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Yoko Ono (1933 - )

Biography

Yoko Ono Lennon (b. February 18, 1933) is a Tokyo-born American musician and artist. In Japanese, her name is written ?? ?? (Ono Y?ko), meaning "Ocean Child".

Born into a privileged background, she attended the exclusive Gakushuin academy in Tokyo from primary school all the way through to the college division. After 2 months at the university, she moved with her family to Scarsdale, New York and enrolled in Sarah Lawrence College.

In 1956, she married composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. They divorced in 1962. She married American Christian fundamentalist filmmaker Tony Cox on November 28, 1962. The marriage was annulled on March 1, 1963; they re-married that June 6, and divorced on February 2, 1969. Their daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, was born on August 8, 1963.

An early member of the Fluxus art movement, Ono is best known for marrying The Beatles' John Lennon. They met when John visited a preview of an exhibition of Yoko's. He was taken with the attitude of the exhibits, such as a telescope looking at the word 'Yes' on a ceiling, a block of wood with protruding nails to be hammered in, and a decomposing apple. They married on March 20, 1969 on the Rock of Gibraltar. Their son, Sean Taro Ono Lennon, was born on John's 35th birthday. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono [Feb 2005] An early member of the Fluxus art movement, Ono is now best remembered for marrying, as her third husband, The Beatles' John Lennon in the late 1960s; they had one child together, Sean Taro Ono Lennon.

Ono is often accused by Beatle fans of breaking up the band; however, in a recent interview (Jay Leno 2003), she revealed the disappointment she felt by the breakup and how it impacted a life that she was used to. There are Lennon fans who, in addition, blame Yoko Ono for the experimental (and considered bizarre and somewhat unpopular) phase that Lennon explored in his solo work immediately following the band breakup.

Ono achieved moderate success as a musician in her own right with the Plastic Ono Band. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono [2004]

Fly (1970) - Yoko Ono

Fly (1970) - Yoko Ono
Image sourced here.

The films of Yoko Ono

The films of Yoko Ono occupy a unique position in the history of experimental film. Deeply rooted in the radical intermedia practices of the early 1960s American avant-garde, they emerged from the world of art rather than film at a moment when the definitions of both were being strongly called into question. Ono's films are an anomaly. Within the context of art, their firm grounding in the philosophical and aesthetic tenets of Fluxus sets them apart from film produced at the end of the sixties and beginning of the seventies.

Films

  • Bottoms, 1966
  • Smile, 1968
  • Rape, 1969
  • Fly, 1970
  • Erection, 1971
    --http://www.likeyou.com/archives/yoko_ono_sergeziegler_03.htm [Jan 2006]

    See also: Yoko Ono - 1970 - experimental film - USA

    Snuff [...]

    Around this same period Yoko was given a part in in a sleazy adults-only S+M drug movie Satan's bed by Roberta and Michael Findlay (SNUFF). Michael was the photographer and editor and Roberta acted and did the lighting. Satan's bed is really an updated version of an earlier unfinished feature called Judas City by "Tamijian" with the new footage and characters edited in. Yoko (in a kimono) shows up in New York to marry Paulie, who wants out of the drug business. She can't speak English and he's preoccupied, so she's taken to a filthy cheap hotel room. A gangster (in the concrete business) rapes her on the floor (off screen). He take her to his penthouse and rapes her again. Interwoven with this Judas City footage is the sick tale of Snake, Dip and Angel, addicts in black clothes, who look like part of Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable show - they roam around tying up women (Angel helps), and raping them. Finally a Long Island housewife with a gun escapes from the doped up trio and footage of Yoko escaping is intercut. Satan's bed was released about the same time as the Beatles Help!

    CDs

    1. Disco not Disco[Amazon US]
      1. Walking On Thin Ice - Yoko Ono 2. Cavern - Liquid Liquid 3. Tell You Today - Loose Joints 4. Spatisticus Autisticus - Ian Dury 5. Over And Over - Material 6. Wheel Me Out - Was (Not Was) 7. Kiss Me Again - Dinosaur 8. I Walk - Don Cherry 9. Voices Inside My Head - Common Sense 10. School Bell/Tree House - Indian Ocean 11. Macho City - Steve Miller Band
      Three great Arthur Russell tracks, 'Tell You Today' and 'School Bell/Tree House', 'Kiss Me Again'. Ian Dury is a Sly & Robbie production.

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