Introduction to the interview by Jody Denberg in 2000

This summer Dave Ayers - Yoko Ono's A&R man at Capitol Records - called me to tell me that a national syndicator of radio programs had approached Yoko to participate in a 3-hour radio show that would span John's entire life and that would air on about 100 strations in American on October 9, 2000 - the 60th Anniversary of John's death. Yoko suggested to the syndicator that perhaps I could participate in some fashion since she and I had done several radio projects together in the past. A week or so later Elliot Mintz called me to say there had been a misunderstanding in that he hadn't explained to Yoko that the proposed show already had a host and producer. (The show - which DID air on MJI affiliated stations hosted by Dennis Elsas, was excellent by the way.) He apologized and said that Yoko would still be willing to do a project with me for radio surrounding John's Anniversaries. I consulted with Capitol Records and proposed doing a promotional interview disc that could be serviced to radio stations - one that would not only include a brand new interview with Yoko but songs from all three reissues and a series of John Lennon soundbites. They liked the idea (and were familiar with "howitis", a similar CD we had produced in conjunction with the Lennon Anthology) and even wanted to videotape the interview so that streaming video could be run on either Capitol's websites or on other sites who were interested in having it.

Getting legal clearance for John's words proved to be costly and time consuming (Yoko does not own John's spoken words when they are on, say, the Mike Douglas show) and we got 10 of the 24 we sought. The booklet for the Starting Over CD - which will be at radio stations by the end of October - includes a transcription of the entire interview and the John Lennon: Spoken Words section, a couple of great photographs from Allen Tannenbaum, and, six songs from the 3 re-issued CDs.

I spoke with Yoko on the phone before I went to NYC for about an hour, discussing the disc, if Sean could participate, the song choices for our project and the title for it. She named it Starting Over in her singular positive fashion. We also spoke briefly the night before on the phone as I wanted to make sure she was comfortable with talking about the more controversial questions. Yoko told me she trusted me, and, anyway, she was busy working on her statement to the parole board.

On September 7 we met at NTV studios in Rockefeller Plaza. Yoko looked great - as did her companion Sam Havadtoy - and was doing her MJI interview session while Sam and I talked about a number of topics: how they transported the 100 coffins for her Ex It piece to various locales, the forthcoming Beatles Greatest Hits album and Anthology Book, the imminent Yes Yoko Ono book and exhibit, and related Lenono topics. When Yoko emerged from her first interview she took a break to chat with us as the room was prepared for the video shoot to accompany our audio. As always Yoko was friendly and forthcoming both on and off mic. She had a mission to accomplish that morning - to spread the word about 3 great John Lennon album reissues which she co-produced. As you will read below, I think her mission was accomplished.