[November 15, 2013]NEW YORK (AP) — Six months before he
died, John Lennon set sail from Newport, R.I., on an ocean adventure
to Bermuda that awakened his desire to make music again and is now
being chronicled in an electronic format he could not have conceived
of.
A new app, "John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes," is being offered for
sale on Apple devices Thursday for $4.99. It's loaded with
interactive features, music, photos and interviews that detail a
relatively unexamined slice of the former Beatle's life.
More important, it opens the door to a potentially potent new
creative outlet for musicians and the struggling industry.
Users of the app can simulate the six-day journey through the
recollections of two crew members and Lennon himself, in a Playboy
interview conducted shortly after the trip. They can virtually visit
the disco where Lennon heard a recording of The B-52s' "Rock
Lobster," which reminded him of his wife Yoko Ono's music and coaxed
him back to work. They can eavesdrop on the creative process as
Lennon's last recordings took shape.
The project's director, "LennonNYC" filmmaker Michael Epstein, said
he wanted to re-create the experience of becoming immersed in a
record album, which he feels is lost in a world of electronic music
files.
"That relationship that MP3s have severed, we tried to put back
together," he said.
Lennon's wife had encouraged John to take the Bermuda trip in June
1980, which turned into a deeply cathartic experience.
"He was a macho guy in a very old-fashioned way and he just wanted
to conquer things," Ono said. "And he did. It was amazing."
A few days into the trip they ran into a strong storm. Two crew
members became violently seasick and the captain, Hank Halsted,
succumbed to exhaustion. A rock star and novice sailor was left to
keep the "Megan Jaye" afloat despite the wind and waves. The crew
members remember Lennon singing sea chanteys as he steered the ship
to safety.
The experience gave Lennon some pride at a time in his life when he
was having some issues with self-confidence, she said.
"It opened up a kind of frozen part of his soul and he started
creating," she said.
Lennon excitedly called Yoko after hearing "Rock Lobster" and
they started writing songs together in a sort of call-and-response
style, with Ono back in New York. The result became the "Double
Fantasy" album. Epstein interviews B-52s members for the app and
they discuss the influence she had on their music.
"There was nothing that was making us feel good at the time," said
Ono, who is still recording at age 80. "The whole world didn't want
my music. They were feeling almost abusive about my creative work
and that really choked him up in a way."
It was time, as Lennon sang, to start over.
With the material available, Epstein and his partners found the
story a great creative starting point. There have been some musical
apps in the past, with artists like Bjork, Bob Dylan and Lady Gaga,
but he feels the technology's potential is largely untapped.
Some of the features are clearly fanciful, like a virtual visit to a
garden in Bermuda. Users can "steer" an on-screen boat by moving
their tablets. They can play back music with buttons that seem to
come from a tape recorder.
Artists in the future can use apps to bring back immersive
experiences, he said. They can design one around a classic album,
for example, including interviews, video and outtakes that show how
the project came together. New musicians can use them to make
releases more of an event.
"This is an opportunity to take music to a new place," he said.
The app is for use just on Apple devices at this point. Apple gets a
portion of the revenue, but the majority will go to the organization
WhyHunger for use on an anti-poverty campaign.
