beatlz
Apr 14, 2003, 11:49 AM
YOKO ONO AT 70 Apr 14 2003
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12844697&method=full&siteid=50143
By Nina Myskow
WHEN Yoko Ono turned 70 in February all she wanted to do was dance all night long.
Most women her years might aspire to something a little more sedate. Not Yoko. But then not many 70-year-olds have just had a top ten hit in the US dance charts.
When Sean, her son by John Lennon, suggested that he organise her birthday party, she knew exactly what she wanted.
"Sean was very sensitive, as always," she tells me. "He said: 'Mum, let's do it the usual way. We used to have Andy Warhol and all those people in the White Room in your apartment. Quiet and beautiful.'
"I said to him: 'That's very kind of you, but I don't want that. I just want to dance.' I'd had this kind of repression about dancing, because most men that I knew were not good dancers. John didn't like to dance - not very much.
"He would never say: 'Let's go dancing.' It's a kind of a woman thing, I guess. So I swore to myself that I was going to dance all night.
"And I did! It was a great party, and I'm very thankful to Sean for it. He took a restaurant over and transformed it. It was incredible.
"On one wall my Bottoms film was flashing, and on the other wall was War Is Over If You Want It. He made the dance floor Painting To Be Stepped On, my work. It was amazing. I danced until 3am."
Yoko laughs, and positively twinkles at the memory. "It was a new beginning for me," she says. "Like starting over, a whole new life.
"Yes, life begins at 70! You worry about life becoming more limited. But it's not that at all. Instead of the walls closing in, they're opening up for me."
SHE looks amazing, even in the unforgiving sunlight pouring in on her as we sit in the hotel suite she makes her home whenever she's in London.
When we first met last summer I found it almost impossible to believe her age. She could be in her mid to late 40s. She is tiny, slight, birdlike and lithe, with the figure of a teenager.
"I have to watch what I eat, particularly since I gave up smoking four years ago," she admits. "I'm so small I can't afford to gain even five pounds. And I have a sweet tooth, so I struggle."
She used to work out spasmodically, but what she does now is walk. She still lives in the New York Dakota building apartment she was sharing with John when he was assassinated.
"I can't just walk, I feel ridiculous," she says. "I have to go somewhere. So every day I walk across the park to the East Side to have lunch. I have a farm upstate, and I walk there, too."
Her tousled modern haircut frames an unlined face. There are a few crinkles behind the famous tinted lenses, but that's all.
The jaw is wide, and when she smiles, which is often, there are charming dimples either side. She is adamant that she has not had plastic surgery or even Botox.
"I'd be too scared to do that." And she shudders. "When I go to the dentist, I don't even have injections. I'd rather endure the hurt. And I once saw this film of a what-you-call-it? Nip and tuck. Awful! They were putting a knife inside the skin.
"I don't think I could stand it. What I'm hoping is that I can hold out until they find a youth pill we can all take." She laughs a lot and is very tactile, reaching out to touch my knee when she wants to make a point. Very far removed from the Dragon Lady image that dogged her for decades.
An iconic figure, her public persona has always seemed somewhat stern, and very much in control. Her face impassive, emotions concealed by her tinted glasses. To many Beatles fans she was an object of hatred.
"I'm aware of that," she says ruefully. "That concept of 'Oh, she stole John from us and broke the Beatles up.' But now a lot of women relate to the stuff I went through.
"I'm just as vulnerable as anyone. That's why I wear my glasses, to protect myself. They're a barrier. They are prescription lenses, because it's hard for me to see - I have double vision. But without them I would feel naked."
She leans forward and asks: "You know I had those wraparound glasses, the Porsche ones? When John and I were making Double Fantasy we had some time spare, and he said: 'Let's go shopping.' We went to Saks, and he saw the glasses, put them on me and said: 'Wear these.'
"And then he said again: 'Wear these,' in such a definite way. It's very strange, the way he said it. I didn't wear them then. But when John passed away, I remembered what he said.
"Because my eyes were all red. And I thought: 'This is what he meant.' She blinks, swallows, and adds quietly: "I feel like he knew. He knew."
It was on December 8, 1980 that Lennon was gunned down beside her in front of the Dakota building. She still finds his loss extremely painful.
"Of course I miss him," she says. "Yes, I still cry. But on a spiritual level, I feel like we're still together. Sometimes I feel that John is telling me what to do." She smiles. "I don't necessarily do what he tells me, but it's nice to know that he's concerned."
Two weeks ago, Yoko was in Liverpool for the opening of John's old childhood home, which she bought and presented to the National Trust.
"The first month is already booked up," she tells me proudly. "It's better than a Broadway musical.
WOULD John approve? Of course. On the one hand, I'm sure he'd be having a laugh.
"But he also had a very soft-hearted, sentimental side, so he would have loved the fact that his bedroom was preserved exactly as it was."
The sight of the modest bedroom still makes Yoko emotional. "He spoke about it so much. When I'm there, I think about what he was dreaming. Because the dreams he had there influenced the whole world, eventually.
"That's why I like young people to see it. They might think they don't have anything - a piano, say. And they can see what little he had, and yet how many beautiful dreams started there." Yoko is still the keeper of the flame, although she has no intention of being drawn into a war of words with Sir Paul McCartney over his decision to reverse the original Lennon-McCartney billing on his album.
She says instead: "Of course it was a shock to me. I didn't like it. But Paul and I go through all sorts of things business-wise, and sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't.
"Paul's got a quirky side, and this is his quirk. We're all allowed to have some quirks.
"And I'm more concerned about the war, which John would have been devastated about, of course. So in the big picture, this is just like a blip. We should just forget about it.
"I've always gone with the flow. That's what's allowed me to survive. If I hadn't I'd have lost my energy."
Her energy is phenomenal. She works constantly. A conceptual artist long before she met John, her recording career has undergone a bizarre renaissance and she has become a surprise hit with young clubbers.
Walking On Thin Ice, originally released in 1981, has been remixed by the Pet Shop Boys. It is No 6 in the Billboard dance chart in the States, and is set for release here on May 12.
IN London she appeared live at Nag Nag Nag at 1am. The kids greeted her with rapturous acclaim.
She has connected with a generation who are more than likely oblivious to the Beatles history. Many of them were not even on the planet when Lennon was alive. But she finds nothing extraordinary about her youthful appeal.
"Well, I went through sexism," she says. "I come from that generation that thinks to be a proper girl you have to smile all the time, that you don't know what to do about anything to do with the brain.
"And racism, of course. And I hope that now people have got used to me, that I have changed a little how they see oriental women.
"So likewise I'm hoping to give relief to people about ageism. In fact, I don't say 70 years old, I say 70 years young. Some people look at me and say: 'Oh, you look 50.' I hate that. I say: 'No, I'm just sexy.'"
And she laughs again. It's a new, decidedly minxy, attitude to life. She's wearing skin-tight black Versace trousers, a nipped-in foxy Versace black leather jacket and seems almost to vibrate with life.
It was in this new, flirty mood that she recently bowled Jonathan Ross over on his TV show and left him happily floundering.
"Yes, I'm opening up," she says, grinning broadly. "It's not something I tried for, it's just started to happen, somehow. It's a discovery for me."
I tease her, and say that perhaps she's about to meet somebody new.
"A new companion? I suppose it's possible - anything is possible," she says. "But it's one thing to be open to it on a logical level; on the emotional level it's a different thing.
"Just this afternoon I was remixing some of John's work, and Working Class Hero touched me so deeply. So many memories. I have so much stuff to do for John.
"And I have so much work. I've created a situation for myself that is comfortable. I know exactly how my routine works. So I hope I'm not going to fall in love again. That would be so hard to cope with.
"What would John think? I think he would like the fact that somebody was looking after me. So what I want from the future is to stay healthy enough to enjoy it, whatever comes to me."
And then she answers in a way that would gladden John's heart. "But what I want, of course, is world peace - hopefully before too many more people are maimed and killed and too many cities are destroyed.
"You see, John was the love of my life. And we're still working together. You know."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12844697&method=full&siteid=50143
By Nina Myskow
WHEN Yoko Ono turned 70 in February all she wanted to do was dance all night long.
Most women her years might aspire to something a little more sedate. Not Yoko. But then not many 70-year-olds have just had a top ten hit in the US dance charts.
When Sean, her son by John Lennon, suggested that he organise her birthday party, she knew exactly what she wanted.
"Sean was very sensitive, as always," she tells me. "He said: 'Mum, let's do it the usual way. We used to have Andy Warhol and all those people in the White Room in your apartment. Quiet and beautiful.'
"I said to him: 'That's very kind of you, but I don't want that. I just want to dance.' I'd had this kind of repression about dancing, because most men that I knew were not good dancers. John didn't like to dance - not very much.
"He would never say: 'Let's go dancing.' It's a kind of a woman thing, I guess. So I swore to myself that I was going to dance all night.
"And I did! It was a great party, and I'm very thankful to Sean for it. He took a restaurant over and transformed it. It was incredible.
"On one wall my Bottoms film was flashing, and on the other wall was War Is Over If You Want It. He made the dance floor Painting To Be Stepped On, my work. It was amazing. I danced until 3am."
Yoko laughs, and positively twinkles at the memory. "It was a new beginning for me," she says. "Like starting over, a whole new life.
"Yes, life begins at 70! You worry about life becoming more limited. But it's not that at all. Instead of the walls closing in, they're opening up for me."
SHE looks amazing, even in the unforgiving sunlight pouring in on her as we sit in the hotel suite she makes her home whenever she's in London.
When we first met last summer I found it almost impossible to believe her age. She could be in her mid to late 40s. She is tiny, slight, birdlike and lithe, with the figure of a teenager.
"I have to watch what I eat, particularly since I gave up smoking four years ago," she admits. "I'm so small I can't afford to gain even five pounds. And I have a sweet tooth, so I struggle."
She used to work out spasmodically, but what she does now is walk. She still lives in the New York Dakota building apartment she was sharing with John when he was assassinated.
"I can't just walk, I feel ridiculous," she says. "I have to go somewhere. So every day I walk across the park to the East Side to have lunch. I have a farm upstate, and I walk there, too."
Her tousled modern haircut frames an unlined face. There are a few crinkles behind the famous tinted lenses, but that's all.
The jaw is wide, and when she smiles, which is often, there are charming dimples either side. She is adamant that she has not had plastic surgery or even Botox.
"I'd be too scared to do that." And she shudders. "When I go to the dentist, I don't even have injections. I'd rather endure the hurt. And I once saw this film of a what-you-call-it? Nip and tuck. Awful! They were putting a knife inside the skin.
"I don't think I could stand it. What I'm hoping is that I can hold out until they find a youth pill we can all take." She laughs a lot and is very tactile, reaching out to touch my knee when she wants to make a point. Very far removed from the Dragon Lady image that dogged her for decades.
An iconic figure, her public persona has always seemed somewhat stern, and very much in control. Her face impassive, emotions concealed by her tinted glasses. To many Beatles fans she was an object of hatred.
"I'm aware of that," she says ruefully. "That concept of 'Oh, she stole John from us and broke the Beatles up.' But now a lot of women relate to the stuff I went through.
"I'm just as vulnerable as anyone. That's why I wear my glasses, to protect myself. They're a barrier. They are prescription lenses, because it's hard for me to see - I have double vision. But without them I would feel naked."
She leans forward and asks: "You know I had those wraparound glasses, the Porsche ones? When John and I were making Double Fantasy we had some time spare, and he said: 'Let's go shopping.' We went to Saks, and he saw the glasses, put them on me and said: 'Wear these.'
"And then he said again: 'Wear these,' in such a definite way. It's very strange, the way he said it. I didn't wear them then. But when John passed away, I remembered what he said.
"Because my eyes were all red. And I thought: 'This is what he meant.' She blinks, swallows, and adds quietly: "I feel like he knew. He knew."
It was on December 8, 1980 that Lennon was gunned down beside her in front of the Dakota building. She still finds his loss extremely painful.
"Of course I miss him," she says. "Yes, I still cry. But on a spiritual level, I feel like we're still together. Sometimes I feel that John is telling me what to do." She smiles. "I don't necessarily do what he tells me, but it's nice to know that he's concerned."
Two weeks ago, Yoko was in Liverpool for the opening of John's old childhood home, which she bought and presented to the National Trust.
"The first month is already booked up," she tells me proudly. "It's better than a Broadway musical.
WOULD John approve? Of course. On the one hand, I'm sure he'd be having a laugh.
"But he also had a very soft-hearted, sentimental side, so he would have loved the fact that his bedroom was preserved exactly as it was."
The sight of the modest bedroom still makes Yoko emotional. "He spoke about it so much. When I'm there, I think about what he was dreaming. Because the dreams he had there influenced the whole world, eventually.
"That's why I like young people to see it. They might think they don't have anything - a piano, say. And they can see what little he had, and yet how many beautiful dreams started there." Yoko is still the keeper of the flame, although she has no intention of being drawn into a war of words with Sir Paul McCartney over his decision to reverse the original Lennon-McCartney billing on his album.
She says instead: "Of course it was a shock to me. I didn't like it. But Paul and I go through all sorts of things business-wise, and sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't.
"Paul's got a quirky side, and this is his quirk. We're all allowed to have some quirks.
"And I'm more concerned about the war, which John would have been devastated about, of course. So in the big picture, this is just like a blip. We should just forget about it.
"I've always gone with the flow. That's what's allowed me to survive. If I hadn't I'd have lost my energy."
Her energy is phenomenal. She works constantly. A conceptual artist long before she met John, her recording career has undergone a bizarre renaissance and she has become a surprise hit with young clubbers.
Walking On Thin Ice, originally released in 1981, has been remixed by the Pet Shop Boys. It is No 6 in the Billboard dance chart in the States, and is set for release here on May 12.
IN London she appeared live at Nag Nag Nag at 1am. The kids greeted her with rapturous acclaim.
She has connected with a generation who are more than likely oblivious to the Beatles history. Many of them were not even on the planet when Lennon was alive. But she finds nothing extraordinary about her youthful appeal.
"Well, I went through sexism," she says. "I come from that generation that thinks to be a proper girl you have to smile all the time, that you don't know what to do about anything to do with the brain.
"And racism, of course. And I hope that now people have got used to me, that I have changed a little how they see oriental women.
"So likewise I'm hoping to give relief to people about ageism. In fact, I don't say 70 years old, I say 70 years young. Some people look at me and say: 'Oh, you look 50.' I hate that. I say: 'No, I'm just sexy.'"
And she laughs again. It's a new, decidedly minxy, attitude to life. She's wearing skin-tight black Versace trousers, a nipped-in foxy Versace black leather jacket and seems almost to vibrate with life.
It was in this new, flirty mood that she recently bowled Jonathan Ross over on his TV show and left him happily floundering.
"Yes, I'm opening up," she says, grinning broadly. "It's not something I tried for, it's just started to happen, somehow. It's a discovery for me."
I tease her, and say that perhaps she's about to meet somebody new.
"A new companion? I suppose it's possible - anything is possible," she says. "But it's one thing to be open to it on a logical level; on the emotional level it's a different thing.
"Just this afternoon I was remixing some of John's work, and Working Class Hero touched me so deeply. So many memories. I have so much stuff to do for John.
"And I have so much work. I've created a situation for myself that is comfortable. I know exactly how my routine works. So I hope I'm not going to fall in love again. That would be so hard to cope with.
"What would John think? I think he would like the fact that somebody was looking after me. So what I want from the future is to stay healthy enough to enjoy it, whatever comes to me."
And then she answers in a way that would gladden John's heart. "But what I want, of course, is world peace - hopefully before too many more people are maimed and killed and too many cities are destroyed.
"You see, John was the love of my life. And we're still working together. You know."