ONOCHORD in venice in autumn 2004
The press conference tape transcript kindly contributed by Jorge Artajo.

the lennon letter that put damper on beatles reunion
Liverpool Daily Post (January 20th 2005): "The singer wrote the letter in 1971, a year after the band had split in acrimonious circumstances and he had gone to live in New York with Yoko Ono. It was sent to the president of Capitol Records, Bhaskar Manon, and suggests Lennon had been upset by rumours of a possible reunion which had been confirmed by one of the company's executives. (--) The letter, which was written around the time Yoko's Plastic Ono Band album was released, is an original draft of the one sent to Manon that Lennon kept in his files. It reads:

"Dear Bhaskar, How are you? Good! Please put 'Capitol Power' behind Yoko's great new pop album (read Melody Maker review - N.Y. Times etc). "By the way, the 'Beatles getting together again' rumour is rife again - even Capitol man Tom Webker (Chicago) is confirming such an unfounded untrue rumour - anyway 'give Yoko a chance'. Happy New Year love John and Yoko."

van gogh's ear (no 4) by french connection press
Order your own copy of Van Gogh's Ear, Volume Four, which includes Yoko Ono's poems "Maybe I Was Too Young" and "A Rose is A Rose is A Rose", plus another of her Franklin Summer drawings, alongside other pieces of excellent poetry by such contributors as Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike and many others. (Paperback, 241 pages, in English).

strawberry fields forever
AP (January 12th 2005): "Strawberry Fields is not forever, after all. The Liverpool children's home that inspired the Beatles' hit song is to close, officials said Wednesday. John Lennon wrote the song's dreamy lyrics about a time in his childhood when he lived near the Strawberry Fields orphanage. It has been suggested that Lennon felt a kinship with the orphans after he was abandoned by his father and his mother, Julia, sent him to live with his Aunt Mimi, who raised him."

a busy lady
An article about Yoko Ono by The Herald (January 3rd 2005): "Yoko Ono is a busy woman these days. "It's all the internet's fault", she explains, as she describes her burgeoning workload on this New York morning. "We can work in any time zone now," she says. "That's the revolution. Most people are very busy now." (--) There's no big explanation for how busy she is - or not one she's prepared to give, anyway. "I'm doing what I like to do, so it's not really a burden for me," she explains."