I have been accused over the years of name-dropping. Maybe the reason was to impress people. When I was living at Oliver Gospel Mission, it was a way to stay alive. Guys didn't want to beat me up, because I met Halle Berry. I told them a lot of stories about the famous people I had come in contact with. Frankly, I have met or had contact with a lot of famous people from movies, TV, literature, music, sports, politics, and other areas of life. I don't mean to brag here about this part of my life. It is just a fact.
Back in 1981, after John Lennon was killed, I wrote a one-man play on the night that John died. The play consisted of several characters walking into a diner in NYC and hearing the news of that tragedy. I had wanted to incorporate some music from Lennon in the play, but I needed to get approval from Yoko Ono to do it. I got her private address from my friend Fred who knew her. I got a message back from her representative that I couldn't use the music. It was too soon after that night, and Yoko was in mourning. I went ahead with the one-act play without the music and performed it a couple of times. The play went on my shelf, and I never revived it.
A company called Eagle Eyewear was putting out three frames of the kind that John Lennon wore. The frames were endorsed by Yoko. When they were released to the general public, the waiting time was eight months because of the demand, and the retail cost was running up to almost $200 per frame. There was no way I could pay that. I wrote to Yoko and asked her if there was anything she could do. She sent an order form for the frames to me, and I ordered two pair at cost ($30/each). I got the frames within ten days of my order thanks to Yoko. We began a relationship.
I would send her Christmas cards, and she would send me signed cards back. The first one was from Yoko and her son Sean. Later, they would just be signed by Yoko. I never got the goodie box of stuff that she would send Fred like calendars, cd's, tapes or unreleased music, and other stuff, but I would always get a card. Fred told me that the next time he was going to NYC that he would take me to the Dakota, where Yoko lived and meet her. She had what was called "the prize closet" in her apartment where visitors could pick anything out of there that they wanted. That trip never happened. Fred did give me some stuff that he had gotten from the closet from the time that John was still alive, and he had been with both of them. One was a card that said "War is Over" that still had John's DNA on it. I ended up selling it for big bucks, when I needed money to pay my rent back in the 2000's. I even had her personal phone number, but I never called it. The phone was later disconnected.
Back around 2007, I was running out of money. I had not gotten a raise from Macy's for four years despite selling an average of a million dollars per year. I was begging for money from friends. One was Yoko. I had always wanted to open up a record and music memorabilia store, and I thought I could live there as well as work there. So, I asked Yoko for $50,000 to get that off of the ground. She could afford it. After all, she had helped Fred with his store back in the day. Fred had a stroke and had to give up his store. Instead of getting the money, Yoko cut me off completely. I was told that I could no longer write to her. She didn't send me any more cards. I was persona non grata to her.
In 2015, Fred was hit by a car and killed in Little Rock, Arkansas. He and I had planned to open a store in Columbia together. I would supply the merchandise, and he would get the financing from Yoko. She just couldn't know that I was partnering with Fred, because of my being cut-off from her. After he died, I had to write a letter to Yoko about what had happened. It was one of the hardest letters I had to write. Yoko and Fred were very close. I got a letter back from her attorney asking about the things that she had sent to Fred, especially the tape of the unreleased music. I wrote back and told him about Fred's storage locker, but I didn't know where it was in Little Rock. They made some inquiries and found that the owner of the place where it was had destroyed the contents. Problem solved.
In the Spring of 2022, I was on Facebook and got a message from Yoko. I was skeptical at first, but I asked her a couple of questions that only she would know the answers. They were right. We had a nice conversation online. We chatted about Fred and how sad she was still that he was gone. I then apologized to her about my asking for money from her. That was the one thing you weren't supposed to do. She apologized for cutting me off from her life. We agreed that life was too short to hold grudges. She and I have been corresponding some since then. Maybe, I'll send her a Christmas card this year.
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