On the 20th anniversary of his father’s murder, Julian Lennon looked back in anger at ex-Beatle and dad John Lennon, describing him as a man who was afraid of fatherhood and a “manipulated soul.”
“I only saw him a handful of times before he was killed. Sadly I never really knew the man,” Julian Lennon said. He confessed that “I had a great deal of anger toward Dad because of his negligence and his attitude to peace and love. That peace and love never came home to me.”
Bombarded with interview requests to reflect on his famous father on the 20th anniversary since Lennon was gunned down by a crazed fan, Julian Lennon, 37, decided instead to pour his heart out on his Web site, www.julianlennon.com, Reuters reports.
On the site, Lennon writes that he blames the breakdown of his relationship with his father on Yoko Ono and his fear of fatherhood. Lennon left Julian’s mother Cynthia when he was 4 years old and rarely saw the musician.
“I wonder what it would have been like if he were alive today. I guess it would have depended on whether he was John Lennon (Dad) or John Ono Lennon (manipulated soul).
“Although he was definitely afraid of fatherhood, the combination of that and his life with Yoko Ono led to the real breakdown of our relationship. Once I began to look at his life and really understand him, I began to feel so sorry for him because once he was a guiding light, a star that shone on all of us until he was sucked into a black hole and all of his strength consumed.”
In other John Lennon news, more than 50,000 people have visited the Tokyo museum dedicated to the late musician since it opened two months ago, Reuters reports. The museum is built in a corner of an arena 15 miles north of Tokyo and was approved my Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono.
As visitors view more than 130 items that once belonged to Lennon, Beatles music plays. Most of the items were donated by Ono herself, including family photographs, an old driver’s license, a passport, handwritten lyrics and his trademark wire-rimmed glasses.
CLOTHES A NO-NO FOR FORMER GO-GO: She’s got the beat and an itch to take it all off for cameras. Former Go-Go’s frontwoman Belinda Carlisle and her band have just completed recording their first album in 15 years, but while the other band members are busy mixing in the studio, Carlisle is bearing it all for Playboy photographers.
Carlisle, 42, reportedly posed for Playboy in late November for the men’s magazine, Reuters reports. The word is that the magazine’s editors have been trying to get the singer to pose for them for quite some time.
Carlisle’s publicist wouldn’t confirm the story.
PROUD TINA KEEPS ON ROLLIN’: It was the end of an era and professional stage career Wednesday night as Tina Turner gave her final show during her farewell wold tour.
The 61-year-old singer performed to a packed house of 18,000 fans at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, Calif.
The legendary performer said she was leaving the road after 44 years because she didn’t want to get to the point where her stage antics were no longer dignified, Reuters reports. Still in a physical shape that, no doubt, was the envy of most senior citizens, Turner moved around the stage for two hours, belting out such hits as “River Deep, Mountain High” and “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”
Hers is one of the most remarkable stories in music. Turner came to fame in the late 1960s and early ‘70s performing in a soul revue with her abusive (and now ex) husband, Ike Turner. However, by 1976, her career seemed to be over.
In 1981, she made an incredible comeback to land some opening dates with the Rolling Stones. By 1984 she was at the top of her game once again with a new record (“Private Dancer”), five hit singles and three Grammys.
Her next albums sold well, but Turner was always more popular in Europe, which is where she plans on living with her German-born boyfriend, Erwin Bach.
Her parting words to her fans Wednesday were: “I thank you for all your support.”
