Saturday, January 13, 2007

The story of Yoko and John is (there's no other way to put it) polemical. Following is a list of quotes to show how she's being contextualized online.

This one is an interesting reflection on what they did not have in common:
All lovers know the moment when complicity leaps like an electric spark, but in their case, founded on what? Outwardly, the two had nothing in common. Lennon had come from the "genteel poverty" of a dysfunctional working-class family, via art school and sweaty teen-age dance hangouts in Liverpool, England, and Hamburg, Germany, to world fame and an honorable fortune as a rock-and-roll musician, composer, and role model for the first generation of Western youth to remember nothing of World War Two. Ono, seven years his senior, remembered all too well the apocalyptic end of Japan's Pacific War, the hunger and despair that had followed the defeat and enemy occupation which she had seen at first hand. But her own roots were in wealth and privilege: her mother Isoko came from the Yasuda banking family, and her father, Eisuke Ono, himself a banker by profession, descended from a long line of samurai warrior-scholars. Yoko had known little personal experience of deprivation, and had been educated among Japan's business and intellectual elite. Just the same, like had recognized like, at that mythic London meeting.

And in this same article, both are credited with finding in each other some type of answer to their disillusioned realities...
Why? The explanation lies half-buried under the decades of Japan's new prosperity. By 1966 Lennon, was emerging as one of the gurus of the disillusioned, questing mood called "The Sixties" in the West. Yoko Ono had been there, spiritually, long before. Something very like the mood of the Sixties first took shape in Tokyo in the late 1940's; Japan's confused, hungry years were the "somewhere else" Yoko Ono came from. Even then, and there, it was the amalgam, rather than any of its elements, that was really new. [...]

And here they're both "Master Media Manipulators":
On March 20, 1969, the couple wed in Gibraltar. The following week, the two master media manipulators used their celebrity for good, hosting a honeymoon "bed-in" for peace in room 902, the presidential suite of the Amsterdam Hilton. The press avidly pursued them, assuming that the famous nudists would make love for their cameras. Instead, the pajama-clad newlyweds spoke out about world peace. It was the honeymoon as performance art, interlaced with a protest against the Vietnam War.

This is how John described Yoko, according to Time Magazine:
John Lennon once described his wife Yoko Ono as "the world's most famous unknown artist: everybody knows her name, but nobody knows what she does." But Ono wasn't merely ignored—she was reviled.

And here is what she is famous for:
Over the three-plus decades that hers has been a household name, Ono has been vilified for busting up the Beatles, sneered at for her activism, derided for her art, then pitied for losing her husband. Through it all, she never stopped doing the work she believed in while waiting patiently for the world to catch up.

But one must admit that at least she keeps up with the times:
Now, at the age of 70—yes, 70—Ono finds it finally has. Her persistent campaign for peace—she was a prominent face at rallies opposing the war in Iraq—has seldom seemed more relevant than in recent weeks. Her artwork is being fêted in a major international retrospective. Her music is attracting new audiences. Even the staunchest Beatles fans have accorded her grudging respect for her fierce guardianship of Lennon's memory. By refusing to be bowed, ignoring boundaries and surviving her detractors, Yoko Ono has made the extraordinary journey from villain to hero.

I guess she's OK, now. Glad we got that settled after all these years.

For those who don't know about the notorious page six in the New York Post, this newspaper column is mentioned in celebratory fashion in the New York Post's Wikipedia entry:

The New York Post is also well known for its gossip columnists Liz Smith and Cindy Adams. The best known gossip section is 'Page Six', edited by Richard Johnson. (Despite the name, since the end of the 20th Century the feature has usually been printed on page 10 or page 12.) It is reported that "Page Six" is the first thing many celebrities turn to each morning.[citation needed] Feb. 2006 saw the debut of Page Six: the magazine, distributed free inside the paper.

I like the fact that the column does not appear in page six, but in page 10 or 12. It's more like the name stuck and it lives on.

As to Halston, since I started blogging Andy's diaries he did not even have his own website. And recently a Halston site appeared online: Halston.com. He's one of those fashion names that did not carry well on to later decades, past the seventies. Even today, after the website has been launched, the company's name appears to be struggling, as the last time it was featured in any fashion magazine was in July 2006. And his collection appears very limited.

In any case, I'm sure Halston would be happy to know that his name lives on. He died of Aids in San Francisco on March 26, 1990..

I never thought that Andy and Paige would ever be historicized as having feelings for each other, but if anything the corresponding ORIGINAL ENTRY: Monday, April 21, 1986--New York makes this obvious. I also learned a bit more at a site that explains Andy's feelings at length. Much of it could be speculation, but definitely worth reading:

Paige Powell became Warhol's valentine, business partner and compatriot--he even dreamed of marrying her. “For years, Andy made a project of looking for a wedding ring for Paige,” says Warhol pal Stuart Pivar.

They never married, but Powell became the New York art community’s it girl. Warhol died in 1987, and seven years later Powell returned to Portland, where she eventually founded the Pearl Arts Foundation with developer Homer Williams, becoming its executive director. Formed in 1999, the foundation called it quits this year on Feb. 14.

One thing that is considered fact is that Paige and Basquiat were an item for some time, hence the tension that Andy referred to in his own post. Yet, when a person feels they have to be politically correct, they will play such dynamics down; Check how Paige and Basquiat's relationship is contextualized in the same article in which Warhol is played up as a potential lover (could never have a threesome--no no no!):

“Paige was responsible for Jean-Michel Basquiat’s career, "recalls Chris Murray of the Govinda gallery in Washington, D.C. Powell befriended the then-unknown New York artist in 1982. Struck by Basquiat’s earnestness and eccentricity, she took responsibility for his career, arranging a show at her posh uptown apartment. Soon Basquiat moved into the apartment and Powell began handling dealers, collectors and fans. She priced his paintings from $2,000 to $8,000.

But here's the scoop on Basquiat and Paige, just a few quotes that mention their hook up as a matter of fact:

According to Paige Powell, Warhol's assistant who dated Basquiat, Basquiat was upset by the critical reaction to the Tony Shafrazi show of the collaborative paintings when "an art critic said that Jean-Michel was too influenced by Andy."

Another one which incidentaly exposes the myth that Basquiat had to live with as an artist:

Paige Powell — a former girlfriend of Basquiat's and a close friend of mine — had mentioned that once, when Jean-Michel had cleaned up, a Swiss art dealer chided him that without the drugs, his work had lost its power.

And it was Paige who apparently introduced Basquiat to Andy:
Basquiat reached full maturity as an artist in about 1983, when he was twenty-two years old. Encouraged by success and optimistic about his life, he made paintings that year that are among the strongest and most complex of any in the twentieth century. This was also the year he was included in the Whitney Biennial, a prestigious exhibition of contemporary art. His girlfriend at the time, Paige Powell, introduced him to her boss, Andy Warhol, who soon became Basquiat's closest friend.

Information about the event Andy mentioned while he was in Paris cannot be found online. Amazing how there is nothing about it in this part of the world... (I blog from the U.S.) I wonder how the Google Algorhithm plays that out.

But knowing just very little about French culture, I will say that they would have simply told Andy to go home. I don't see why they would go through the motions of pretending that they were taping his interview for a later broadcast. And Andy was not even concerned about people dying in Libya . He appears concerned only with his own situation; he was bothered by the fact that the TV channel was more interested in the bombing and he did not get the proper attention of an art star.

Andy realized that we live in an egotistical culture. He understood this very well; his famous "15 minutes of fame" quote is just one of his ways to show how he participated in an ego-driven world, defined by media. Here's a random quote written by a person who claims no special insiderism in the celebrity world; The confidence of the author also points to the self-righteousness that online culture brings to those who have the time to opine:
"In the future, everybody will be famous for fifteen minutes," said Andy Warhol, who has been famous for saying that for 35 years now. In reality, we live in an age of laboriously created brand names, which can then be exploited for decades. Pekar, for example, has been slaving for 27 years to make himself famous.

I'm sad to realize that Andy could not snap out of his own world, even during a bombing.

Miles, oh Miles. Word was he was an artist as well as a musician. I actually looked at an artbook by the horn-master. I was quite disappointed. My reaction to the book was similar to when I learned about Michael Jordan deciding to play Baseball. Miles should stick to the horn... But who is willing to admit that?

Needless to say that in his own site we find problematic notions of the primitive, which will make, the politically [in]correct at least raise an eyebrow when it comes to Miles's approach to visual art...

In 1980 Miles began to focus his talent in a new direction and started seeking expression not just through his music but also through visual art. He began with primitive figures and then experimented in colour and composition.

In contrast to his rich formal education as a musician, Miles as an artist was mostly self-taught. He became inspired by the Milan-based design movement known as “Memphis” whose theme was based on hot colours and clashing. shapes. He worked under this influence for nearly two years during which time he created a substantial collection of work.

I love Miles's music, but like Jordan, he should have stuck to what he knew best. Good thing he never left the horn.

Well, Dr. Ruth is still around in 2007. In April she's scheduled to appear on PBS:

The Olive and the Tree:
The Secret Strength of the Druze

The documentary, The Olive and the Tree, in which Dr. Ruth appears and is the Executive Producer will air on several national PBS stations throughout April. Click here to see the time and station in your city.

And Andy considers Dr. Ruth to be "Crunchy," but these days a better term might be grunchy(?)

Looking through her site, I noticed that questions posted upfront appear to be by women. wassup with the men? Well, actually there are sections for men, women, teenagers as well as people over fifty. Dr. Ruth is down with the times, she even has her own book for Dummies:

Still staying up late, pondering questions about sex, love and romance? If you have perused the DrRuth.com website searching for answers to your deepest intimacy questions to no avail, then seek no more. The 3rd edition book Sex For Dummies has 390 pages of advice ranging from foreplay and afterplay to low libido and premature ejaculation. And this week with Dr. Ruth as the guest blogger on Amazon.com's Dummies week, you can get up to 40% off Sex For Dummies!

Dr. Ruth says now you have no excuse - do your homework and Get Some!

So get some!

It's hard to do a search on porno rings. I'm depressed when all I find are links to porno ring busts linked to young kids. Awful. Here's the thread you may want to follow on Google. And I did a search on a boy scout master for Andy's post, and found this odd news in 2006:


Former Mission Boy Scout master appears in court
Monday , July 10, 2006 Posted: 11:59 AM


Genaro Vela appeared in court again today, this time for another bond reduction hearing.

EDINBURG-- Security was tight at the bond hearing, Hidalgo County sheriff deputies didn't take any chances after a threat was made against Genaro Vela. The state argued they felt Vela was a danger to the community, and they wanted Vela's bond to remain at half a million dollars, but Judge Homer Salinas lowered it to $50-thousand. Vela recently was charged with indecency with a child. Police say a 11-year old Boy Scout claims he was groped by his former scout leader. Three other former Boy Scouts claim they were molested by Vela.