Category: Famous People

Imagine – Discussing John Lennon

On By ResaIn Famous People, Tributes276 Comments

With Trent P. McDonald

John Lennon rocks my socks. When I found this street art, Trent raced to mind.

We did 2 joint Lennon posts just over a year ago. We both have an abundance of respect and love for him. Trent wrote a song for John and everything.

Resa – I knew you were taking some voice lessons, but I had no idea you were studying a song, let alone Imagine. Did you pick Imagine right away, or did that come later? Why did you pick Imagine?

Trent – My instructor picks the songs for me, mostly late 60s, early 70s songs.  He plays them on his guitar and I sing along.  He chooses the key that he feels is best for me.  Imagine was a relatively early pick, so it has been at least 8 months and maybe close to a year.  I think I had played my song about John for him which is why he chose it. 

Trent’s Cover of Imagine

Not only do I love Trent’s cover of Imagine, I adore his drawing of John.

Resa – There are many John Lennon quotes. Some are profound, Some are hilarious.
Two of my faves (of many) are – “Time wounds all heels” & “One thing you can’t hide is when you’re crippled inside”

What are a few of yours?

Trent – John was pretty witty, but I can’t think of quotes right off the top. 

Trent – I just looked up “John Lennon Quotes”, and there are so many to choose from!  

Perhaps – We all have Hitler in us, but we also have love and peace. So why not give peace a chance for once?”  Of course, for me his song lyrics are worthy of quoting.

Resa – I completely agree!

“I’m Shot”

Were Lennon’s last words.

Resa – I was shattered when I heard the news that John had been shot and died. I honestly believed in his message of love and peace being a way forward for the world and its people. I felt that die with him.
Do you have any memory of hearing the news? Do you understand why I felt the way I did?

Trent – I had pretty much just rediscovered the Beatles just a short time before he was murdered.  When rediscovering the Beatles, I gravitated towards John and his message more than towards the others.  Peace and Love, the brotherhood of Man.  These were huge themes for me.  I was pretty much devastated when I heard the news.  I sat and listened to Beatles’ songs nonstop for two days. 

Trent – Did I feel John’s message was killed with the messenger?  Yes and no.  I understood that we had entered a new era, but I tried to believe that his violent death would wake people up and that his message would grow.  Well, Ronald Reagan and all that he stood for took over the culture so that even kids my age went total right wing.  But the spark did remain.

Trent– Like many geniuses, John was a contradiction,

… and had a lot of bad qualities.  He said he was violent when he was young, fighting with boys and hitting girls and that a lot of his peace and love was to keep those tendencies at bay, to conquer the violence within himself.  He could be super petty and paranoid. 

Resa – I love the insight!

Trent – One of the saddest things is that I think after dropping out of public life for all of those years he had finally made peace with himself and was just breaking out again, ready to take on the 80s.  But all of that was nipped in the bud.

Favourite Songs

Resa – I think John Lennon is a brilliant songwriter.

My Fave John song from The Beatles’ days is Don’t Let Me Down.

John songs (excluding Imagine) are: Jealous Guy, Whatever Gets You Through the Night and Instant Karma.

So Trent, what are your favorite John Lennon songs? 

Trent – With the Beatles I loved: Strawberry Fields, I am the Walrus and Across the Universe. 

Solo? 

Hmm, maybe: Imagine, Mind Games and Watching the Wheels“- had to put that last one in because I wanted something from Double Fantasy and that was by far the most popular song from that album – it sounds so much like his earlier works.

Resa – I absolutely love the album cover for Double Fantasy. Yoko Ono is an interesting person. I’ve only seen her art in photos. However, as a performance artist she is brilliant in the video for Instant Karma, knitting with a blindfold on, while the band plays. John’s love for her is wonderfully obvious. Do you see it?

Trent – I think there is a huge love story between John and Yoko and is often very apparent.  So yes, I see it in the video you mentioned and also at the end of the one for Imagine where they are trying to keep straight faces but end up cracking each other up.  I think it is awful how much hate she has received from the world, though I think it has mellowed a lot in the last couple of decades.

Resa – I agree!

About –Let’s All Join In & Trent’s cover of Imagine

Trent wrote on YouTube

Resa thought she saw Lennon’s face from a trolley but didn’t’ find it again until recently. When talking about it, some said we need Lennon’s vision today more than ever and others said there should be a song about seeing Lennon’s face from a trolley…So here it is, both ideas in one. Yes, I drew my own picture instead of using the real street art – how could I without asking the artist? And, of course, I manipulated the drawing in a thousand and one ways.

Click pic to see post with “Let’s All Join In”lyrics

IMAGINE

Here is Trent’s blurb from YouTube, slightly edited for this post.

Yep, a quick take on John Lennon’s classic “Imagine”. Though very close, this is not an exactly note-for-note transcription of John’s original arrangement. Besides a few different notes and different drum fills, I recorded in Bb instead of C. I didn’t even listen to the original string arrangement, I just played. I had a few reasons for recording this song. One is that I sing this in my voice lessons.

Another was that Resa had told me she had found some street art featuring  Lennon’s “Imagine”.  Since I had been singing the song, why not do a recording?

Many thanks to Trent for joining me here today!

Pics of John Lennon art taken by Resa – July 2, 2025

Toronto, Canada

Painting by AOTR

Muhammad Ali

On By ResaIn Famous People171 Comments

On February 25, 1964

Cassius Clay, knocked out Sonny Liston for his first world title in boxing.

On March 6, 1964

Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali

At the Ali/Liston (1964) fight was a photographer, Neil Leifer.

Leifer took what became an iconic photograph. You can buy a print from the photographer’s website, if you can afford it.

Artist, The Half Decent, painted a massive mural of it in a narrow ally that was impossible to get a straight on shot in.

The above slide show was taken from the most straight across vantage point, the indent for a fire escape.

Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee

That is a statement made famous by Ali.

     I designed the costumes for a movie "Strange Justice", a docu-drama of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas United States senate hearings. The actor playing Clarence Thomas was Delroy Lindo. 
We were shooting backwards a decade, so I had his suits custom tailored. A suit was ready to be fit the day he arrived for prep. The fitting went well, but he had 1 request. Could I make the pockets really deep, to fit his large hands? 

I took hand measurements and sent the alterations to the tailor, with a special note about the pockets. Everything runs on a last minute seat of your pants timing in film. The suit was picked up from the tailor the night before he played.

     The morning Delroy played, I got called to his winnie*. He was livid. His hands would not fit into his pockets. They barely made it half way to his wrist. I walked to set with him while he tore a small strip off me. I had failed his simple request. 

     He didn't play again for 2 more days. So I personally took the suit into the tailor, who had not and still refused to make the pockets bigger. It was a tailoring no-no. I can be quite "assertive" when needed, and the pockets were corrected. 

     A couple of days after that I got called to his winnie, again. He looked me square in the eyes, and sincerely apologized for his behaviour about the pockets.

     I said something like.. aww that's okay.

     He said - When someone makes a sincere, honest and heart felt apology to you, you need to sincerely accept the apology, if in fact you are accepting it. 

     Eyes locked, I said Delroy, I honestly accept your apology, and I thank you for it. He said he appreciated my acceptance. We were best buddies on the shoot after that. He would hold talking on his phone to wish me a good morning, air high fives across a parking lots and always genuine smiles. 

     On the last day of the shoot, he gave gifts to some of the crew. I still remember him handing me a tiny jewelry box, opening it to find a marquesite & sterling bee brooch inside. I looked up and thanked him, all the while thinking “Sting like a bee- Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". 

     I still have the brooch, and I cannot see an image of Ali without thinking of Delroy Lindo, and that honest apologies are 2 sided.

I close with a slideshow of demented angled shots form the narrow alley.

I went back to the alley a second time, as I had the warm filter on, accidentally. The alley was still narrow.

Pics taken by Resa – 2024

Toronto, Canada

The Artist:

winnie* – a Winnebago motor home used for stars’ dressing rooms on location shoots.

The Bluest Blues

On By ResaIn Famous People, Murals135 Comments

A young Buddy Guy.

Wonder why his guitar looks like he’s playing left handed?

Dexter Gordon

Donnie Walsh from “Downchild Blues Band” on harmonica.

Background ghost musicians.

This amazing mural is on Grossman’s Tavern in Toronto.

Grossman’s is almost kitty corner from the El Mocambo, made famous by The Rolling Stones in 1977.

Grossman’s – since 1943.

I lived 1 block up the street, for 15 years. Many stories, but that’s for when I get a porch & a rocking chair.

Pics taken by Resa – Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Toronto, Canada

The Artist: John Nobrega – w/Allan Bender & Haven Hughes

This video is from Downchild’s 40th year celebration.

Research: Kat asked Nobrega on IG who was who, but his profile is now gone.

All found online.

Anne Boleyn

On By ResaIn Famous People118 Comments

Is it street art, or art in the street?

I instantly recognized the portrait of Anne Boleyn, set in a cold vortex of high rises.

Queen Consort Anne Boleyn was King Henry VIII ‘s second wife. She was beheaded for adultery (charges trumped up by Cromwell) on May 19, 1536.  Anne Boleyn is the mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

The portrait in the street is a copy of the famous and only officially verified portrait of Anne Boleyn, that was painted in her lifetime. (Shown below) It is believed that images of her were destroyed to please the king. This is the sole survivor.

unknown artist; Anne Boleyn; National Portrait Gallery, London; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/anne-boleyn-158230

Even until today, paintings surface claiming status, but all are renounced.

Photo of the original (left) compared to my photo of the one in the street (right).

I had to go in on an angle to get a close up of her face.

Alongside Richard Burton as Henry the VIII, Geneviève Bujold played Anne Boleyn in the movie “Anne of the Thousand Days”

Elizabeth Taylor, wanted to play Anne Boleyn. At 37, she was rejected as too old. Elizabeth took a small walk on so she could be present at the shooting of the final Tower of London scene. She feared Richard Burton, and Geneviève Bujold were having an affair.

For that tidbit and more trivia about the movie, click on the pic of Elizabeth below.

Here is the infamous 20 second walk on.

Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary was Princess Diana Spencer’s 13th great-grandmother on her father’s side.

So then Mary Boleyn is William and Harry’s 14th great- grandmother on Diana’s father’s side? Does that mean Anne Bolyen is their 14th great-aunt on Diana’s father’s side?

There is a ton of history available on Anne Boleyn. I’ve included 1 link for ease.

Anne Boleyn Facts & Biography Of Information

In January 1973, Rick Wakeman released his debut solo album, “The Six Wives of Henry VIII. The 36.36 minute album has a piece for each wife. Here is Anne Boleyn.

Pic taken by Resa – February 28, 2023

Toronto, Canada

 

The Queen of Fado

On By ResaIn Famous People, Murals80 Comments

Amália Rodrigues

She is known as the Queen of Fado.

Before I found this mural, I’d never heard of Fado.

Who knew? There is a musician up the street, and he is a Fado Singer.

He says Fado is the Portuguese Blues. He says, as everyone knows, Amália Rodrigues is the undisputed Queen of Fado!

Pics taken by Resa – July 19, 2021

Toronto, Canada

The Artist:

Frank Zappa

On By ResaIn Famous People, Music Stars111 Comments

I found Frank Zappa Today!

I adore the characterization.

The trees and ivy obscured the art and its message.

It says: Stupidity Has A Certain Charm

Ignorance Does Not

I had to take this from an angle. The angle was in the first lane of west bound traffic in the road. I waited until the light was red both ways , then made my moves. Most excitement I’ve had in 2 years!

As a Veggie, I chose this song, my fave vegetable song, ever!

Pics taken by Resa – June 28, 2021

Toronto, Canada

The Artist: unsigned.. I give it up for