John Kruth - Hold On World: The Lasting Impact of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band, Fifty Years On

A big warm thank you to everyone I interviewed for Hold On World (whether in person, on the phone, or by email). They include:

Ian Anderson (Vocalist, flautistJethro Tull)

Michael Blair (PercussionistTom Waits, Elvis Costello)

DJ Bonebrake (Drummer, mallet percussionistX)

Peter Case (Singer/songwriter, guitarist)

Nels Cline (GuitaristWilco, Plastic Ono Band)

Ornette Coleman (Free-jazz saxophonist, cosmic philosopher)

Dave Dreiwitz (BassistWeen)

Marvin Etzioni (Songwriter/producer/founding memberLone Justice)

Bill Frisell (Guitarist, devoted interpreter of Lennon and Beatles music)

Louise Harrison (Sister of George Harrison)

Jorma Kaukonen (Guitarist, singer, and founding memberJefferson Airplane)

Al Kooper (Keyboardist/producer, founder of Blood, Sweat and Tears)

Gary Lucas (GuitaristCaptain Beefheart, Jeff Buckley)

Thollem McDonas (Pianist/composer)

Evan Parker (Saxophonist)

Mary Maria Parks (Saxophonist/wife of Albert Ayler)

Barry Reynolds (GuitaristMarianne Faithful)

Marc Ribot (GuitaristTom Waits, Elvis Costello)

Brian Ritchie (BassistViolent Femmes)

Elliott Sharp (Guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer)

Steve Shelley (DrummerSonic Youth, Plastic Ono Band)

John Sinclair (Poet, manager of the MC5)

Benmont Tench (KeyboardistTom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

Bobby Whitlock (Keyboardist, guitaristDerek and the Dominoes, Delaney and Bonnie)

Hal Willner (ProducerLou Reed, Marianne Faithful, Lucinda Williams...)

And sparkling oceans of gratitude to my beautiful more-than-wife, Marilyn Cvitanic, and our funky puggle, Kooper, and massive tabby, Little Tail State Park, who listened and listened and compassionately sat through the worst of it.

Big thanks to: Betsy Israel, Jeff Hamilton, Pat Thomas, Paul Zollo, Oliver Trager, Willie Aron, Marvin Etzioni, Donald Rubenstein, Thollem McDonas, Bruce Hollihan, John S. Hall, and John Cerullo for holding on.

Mama dont go! John Lennon (age 8) with his mother, Julia, in Liverpool, UK, 1948.

(ARCHIVIO GBB/Alamy Stock Photo)

Yoko Ono circa 1940.

(Photofest)

John Lennon with Yoko Ono at You Are Here art exhibition, July 1968.

(Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo)

John and Yoko attend the opening night of the Old Vic Theatre adaptation of In His Own Write, London, June, 1968. This was the first public appearance of John and Yoko together.

(Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo)

John and Yoko busted for cannabis at Ringos London apartment, October 18, 1968.

(Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo)

On the set of the 1968 Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus concert show; l to r: John Entwistle, Keith Moon, and Pete Townsend of the Who; John Lennon; Yoko Ono; and the Rolling Stones.

(Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo)

John and Yoko live at Cambridge University, March 2, 1969.

(Tracksimages.com/Alamy Stock Photo)

John and Yoko back in Paris after their wedding, March 21, 1969. Johns coat was made of human hair and purchased for 1,000 British Pounds.

(PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

John and Yoko on the first day of their Amsterdam Bed-In, March 25, 1969.

(BNA Photographic/Alamy Stock Photo)

John and Yoko appeared twice on The Dick Cavett Show (ABC) to premier Imagine on September 11th, 1971, and returned again on May 11, 1972; l-r: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Dick Cavett.

(ABC/Photofest)

John and Yoko join NYC street rockers David Peel & the Lower East Side. l-r: David Peel, Yoko Ono, Yippie founder Jerry Rubin (on percussion), and John Lennon.

(20th Century-Fox/Photofest)

John and Yoko declare War Is Over! If You Want It on the steps of the Apple building, Savile Row, London, December 15, 1969

( KEYSTONE Pictures USA)

1969 British advertisement for the single Cold Turkey by the Plastic Ono Band on the Apple label.

(Neil Baylis/Alamy Stock Photo)

John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, December 16, 1969.

(PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

After their haircuts, January, 1970.

(Penny Tweedie/Alamy Stock Photo)

John Lennon, Yoko Ono and her 5 year-old daughter, Kyoko Cox, at Apple Records Headquarters, May 1969.

(PictureLux/ JRC The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band released by Apple Records in December, 1970 (cover photo by Dan Richter).

(sjvinyl/Alamy Stock Photo)