Juilan Lennon, Las Vegas Sun, Aug. 13, 1999

Vegas-bound Julian Lennon talks about John, Yoko and his life Lisa Ferguson Friday, Aug. 13, 1999 | 8:41 a.m. Who: Julian Lennon. When: 8 p.m. Saturday. Where: Mandalay Bay's House of Blues. Tickets: $19.50. Information: Call 632-7600. Listen up, because Julian Lennon doesn't want to have to repeat himself -- at least not too many more times. So, here it goes: As the son of the late, legendary musician and Beatle John Lennon, his childhood was anything but charmed. In fact, he hardly knew his father. Yes, he has issues with his stepmother, Yoko Ono. And, for the most part, he's tired of talking about them. That's why the signer-songwriter has decided that after next year or so he won't discuss these topics -- at least not for the public's consumption -- again. "It's time to let go of the baggage," Lennon, who performs Saturday at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues, said in a call from San Francisco. "After so many years of the same old, same old, especially with the likes of the Internet these days," he said, "if there are any questions about any of that (stuff), all anybody has to do is double click, go to the website and they'll probably get more information than they need to know or I would want them to know." Lennon, 36, is the product of John Lennon's seven-year marriage to first wife Cynthia. (Another Beatle, Paul McCartney, penned the hit song "Hey Jude" for Julian Lennon upon his parents' divorce in 1969.) The younger Lennon went on to enjoy a short-lived pop music career in the early '80s and had a hit with the song "Too Late for Goodbyes" from his 1984 release, "Valotte." Other projects followed before his career came to a virtual standstill following his 1991 offering, "Help Yourself." After a long hiatus he's back on the road touring in support of "Photograph Smile." The disc features plenty of thoughtful ballads -- and, of course, his vocal stylings that are eerily reminiscent of his father's. Reviews have been favorable. Glenn Whipp, of the Los Angeles Daily News, wrote: "Lennon successfully returns with 14 songs of heartfelt, melodic pop that deal mostly with love won and lost. If John's oldest son received too much attention when he burst on the scene 15 years ago it's also true he deserves some air play and acclaim for this taut, tuneful and ultimately honest collection." Lennon said: "I do feel that ... I'm finally getting a little bit of respect as an artist in my own right, which is all I've been looking for since Day One." He doesn't flinch at comparisons to his father, or suggestions that some of his songs are an obvious tip of the hat to the Beatles (see track five, "I Don't Want to Know"). Lennon does, however, point a finger at people he has worked with in the past for bolstering his unshakable "image of the 'son of.' " "All I ever wanted to do was get on with the work," he said. "As a songsmith, I just try to challenge myself as much as possible, and that's what this album was all about, really." Still, questions about his famous family persist. And, for now, he readily answers them. "I figured I'm gonna get it out of my system," Lennon, who was the subject of a VH1 "Behind the Music" profile this year, said. "I have the opportunity to do that with the promotion of the album because I know without a doubt there are going to be questions about that anyway." Among the bones he's picked publicly with Ono: Her handling of his late father's estate (John Lennon was gunned down outside his New York apartment in 1980), especially when it comes to merchandising, "which is supposedly for the fans, but costs the fans an arm and a leg." For example, he said, besides the lines of silk ties and mugs featuring John Lennon's sketches ("which I'm sure he'd want to be remembered for that way," Lennon said sarcastically), he's also not pleased with the release of a "new edition" of " 'museum-quality prints' of (John Lennon) eating breakfast or lunch" that sell for more than $100. "(Ono's) spokesperson said, 'What's she supposed to do, lock (such memorabilia) away?' I said, 'No, but there is a way of tastefully doing stuff and not trying to rip the fans off at the same time.' It's just not right." Nor were things right with the relationship between him and his father. Lennon explained that after his parents split when he was a young lad, "I maybe saw him 10 times before he died. "As far as Dad's concerned, I did understand to a certain degree what he did and why he did it." But he still is upset that as the years went on "that he still, I feel, didn't make a significant enough effort to try to patch things up between us. "Therefore, my sort of final summary on all of this is ... I felt he was a great artist; I won't say a god or an icon or a genius, but he was a great artist. As a father, the one main thing he taught me was how not to be a father, simple as that and ... it's very clear and it's very easy to see from my perspective." Lennon's decision to dedicate "Photograph Smile" to Roberto Bassanini, his late stepfather (Cynthia's second husband), was a deliberate one. "So I could tell his story, so (the public would) understand what kind of life I had and not the one you presume I had," he said. "The silver spoon in my mouth, that I was living in a musical family, that there was money everywhere -- that was never the case." Bassanini, who died a couple of years ago, "was the guy who took me to school everyday," Lennon said. "He was the guy who took me on holidays every year. He was the guy who took me to the movies with my friends. He was the one who told me off when I was bad. He really was the father figure in my life." (Even after Cynthia and Bassanini's brief marriage ended, Lennon said he continued to regularly visit his stepfather in Italy, where Lennon now calls home.) "Photograph Smile" was released on Lennon's own Music From Another Room label and, despite his previous releases, he has said that he considers it his "first album." "To a certain degree, I felt that a lot of the earlier work was overproduced. I just felt there wasn't enough focus or respect for me as an artist. In the past it was very much a case of 'the son of.' "That's why I took a break after 10 years-plus of working with these people who I felt were just sort of using and abusing me to a certain degree. I felt a serious lack of support in many ways." This time around he wanted to control what went on "not only on a professional level, but on a personal level, too. ... It was a question of taking the reins on everything, which had never been the case before." That meant the chirpy pop tunes were out. "I don't want to write bouncy, happy songs. I think there are enough people out there who do that as it is," he said. "For me, being successful is not necessarily the amount of albums I'm gonna sell. It's being able to touch as many (people) as I can on a human level. If it happens, it happens. It's not a thing that worries or bothers me these days. I'm not trying to please the whole wide world anymore. I just want to get on with the job at hand." The same thing, he said, that the surviving Beatles members have done. He balks at suggestions of a Beatles reunion concert (with Lennon standing in for his father) ever taking shape. (Not that he couldn't play the part: Lennon, who before his musical days won a scholarship to the Royal Shakespeare Company, had a bit part as a bartender in the film "Leaving Las Vegas.") "Not a chance," he said of the reunion. "The boys have moved on in life. How can there be a Beatles reunion when one man is missing? ... If they wanted to do it, they would have done it by now, I think." Lennon told Music Connection magazine earlier this year that he has "a great fondness" for McCartney. "He is very much like an uncle. I'm the son of one of his best friends who is no longer around. That's got to be difficult for him. Especially when he sees the physical comparisons or even the work I do." These days "Hey Jude," he said, is "more of a comfort blanket" for him "in regards to listening to the lyrics. It was all about hoping that I was gonna be OK. At this point in my life I definitely feel that I've taken a sad song and made it better."