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Home , A Story, Birth of the Beatles, Dramarama, Heather Mills, Jackie DeShannon, Julia Lennon

TRIBUTE ARTIST AND BEATLE HISTORIAN Tim Piper With masterly skill, Tim Piper recreates twentieth century icon, . Just Imagine deftly weaves Lennon's songs with his whirlwind life events. You'll leave the theatre totally satisfied but yearning for more "Remarkable! Evocative! of Piper's recreation of John Lennon. Totally Rocks!” Dann Dulin / A&U magazine

Loved it! Amazing “Amazing!” how he keeps going the entire 2 hours without missing a beat. You get so wrapped up in the illusion you forget Tim Piper's on stage, not John Lennon. Hettie Hurtes - KPCC Radio

GO JUST IMAGINE The fun of seeing and hearing Tim Piper’s great John Lennon impersonation with an outstanding band, under Greg Piper’s musical direction, is just undeniable.

John Lennon returns for one last concert and YOU ARE THERE!

1 JOHN LENNON TRIBUTE ARTIST AND BEATLE HISTORIAN

TIM PIPER (John Lennon Tribute Artist - Writer/Producer/Historian/Lecturer) Multi-faceted, Musician, Actor and Songwriter Tim Piper has traveled the world performing music made famous by . In addition to touring with various shows including Broadway's Beatle Tribute production "Rain" and headlining with Philharmonic Symphonies and numerous Cultural Performing Arts Centers with his production of "Just Imagine," Piper has distinguished himself as the pre-eminent 'John Lennon'; with roles in the CBS production 'The Linda McCartney Story,' E! Channel's production of the 'John Lennon Story,' 'Beatle Wives,' and more recently as the singing voice of John Lennon for the NBC TV Movie of the Week, "In His Life -The John Lennon Story." Tim has performed at numerous 'Celebrity Special Events,' such Tom Hanks' 10th wedding anniversary party, a private party for Irwin Winkler (producer of Rocky), and a pre-screening performance for the re-release debut of Yellow Submarine. Piper's other credits include: Legends In Concert (Las Vegas, NV and Internationally), Shea Stadium concert for a Mets baseball game, and even a Bob Hope Worldwide Television Special. Tim was invited to attend the inaugural "Adopt a Minefield" Charity Benefit in Beverly Hills, where he met with Beatle-legend Paul McCartney and his wife - McCartney, in support of their charitable efforts. McCartney told Tim and his band to "Keep up the good work lads!" Just Imagine! A Tribute to John Lennon (Rock Musical) ★ ★ ★ CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ★ ★ ★ "Just Imagine" John Lennon returns for one last concert and YOU ARE THERE!. "Just Imagine" transports you to another place and time, putting you '' with the musical legend who shook the world. Experience Lennon's timeless musical genius as Tim Piper takes you through John's life from tumultuous childhood to worldwide superstar to groundbreaking social icon that influenced generations. You'll share a unique perspective on John's life, the stories behind the songs, and revealing insights about the birth of the Beatles, the pressures of super-stardom, and John's relationships with his loves and fellow Beatles.

Tim Piper Page 2 " . . . many of the 5,000 visitors continue to rave about your group: your stage presence, your musicianship, and your incredible resemblance to the original Beatle" Jewell Robinson- Public Program Director - Wash. D.C. Portrait Gallery

------“These guys are great!” . . . Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Goldie Hawn ------“The concert of a lifetime!” Paul Rutter - Cruise Director - RCCL

Highlights include appearances and Reeves And The Vandellas, Mitch the Smithsonian Institution's performances for some of the top Ryder & The Wheels, Gary National Portrait Gallery, names in the Entertainment Lewis & The Playboys and sharing Headlining in Las Vegas at Studio business including Rita Wilson, Ted the stage with Tom Hanks singing 54, - MGM Grand, Planet Danson, Ron Howard, Mary "That Thing You Do" (Beverly Hollywood & Legends In Concert, Steenburgen, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Hills, CA), singing "Twist & Shout" Headliners for over 10 years with Russell, Steve Martin, Martin with Melissa Etheridge, being Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Short, Rob Reiner, Garry Marshall, filmed by Steven Spielberg for International, performed at the Penny Marshall, Nicole Kidman, Merv Griffin Productions, Shubert Theater in Los Angeles, Tom Cruise, Jon Lovitz, Paul headlined on European Cruises on CA, TV appearances for Bob Hope Reiser, Sally Field, Aaron Spelling, the 5 Star Radisson Luxury All Worldwide Television Special, USO Mimi Rodgers, Irwin Winkler Suite Mariner, performed with the "Star Billing" performances, (Director of The Rocky Film Series Buffalo & Lexington Philharmonic casinos, fairs, festivals, civic & Raging Bull), , Orchestras, performing at Grand functions, fund raisers, Multi-award The Guess Who, Herman's Hermits, Opening of Yellow Submarine winners of the Beatlefest "Best of" Little Richard, Sha Na Na, Martha Movie (Los Angeles), featured at contests (best band - best vocalist)! Page 3 REVIEWS Just wanted to let you know that Just Imagine was really well received in Rochester, NY. The group did an amazing job. Tim's wonderful behind-the-scenes pre-performance talk gave the audience an interesting glimpse into his life touring worldwide as John Lennon. And the show itself was exactly what we were hoping for: a high quality musical production and an historically-based, professional and well thought-out tribute to Lennon's life and music. Tim and the band were also very generous with their time, and accommodated numerous requests for photos and autographs. We had a fabulous, enthusiastic crowd and they gave Just Imagine two standing ovations. It was a great evening all around. Thanks, Tim and Greg - you guys rocked it!

Susan Chekow Lusignan Director - Nazareth College Arts Center

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Just as Sir Paul McCartney threatens to erode the legend of the Beatles by being perhaps too accessible, a most welcome accessibility has surfaced in Los Angeles with Tim Piper’s raw and inspired performance as John Lennon in “Just Imagine,”

An uncanny look-alike for John Lennon, Piper brings the multi faceted Beatle back to life, giving him an opportunity to explain himself and tell us what was in his heart and mind during those crazy days of Beatlemania and beyond.

Piper has Lennon down to a T, even making a very familiar facial gesture that was a favorite of the Beatle. But by no means is he some Las Vegas impersonator. This show feels like a theater performance, a one man psycho drama if you will, featuring some of the greatest pop and rock songs of the 20th Century.

With powerful projected images behind him, Piper starts the evening by taking us back to Lennon’s early years where the loss of Lennon’s mother and later his best friend, Stuart Sutcliffe are discussed. He delves into many aspects of Lennon’s life, talking candidly about his mistakes and screw ups. His neglect of first son Julian. His heroin use in the 80ʹs. About the hate hurled at the of his life, , not only by his best friends, the Beatles, but the world at large. It really hurt, Piper as Lennon explains.

John Lennon’s pain was our gain, for it inspired an amazing catalogue of songs that may outlive us all. “Just Imagine” has a rocking soundtrack to accompany Lennon’s story.

A particularly great touch was the start of the second act where, Piper wanders through the audience with just his acoustic guitar, singing Lennon songs, even taking requests, making us really feel as if the real John Lennon was walking among us. It actually feels like that throughout the entire show and even beyond when Piper and the band join the audience in the lobby for a meet and greet and a glass of wine after the curtain call. Piper is never out of character and it truly becomes a night of peace and love, just the way Lennon would have wanted it.

For anyone who is a fan of the Beatles and their music, “Just Imagine” is a must see. Tim Piper channels John Lennon and the results are simply amazing. Directed by Steve Altman and featuring Greg Piper on bass, Don Butler on guitar, Don Poncher on drums and Morley Bartnoff on keyboards,

JOHN LENNON REVEALED by Peter Foldy - www.HollywoodRevealed.com

Page 4 JUST IMAGINE - INTERVIEW WITH TIM PIPER R.M. Sydnor

R.M. - I want to say at the outset Tim that I did not know what to expect from Just Imagine. I am happy to report that you and your band of four merry men blew me away. This is a rarity for critic who has been covering performances for well over 30 years. Metempsychosis, the passing of the soul at death into the body of another, describes what I witness Saturday night. We all felt the presence of John Lennon. This goes beyond playing a role. You were John Lennon, inextricable yet disparate. Amazing. I am grateful for the experience.

Tim Piper - I am thrilled and humbled at the same time from your assessment of the performance. This has always been my ultimate desire in trying to evoke the spirit that we know, love and recognize as John Lennon, to have people feel that maybe they had the opportunity to spend some time with him once again. Disparate to be sure in personality, but I sense that we share the same love for certain simplicities in life, whether it being rock 'n roll or chocolates and a common desire for an 'even playing field' for the human race.

R.M. - For me, Just Imagine is really about the impact of love and relationships on the life of John Lennon.

5 Tim Piper - And the lack of love - which drove him immeasurably to seek affirmation from the world. Having a mother and father pass on their responsibility to love and nurture you in your most formative years is equal to rejection from God Almighty. How do you reason your creators turning their backs on you?

R.M. - There is much to admire about John Lennon. His humility and love for humanity makes us stop and pause. What does John Lennon mean for Tim Piper?

Tim Piper - John said, "I love humanity, it's people I just can't stand." His candor, his humor, his honesty, his lack of suffering fools... although it sometimes came with a price. John was the big brother we all looked up to who was courageous enough to take the whipping for what he believed in even though he might have been flawed in his approach at times.

R.M. - We know that John Lennon’s parents had musical backgrounds but never pursued music seriously. There is always a existential juxtaposition between art and reality. Magic happens when art truly meets reality. Tim are your parents musicians or artists in any way?

Tim Piper - Life imitates art - art imitates life. John believed in magic. My parents we born in Kansas and Missouri but didn't belong in the midwest or World War ll when they first met each other at a USO show. They ran off to an acting camp in and soon formed "The Piper Players" with a bus and a group of college-aged actors bringing 'Broadway to the Midwest'. 1950 brought them the opportunity to work on The Red Skelton Show where they'd move to New York and produce four children. Creators of the game show, "Concentration" and others, they eventually moved to Los Angeles in 1966 and, many stories later, this unique family was about as true life as you could get to The Nelsons or The Partridge Family on steroids.

R.M. - Mark Twain was among some of the best story tellers ever and few can make a story come alive. You seem to have that gift.

Tim Piper - How synchronistic that you'd mention him. Years ago when I saw that Hal Holbrook was performing as Mark Twain in his one man show I thought, "How brilliant - if only someone would do that for our rock 'n roll generation with someone that we would really relate to." Hmm...?

My son calls me 'the weirdo whisperer' whereas people approach me out of nowhere in public and impart the most personal information you never thought you'd asked for. I care about people. I'm a good listener and you can learn a lot from them. I also take great pride and care in communicating - maybe it's the Gemini in me.

R.M. - Clearly, the information provided in your performance shows a deep level of preparation. Tell me about you musical and acting preparation.

6 Tim Piper - Music has always been a major factor in my life whether as a child, singing harmonies with my grandmother at the 'Old Time Singing' in the Ozarks in Red Top, Missouri or recording Adam Ant or Jackie DeShannon as an engineer at Track Record in Hollywood or the numerous bands where I played in all the major clubs in Los Angeles, or teaching recording engineering at The Los Angeles Recording Workshop. Acting as afore-mentioned is in the family and came in handy when I was selected to play the television role of John Lennon in CBS's 'The Linda McCartney Story' as well as E! Television's 'The Last Days of John Lennon' & 'Beatle Wives' as well as the singing voice for NBC TV's 'In His Life - The John Lennon Story.' The rest of the preparation is in my daily habit of studying most everything written & recorded by John and The Beatles. I kind of consider myself somewhat of a historian.

R.M. - The video images add quite a bit to the feel of the whole performance because it gives us visual context.

Tim Piper - We always think of Yoko Ono and John Lennon but we forget about Cynthia Powell his first wife. I really appreciated how tenderly you reminded us of her contributions. The relationship between Lennon and Powell proved to be tempestuous and at times violent. Lennon was possessive and physical violence surfaced often. He said that not until he met Ono, he had never questioned his chauvinistic attitudes to women. If memory serves me well, I believe it was the Beatles’ song “Getting Better” when he told his own story about cruelty to woman. I guess he was indeed “just a ” greatly misunderstood. John Lennon, like all of us, must face the insecurities and demons. I would argue, however, that the demons and insecurities contributed to the greatness of John Lennon the artist.

Clearly, John was an extremely insecure individual whose sometimes knee-jerk violent reactions were to plague and haunt him up to the very end. Maybe the only thing to separate him from the common person was his ability to artistically express his sorrow and apology for the inexcusable behavior he'd live to lament.

We know John Lennon’s aunt Mimi raised him when his parents separated in 1956. She and her husband George Smith had no children. It was she who purchased his first guitar and yet she did not think John could ever make money with his music. How odd.

Mimi was a strict conservative matriarch (albeit with contradiction) who could never show physical affection to John but who always believed in John' intellectual abilities. In a time of post-war Britain's survival she surely never could have understood a generation which was to adopt rock 'n roll as a way of escaping the horror & ravage they learned as children.

"The guitar's alright John, but you'll never make a living from it". He later had a plaque engraved with her words and placed it on her living room's television set.

R.M. - As you rightly point out in Imagine on July 15 1958, when Lennon was 17, his mother was struck and killed by a car driven by a drunk, off-duty police officer, as she returned from Mimi's house. The death was one of the most traumatic events in John's life; she was a loose, optimistic person who understood John's struggles in school. Julia Lennon's death was one of the factors that cemented his friendship with McCartney, who had lost his own mother to breast cancer in 1956, when he was 14. There are so many ironies in Lennon’s life.

7 Tim Piper - It seemed that the key figures in John's life were destined to leave him inexplicably at marker events in his life: As a child - Uncle George, Mimi's husband who served as a John's surrogate father died from a sudden heart attack. At 17 years old his mother, Julia died form the tragic accident. As a major influence during his time at art college, Buddy Holly dies. Stuart Sutcliffe, John's best friend, college mate and more - the 5th Beatle dies from a brain hemorrhage (as legend would have it) from being beaten by a group of hoodlums after a concert - possibly reconsidered after a jealous beating from John at a college soiree?

Yet, maybe this compounded tragedy leads to an almost super human ability to outwardly shield oneself from an inexorable amount pain?

R.M. - I was impressed with your group of merry men in the way they complemented you singing and performing.

Tim Piper - The great thing about this band is that these cats are for real. They grew up in the time of the British Invasion and the great American Rock 'n Roll follow-up. Don Butler on lead guitar has played and recorded with several rock luminaries and is regarded as one of the world's experts on guitar and amp repair and customization. His 'Tone-Man' authority in the business has the biggest names in music lined up for his services. Of course, he plays a mean guitar. Drummer Don Poncher who lays down a thunderous beat has an equally historic resume having shared the bill with Jimi Hendrix and others - most notably playing & recording with the group, Arthur Lee's Love, an icon from the psychedelic 60's. Keyboardist Morley Bartnoff, newly inducted member of Las Vegas, Nevada's Rock Hall of Fame brings a soulful Zen mentality into the mix & plays with the who's who of the Los Angeles music scene and is still a performing member of the 80's hit group . Last, but never least, my brother Greg - musical director nominated 'best' last year by L.A. Weekly Magazine has played the world around with Tim - India, Japan, South America, Canada, Hong Kong to name a few and notably , headlining for 30,000 Liverpudlians at the Mathew Street Festival. Greg also handles much of the business and promotional aspects in the background.

R.M. - Lennon’s relationship with , manager of the Beatles, was certainly intense given the fact that Epstein was homosexual and Jewish. There were rumors at the time that Lennon had an unconsummated relationship with Epstein. Lennon openly mocked Epstein for being a homosexual and Jewish. This seems so out of character of John Lennon the humanitarian.

Tim Piper - Tough stuff here. John and Brian were two needy humans that fate had put together. Each to ultimately help the other evolve & grow. Epstein the elder was to bring out the essence of John's genius that was hidden behind the false bravado and machismo Lennon used as a survival technique. Lennon gave Epstein purpose, focus and accomplishment in his artistic vision of what he saw in The Beatles. Together, they experimented and shared in all things humanly curious never losing sight of the greater goal in mind. Lennon's crude, rough, immature manner in berating Brian using the factor (action also exemplified with Stuart earlier) was a way of exuding control from a person who was totally out of control. 'You always hurt the one you love.' John loved Stuart and Brian wholeheartedly and felt great remorse later as he matured and realized what he had had and lost.

8 R.M. - There are so many wonderful John Lennon songs like Imagine, , Woman, “Mind Games”, “Instant Karma”, “.” In fact these songs have rightfully become anthems, flaunting tough-minded realism, cosmic epiphany, hard-won idealism and visionary utopianism in equal measure. Tim, do you have a favorite?

Tim Piper - That's like asking what you'd like for dinner this evening. Steak, Pizza, Shrimp Scampi? All wonderful wayward flavors each as good as the other depending on mood and time. I'll take one of each, thanks!

R.M. - You have a very accomplished creative team beginning with director Steve Altman and musical director Greg Piper.

Tim Piper - Again, both without whom this show would be an entirely different experience. Like as in any group or production the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Unmentioned as well is friend and Executive Producer Philip Wegener who funded the show originally back in 2002 at The Stella Adler Theater in Hollywood and helped convince me to pursue action in mounting a production which has now successfully lasted almost 9 years.

R.M. - Life is indeed a journey of clarification. I truly believe Lennon was clarifying his journey until his untimely death December 8 1980. It has been over 30 years since that fateful day. How has performing John Lennon clarified the journey of Tim Piper?

Tim Piper - I've become part of a worldwide family that shares emotions and memories of a man, his music and magic of a time gone by that still resonates today and potentially forever. I am simply a conduit for the connection that we all share and care for. What an honor and opportunity but I live it with respect, reverence and pride.

R.M. - What is on the horizon for Tim Piper?

Tim Piper - Hopefully to continue this journey as it seems to perpetuate hope and love in a world that is stressed and depressed and could use a beam of light that we pass on from John to us and beyond. "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - a wise man, indeed.

websites: http://justimaginetheshow.com http://revolutionlive.com telephone: (818) JOHN-707 (818) 564-6707

email: [email protected] A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All Pricing + Advance Tech available upon request.

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