WE ALL SHINE ON; JOHN, YOKO & ME by ELLIOT MINTZ

For a man who, by his own account, spent many hundreds of hours talking with Yoko Ono and John Lennon – on the phone, in person in LA, New York and on a trip to Japan – radio host Elliott Mintz isn't able to tell us much new in this conversational autobiography.

In Lennon-Ono lore, Mintz is a storied off-sider who first came into their world (more correctly them into his) when he did a radio interview with Ono in 1971, him in LA and her in New York.

The fact he took her seriously as an artist, talked about her music and beliefs, barely touching on her relationship with her much more famous partner, doubtless endeared him to her.

And then to them.

Ono preferred phone conversations – she would say by removing preconceptions which come with visual contact you could talk more freely and without prejudice.

And so she talked. And talked and talked.

Mintz says he was as confused as anyone as to why this famous, older person would want to continue conversations with a 26-year old radio DJ on the other side of the continent.

But she did and her calls would come almost daily, be of considerable duration then – without a polite goodbye – she would terminate them abruptly with “I have to go”.

The calls came so frequently he installed a separate phone-line in his home which lit up like a hotline when she called.

And then he called.

Lennon was chatty, confident after the release of the Imagine album and, on his 31^st birthday when he first called, said “I think I'm the happiest I have ever been. I have Yoko and that's really all that matters to me.”

Mintz says he has excellent recall of conversations which is why he feels able to write in Lennon and Ono's direct speech from many decades before.

And so it goes: Lennon wants diet pills before they do a photoshoot and thinks Mintz has access to illegal sources; out the blue he calls and says they should meet at a house in the town of Ojai north of LA; Lennon reveals they had been driving (more correctly, driven by Peter Bendrey aka Peter the Dealer) across the country as they withdrew from methadone.

It is a strange meeting, Lennon is friendly (“skin almost as white as Xerox paper” says Mintz) but Ono is paranoid they were being bugged.

Sitting by the pool Lennon tells Mintz that Ono will tell him things that make no sense but just do what she tells you: “She's almost always right. She sees things other people can't see”.

And so it goes: Lennon gives him a pre-release copy of Sometime in New York City which he plays on air and is consequently fired; conversations by phone continue when the couple are back in New York; Lennon fumes about Bob Dylan being considered a genius (“I'm just as good a songwriter as Dylan!”); Ono needs certain people checked out (birth dates, time of birth etc) for her astrologer; Mintz gets another job and a TV show; the phone calls keep coming . . .

The couple buy an apartment in the Dakota which Lennon proudly shows Mintz when he is in New York; then comes the famous Lost Weekend when Lennon arrives in LA with May Pang; he comes to the station for a chat; Ono calls to monitor the situation; there is the booze'n'dope sessions with Phil Spector . . .

And so it goes through Lennon's return to Ono and the Dakota, the birth of Sean, Mintz being party to all this through conversations or visits . . .

So what of Ono in these pages: controlling, mysterious, attentive, business-like . . .

Nothing we didn't already know.

And Lennon in these pages: witty, quick to anger, out of control when drunk, volatile, charming . . .

Not a lot we didn't know.

There is a falling-out between Lennon and Mintz when the booze-soaked, violent Lennon – who has just destroyed the home of Lou Adler which he has borrowed – used “an epithet so hurtful and offensive I can't bring myself to repeat it”.

Then rapprochement: they all go to Japan. Mintz is there for Double Fantasy.

And then the awful event of December 1980.
Mintz immediately flies there.

The opening of the book comes after that: Mintz in the Dakota two months later itemising and cataloguing Lennon's possessions at Ono's request.

If there are few startling revelations about Lennon and Ono by someone who knew them intimately, Mintz is an interesting character himself.

As an aspiring radio DJ and interviewer he lived in Laurel Canyon where his neighbours were Mickey Dolenz, David Cassidy and all the famous singer-songwriters there. He partied with them but scrupulously kept his relationship with Lennon and Ono a secret until it could be denied no longer.

The most interesting thing this quick read reveals is Mintz' comments about May Pang who was Lennon's companion during the 18 month Lost Weekend.

Mintz says he seldom saw her and that he cannot remember a single conversation with Lennon in which he mentioned her.

“So I will let May tell her own story in her own way in her own books . . . to this day I only wish her well.”

Hmmm.

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WE ALL SHINE ON; JOHN, YOKO & ME by ELLIOT MINTZ.   Bantam $60