Fred Seaman "The Last Days of John Lennon"

I think he looks good in those photos. People will see what they want to see

 

Never read the Seaman book but Nowhere Man by Robert Rosen is fascinating:



What's the verdict on it here?

 

I would never read any of those books. I'd be skeptical from the start regarding the motives.

 

Court records confirm Rosen had read Lennon's diaries so he had access to information the rest of the world has not including Yoko, who has stated she did not want to read them.

Rosen doesn't really have a motive to lie about what he read since John is a fascinating guy and also for legal reasons.

The only problem Rosen has stated is for legal concerns he could not discuss many things that were written in the diaries unless an outside source contained similar information. He also had to include a disclaimer which I think was done to protect himself and not because he was fabricating stories.

I prefer Seamans book though

 

I certainly found it interesting. As I recall, there is information in there you won't find anywhere else despite the legal constraints mentioned above.

Slightly off-topic, I thought this picture of Paul and Yoko - taken just this past Thursday, June 23 in NY at an exhibition of Linda's pictures - was really touching. They really do seem to be on much better terms these last few years. I hope it lasts this time. They've had detentes in the past that didn't.

http://cactusflowersmaccaandbeatles...1/06/paul-mccartney-and-yoko-ono-attends.html

 

He also repeats a few stories from Seaman's book that are provably false, e.g., the stuff about Yoko being unhappy with John's gardenias because they're "a Japanese symbol of death" (they're not).

 

Since neither of them speak Japanese, I doubt it was intentional but simply bad information passed on by someone else

 

Possible in Rosen's case, true. Not possible in Seaman's case, since he claims that Yoko complained to him about the flower's malign significance.

Yoko herself has spoken in interviews about how much she loves gardenias.

 

Exactly my opinion too. I also don't think that Lennon looked all that bad or sick in the late 70's - 80 - he is just very thin, and if this kind of look is a kind of unhealthy by today's standarts, back in the 70's it is actually obligatory for a major rock star. And if you are not much into sports, and you reach 40, you have to chose either to be a bit fatty and "healthy looking", or to look a bit gaunt.
Strict diet, heavy smoking and caffeine abuse are pretty enough for that, you don't need to be seriously ill or heavy drugs user.

 

If you look at color photos of John in Bermuda in 1980 or shortly after coming back to NYC, he has a very healthy looking tan. It's only after he loses the tan that in "some" photos he looks gaunt.

When I look back at photos from the 1970's people in general are much thinner. It's the fast food "supersize it" that has created an obese generation that now also makes John look super thin.

 

You were there too Mr. C...you know what I'm talking about!

 

Seaman was an irredeemable a** on r.m.b back in the day. I used to enjoy having a crack at him every now and then.

 

True, but if you compare those 'gaunt' looking photos of John to George, Paul and Ringo photos of the time say, the difference is quite startling.

 

Yes, way too simplistic. For example, when Yoko sent John off on his boat trip she moved all of his stuff out of their apartment, then changed her mind at the last moment. That doesn't sound very happy to me.

 

I never saw that, where are your sources on this ?

 

Well, you know fans. They don't believe that everybody has a life. Even their "idols"...

 

After having Yoko's thugs chase him around, not to mention how her attorneys could make his life a living hell as long as Yoko chose, of course he'd say anything she wanted to end that.

 

I've read the book and it completely has the ring of truth. I even doubt anyone could read it and think otherwise unless they are just heavily motivated to do so.

 

I felt the same way.

 

You're a Yoko apologist, obviously. Even if Seaman got a dozen details and time sequences wrong, it's absurd to suggest that the essence of his day to day descriptions of the atmosphere in that household were manufactured. Anybody who isn't a fullblown Yoko-ite would have to feel the sincerity in that book. Yoko on the other hand reeks insincerity from the time she met John and claimed she hadn't even heard of the Beatles!

 

There are a lot of other sources who felt the same way about Yoko, including Julian.

 

I believe if there was a high degree of falsehood in Goldman's book, Yoko would've destroyed him.

 

The guy went out in public with a tampon on his forehead. He tarnished his own legacy. Besides, he'd be the first to tell you he's a human being with a lot of flaws, not just a Beatle.

 

Yoko forged her place with John by fermenting hatred of Paul. It was her ticket to him and if Paul had been allowed fully back in the mix, it could've been Johns ticket back out.

 

What an absurd thing to imagine Seaman made up.