By Ted Newman Elmo Jones III (owner of Newman Custom Guitars)
Austin-Amerian Statesman
November 30, 1995
During the first part of the 70s, as a guitar technician and then as a luthier with the Rolling Stones, I ended up meeting a lot of other famous musicians, one being John Lennon, in Hollywood at a party during the time he was split up from Yoko Ono.
Bill Wyman and I rode up to Beverly Hills,after a full day of rehearsals, to this guy's house, who had produced Hair. Everybody showed up, I suppose because the Stones had been rehearsing at one of Warner Bros. sound stages for the upcoming tour.
Bill and I entered the kitchen, saying hello, and myself being introduced to people I'd only read about and seen on TV or in concert. One being John Lennon. He barked, "Well, hello, Ted Newman, why don't you make me a guitar? You're always making them for Keith."
I said we should talk. Then he dragged me down the hall into an empty room with no furniture, white walls, and an oak floor. We sat down with our backs propped up against the wall. He had a jug of vodka in his right hand and a tambourine on his left. He would start talking about Yoko and then strike his tambourine on the floor.
Finally, John went to sleep, and I followed suit, just napping against the wall. When I awakened, I saw he was still sleeping, so I said good night to the sleeper, and I went back to the noise in the kitchen.
Wyman sent for me and said we had a car waiting to take us to the studio to do overdubs and mixdowns. Mick and Keith were already there. I tried to listen, but my thoughts of Lennon kept drifting through my mind. It made it hard for me to concentrate on my work. Nevertheless, the evening was only beginning.
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