12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Sunday, December 6, 2020

orty years after John Lennon died at the hands of an evangelical FChristian assassin, surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are still making music, now on their own. Sir Paul may be 78 years old but he is bringing out his 18th solo album “McCartney III” on December 18. It will be the third album McCartney has released on which he has not only writ- ten the songs but also played everything from piano to drums. Fab Four drummer Ringo is 80 and does not enjoy the same level of global fame as Lennon and McCartney, or perhaps even the late George Harrison, but he too is still going strong.

‘Home studio pioneer’ “McCartney III” refers back to “McCartney”, released in 1970 — the first time he did everything himself-and “McCartney II” from 1980. “McCartney is Photographer Allan Tannenbaum poses with his photographs of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in his SoHo studio in New York City. — AFP photos a pioneer of the ‘home studio’ where everything is done at home, because he knows how to play every instrument,” said Stan Cuesta, author of “The Beatles”. “He blazed the trail for this type of production, as Prince did later on.” The first solo album unleashed a firestorm with McCartney publishing a “self-interview” saying he would no longer work with John, George and Ringo, at a time when the split had never been formalized.

n December 8, 1980 the filigree that took Lennon’s life, later perfumed gates of New York’s Dakota res- by the flowers from fans and mourners Oidence across from Central Park who gathered there in the days and went down in history as the spot John years to come. “What strikes me, is Lennon was shot dead. But for nearly besides the tragedy of him losing his a decade prior to his shock murder, life and his family losing him and the the former Beatle’s adopted hometown city losing him and all his fans losing was where he rediscovered life. The him, was how much work he would’ve New York Lennon moved to in 1971 created,” the 76-year-old Tannenbaum was near economic collapse, strug- said. “It makes you want to cry, to think gling with rampant crime and about that loss.” entrenched poverty. Yet it was a city flush with artistic energy that main- ‘Where it’s at’ tained a blase attitude towards celebri- After Lennon’s death, Ono funded ties, where the already legendary the construction of the tranquil In this file photo taken on September 1, 2019 musician could grab a coffee at his Strawberry Fields living memorial in Ringo Starr performs during the Ringo Starr corner “Cafe La Fortuna” without fac- Central Park, across from the Dakota. and his All Starr Band concert at The Greek ing mobs. Its central feature, the “Imagine” mosa- Theatre in Los Angeles, California. And he strolled hand in hand with ic donated by craftsmen from Italy, is his wife Yoko Ono, free from the British now a place of pilgrimage. Ryan, who tabloid racism the Tokyo-born concep- Roger Middleton, the current resident, stands in the apartment in Greenwich Village that was a 19-year-old college student tual artist once called “inhuman.” “We John Lennon and Yoko Ono once lived in. when Lennon passed, said the murder really felt like we were on the same wounded the world but cut particularly page with New Yorkers,” Ono, now 87, a peace sign in front of Lady Liberty, a backstage at what went down as his deep in New York. said in the 2010 documentary now iconic picture. Gruen’s classic final public concert appearance in “Everybody in the city knew he “LENNONYC.” “I’ve met a lot of New images of Lennon also include the 1974 at Manhattan’s famed Madison wanted to live here, wanted to be part Yorkers who complain about it, but superstar sporting his signature circu- Square Garden, where he gave a sur- of our town, and wanted to be one of nobody moves out,” Lennon said. “It’s lar glasses and long wavy locks, in a prise performance with Elton John. us,” she said. “New Yorkers loved the greatest place on earth.” muscle shirt emblazoned with the After his second son’s birth Lennon John.” The feeling was mutual. In words “New York City.” Gruen said took refuge at the Dakota, the 1972 Lennon told the New Yorker that ‘Regular person’ Lennon was a delight to photograph chateauesque Upper West Side build- “everywhere’s somewhere, and every- The couple moved to 105 Bank for obvious reasons but emphasized ing where stars including Lauren where’s the same, really.” “Wherever Street in Greenwich Village, a neigh- the singer “was always turning words Bacall and Judy Garland once lived. you are is where it’s at,” he told the borhood by then well-known as the into puns and making jokes.” Lennon and Ono had moved there in magazine from his stoop. “But it’s haunt of creatives. “He didn’t want to “I would’ve loved to have seen what 1973, seeking increased security their more so in New York.” “It does have In this file photo taken on April 13, 2016 Paul be John Lennon, former Beatle, John would do on Twitter nowadays, Village flat couldn’t provide. “I looked sugar on it, and I’ve got a sweet McCartney performs on Opening Night of the famous guy,” said Susan Ryan, a because he was so good with the one- after the baby, and I made the bread, tooth.”— AFP One On One Tour at Save Mart Center in Bronx resident and writer who con- liners,” the 75-year-old said. Allan and I was a house husband,” Lennon Fresno, California. — AFP photos ducts Beatles walking tours in the city. Tannenbaum, whose work includes said of his nesting years. “And I’m Standing in front of the two-room base- intimate portraits of Ono and Lennon, proud of it.” The history of the co-op ment flat, Roger Middleton-the current also noted the musician’s wry humor, building erected in 1881 would soon This time, he locked himself away on tenant for 25 years, who once hosted which flecked even poignant be marred by the hollow-point bullets his property in Sussex, southern Ono for a visit-was typically cool about moments. He recalled taking stills England, as much because of the novel sleeping where Lennon once did. “You while the pair filmed a video, undress- coronavirus as the workload. “I was liv- just are cognizant of the legacy,” the ing completely to “simulate making ing lockdown life on my farm with my 79-year-old said. “And it becomes an love.” Lennon kissed Ono, “going and family and I would go to my studio every everyday thing.” going and going,” Tannenbaum said, day,” McCartney said in notes released Lennon and Ono quickly fell in with until the Liverpool-born artist turned by his US music publisher Capitol. “I had the era’s leftist radicals, releasing in and said “What is this, Ben-Hur?” to do a little bit of work on some film 1972 “Some Time in New York City,” a referring to the nearly four-hour long music and that turned into the opening politically charged album centered on film with an expletive. “That broke the track and then when it was done I racism, sexism and incarceration. The ice, everybody cracked up,” thought what will I do next? FBI began wiretapping the artist over Tannenbaum recalls. “And I have the “Each day I’d start recording with the his activism as the Richard Nixon photo of that moment, him with a big instrument I wrote the song on and then administration ordered his deportation, grin on his face while he’s on top of gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of a demand that mushroomed into a Yoko. And she’s laughing. It was the fun.”It was about making music for your- years-long legal battle. It wasn’t until best.” self rather than making music that has to 1976 that he secured permission to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied stay. “Que pasa, New York?” Lennon ‘House husband’ doing. “I had no idea this would end up sang on that album, paying homage to That photo shoot in November 1980 as an album,” he said. The result is a his new environs and referencing the came as Lennon was returning to fine surprise as were the albums earlier case. “If the Man wants to shove us music, weeks earlier releasing with this year of Bob Dylan, aged 79 and out / We gonna jump and shout / The Ono “Double Fantasy”-what would be Bruce Springsteen 71. “McCartney is Statue of Liberty said, ‘Come!’” his final studio album released in his ageing like nobility by continuing to turn lifetime. Five years earlier the couple’s out albums,” said Cuesta. Jokester John son Sean was born, approximately During the songwriter’s standoff nine months after they reconciled fol- Susan Ryan, who conducts Beatles walking tours around New York, points at The ‘Your best mate’ with the US government Bob Gruen lowing a break known as Lennon’s Dakota apartment building, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived, across from Meanwhile, if Covid-19 permits, Ringo thought to photograph Lennon flashing “lost weekend.” The pair reunited Central Park. will be on a US tour in June 2021 fronting his “All Starr Band”. The group is sprin- kled with greats such as Joe Walsh, of the Eagles, and Steve Lukather from Toto who provide a musical platform for Ringo to belt out “Yellow Submarine” among other all-time Beatles favorites. “Ringo is your best mate, the good guy,” Cuesta told AFP. After the break-up of the Beatles half a century ago, his own band proved the saving of Ringo who had struggled to adapt. “There was a time he was lost... his albums were a disaster,” Cuesta said. The All Starrs enable Ringo to tour and regularly put out live recordings and videos, Cuesta said. — AFP Photographer Allan Tannenbaum holds up his photograph A bottle with flowers adorns the “Imagine” mosaic at the An employee stands outside The Dakota apartment build- of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in his SoHo studio. Strawberry Fields Memorial for John Lennon. ing’s gates.