UNRELEASED DEMO RECORDINGS BY JOHN LENNON AND YOKO ONO NET PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THE APP WILL GO TO BENEFIT THE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION WHYHUNGER AND ITS GLOBAL IMAGINE THERE’S NO HUNGER CA
UNRELEASED DEMO RECORDINGS BY JOHN LENNON AND YOKO ONO NET PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THE APP WILL GO TO BENEFIT THE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION WHYHUNGER AND ITS GLOBAL IMAGINE THERE’S NO HUNGER CAMPAIGN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HARD ROCK INTERNATIONAL AND YOKO ONO
(New York, NY) – November 14, 2013 – “John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes,” a new, groundbreaking interactive album app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, is now available exclusively on the App Store.
John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes tells the story of John Lennon’s life changing journey sailing through a mid-Atlantic storm to Bermuda in June 1980, the profound creative discovery during his time on the island and the artistic collaboration from abroad with wife Yoko Ono at home in New York as an interactive album app. The app commemorates the 33rd anniversary of Double Fantasy: A Heart Play. Integrating excerpts of Lennon’s demo tapes recorded in Bermuda with innovative game play and intimate documentary storytelling, John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes is a thrilling, unprecedented experience for music and technology fans alike.
“Writing Double Fantasy was a very exciting time creatively for both John and me,” said Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow and artistic collaborator. “I think the album app captures the sense of discovery and the artistic dialogue that John and I shared at that time and provides a new way to help us imagine a world without hunger.”
John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes pushes the boundaries of the emerging album app market. On the “play” side of the app fans are immersed in John’s Bermuda story. On June 6, 1980, John Lennon sailed from Newport, Rhode Island for the island of Bermuda. The journey began under calm seas, but thirty hours in Lennon and the small crew aboard the Megan Jaye were overwhelmed by a terrifying mid-Atlantic storm. As twenty-five foot waves and gale-force winds smashed their boat, the three-person crew fell violently sea-sick, followed by the captain succumbing to exhaustion, which ultimately left John Lennon alone to sail the Megan Jaye safely through the storm. Here users guide the Megan Jaye through the mid-Atlantic storm while John, Captain Hank Halsted, and Tyler Coneys narrate their dramatic story.
In Bermuda, app users can visit the Forty Thieves Disco where John first heard the B-52’s “Rock Lobster”— the song that convinced him that audiences were now ready for his musical collaboration with Yoko, and listen to original interviews with B-52 band members. And in its most compelling moment fans get to create beautiful, interactive illustrations of John and Yoko as they listen to their creative back and forth.
The second path of the album app is the “listen” side which contains intimate demo tapes of several Lennon songs written while in Bermuda including “Woman,” “Starting Over,” “I’m Losing You,” “(Just Like) Starting Over,” “Nobody Told Me,” “Dear Yoko” and an unreleased demo version of Lennon’s “Stepping Out.” John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes edits together early versions of each of these songs to give Lennon fans a remarkable, never-before-heard window into John’s songwriting process. Lennon sang each new song over the phone to Yoko Ono, his wife and artistic collaborator, who remained in New York. Ono was in turn inspired to write her own set of remarkable songs, “Kiss, Kiss, Kiss,” “Moving On,” “Hard Times are Over,” among them. Together this dialogue of life, love, and art become the couple’s final collaboration: Double Fantasy: A Heart Play. These demo tapes, including unreleased versions of Ono’s “Kiss, Kiss, Kiss” and “Hard Times are Over,” are complimented by visual materials provided by Yoko Ono, including John’s original hand-written lyric sheets and newly discovered photographs of John aboard the Megan Jaye.
Net proceeds from the sales of the app will go to support WhyHunger and its “Imagine There’s No Hunger” campaign. The program combats global childhood hunger and poverty through sustainable agriculture, with support from Yoko Ono, Hard Rock International and through the sale of Hard Rock’s limited-edition “Imagine There’s No Hunger” merchandise.
Users can explore the impact of their purchase within the app to see how the “Imagine There’s No Hunger” campaign, in partnership with Yoko Ono and Hard Rock International, has helped communities grow enough food to provide over 7.2 million meals to children in need in 22 different countries.
Fans can also support the cause through the purchase of Hard Rock’s limited-edition “Imagine There’s No Hunger” merchandise, including a bracelet, scarf and t-shirt, available exclusively at Rock Shops at Hard Rock Cafe, Hotels and Casino properties around the world and online at www.hardrock.com. One hundred percent of proceeds from the bracelet goes directly to WhyHunger’s grassroots partners and 15 percent of net revenue from the additional products will be donated to WhyHunger.
“John Lennon remains an inspiration to people throughout the world, for his music and his willingness to imagine our world in a different way,” said Bill Ayres, executive director and co-founder of WhyHunger. “We are thrilled to be a leader in this innovative approach to charitable giving that re-imagines John’s work and allows us to imagine a world free of hunger by investing in sustainable agriculture and securing the right to good food for all.”
John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes will conclude in Bermuda’s Botanical Gardens. It was here that Lennon came upon a fressia labeled Double Fantasy. “I just thought, ‘Double Fantasy, that’s a great title!” Lennon said in the fall of 1980.
In a nod to Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree, John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes will allow users to create their own “Double Fantasy” flower. After making a wish, using the iPad’s microphone, fans will plant a seed in the app’s virtual Botanical Garden. Each wish will then blossom into a beautiful, unique flower that can be saved to the photo library to be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram with #imaginenohunger, allowing users to imagine, along with John, Yoko, and WhyHunger, a world without hunger.
The album app is directed by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Michael Epstein (“LENNONNYC”) and veteran digital artist Mark Thompson. Produced by Andrew Banks. The app’s creative design and production is a collaboration between the interactive media studio Design I/O and the strategic design agency eyeball. The app is solely owned by WhyHunger.
The John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes App is available for $4.99 on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.AppStore.com/LennonApp.
Visit www.lennonbermudatapes.com for more details.
About WhyHunger
Founded in 1975 by the late Harry Chapin, WhyHunger is a leader in building the movement to end hunger and poverty by connecting people to nutritious, affordable food and by supporting grassroots solutions that inspire self-reliance and community empowerment. WhyHunger is a four star charity, recognized among the highest performing nonprofits for excellence in fiscal management, accountability and transparency from America’s leading independent charity evaluator, Charity Navigator. www.whyhunger.org
For media inquiries:
Aliza Rabinoff
DKC 212-981-5157
[email protected]
