LOVE AND PEACE COMES TO MONTREAL

BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE WITH CORKY LAING
“LOVE AND PEACE COMES TO MONTREAL”

“To be a teenager in the 50s was to be a nobody, but to be a teenager in the 60s was to be an everybody”.

Back in ‘69, I was just a kid in NDG (Montreal, Quebec) and the world was my oyster (or some kind of shellfish). The future was wide open and in my mind I could do anything I dreamed of.

I was out of my teens growing up in a beautiful city. Montreal had the most beautiful vibes and if you asked Leonard Cohen, beautiful women. It was a paradise and… who shows up with Love and Peace in Paradise, none other than John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I could only imagine meeting John Lennon, but after a few tokes I became proactive and fearless. I was a drummer in a local band called ENERGY, and staying true to the name I energized and devised a plan to get next to John Lennon; at a time when I told my Dad I wanted to grow up and be a drummer. He said, “son, you have to pick one or the other.” So growing up was out of the question. I was naïve and immature (not to mention an opportunist) and I was proud so I decided to impersonate a Journalist with a fake ID and line up with other journalists at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. John & Yoko were calling in all PR Reps to promote LOVE AND PEACE from their Hotel Bedside.

My bass player, George Gardos, thought I was out of mind with this stunt, but I had to try. I actually got through and there I was lining up with other journalists, corralled like cattle in one room after another, until each writer had their one on one moment. Derek Sutton, Lennon’s road manager, gave me a very weird look when he checked my ID but somehow in my Ivy League clothes and my close cropped hair, I passed as an academic. Unbelievably I moved into the white room. White everywhere; flowers, walls, drapes and John and Yoko in white pajamas in the corner in their white bed, chatting one on one with each writer. John stated, “Why not publicize peace around the world using our celebrity status to raise awareness?”.

The French LaPresse (Montreal newspaper) journalist right before me stunned everyone, especially John, when used his 10 minutes at the bedside to attempt to sell John a poster of them for 10,000 dollars. John flipped out and had the writer thrown out along with some very sharp verbiage (not in French).

At this point it was my turn, and needless to say I was shaking in my pants (or something in my pants). I walked up to John and tried to excuse myself because I thought he was too upset to talk to anyone now. He responded in a very cool manner and said, “ Don’t be silly, mate. Sit Down and let’s continue.” After telling me what an A hole the French writer was, trying to extort money, he then shifted his attention to me. “What’s your story mate?”.

I immediately broke down, APOLOGIZED and admitted I was not a journalist, but I was a drummer in a rock and roll band.

I was relieved when he laughed and asked me about my music. I lightened up and told him the band was called ENERGY. To my surprise, he chuckled and then pulled Yoko into the conversation. He thought the name Energy was really cool and proceeded to pick up the discarded poster on the floor. Both of them signed it to Energy.

I was now blushing with pride. He even signed it with his personalized caricature and the words Good Luck and God Bless. Overwhelmed and extremely grateful, I exited the room walking on air with poster, carefully rolled up under my arm.

To this day, I do not know what propelled me to chance that outrageous stunt. That was the beginning of my belligerent, presumptuous, opportunist behaviour that has carried me through 40 years in the music industry. You are who you are inspired by. I am not by any means John Lennon but I have a poster.

Love and Peace

photo credit Taffi Rosen