Ballad of J & Y
By Stuart Webin
Rolling Stone May 10, 1973
John and Yoko flew here (New York) from California on April
2nd for a 10am news conference at a midtown municipal building. Seated next to Leon Wildes, their immigration
attorney, the Lennons announce officially their appeal of the decision by
Immigration Judge Ira Fieldsteel, which put the former Beatle under a 60-day
voluntary departure order in lieu of deportation, while his wife was allowed to
stay in the US under application for residency.
They also announced the birth of a “conceptual country” called Nutopia,
and in response to a question from the floor, John confirmed a London dispatch
which announced the termination of the managerial contract between Allen Klein’s
ABKCO Industries Inc. and Apple Corps Ltd., its subsidiaries and Messrs. George
Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr.
The 30-minute press conference ended with J&Y waving facial tissue
at the TV cameras, the flag of surrender and the symbol of Nutopia.
At noon they were back at their basement loft in the West
Village, planning to return to California before nightfall. They were near exhaustion having avoided
sleep for about 40 hours but they said they were willing to give a 1-hour
interview to comment on rumors. Behind
their yawns, the Lennons’ spirits were exceptionally high. They were optimistic that John would be able
to stay in the US beyond 60 days on appeal.
Lennon began the talk by explaining his objections to the Immigration
decision:
John: “The first
mistake the judge makes is that he says cannabis resin is a narcotic, which it
is not.
Second, he inferred that perhaps Kyoko didn’t want to talk to Yoko and
that she’s only called once in 1971 and at that time complained about
detectives being on her tail. What he
forgot to mention was that the judge in Texas court had ordered Tony Cox to let
Kyoko talk to Yoko, and he did after a lot of hassles, and through her he
requested that we call off the detectives.
But it was actually the request of Tony and his wife Melinda. We pulled them off, but with the police
watching, Tony and Melinda escaped and are still in contempt of court in
Texas. We’re hoping that with the advent
of Allen DeKlein, which we know was one of the major factors in Tony’s fear, we
hope that Tony and Melinda will understand that that part of us has gone into
the blue beyond. This should make them
feel more secure about letting us talk to Kyoko, because I know that was always
hovering their minds.
(Allen Klein commented later: “Yoko has said that Cox was paranoid about
me. That’s all right. I didn’t trust him either.)
RS: Was the Kyoko
matter a major factor in the split with Klein?
John: The reason for
the split were manifold and manifest, and I won’t comment on how long we had
been thinking about it. But everything
was taken into consideration, so the answer to your question is yes.
RS: Leon Wildes
stated that evidence from the trial of the Scotland Yard 5, which is now going
on in England, would have bearing on our case.
What is that evidence?
John: The most
important evidence is the fact that we were planted by Sgt. Pilcher. He planted me and he also planed George. That’s how he made his reputation and got his
promotions. But since then Pilcher and
his boss Chief Inspector Kelaher have been indicted for conspiracy to pervert
the course of justice. So immigration
people here should be able to see that that could be resolved at any time. And it’s not just the fact of a pardon, it’s
whether or not I was ever guilty. The law
at the time of my trial said that if you owned a house, where stuff was found,
even if you weren’t living there, you were guilty of possession. Everybody was up for grabs. It could have been the Queen, who owns half
the property in London. I can’t
understand why they’re acting this way toward us. Aren’t we the classic American success
story? The judge has this patronizing
attitude toward us, like when he talked about the Committee for John and Yoko
as some kind of drug culture or artists’ community that is behind us. They never were supposed to be anything but a
group of people, most of them friends of Yoko’s from a past incarnation who
said they wanted to help filter information for us. But the judge says (gruff godly voice) “Perhaps
if we go for a national referendum…”
Well, we’ll play it that way if they want—make it an international
referendum.
RS: Do you think
being an Ex-Beatle has helped or hindered you in the case?
John: Well, the only
way I can think that’s helped is that if we hold a press conference, people
show up. Otherwise you’d have to think
of something like go naked riding an elephant with a wig and a red nose, and
when people show up, say, “Hey, they are trying to throw me out.”
RS: What can people
do to help you? Write to congress?
John: Well, they
intimating that we’re going around promoting our case, which is not what we are
doing. If the press is there, we’ll
answer questions. Since you asked casually,
I’ll say yeah, people can write to Congress or write to Immigration or write to
each other.
RS: Will Paul be
taking a more active interest in Apple now?
John: Well, he’s had
a very active interest all the time, which was trying to get away from it. We’ll decide among the four of us how to
deal with it. Which is something we
should have done a long time ago, but obviously que sera sera, and now is the
hour. The thing about “They’re all
getting together again” came out of the fact that we all had to get together to
discuss this thing including Paul’s situation sooner or later. It just so happened that George had to be in
LA to work with Ravi, and Ringo was there recording his album, so we all timed
it to be there to discuss our futures.
It always seems to be in the publics' or the press’ imagination that the
Beatles are getting together again, which is not in the cards, and that the
Beatles getting together somehow means---because they still have this hangover
that Yoko and Linda Eastman had some kind of fight, which never ever occurred—Yoko
and I splitting up, and therefore retroactively somehow, Paul and Linda splitting
up. Now that’s just insane. We broke up because we were disintegrating,
and the final real break was the Klein/Eastman situation. Our love life had nothing to do with it,
because when you’re in love, and this goes for Paul and Linda, too, nothing
else is really important. I’m just sick
about that bit that Beatles means John and Yoko splitting up. Paul and I had words, and we all had words
between us, but you know it was male pricks fighting, and the women were far
wiser as usual.
RS: How will Apple
change with Klein leaving?
John: Most of the
Apple personnel were really ABKCO people, and they’ll probably stay with
ABKCO. We don’t have any personal
resentment for Klein, and we’ll always have a soft spot for him. It’s not personalities; it’s business.
RS: What are your
plans?
John: I don’t make no
plans. That’s why I’m still alive. The only performances I can see ahead will be
in court.
Couldn't afford a new sweater vest John? Is this what happens when the groupies don't knit anymore- holey vests?!
ReplyDeletesorry but can't resist - she knitted him
DeleteHe's won an award too- its on the wall in his office
DeleteJust like "real" people he became attached to certain articles of clothing. (MarkZapp)
ReplyDeletefrom a paralegal standpoint: if John ever spoke with some of this in court & waved a nutopia tissue. he would have never been taken seriously
ReplyDelete^ That suggests he was. Even the US gov't didn't take him seriously, noting his regular use of narcotics even turned off the left. 72-73 was a personal nadir for him. Something had to give, and it did. Unfortunately, he went back to it after 18 months.
ReplyDelete