Bob Dylan’s 1972 letter to the FBI, written to protest the immigration proceedings against John Lennon and Yoko Ono. (The FBI claimed they had been admitted to the country in violation of then-existing immigration law.) One of our guests today, historian Jon Wiener, filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the more than 200 letters written by artists and celebrities on behalf of Lennon and Ono.
--from NPR's Fresh Air
A curiosity indeed, Elizabeth. Life is complex.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=165208003493959&oid=62506571116
It talks of Julian Lennon's experience of his farther. I did not know this. It adds a layer to the complexity of a great man, two great men, I'd say.
Ah the pain of parenting and of being a child.
I heard this program on NPR today and reading those letters, some of them hand-written, is amazing. I love John Updike's for some reason, even though it is type-written.
ReplyDeleteCan we believe that the US government was so afraid of these two artists that they did everything within their power to prevent them from staying in our country?
Yes.
Thank-you for posting this.
And let us remember how subversive and powerful art and artists can be.
And I wanted to say that I have been listening to NPR off and on all day and it is very interesting how some reports say that John Lennon was murdered and some say he was assassinated. This makes me ponder. But not too much. Either way, he was taken from us and given back to where he came from.
ReplyDeleteI did not know about all this! So intriguing! In some ways, to be a great artist is to suffer as a human being! Wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteI love, "let them stay here and live and breath." On a trip to visit my daughter the artist I was roaming around NYC and came across The Dakota. Such a small entrance to be gunned down. Overwhelming sadness.
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