Advent Calendar #4 - 'Happy Christmas (War Is Over)'

And a move back to the olden days for the next advent calendar window to open. The early '70s produced a raft of great Christmas songs that we all listen to today and this is one of them, 'Happy Christmas (War Is Over)' by John and Yoko. Yoko is still campaigning so join her online to support the message that war is over (if you want it).

In the meantime, enjoy their Christmas anthem:

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band - Meltdown 2013

This evening I went to see the glorious Yoko Ono and her Plastic Ono Band at the Royal Festival Hall as the opening show of Yoko's Meltdown festival. And they rocked.

When we went in there was a screening of Yoko's film 'Bottoms' as we took our seats, big bums up there on the stage walking slowly as the film moves from bum to bum. That made for an interesting start. Then the lights went out and we were treated to a 15 minute documentary of clips of Yoko from when she was a toddler, through the 60s and meeting John Lennon, art shows to picking up the Grammy for 'Double Fantasy' after John had been killed and announcing Strawberry Fields in Central Park. As this ended the band came on and suddenly there was Yoko, waving at us and we all cheered.

Yoko and her seven-piece band started making a wonderful sound, a mad cacophany of energy coming straight at us with Yoko's gutteral wailing on top, aural art. They had a great light show that was tame for most of the set and then, suddenly, sprang into action dazzling us and, combined with the sound coming from the stage, transports us to another level. This was not a pop group with some lights, this was performance art. The opening song was 'Moonbeams', the lead song from the next album.

About half way through the gig Yoko welcomed her special guest to the stage, Peaches, to sing 'Yes, I'm A Witch' with her. Peaches came back for the encore of 'Don't Worry Kyoko' with Sean Ono Lennon playing the Eric Clapton guitar hero role from the original recording and he's not at all bad on the guitar. Or the bass (which he also played on some songs).

During one song which I think was  'Calling' from the last album, Yoko called out for light and suddenly people started flashing their Onochords around, lighting up the audience with hundreds of pinpricks of light. We were all given Onochords on the way into the gig and a short film of Yoko was shown late in the gig showing us how to signal 'I Love You' with them. I *love* my Onochord and still have my first one from 2009. I now have two.

We were treated to songs from the next album due out shortly (that all sound really good) as well as songs from the last album and some of her early work like 'Don't Worry Kyoko' and 'Mindtrain' (an abbreviated version, obviously). We also had 'Walking On Thin Ice' (that Sean described as her hit - singular - so they had to play it).

It was lovely to see Yoko prowl from one side of the stage to the other singing, howling and wailing depending on the song, giving it her all, full of energy and love. Relentless and tireless, all eyes glued to her.

'Mindtrain' finished the set and then 'Don't Worry Kyoko' was the first encore during which everyone flooded to the front of the stage to make it a rock gig. The second encore (of course there was a second encore) was a lovely, tender version of 'Higa Noboru' with just Sean on piano and a haunting trumpet in the background. It was lovely and a fitting farewell to the curator of Meltdown.

Thank you Yoko, it was fun! I hope to see you again during Meltdown - it's your show, after all!

PS: on the way to the Royal Festival Hall I noticed a big blue sign hung underneath the name of the hall at the back and the sign said 'Imagine Peace'. I think it's the same picture that makes up the cover photo for 'Live Peace In Toronto' with the small, white cloud. You just know Yoko's in town when you see that. And beside the Hayward Gallery is the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus so go along while it's in London. 

Yoko Ono - 'To The Light'

I went to see the exhibition by Yoko Ono at the Serpentine Gallery the other day, a retrospective called 'To The Light'. It includes a range of her older pieces from the 1960s alongside some more recent art.

As well as the physical works are aural pieces as a hawk screech welcomes you as you walk into the first gallery, followed by a heartbeat in the next room as it mingles with the hawk call. Yoko's art isn't always terribly serious and, I suspect, she likes to raise a smile and a chuckle, such as her 'Sky TV' piece that is a flat-screen TV with a static picture of clouds. The original piece was on a bulky TV set in 1966. The 2012 version is more elegant and developments since 1966 adds to its potential.

She recreates the step-ladder piece, 'Ceiling Painting', leading up to a magnifying glass that John Lennon famously climbed and looked through and saw the word 'yes' when they first met at one of her shows in the '60s. There are other Lennon references in the show, including video footage of his naked bum and, elsewhere, their footprints walking up a wall.

You've got to pay attention to what Yoko is doing with her objects. 'Helmets' is a series of 11 war helmets hanging from the ceiling but look inside each of the helmets to see small blue pieces of jigsaw with 'y.o.' printed on them.  I wonder what the jigsaw will show if all the pieces were taken from the helmets and put together on the floor? Tempting.

I didn't walk in 'Amaze' a see-through maze in one of the rooms but other people did and banged into the walls when they met a dead end. On the wall beside the maze are some plasma screens showing clips from her film, 'Fly'.

I liked some of the framed, hand-written short poems, such as 'The Room Without A Window I':

"Draw a window on the wall
to remind you of the sun.
to remind you of the rain that taps
to remind you of the sunset that makes you smile
to remind you of the moonlight that sneaks in your room
to remind you of the snow that covers the world."

The onochord is mounted on the roof of the Serpentine but you're not allowed up there. The onochord is a light piece so I assume is seen best at night. Outside by the entrance are four wish trees in big planters and beside that is a small stand with labels to write a wish on and tie it to the trees. A handwritten note in a frame says:

"Wish Tree for London

Write your wish
on a piece of paper
Hang the paper on the Wish Tree
Ask a friend to do the same.
Keep wishing.

Yoko Ono 2012"

I made a wish.