Wednesday, December 09, 2020

To a friend


Saw your post on John Lennon. Thought I'd tell you a true story. I had a girl friend from NYC and we were there on New Years Eve 1975. She was from a wealthy art family, and one of their college mates was having a party at the Dakota. The schoolmate lived next to John Lennon, and lo he and Yoko came to the party. My girl friend's father (Sidney, a sculptor) had met John when John was looking for a place to live. So Sidney and I were talking in the hall just when John and Yoko left to get in the Dakota elevator. They'd only recently had the kid. 

Sidney amicably said: How's the kid? (a lesson to me - people, including famous ones, are happy to talk about their kids). 

Says John: "Oh, well. but it's a lot of work. 

"We havent hired a nanny yet. We cant get out at all! Even to buy a paper!" 

To which I said "That's good!" 

You see I was immediately hooked by this picture of the great man stuck with the kid. 

He shot me a straight eyeball look when I said 'that's good' and he, as the elevator door closed, with a smile, chewing gum, retorted "You think so, do you?" 

Which I found out later was a very typical thing for him to say.

So I think I had a an effect on the next stage of his career, the one the guy describes in the below story. This is a nice piece, as you say, and this quote in time of Covid, so valuable.

"There’s a difference between being alone and being lonely."

No comments: