"Yoko Ono celebrated her 72nd birthday with a benefit performance at and for Tonic, the Lower East Side performance space, and we have to say that she looked great. She strapped on white suspenders over a low-cut partly see-through black top, wore black sunglasses low on her nose and a glittery silver cap. During a two-hour performance, in which she was often accompanied by Sean Lennon, she reprised her life and work, moving from bounce and giggles to heartfelt, serious and sad. One film, which she made in the 60's, featured a woman's nude derrière undulating as the woman walked. "I'm glad I don't know who that is," Ms. Ono joked. As "Walking on Thin Ice" played, a music video made after the murder of John Lennon was shown. There were images of Ms. Ono and Mr. Lennon among rumpled sheets, embracing in bed. Ms. Ono writhed beside the images and moaned. Later, the video showed Ms. Ono and Mr. Lennon walking in a park. Then Ms. Ono disappeared behind the screen, sliced it repeatedly with a blade, and reached her arms out through the shredded screen to the audience.

At evening's end, the publicists formed a human shield and escorted Ms. Ono through the crowd. She paused for a few questions. Our reporter told her of a T-shirt he had seen in a souvenir shop. It was not the "New York City" shirt that Mr. Lennon wore in a famous photo, but rather a shirt of Mr. Lennon wearing that T-shirt.

It seemed to our reporter like some sort of fantastic postmodern expression in which Mr. Lennon gave the New York City T-shirt such status that someone would create a shirt of him wearing the T-shirt.

How, our man asked, did Ms. Ono feel about being part of that iconography? "I don't feel anything because I'm not paying attention to that," she said, before playfully smacking the reporter's shoulder. "You're the ones who are paying attention to it."

Salon.com about the night

"Yoko Ono, who celebrated her 72nd birthday last Saturday with a Tonic benefit concert. It was a magic evening, and as close as I'll probably ever come to experiencing a '60s happening. She showed movies for an hour: home videos her parents took when she was a child and a lifetime of conceptual art pieces, all with Yoko's running commentary. After a while she started turning it into a performance piece, dancing around in front of the movies, slashing the screen, and eventually she began singing, accompanied by her son and Vincent Gallo."

"Benefit for Tonic: Yoko Ono & Sean Lennon, $50. Celebrate Yoko Ono's 72nd birthday party and make a donation to Tonic at the same time! "