One long honeymoon

Yoko Ono on hope, politics, the best week in bed
and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ new
exhibit Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko

STILL SPRIGHTLY AND ENIGMATIC: Ono

by CHRISTOPHER SYKES

Forty years ago this summer, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their famous Bed-In for Peace at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel as paparazzi, fans and assorted celebrities looked on. The couple invited friends and detractors alike to join them in their suite for the peace demonstration and emerged with one of the iconic moments of the 1960s, for this city at least.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will celebrate this anniversary and rekindle the couple’s message of pacifism with Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko. The multimedia exhibit will chronicle the couple’s body of work and includes interactive exhibits like the Imagine piano, where visitors are encouraged to belt out their own rendition of Lennon’s “Imagine,” and the Wish Tree, where one can meditate and then tie a message to the tree’s branches. (Some good news for broke yet peace-loving Montrealers: the exhibit will be open to the public free of charge.)

The Mirror spoke with the sprightly though still enigmatic 76-year-old Ono over the telephone a few days prior to the exhibit’s opening.

Mirror: Let’s start with the obvious: how did you and John conceive this idea of the Bed-In?

Yoko Ono: You know, we just wanted to do something for our honeymoon. We knew we were going to be harassed by the whole [media] organization. We turned it around to give something back, to promote world peace.

M: The ascension of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency has filled the world with a sort of hope that hasn’t been felt in decades. Do you think this assists your and John’s long-term quest for world peace?

YO: One thing that I think, because I’ve been really trying to communicate this idea to everyone, is that “Imagining” is just so important. That has the power to create things. I think that it was that type of mental meditation that helped create this change. We should not be impatient about what politicians can do—we have to give them space to do something about it. Politics right now is in a very difficult situation, and so we have to keep a kind of warm mind towards it.

M: In December 1969, you and John met with then-prime minister Trudeau following your peace manifestation in Toronto. Something tells me that in a parallel universe, where 2009 and 1969 were switched, you wouldn’t have that same invitation from Prime Minister Harper, considering Canada’s involvement in the Afghanistan war.

YO: Well, the invitation from the Canadian government has come to us already, so fortunately we don’t have to have it done once more. (laughs)

M: Fair enough. How would you suggest Canadians protest Canada’s involvement in the Afghanistan war, if they so choose?

YO: They will find the right and most powerful way to do so [themselves]. It’s important just to know that you don’t have to try and move a mountain. You just have to think clearly, have patience and trust in it.

Free blessings

M: What was the decision-making process involved with opening Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko to the public free of charge?

YO: The people at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts wanted to do it, and I thought it was a great idea. I was quite amazed with how much they knew about things; the work they had done and how much of the history they knew about. It was incredibly interesting how they set things up.

M: Are you troubled that the Queen Elizabeth Hotel offers a “John and Yoko Getaway Package” in the John Lennon suite that goes for between $900-$1,800 per night?

YO: You see, what you’re thinking doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what is happening—“We’re just trying to make money, ha ha!” A message is [still] coming through, so I bless it all.

M: What are your thoughts on the direction of music and art in this highly digital age of high-speed Internet and open-source technology?

YO: I think it’s a blessing. Of course people are wondering, “Oh, is that going to be too exploitative?” or whatever. But I think it’s going to really help music and art be more communicative to the general audience.

M: What’s keeping you busy at the moment?

YO: I’m in the midst of being in the studio with my son Sean to make my next album. It’s very exciting. I’m going to stop recording for two or three days to go to Montreal and back.

M: Cool. When can we expect that to come out?

YO: Well, we were expecting it to be out yesterday... (giggles)

IMAGINE: THE PEACE BALLAD OF JOHN
& YOKO, AT THE MONTREAL MUSEUM
OF FINE ARTS (1380 SHERBROOKE W.)
APRIL 2 –JUNE 21.
THE EXHIBITION IS FREE TO THE
PUBLIC AT ALL TIMES