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Episode 87- All We Are Saying: The 1980 Playboy Interviews (Part 1 of 3)

Release Date: 03/18/2023

Episode 105- The Gospel According To John Lennon (Part 1 of 4)

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

We end Glass Onion’s 6th year with the start of another multi-part series, the first 4-parter in the history of the podcast. Using (mostly) the John Lennon parts from Steve Turner’s excellent 2006 book ‘The Gospel According To The Beatles’, we trace our hero’s religious, spiritual and philosophical journey through its many twists and turns in his intense four-decade ride through life. Antony also comments on his own journey in these areas, some of which overlaps with that of John Lennon and The Beatles. Part 1 looks at the first two chapters of Steve’s book, focusing a lot on the...

Episode 104- John Lennon The Actor with Ross Marshall (Part 2 of 2)

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

We conclude our look at John Lennon as an actor, starting from 1965’s ‘Help!’ and with particular emphasis on what was arguably his only ‘serious’ role, albeit in an anti-war satire ‘How I Won The War’. He also voices a famously sprawling Beatles TV film about a bus, and there’s a film cameo and brief comedy sketch in amongst it all as well. Antony is joined once again by professional actor Ross Marshall, and there are multiple audio clips to complement the conversation. Glass Onion will return in December for 1 or possibly 2 more episodes looking at John Lennon’s religious...

Episode 103: John Lennon The Actor with Ross Marshall (Part 1 of 2)

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

The show keeps rolling with a look at John Lennon as an actor, both in films and TV sketches and also in his persona as Beatle John with the press and on stage. Antony is joined in this endeavour by professional actor Ross Marshall, and the conversation also looks at the craft of acting itself in terms of styles and John Lennon’s (un)suitability for it. Part 1 reaches the end of 1964, including discussion of John’s performance in ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. Part 2 will be out in a few weeks Enjoy! Feedback to Support the show at OR Facebook page ...

Bonus Episode #15- Antony interviewed by James Jarman in 2016

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

For our latest bonus episode, we offer a diversion and a trip back to the past as your humble host is interviewed about his and other people’s music by a friend in Madrid in 2016. Topics touched upon include songwriting, creativity, performance, recording and (no surprise) The Beatles and John Lennon. Preceding the interview are Antony's thoughts after a reread of the Ray Coleman revised and updated 'Lennon' biography. The next regular episode will be out at the start of November Enjoy! Feedback to Support the show at OR Facebook page Twitter handle ...

Episode 102- Toronto 1969 Part 2: Sweet Toronto with Dave Thurmaier

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

We complete our 2-part look at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert of September 1969 and the ‘white-suited apostle’ John Lennon’s involvement in it with the highly flexible Plastic Ono Band. Following ‘Revival ‘69’, Antony and Dave Thurmaier turn their attention to a 1971 film that should be in every Lennon fan’s video collection, namely D.A. Pennebaker’s film ‘Sweet Toronto’. Antony also reads some other articles and opinions about the event (Goldman despisers, please look away now) and gets Dave’s take on a few Lennon questions that used to be regularly tackled on...

Episode 101- Toronto 1969 Part 1: Revival '69 with Dave Thurmaier

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

And so the next century of Glass Onion begins. We’ve got another fine 2-parter for you, with Antony joined by Dave Thurmaier, the co-host of the ‘I’ve Got A Beatles Podcast’ and former guest of the show way back in 2019 and 2020. The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert of September 1969 yielded a live album for John & Yoko plus D.A. Pennebaker’s film ‘Sweet Toronto’ (which will be reviewed in the next episode) and most recently a fantastic 2022 documentary by Ron Chapman. This latter doc is the focus of part 1 of our talk, and before that Antony and Dave discuss Beatle...

Bonus Episode # 14- Revolution 9 Revisited (Antony on 'Pop Goes The 60s')

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

Over 4 years on from our original episode about ‘Revolution 9’ (episode 25, in the show notes), we return to the topic with an audio version (including multiple sound clips) of a discussion that originally went out on video on Matt Williamson’s excellent you tube channel ‘Pop Goes The 60s’ back in March. We discuss our origin stories with the track, it’s conception and recording, some of the ‘musique concrete’ works that influenced it, the other Beatles’ reaction to it and a few other things. This is preceded by Antony’s thoughts on the new version of the ‘Let It...

Episode 100b- John Lennon In The 1960s (Part 2 of 2)

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

And so we complete the milestone! Scott Phipps once again joins Antony to complete their whistle-stop, greatest hits tour through John Lennon and the 1960s. Scott gives us a brief sketch of each year through a few news events (some extremely random but no less interesting) before our two intrepid heroes each pick a Beatles/Lennon talking point, this time covering the years 1965 to 1969. Thanks once more to all those who’ve been on the Glass Onion journey. My heart has truly been touched by the interest shown in what has been a 5-and-a-half-year odyssey exploring the utterly unique...

Episode 100a- John Lennon In The 1960s (Part 1 of 2)

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

What better way to mark Glass Onion’s century than with a traditional multi-parter? In the first of two shows to celebrate our milestone, Antony is joined again by Scott Phipps to take a whistle-stop, greatest hits tour through John Lennon and the decade that made him and which he helped propel into history. Scott puts on his ‘Rainbow Valley’ trousers (see show notes) to sketch out each year for us before we each pick a Beatles/Lennon talking point for discussion. This time we tackle 1960 to 1964 as our hero goes from pure rocker to public figure and part of a national obsession. He also...

Episode 99.5- Paul Is Dead

Glass Onion: On John Lennon

We felt it in poor taste to add show notes at such a sad time for the world...

More Episodes

John Lennon’s series of interviews for Playboy magazine in September 1980, which also included Yoko Ono, are not only a fascinating and multi-layered study of a highly eccentric artist but also form an integral part of the official narrative of John and Yoko’s relationship in 1980 before his death and of the genesis of the songs for their joint album ‘Double Fantasy’.

This episode is the first of a 3-parter that picks out some interesting extracts from the book ‘All We Are Saying’, based on the transcripts of the interviews.

A lot of the narrative promoted by John & Yoko in these interviews has been reasonably debunked, including the obvious and provable point that John's songs for 'Double Fantasy' were worked on for years rather than being the product of pure inspiration. The overall contention over what the truth is has helped form the Coleman-Goldman continuum that has been a almost frequent topic of study on this podcast

Before the main topic, there is also a recommendation and critique of Madeline Bocaro’s epic new 500-page book on Yoko Ono, whose narrative fits neatly with the interviews being studied in this episode.

There are numerous audio clips to complement the conversation, including some of John from the interviews themselves.

Enjoy!

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Antony's website (music, podcasts, blog, life coaching) https://www.antonyrotunno.com

Antony's 'Life And Life Only' podcast (on Psychology) https://www.lifeandlifeonly.podbean.com

Antony on Luke’s English Podcast talking about meditation

https://teacherluke.co.uk/2022/03/16/

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