📸 Meet John and Yoko...For Real!

[CynCP]

Loved this story so much that I had to look further into Bruce Edward Hall: www.bruceedwardhall.com
He had quite a life! Despite his involvement with this disasterous birthday show, he worked as a puppeteer on Romper Room and with the Muppets (including performing 2 characters in the classic movie,The Muppets Take Manhattan). Hall was also an accomplished writer and historian.

 

[Ingryd Medeiros]

This is not mine but I think few people know about this photo! A Twitter friend of mine discovered, in 2020, a photo of a family friend of their with John Lennon during Bobby Womack's party, February 27, 1974.

 

[Starshyne9]

This is not mine but I think few people know about this photo! A Twitter friend of mine discovered, in 2020, a photo of a family friend of their with John Lennon during Bobby Womack's party, February 27, 1974.
View attachment 1933

This is beautiful!!!

 

[Georgescrackerbox]

John Goes to John’s
July 7, 1972

First published in the April/May 1976 Issue of “TheWrite Thing”
By Jim Marazzo from St. Paul, Minnesota
View attachment 1314View attachment 1315View attachment 1316
One afternoon in my beach house in Ventura, Calif. (in ’72), as I was writing a song, my roommate ran up the stairs shouting John Lennon and Yoko were at John’s, a seaside restaurant. We, like made (sic), dashed over there and found him and Yoko playing pool. He was in good spirits at the time, cracking jokes.

Then people started asking him to play some songs, he said he hadn’t any guitar. So somebody said he had one close by, and he’d run and get it. John said, “OK, lad, off with you.” He returned with is guitar moments later, John took it and said, “I see a piano here someone play with me.” I had a camera with me so I took a picture. About three people, including my friend Charlie (the one at the piano in the picture), dashed forward for the piano, and Charlie got there first. Little did John know that there happened to be two people there who knew EVERY chord to every Beatles and post-Beatle song (me & Charlie). Well here we were in Calif. Two struggling musicians influenced greatly by the masters: Lennon and McCartney (Beethoven & Chopin, etc)…

Standing and playing piano with John Lennon. Lennon shouted out, “Revolution, key of A.” With acoustic guitar, he did the first guitar lick, and where Paul screams on the record, Charlie took Paul’s part. Lennon and Yoko did an about-face in amazement and looked stunned. During the song, he’d yell to Charlie, “Really rockin’ Lad.” It made me feel really good to hear that. Charlie knew all the chords. They played songs like “Give Peace a Chance,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “In my life,” “Woman is the Nigger of the World,” “Luck of the Irish,” “New York City,” and “Imagine.”

When it was all over, he went out, and we went with him. He said I wish we could have had some electric guitars; it would have been a gas. We said ya. As we just stood there looking at each other in silence for a while, he said, “Well, bye, Lads, bye.” We felt like saying, take us with you. But the dream was over. Fast……..hanks so much for sharing Sara!!

 

[Starshyne9]

"I'm Never Going to See Him Again"
By Margie Paturso
The Write Thing November/December 1981 issue
Photo taken by Ann Bruno

It was the summer of '80, August to be exact. My penpal, Tommy, from Liverpool, was visiting his aunt in Westport, Conn. and came to spend a week with my family. The previous week, he had gone to New York and had seen John and Yoko at the Hit Factory. He had told me all about it, calling me that night, as he was so excited.

John had been exceptionally nice to him. He had especially gotten a kick out of the fact that Tommy was from Liverpool. He put on a thick Liverpool accent, exclaiming to Yoko, "He's from Liverpool, my hometown!" He gave Tommy his autograph and even posed for a picture with Tommy and Yoko. John looked great in the picture. He was so cute, so vulnerable. His arm was around Tommy, and he had the cutest look on his face.

Needless to say when Tommy arrived at my house, we knew we would be going to New York at least once to try and see John. We went on Tuesday, August 26th. No luck. We took Tommy to see the Dakota and did the usual tourist sightseeing trip with him. Then we returned to my house, deciding we would definitely try again.

And so we did. On Saturday, August 30 we found ourselves New York bound again. We were confident that we were going to see John, as it was the 8th anniversary of the One to One concerts.

We arrived in New York quite early and split up. Tommy wanted to go buy his girlfriend something. Mary Ellen, Ann and I went window shopping. We decided to all meet at the Hit Factory at 1 o'clock.

The three of us got to the Hit Factory at 12:30. We couldn't bear killing time anymore. No one was there, not even Tommy. So we waited. Around 1:15 Tommy showed up. And so the four waited.

Finally, a guy came out of the Hit Factory. We asked him if John was there. He said, no" and looked at us like we were from another planet. Another guy came out and said "no" also. then another who told us John usually didn't show up until 3 o'clock if he was coming. We thanked him and glorified over this slight glimmer of hope.

When 2:30 rolled around, we were extremely nervous. We were watching every car that turned the corner into the street we were on. We alternated sitting on the stoop and pacing back and forth (some from sheer nervousness, others for want of a bathroom!)

all of a sudden, about 2:40, a silver limo pulled around the corner. Tommy jumped up, saying, "It's him!" We all scrambled to our feet just as the limo pulled to a stop in front of us.

The chauffeur got out to open the back door and out came Yoko, smoking a cigarette and looking very bored, all in black with black sunglasses. Her hair was tautly pulled back. Next in line was a women with platinum blond hair and camera. (We later learned that she was a photographer for the Star).

Last but not least, John came out. He was so funny 'cos he was pulling one of his pants legs down as he was getting out (No wonder, Lennon, those pants were a bit tight!) He came out fully, looked at us, then walked over near Yoko. He seemed a bit agitated (I think by the photographer) He then asked the photographer if she'd rather have their sunglasses on or off, as she was getting ready to snap a picture. They decided to leave them on as John put his arm around Yoko. The photographer snapped, as did Ann and Tommy.

Some small conversation followed between John and the photographer. We just stayed glued to one spot. Mary Ellen and I had books for him to sign, but neither one of us made a move.

After a few minutes, I blurted out, "Hi John." He turned, looked at all of us and said, "Hi, how are you?" Ann later told us that we all mumbled "fine" or something like that. I honestly don't remember!

Before we knew it, the photographer was getting back in the limo with John saying something about the chauffeur taking her back to the Dakota. He shut the door and walked towards the door of the Hit Factory. As he was going in, he looked at us and we all said, "bye John". Then we pressed our noses against the door and watched him and Yoko get on the elevator. The whole "meeting" took only five minutes!

Before I go on, let me say that John looked great, but oh so skinny. He was dressed in a black suit with black boots. He had on a white shirt with a gold and black stripped tie. Tommy informed us that the tie was John's Quarry Bank School tie. He was carrying a brown shoulder bag and wearing his yellow-rimmed sunglasses. He was wearing a turquoise ring a s well as his wedding ring. That really got to me.

Anyway, Ann, Mary Ellen and I went crazy, jumping around and hugging each other. Tommy just smiled and looked at us like we were mad. The tears came and Mary Ellen said a mouthful when she said, "I'm never going to see him again." Little did we know...

So, there were were standing there, high on John, our books unsigned, planning to stay until he came out when all of a sudden we were approached by tow young men carrying a baseball bat. With all the excitement of seeing John, we had forgotten that we were in Hell's Kitchen. We were threatened and nearly beaten, and after that, we left. Sorry John. I wish we could have stayed.

 

[Jane smith]

How lucky and extremely fortunate these people are! Memories they will never forget!

 

[Starshyne9]

Here is a John and Yoko fan meeting story but sadly no photographs to go with it.

I Saw Them Walking There

By Allison Villone

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer Fan club Publication

1980



(Note from Editor-- On July 30, I was hanging around the Dakota hoping for John and/or Yoko to come out, with some friends. With no warning, a cab pulled out, and who came out of the cab but John and Yoko. They walked across our path and into the building. I vowed to go back two days later, since I now knew they weren’t on vacation.)



Undaunted, I went back with Eileen, a McCartney friend. As I’m a Lennon Lover, one would think that she might not be for me. But we get along well together so I invited her to come along to spend the day with me hanging out at the Dakota. We took the train from Larchmont and 45 minutes later we ended up at Grand Central Station. Then we walked from Grand Central up to Fifth Avenue and then all the way to East 72nd Avenue. Then we walked across Central Park. If you are at all familiar with this route, you’ll know how tired we were. By then it was 12:00. We decided to just wait at the Dakota for a few minutes, and then go to lunch at the Dakota restaurant. We were just standing on the south side, right next to the brass booth where the doorman stands. It was August 1, and we were enjoying one of those humid, sweltering, red-hot August days. I remember that we were looking at the windows and I noticed that the doorman was sweating.



We had only been standing outside for three minutes when I looked to my left. No one. Then my right. John and Yoko were walking toward us. Since Eileen is not a Lennon fan, I said, “That’s them” and decided to calm my shock and start trying to talk. John was wearing his hair, that looked very blond, in a ponytail. He was wearing a tannish terry-cloth shirt, shirt, white pans (the painter’s kind), his old pecs, and his white tennis shoes. He really looked great and much younger than I expected.

Yoko looked great too. She actually looked younger than I remembered in pictures, in fact, I thought she looked prettier than I remembered. And since I always thought that she was attractive, I was really happy to see her looking so young. She was really relaxed and subdued in an orange caftan shirt and pants. They walked out, talking to each other, Yoko holding on to John’s arm loosely. I don’t know how I did it, but I moved my mouth. I looked at John and said, “excuse me, John, but would you please sign something for me?” He said “sure” rather politely and seemed sort of amused. I reached into my bag and pulled out my very favorite album, Imagine. I handed him my indelible blue magic marker and the record. He said “it’s goin’ to rub off, I think. I’d sign it but it’d rub off.” I shrugged because I sort of knew he would end up signing it.

I looked at Yoko, who was sort of quiet, and asked her, “would you please sign something for me, too Yoko?” She smiled and I gave her the Wedding Album postcard. She took the marker from John and signed it. I had the card in a blue notebook because I didn’t want to get it bent since it’s a collector’s item. John took it out of my hand and signed it without me even asking him! Then he gave it to Yoko and she signed it. She gave him the Wedding Album postcard and gave the book back to me. My membership card from Here There and Everywhere fell out. Yoko said, “Look, someone fell out” and reached down and picked it up. When she stood up straight, she handed it to me! I couldn’t believe it! Then John looked at me and said, “Well, I might as well try the album cover, anyway,” really sweetly. He signed it and handed it to Yoko. Yoko started signing on his face. “Singing on me nose, eh?” he said kidding around. No matter how American he is, he sounds more British than anyone I know.



He asked me, “So where ya from?” He started signing Eileen’s single, “Revolution.” He put the top on my pen and handed the marker to me.


“Upstate – Larchmont, Westchester County.” I was still sort of nervous. I really hadn’t expected that I would have to answer questions! Eileen asked Yoko to sign the single, and she was really happy about it, I noticed. John made a remark about the “bloody sticky weather.” He said a few more things before he and Yoko seemed to be edging away. They were so nice and pleasant. I was really, really, pleased.

“Thank you so much, John and Yoko,” I said. Maybe I sounded a little overzealous or silly but I didn’t care! I have a feeling that they understood, they acted that way, anyway.

John shrugged and said, “Really nice to meet you. Catch you later,” like he had known us for a hundred years. He had a way of making you feel relaxed. I mean, to contain myself when talking to my favorite person for five minutes, I must have been relaxed! Then Yoko said, “Yes, it was very nice.” Then they said “goodbye” and walked away.

After that, we stood outside of that Dakota for a while, watching them go. We just looked at the autographs and everything. A guy I met passed by in a cab and yelled out, “Hey, you finally got him, huh?”

The doorman, a nice, young guy wanted to know what happened. I recounted my experience again and again and will probably do it forever. That five minutes was the happiest moment of my life. I met my two favorite people, and they were the two nicest people on earth!

Thanks, John and Yoko for living up to my experiences and then some and for being the two nicest people I ever met!

 

[Starshyne9]

I mentioned in a different post about John, Yoko and Sean waiting outside the Dakota to watch Jimmy Carter drive by. Here is that story in case anyone was interested.

October 1980
Written by Ann Lawter
First published in "With a Little Help From My Friends" Issue #32

I had one other encounter with the Lennon family. This one was extremely surrealistic. It was three days later, on Monday October 13. I had gotten in the habit by this time of going to the Dakota about 1pm every day. That seemed to be prime time. As I neared 72nd Street on Columbus Ave, I noticed a big crowd gathered at the corner of those two streets. I thought probably there had been an accident or something. As I got there I noticed there was a cop directing traffic at the corner and they were blocking the street off. I walked up to someone and asked what was happening. They told me that President Carter’s limo was due to come through there on 72nd Street in just a minute. Although I’m not exactly a big fan of the Carter’s, I’ve never seen a real live President, so I thought this was pretty neat! I could tell the motorcade would have to come down 72nd street, which would mean it would go by the Dakota. I decided to walk on up there. As I arrived, I noticed there were three limos parked out front: one up under the archway, one in front of that one across the sidewalk out front, and a 3rd out in the street, double parked. The one that was across the sidewalk was John’s! I saw that there were bunches of people out front but they all seemed to be waiting for the President. About 5 minutes after I arrived a police car came out of Central Park slowly, with its lights flashing, and started down 72nd St. as though maybe it were leading the motorcade. I got my camera all set and stood right on the edge of the driveway in front of the Dakota. I heard Steve, the doorman, say “Here they come!” and I anxiously craned my neck to see the President. Stupid me. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that someone had just come running up from behind me and stopped beside me. I glanced over and it was Yoko! She was standing just to my left and standing just to her left was John! To his left was al little Oriental girl who must have been about 20 years old. Standing in front of her was Sean. She had her hands on Sean’s shoulders as though to keep him from running out into the traffic. The Lennons were just lined up here along 72nd St., just waiting to see the President. John Lennon, who could get an appointment with the President, The Pope or Mick Jagger any damn time he wanted, had brought his kid to stand out front and wave at President Carter. I started taking pictures quickly before they moved anywhere else. I needn’t have worried. Yoko was quiet, Sean was animated. The nanny was just trying to keep Sean under control. John spoke, “Sean, now the King is gonna come by here in a minute, and we’re all gonna wave at him!” We all just stood there, me stiff as a board with John continuing a steady barrage of small talk. Nobody was saying anything to the Lennons. Nobody asked for photos or autographs. That was the best part about it. Usually when you see John he’s being bugged by fans hanging around (like me) and he’s in a bit of a hurry to be done with it and out of there. Now he was just hanging around being a semi-normal human being. It was so incredible. He was cold, and kept saying how cold it was. He’d bounce up and down a d bit and blow on his hands. He kept telling Sean that the “King” was about the drive by. If he said “The King” once, he said it 50 times. I think John could use a lesson on American government. Lord only knows, Sean will need one; he won’t know if it’s the King, the President, or the Emperor! At one point, after he’d been waiting about 5 minutes, John commented that it “sure is taking him a long time to get here…he must have stopped in Central Park to pick up a couple of future voters!” A lady standing on the other side John from where I was, was Mrs. Warner LeRoy. Her husband is probably the second-richest man in the building. Mrs. LeRoy is a really nice young girl. She stepped off the curb about 6 inches into the street. As she did, John looked at her. He pointed at her feet and said gruffly, “LeRoy, get back up here on the curb! You know they don’t allow that when the President’s in town!” John kind of laughed in a funny way, but without smiling. Mrs. LeRoy laughed too and stepped back up on the curb. We must have been waiting there about 8 minutes. I finally decided that a lot valuable picture-taking time was going to waste here but the problem was that because we were lined up, I couldn’t really get any good photos without stepping out into the street and I’d already seen the results of that move. I leaned over to Yoko and said, ‘Yoko, as long as we’re all just standing here, would you mind if I took a couple of picture of you?” She hesitated and then said, “OK, fine.” I stepped out into the street in front of her, John, Sean, God and everybody, and turned toward them. JUST as I did that, here comes damn President Carter! So I stepped back into line. I heard John say, “C’mere Sean!” and Sean came over to him. John picked him up in his arms and once again reminded him to wave at the King. Jimmy drove by, smiled and waved. John, Sean, Yoko and the entire assembled multitude waved back. After he was gone, John put Sean down and turned around toward his limo. Lauren Bacall was standing behind him. She said, “Oh John, I meant to tell you happy birthday!” John said, “Thank you.” And politely put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek. Then john said, “Ok, let’s go,” and the four them, nanny included, ran back and got into the limo, then they took off.

 

[Skylar Moody]

I mentioned in a different post about John, Yoko and Sean waiting outside the Dakota to watch Jimmy Carter drive by. Here is that story in case anyone was interested.

October 1980
Written by Ann Lawter
First published in "With a Little Help From My Friends" Issue #32

I had one other encounter with the Lennon family. This one was extremely surrealistic. It was three days later, on Monday October 13. I had gotten in the habit by this time of going to the Dakota about 1pm every day. That seemed to be prime time. As I neared 72nd Street on Columbus Ave, I noticed a big crowd gathered at the corner of those two streets. I thought probably there had been an accident or something. As I got there I noticed there was a cop directing traffic at the corner and they were blocking the street off. I walked up to someone and asked what was happening. They told me that President Carter’s limo was due to come through there on 72nd Street in just a minute. Although I’m not exactly a big fan of the Carter’s, I’ve never seen a real live President, so I thought this was pretty neat! I could tell the motorcade would have to come down 72nd street, which would mean it would go by the Dakota. I decided to walk on up there. As I arrived, I noticed there were three limos parked out front: one up under the archway, one in front of that one across the sidewalk out front, and a 3rd out in the street, double parked. The one that was across the sidewalk was John’s! I saw that there were bunches of people out front but they all seemed to be waiting for the President. About 5 minutes after I arrived a police car came out of Central Park slowly, with its lights flashing, and started down 72nd St. as though maybe it were leading the motorcade. I got my camera all set and stood right on the edge of the driveway in front of the Dakota. I heard Steve, the doorman, say “Here they come!” and I anxiously craned my neck to see the President. Stupid me. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that someone had just come running up from behind me and stopped beside me. I glanced over and it was Yoko! She was standing just to my left and standing just to her left was John! To his left was al little Oriental girl who must have been about 20 years old. Standing in front of her was Sean. She had her hands on Sean’s shoulders as though to keep him from running out into the traffic. The Lennons were just lined up here along 72nd St., just waiting to see the President. John Lennon, who could get an appointment with the President, The Pope or Mick Jagger any damn time he wanted, had brought his kid to stand out front and wave at President Carter. I started taking pictures quickly before they moved anywhere else. I needn’t have worried. Yoko was quiet, Sean was animated. The nanny was just trying to keep Sean under control. John spoke, “Sean, now the King is gonna come by here in a minute, and we’re all gonna wave at him!” We all just stood there, me stiff as a board with John continuing a steady barrage of small talk. Nobody was saying anything to the Lennons. Nobody asked for photos or autographs. That was the best part about it. Usually when you see John he’s being bugged by fans hanging around (like me) and he’s in a bit of a hurry to be done with it and out of there. Now he was just hanging around being a semi-normal human being. It was so incredible. He was cold, and kept saying how cold it was. He’d bounce up and down a d bit and blow on his hands. He kept telling Sean that the “King” was about the drive by. If he said “The King” once, he said it 50 times. I think John could use a lesson on American government. Lord only knows, Sean will need one; he won’t know if it’s the King, the President, or the Emperor! At one point, after he’d been waiting about 5 minutes, John commented that it “sure is taking him a long time to get here…he must have stopped in Central Park to pick up a couple of future voters!” A lady standing on the other side John from where I was, was Mrs. Warner LeRoy. Her husband is probably the second-richest man in the building. Mrs. LeRoy is a really nice young girl. She stepped off the curb about 6 inches into the street. As she did, John looked at her. He pointed at her feet and said gruffly, “LeRoy, get back up here on the curb! You know they don’t allow that when the President’s in town!” John kind of laughed in a funny way, but without smiling. Mrs. LeRoy laughed too and stepped back up on the curb. We must have been waiting there about 8 minutes. I finally decided that a lot valuable picture-taking time was going to waste here but the problem was that because we were lined up, I couldn’t really get any good photos without stepping out into the street and I’d already seen the results of that move. I leaned over to Yoko and said, ‘Yoko, as long as we’re all just standing here, would you mind if I took a couple of picture of you?” She hesitated and then said, “OK, fine.” I stepped out into the street in front of her, John, Sean, God and everybody, and turned toward them. JUST as I did that, here comes damn President Carter! So I stepped back into line. I heard John say, “C’mere Sean!” and Sean came over to him. John picked him up in his arms and once again reminded him to wave at the King. Jimmy drove by, smiled and waved. John, Sean, Yoko and the entire assembled multitude waved back. After he was gone, John put Sean down and turned around toward his limo. Lauren Bacall was standing behind him. She said, “Oh John, I meant to tell you happy birthday!” John said, “Thank you.” And politely put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek. Then john said, “Ok, let’s go,” and the four them, nanny included, ran back and got into the limo, then they took off.

NEVER heard this one, thank you Sarah!!

 

[Starshyne9]

Since it is Yoko's birthday -- this story seems like a good one to share.

Bless you, wherever you are…
Encounters with John
By Lisa Grand

I was fifteen years old when I first went to the Dakota in February 1979, and I was filled with a mixture of terror and excitement over the prospect of seeing John. Since it was just a few days after Yoko’s birthday, I brought her a plant with purple flowers.

It was an icy-cold, blustery day, and I was accompanied by my 19-year old pen pal, Brenda, from Minnesota, who seemed like an adult to me, and a pen pal of hers, Cynthia. It was so bitterly cold that every part of my body was either stinging from near-frostbite or completely numb.

As if by magic, John and Yoko emerged from the darkness of the deep archway that leads into the Dakota. A woman appeared out of nowhere and asked John for his autograph. “I’m sorry, we don’t do that anymore, love,” was his gentle reply.

I carefully approached Yoko with the plant and wished her a happy birthday. I was at once overwhelmed by her calmness and beauty. She was dressed in a fur coat and she had tucked her wavy, black hair into it. Yoko had a creamy complexion and she radiated a beauty more intense than anything I ‘d ever seen. I was happily surprised to find that we were the same height (5 feet tall). There was such warmth emanating from Yoko that when I stared into her deep brown eyes, I felt compelled to hug her. I will never forget the softness of her fur coat of the silky smoothness of her cheek. I suppose I was aware of on some level that John was watching me, but whenever this though tried to enter my conscious mind, I simply blocked it out. Really, that was too much to bear.

No sooner did I hand Yoko that plant than John took it from her. He explained that they were on their way out, so he would take it into the office. His speech forced me to acknowledge his presence and I was jolted from my peaceful gaze into Yoko’s eyes to a state of shock.

Having said that, John spun around with the plant and headed back into the Dakota. Relieved that he had left, I re-focused my attention on Yoko. It was inconceivable to me that this was the same person I had seen in so many unflattering photos. Having read everything ever written on the subject of John and Yoko, I could not understand how so many writers could portray Yoko in a negative light. Surely these people had never met her.

I chatted with Yoko for just a short while before John began walking toward us. This time I was acutely aware of John studying me as I spoke to Yoko. We continued our conversation even after John rejoined our circle. When I asked how her birthday was she gushed, “It was beautiful.” Yoko glanced lovingly toward John as if to let us know that he was responsible for making her birthday beautiful. Moments like these were the most previous to me. John and Yoko’s love was such a fantastic thing to witness firsthand.

Over the next year and a half, I was to see John about a dozen times. Sometimes he was alone, and sometimes he was with Yoko. I couldn’t help noticing that when John was alone he seemed a little nervous-he walked at a fast clip – but when he was with Yoko he was patient, calm and reassured. I loved to watch them walking down 72nd Street together. They always held hands.

Getting back to that cold day in February, John knew right away from her bubbly personality and Midwestern accent that Brenda was not form New York. He asked her where she was from, how she liked New York, and whether she had come for the Beatlefest. We were shocked to hear John mention the Beatles – we thought that was a forbidden subject – and further surprised that he knew about the fan conventions. Brenda had planned her trip to New York to coincide with the Beatlefest, but John would not leave it at that. He was curious about the convention and he asked us what went on there. “What do they have there? Posters? T-shirts?” he asked. He seemed to view the whole thing in commercial terms. Sensing this, I asked him to elaborate. ‘They just make a lot of bread off you guys.” He added.

I protested that it really meant something to us, but John went on to explain why he mistrusted the producers’ motives. “Originally all the money was supposed to go to charity, but now they just make a lot of bread off you guys.” With the repetition of this phrase I realized that John was expressing his concern over what he considered to be the exploitation of his fans.

We mentioned having seen Sean, who was just three years old at the time, earlier that day and John’s face lit up. When Sean left that morning with Helen Seaman, his nanny (and Fred’s aunt) we noticed that he didn’t look too happy. John explained that Sean had been to a party the night before and had eaten “too much junk.” This, of course, was during John and Yoko’s macrobiotic (or at least health-food conscious) period, so they were pretty upset about this. “I’d rather he’d thrown it up.” Added John.

Knowing full well that Sean was their favorite topic, we continued talking about him. I told Yoko that we had been listening to her Plastic Ono Band album and that when we turned it over we were amazed to see that Sean had the same eyes as hers when she was a little girl. Yoko just smiled at our observation, but John got very excited. “Fred said that last night!” He repeated this in a tone of amazement a couple of times and finally concluded, “I’m glad he doesn’t have my eyes. They’re rotten.” “No they’re not” I muttered as an automatic reflex. I didn’t stand for anyone putting John down, not even John himself.

At about this time I noticed that the sun had broken through the clouds and was shining brightly on John’s hair revealing a beautiful auburn color. He really seemed to be glowing. As the conversation drew on, I found it increasingly difficult to maintain physical appearance. I had been expecting him to look very old and have short hair, just as he did when he received his green card, as these were the most recent pictures I’d seen of him. Boy was I in for a shock. John looked as though he’d just stepped off the cover of Abbey Road, but with a more closely-trimmed beard.

He was exquisitely dressed in pleated corduroy trousers, a shirt and a jacket, the browns, reds and golds of which all blended together, and his Frye boots made him well over six feet tall. He was absolutely gorgeous. The combination of John’s presence and the sun made me feel very warm.

Very early that morning, before we left the house, Brenda and I had been listening to a Beatles bootleg called Indian Rope Trick. For some strange reason, there was a version of “Cheese and Onions” on that record that sounded a whole lot like John singing. It was strange also to find a Rutles’ song on a Beatles bootleg. With this still very much on my mind, I asked John whether he knew the song “Cheese and Onions.” To this day I think he was trying to freak me out, but I carried on with the conversation asking if he’d ever recorded the song. “No.” he replied. “That’s uh Monty Python.” I knew it was bothering him that he couldn’t think of the name of the group, so I asked him whether he liked the Rutles. “Well I wouldn’t get out of bed for them,” he answered with dry Liverpudlian humor.

At about this time, a woman came by walking three white poodles. The smallest one looked hopelessly confused as he kept getting his leash tangled with those of the other three. John stared down at this tiny creature and asked it in a tone of mock-anger, “What’s the matter with you?” It was hilarious.

The reason we had such a long time to talk to John and Yoko was that the entire time their doorman was desperately trying to hail a cab from them (We thanked him later for being so inept). After about ten or fifteen minutes John suggested they go to the corner to get a cab, but Yoko gave him an emphatic “No” which we interpreted to mean “No, we’re talking to these girls.” We loved her. Eventually they decided to go back inside and call their limo service. “The moment they pulled away, the doorman from across the street came running over to tell us that we had spoken to John and Yoko for over twenty minutes. Was he timing us?

Another especially memorable time for me at the Dakota was in June of the same year. I peered into the dark driveway and saw a familiar-looking silhouette. After a few seconds it dawned on me that it was John and Yoko kissing! John was leaning over and Yoko had her head tilted back at such an angle that she had to hold her floppy hat on her head with one hand. The reason this looked so familiar to me was that it was the same image that appeared on the screen at the beginning of the waltz John and Yoko did to George’s I, Me, Mine in Let It Be.

When John and Yoko broke their embrace, they headed out towards the sunlit day, both smiling. As if this was not enough, little Sean suddenly ran out in front of them hysterically laughing. With such beautiful scenes as these embedded in my mind, it is impossible for me to be affected by any of the trashy books that come out.

The last time I saw John was in September of 1980. “Starting Over” had just been released and I knew that things would be different now that John and Yoko had decided to go public again. John looked better than ever before in his life as far as I was concerned. He was tanned, clean shaven and had cut his hair much shorter than it had been the year before.

John, Yoko and David Geffen made their way form the Dakota to a limo waiting by the curb, and John stopped for a moment when he saw Jude, Jeri and me. I felt stongly that I wanted to make a connection with John, so I extended my hand to him. He quickly transferred whatever he was holding form his right to his left hand, and took my hand. I remember how big and warm his hand was and how wonderful it felt. John was in a calm, sweet, mood. David Geffen asked him who I was, and without missed a beat John replied, “Oh her? She’s a regular.” It was a nice goodbye.