I Met The Walrus
Some of you may have already seen this but I hadn't until today and I'm really blown away by it. Here is the deal, in 1969 a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. Could you imagine pulling something like that off as a 14 year old? If John Lennon had been alive when I was 14 and I had actually met him, I'm pretty positive I would have sounded like an absolute moron. I imagine it would have been quite an accomplishment for me to have been able to speak at all. That wasn't the case for Jerry Levitan though. One of the things that strikes me most about this interview is how composed and articulate Jerry comes across. Maybe it was what I assume would have been a peaceful presence from John Lennon that made Jerry come across as so comfortable during the interview. Maybe I just get too starstruck but come on, this is John Lennon we're talking about.
Anyway, here we are 38 years later. Mr. Levitan decided to produce a short film about his encounter using the original interview recording as the soundtrack. The film is directed by Josh Raskin who has combined the work of James Braithwaite and the digital illustrations of Alex Kurina. The result is really touching when you think of some 14 year old kid sneaking his way into John Lennon's Toronto hotel room and John taking the time to talk to him. The interview is an amazing document of the ideals of one of the world's most incredible musicians and what is a timeless message. It sounds cliché but it sure does feel like we could use John Lennon right now. Obviously his thoughts and spirit will have to do and luckily we have this to remind us of those things.
