involved for fear it would open up that can of worms again. &lt;shrug&gt;

It's true that there is a lot of animosity between them, but it all depends on whose side you believe. I expect the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I do wish, however, that Paul or Ringo would've made an appearance. Ah weel.

~ cyn

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Welcome to the forums, Cyn. Glad you could join us. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/wave2.gif

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[CynicalBeatle]

Thanks, Nowhere Man. I used to post on this forum as #9 Dream about 6 months ago, but decided to consolidate all my online identies! =:-o

Hopefully I can visit a little more regularly these days.

~ cyn

P.S. If anyone has a complete tape (including the 10 minutes they went over) of last night's concert that they can share with me (at my expense), please email me at cynicalbeatle@att.net. Thanks!!

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[onosideboards]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By MalEvans:



At the end, Sean sang 2 songs: "This Boy," with 2 other guys whom I didn't know -- were they from Sean's band? For all I know, they could've been James McCartney & Dhani Harrison!


<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

During "Across the Universe" sean was with Moby and Rufus Wainwright--who comepletely rocked. The second time was Rufus again and some other guy I still haven't identified.

If you don't know Moby and Rufus, I'd highly suggest downloading some of their stuff as they are both phenominal. Sean toured with Rufus during both of their first tours (their albums came out the same time).



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This is not here.

[HeyBeatle]

I finally watched the rest and it was really good. I didn't like Shelby Lynn's performance of Mother though, for some reason the Julian verse was missing or maybe I just missed it.

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" Are you a mod or a rocker?"
" No I'm a mocker."

[onosideboards]

julian verse? i thought it was really inappropriate to do that song---it's way too personal. i thot cynid lauper's was the best of all. i mean, nobody has dared to do that song at any sort of national level (that i know of) and she did an absolutely awesome job of it. i hope there will be an album of the songs--i'd buy it just for cyndi's song.

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This is not here.

[jami]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By onosideboards:
During "Across the Universe" sean was with Moby and Rufus Wainwright--who comepletely rocked. The second time was Rufus again and some other guy I still haven't identified.

If you don't know Moby and Rufus, I'd highly suggest downloading some of their stuff as they are both phenominal. Sean toured with Rufus during both of their first tours (their albums came out the same time).

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I completely agree with you on this .... Across The Universe is my all time favorite Beatles song, and I loved their version of it! Superb! Never heard of that Rufus guy, but I liked him a lot ... he was great! Love Moby lots!



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[jtal909]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By jami:
[/b]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>But I'm not so sure if it was a matter of Julian just not showing up, was it? Was he even invited? Yoko does tend to leave Julian out of certain things, which is horribly unfair. I do still admire Yoko for the way she's carried on John's legacy.


Funny you should say that. I was never a big Yoko fan (as you can probably tell) but I kind of liked her at the end of the show when she gave her speech and spoke a little about NY, and John.
Of what I saw (I have the rest on tape):
Yes, Kevin Spacey was cool when he said he was mad and broke into Mindgames.
Lou Reed misinterpreted Jealous Guy.
ComeTogether made me switch to the Yankee game.
Cindy was interesting Strawberry Fields.
Mother , well there was something wrong with that.
I liked JUlia by Sean but not This Boy, although he did the solo part well.
Revolution rocked.
Oh yeah, Dear Prudence was awesome.
too bad there was no Julian. Oh , Yoko!

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"Why don't you say it in your famous James Mason impersonation?"

[This Message Has Been Edited By jtal909 On October 03, 2001 07:32 PM]

[shyGirl]

Overall I liked the show. There were some parts that got me choked up. I agreed with Kevin Spacy when he said that he was honored to be there yet pissed off that John and other leaders for peace aren't with us anymore. Of all performances, I liked Revolution, Strawberry Fields Fovever, Nowhere Man, Dear Prudence, and Julia. I was yet wasn't surprised that Paul didn't show up. All in all I thought it was a well done show.

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Song of the moment-Strawberry Fields Forever

[alliesun]

i haven't gotten to see all of the show yet. i only caught a few acts here and there. the things i did see and like were: sean singing 'this boy' & 'julia', and natalie merchant (i think that was who it was... i was in the other room and didn't hear the introduction) singing 'nowhere man'. all in all - a very nice tribute.

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"dance every dance, live your dreams, and above all - learn to love as you've never loved before..."

[jami]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By ImaginePeace78:
The reason Julian didn't show up...that's his problem.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>But I'm not so sure if it was a matter of Julian just not showing up, was it? Was he even invited? Yoko does tend to leave Julian out of certain things, which is horribly unfair. I do still admire Yoko for the way she's carried on John's legacy.



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[Lynner]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By jami:
Originally Posted By ImaginePeace78:
The reason Julian didn't show up...that's his problem.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yoko does tend to leave Julian out of certain things, which is horribly unfair.

I agree with you, Jami. For all the promoting Yoko does for peace, you'd think she'd make peace with her stepson.


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[jami]

God, REALLY Lynner! Good point!

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[beatlebangs1964]

I have to agree with Jami and Lynner on this one.

The show was wonderful and I had to smile at how much Sean reminded me of John when he smiled. I never thought he looked like John before, but now...I see John in him.

On the other hand, Julian had Cynthia's coloring, but John's facial features and Cynthia's eyes. I hope Julian has found peace.

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Then we will remember things we said today. Yeah.
-- Beatles, 1964

BB1964

I was just thinking... perhaps it was good in a way that Paul didn't show up. Perhaps it would have detracted from the tribute to John if all the hype was surrounding Paul and his appearance. Of course it would have been nice and moving if he had turned up, but a lot of people would have forgotten the real reason for the show if they were merely waiting on Paul's performance, just like someone said the other day if the Beatles reunited for a tribute to the WTC victims, they would have been so wrapped up in them performing that the real purpose and meaning of the show would have been lost.

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[This Message Has Been Edited By Nowhere Man On October 04, 2001 04:14 AM]

[SF4-EVER]

There was a review of the concert in this morning's online NY Times. Rather than start a new topic I'll just post it in here (and I'll post it since I'm not sure the link would work):

Imagining John Lennon, in a Time of Anguish

By JON PARELES

When the TNT cable channel planned "Come Together," its tribute to John Lennon, the show was going to be a benefit for gun-control groups, a concert "in support
of a nonviolent world." After the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, it inevitably changed.
The rescheduled concert, which was broadcast live on Tuesday night from Radio City Music Hall on the WB network and on TNT, became a benefit for relief efforts through the Web site www.helping.org. (http://www.helping.org.)

Lennon's yearning to give peace a chance, and his conviction that "love is the answer,"
made an uncomfortable fit with the prospect
of imminent war. Instead, the tribute found a
new focus: mourning both a murdered musician and the thousands of victims in New York and Washington.

Its avowed purpose became, in the words of the show's host, Kevin Spacey, "to not only keep John's songs alive but to help rebuild New York." The most touching moment was was broadcast from Central Park, where Cyndi Lauper sang "Strawberry Fields" next to the memorial to Lennon, with circles of candles flickering on the mosaic that reads, "Imagine."

The set for the show was based on the white room where Lennon made the video for "Imagine" and included a white grand piano like the one he used. At the music hall, concertgoers saw Lennon's home movies and heard his music during the broadcast's commercials.

"Imagine" itself, belted by the gospel singer Yolanda Adams with the onetime Beatles sideman Billy Preston on organ, sounded newly prescient and poignant in its longing for an end to countries, religions and possessions, with its utopia as distant as ever. It was just one moment in which an old song
adapted to a new historical moment — a testament both to the wise generality of Lennon's writing and to fans' willingness to place themselves within a song.

Actors including Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Leelee Sobieski, Steve Buscemi and Benjamin Bratt condemned the attacks and praised heroic rescue workers and the city itself. Punctuated by videotaped interviews with
Lennon, they cast his songs as dreams of a one-world community and transmutations of pain into beauty. Behind the performers, video screens showed New York scenes, hard-working firefighters and American flags.

Many of Lennon's songs are filled with a sense of private loss that has now taken on a public resonance. When Dave Matthews gently sang "In My Life," its "places I'll remember . . . Some have gone" seemed utterly specific. The hallucinatory itinerary of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," sung by
Marc Anthony, became a New York travelogue, with all its whimsicality vanished. When Nelly Furtado and David Stewart performed "Instant Karma," its peak came with Ms. Furtado trumpeting "surely not to live in
pain and fear." And Natalie Merchant sang "Nowhere Man" without a hint of its original disdain, turning it into a folk-rock lullaby for someone bewildered and displaced.

The program's original character, as an all-star musical tribute, emerged now and then. Mr. Spacey had a moment of celebrity karaoke, singing "Mind Games" as a finely detailed Lennon impression. Stone Temple Pilots did their own Lennon imitation as they replicated the Beatles' fuzz-toned "Revolution." Sean Lennon, Lennon's son with Yoko Ono (the show's executive producer), harmonized with Rufus Wainwright on Lennon's "Across the Universe" and "This Boy," and sang "Julia" alone, his voice a lighter echo of his father's.

Lou Reed made "Jealous Guy" completely his own, a volatile rocker that turned each verse into a cycle of tongue-tied bewilderment, fury and partial apology, warning, "I'm a jealous guy — watch out!" Alanis Morrissette gave "Dear Prudence" a touch of Eastern drone and mysticism. Shelby Lynne, who lost her own parents to violence, sang Lennon's primal "Mother," though the large band led by Dave Stewart made it sound strangely triumphant
rather than lonely.

Craig David, an English pop-soul singer, dared to add some words to Lennon's own in "Come Together," with a quick-tongued rap that acknowledged, "It's real hard to try and say goodbye when it feels like yesterday" and "the heroes are the real superstars." The reggae singer Shaggy introduced "Give Peace a Chance" with another rap calling for "no more terror, no more wars," and added, "It's peace we need." But "Give Peace a Chance" soon segued to another, more pugnacious Lennon song: "Power to the People" — a sentiment from the 1960's that awaits its 21st-century meanings.

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"It is better to light a candle than to damn darkness." -- Confucius

Author of "Move Over Ms. L." and the sequel "To Thine Own Self Be True,"
hosted at www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)

Thanks for posting that. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif It helps reading a review as such when they don't even show the concert or anything about it down here.

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[jtal909]

I liked Natalie Mercahnt's Nowhere Man.

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"Why don't you say it in your famous James Mason impersonation?"

[CynicalBeatle]

Hey, does anyone have any idea, guess, or insight into why Sean et al chose "This Boy"? I love that song, but it's not especially meaningful in relation to the rest of John's catalogue.

Just wondering. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif

~cyn

P.S. What's the "Julian verse" of "Mother"? I assume you mean the one that goes, "Children, don't do what I have done..."

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When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.

[jtal909]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By Nowhere Man:
Thanks for posting that. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif It helps reading a review as such when they don't even show the concert or anything about it down here.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have a vhs of the show that I will send you if you like. Just send me an email.


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"Why don't you say it in your famous James Mason impersonation?"

[alliesun]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By jtal909:
I liked Natalie Mercahnt's Nowhere Man.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

me too! i think that was one of my favorite parts of the show.

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"dance every dance, live your dreams, and above all - learn to love as you've never loved before..."

[Angelle]

Maybe Paul wasn't invited

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