yoko ono

Steinway Celebrates John Lennon's 70th Birthday With New Piano

To commemorate the 70th birthday of John Lennon, Steinway & Sons has introduced the Imagine Series Limited Edition piano. The Imagine Series Limited Edition is modeled after the white Steinway grand piano that John Lennon gave Yoko Ono on her birthday in 1971, which is still at their famous Manhattan residence, the Dakota.

The music desk of each piano incorporates one of four different John Lennon original drawings--Come Together, the title of the opening track on the Beatles' historic album, "Abbey Road," reflects John Lennon's desire to bring people together; Grand Piano is a drawing that captures the songwriting process; Freda People exemplifies John Lennon's passion for using music for the benefit of mankind; and Self Portrait is perhaps John Lennon's most famous drawing -- as just a few marks on the page and it's unmistakably John. The piano also has the lyrics "you may say I'm a dreamer" on the the bass side of the rim and the opening bars to "Imagine" printed directly on the gold plate of the piano. A medallion on the inner rim shows John Lennon's Japanese chop mark/signature (which he often used to sign his artwork) as well as the series name and number and there is a replica of John Lennon's signature on the treble side of the wallboard.

The Imagine Series was custom built at the Steinway & Sons New York and Hamburg factories and is available through Steinway's factory-owned retail showrooms and network of exclusive Steinway dealers. A portion of the proceeds from every Imagine piano sold by Steinway & Sons will be donated to The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.

Tags: imagine piano, John Lennon biopic, steinway, Steinway piano, SteinwayMusicalInstruments, yoko ono

John Lennon's Box of Vision

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

A new music and art collection is being launched in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of John Lennon's birth. The John Lennon Box of Vision is a limited edition individually numbered collection available for pre-order at www.BoxOfVision.com for early October delivery.

The package is officially licensed by Yoko Ono Lennon and includes a 166-page hard bound book containing all of John Lennon's, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono's, LP artwork, restored in new LP-size art prints. This book is full of front covers, back covers, gatefolds and inserts arranged to create the feeling of holding and enjoying the entire LP collection in your lap. The "Catalography," is a brand new, full color discography of John's, and John and Yoko's, album catalog, with an exclusive essay and textual guide; newly restored reproductions of classic Lennon album advertisements; John's handwritten "sound" notes to Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey and more. The BoxOfVision CD storage system is built to store all of John Lennon's official CD releases and can hold up to 32 different CD albums, in an expandable and adaptable format to accommodate any fan's collection (CDs not included). The collection also has two art-adorned recordable DVDs, and two different art-adorned recordable CDs, intended for fans to record and store audiovisual and audio content they choose. Boxofvision has received permission from Yoko Ono to create these unique recordable discs using classic John, and John and Yoko, art elements.

The whole thing is housed in an "artist's canvas" oversized Box (measuring over 15 inches by 13 inches, and 4 inches deep), the set is wrapped in a stunning, silver-inked portrait of John Lennon, with a precise reproduction of John's original line drawing "Baby Grand" on the back. The limited edition set will number a total of 7500 numbered copies available worldwide. The retail list price is $124.99. Check out a video about the project after the jump.

Tags: box of vision, CD box set, john lennon, yoko ono

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Porsche Design revives the iconic Yoko Ono Sunglasses

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Celebrity Design

Back in her heyday, Yoko Ono was almost never seen without her shades on. And these were them: The original sunglasses from Porsche Design. She wore them on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, she wore them at press conferences, she wore them during recording sessions and when she was on vacation. She's still wearing them, even though they haven't been made in years. But now the German automaker's product design studio is bringing them back as the P'8479, complete with visible gold-tone screws and Beta-Titanium frame. Make no mistake about it, the 80s are back.

Gallery: Porsche Design P'8479 Yoko Ono sunglasses

Tags: porsche, porsche design, porsche design p8479, porsche design yoko ono, PorscheDesign, PorscheDesignP8479, PorscheDesignYokoOno, yoko ono, yoko ono sunglasses, YokoOno, YokoOnoSunglasses

Tragic John Lennon Sterling Cartier Box at Auction

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Auctions, Celebrity Shopping

On June 14 Bonhams & Butterfields is auctioning off a sterling silver Cartier cigarette box with an extremely interesting provenance as part of their Entertainment Memorabilia sale in Los Angeles. For Christmas in 1980 John Lennon and Yoko Ono commissioned 12 of the boxes from the famous French jeweler and had them engraved "Double Fantasy / Xmas 1980 / N.Y.C. / John & Yoko." Shortly before they were being readied to send out however John was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman outside their New York apartment house, the Dakota, on December 8th. Despite the horrific tragedy, Yoko ended up sending out the boxes because as their Dakota neighbor Marnie Oetrozze Hair, who owned this one, noted, Lennon had made out the list of recipients back in October. The box, which comes with a letter of provenance handwritten by Hair, is estimated at $3,000 - $5,000.

Tags: Bonhams, Bonhams Butterfields, BonhamsButterfields, Cartier, celebrity, Dakota, entertainment, John Lennon, JohnLennon, Los Angeles, LosAngeles, memorabilia, New York, NewYork, silver, smoking, sterling silver, SterlingSilver, Yoko Ono, YokoOno

Yoko Ono Designs A Wine Bottle

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Celebrity Shopping

What do Yoko Ono and Prince Charles have in common? They have both created a wine label. Prince Charles has a painting on a Mouton Rothschild bottle and now Yoko Ono is the 25th artist to create a label for the Nittardi winery. The label is for a Chianti made from 97 percent Sangiovese grape and three percent local Canaiolo grape. Ono's design is a a dotted ink drawing called "Imagine you," which depicts bottles and glasses.The wine sells for $29. At least Yoko appears to be a better designer than she is a singer.

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Tags: chianti, nittardi, wine, yoko ono

Auction Features Yoko's Bentley, Marilyn's Umbrella, and Elvis's Microphone

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

If you love the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, and/or Elvis Presley then you might want to book yourself a flight to Beverly Hills before next weekend. On June 16th some of the biggest and most unique items from some of the most memorable stars of years past will be featured at Julien's Auctions at the Beverly Hilton. Among items set to go up on the block are Yoko Ono's 2002 Bentley Arnage, Marilyn Monroe's polka-dot umbrella, and the microphone Elvis Presley used to make his radio debut (complete with the infamous original recording of the phrase "Elvis has left the building").

And whether or not bidding is a possibility for you, the trip could still be worth your while if just to get a glimpse. All items will be on display for admiring fans starting June 12th through the 15th.

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