Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Alec Baldwin and you are listening to Here's
the Thing from iHeart Radio. My guest today is a
Grammy nominated musician whose records have topped the charts in
the US, the UK, and Australia. He is also a
world class photographer whose work has been exhibited in the
US and abroad. He is also the son of one
(00:24):
of the most famous musicians of all time. Julian Lenin's
current photography work is on display in the recently published
book Life's Fragile Moments. In addition, Lenin is the Chief
Visionary Officer of the White Feather Foundation, which partners with
philanthropists and charities around the world to support various humanitarian projects.
(00:46):
Julian Lenin is kind, talented, and enormously generous, and despite
growing up in an unimaginably famous family, Lenin has made
a name for himself through his various creative and humanitarian endeavors.
It's a career that demands an impressive work ethic.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm pretty full on really when it comes to work,
and you know, if I have started something, I have
to finish it.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
It's just it's just this driving purpose that I have
inside to get things done, to two books like this, Yeah,
because it just makes me feel like I'm worthy of something,
you know, And initially that's really to prove it to
myself that I'm not just a lazy piece of shit,
but that I have worth. And so doing all these
(01:36):
things has been very, very even more important in my
position because you know, I really felt like, especially over
the last five ten years, that I needed to lay
a foundation down of all the things that I'm interested
in and all the work that I want to do
where nobody could deny the fact that I've actually am
(01:58):
capable of these projects, you know, from whether it's from
the White Feather Foundation, whether it's from Yes, whether it's
working on documentary projects, whether it's writing children's books, environmental
humanitarian stuff, whether it's you know. Now, photography has been
the main stay because I've just fallen in love with it.
(02:21):
And also that thing of being behind the camera, which
is I don't mind and I've said this before being
a bit of a goof in front on occasion, but
again I really get that anxiety being in.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Front of the camera. Did you say, goof yeah, goofball.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I wonder where that, if your personality comes from well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Oh yeah, no, certainly that was. He was a complete
nut job, you know. I mean I'm so jealous of
his days with Peter Sellers, you know, and obviously George
with the Monty Python crew, because I mean I grew
up on that stuff. You know, I absolutely adore and love.
You know, that is number one for me, that kind
(03:02):
of humor, that kind of twisted, slightly English, you know,
left of field approach, and they were goofballs beyond the luck.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah yeah, among the best, Yeah, for sure, for sure.
So I always say that's the difference.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
It's a pleasure to watch them in the old movies,
you know, just the quirks, the comments, the wit, you know,
the speed of that wit as well. From the old days.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Lester knew he just like I mean, Lester. I always
say that Lester was a genius. He just got out
of their way, just film to put a camera on
and do whatever the fuck they wanted to.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
But we don't like we'll throw out or we like.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That's the best thing you can do.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Now, I want to talk.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
About your mom, and I want to talk about her
because of course you're raised by your mom. Your dad
was off doing his thing, and your mom, who is
always seems like this really really like beautiful, stoic figure.
She was somebody who accepted how she was treated and
how she was dealt with and moved on to raise
(03:58):
you. You're only her only correct. She had one child and
she raised you correct.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, And what was that like for you in terms
of I don't want to say in a broad sense,
but what was that like for you in terms of
your life and the reverberance of this other valley over
there of something else as well.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
No, reverberance didn't really affect me at all. I mean,
that didn't exist in my life as a young kid.
It really didn't know, not at all. I mean when
Dad left when I was about three or four or whatever,
it was apparently I used to have nightmares about it
because obviously he was dad at that point in time.
But once, you know, other people filled that void.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
My first stepfather, who was Italian, was like an older
brother to me, another nutjob and someone who I looked
up to massively, and we continued that relationship until his
death about twenty years ago. But yeah, it was just
Mom and I, you know, and I think I am
the way I am truly because of her and because
(04:59):
well how she dealt with the situation she was left
in that she had no choice. You know, she could
have screamed and shouted about it, but she didn't. I
felt that she just had dignity and grace and moved
on with her life as best she could, and you know,
survived it pretty done well. And I carried that, and
(05:20):
I definitely feel I carried that. And without question, this
is one thing she said to me, and I certainly
took it to heart when I was a bit more
rough around the edges, which was that I was very
much like Mum in the week and Dad at the weekends.
So that the other way that was true to form
(05:43):
back in the day, no question about that. Not so
long ago, but long enough.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
You run.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Oh yeah, I had a few runs, and I had
runs in Europe. I had runs in New York, runs
in LA runs back in Europe. But now you know,
I actually likely and I like waking up feeling good.
I like working, I like all the projects that I do,
and I enjoy life, you know, and I do everything
(06:09):
now that I possibly can to maintain and live a
longer and better and healthier and happier life.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well, I say to people, I said, I realized that
drugs are like a toy, like when you're a kid.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
But eventually you got to put it down like other toys.
And I'm glad, I you know, for me, I just
had to put it down. Now.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
The thing that I'm think again about your mom is that,
I mean, nothing has seeped in more lore and bullshit
than your whole family and the whole situation.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
No, but I mean people making up shit. Oh yeah,
we have the fact.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
But I remember this story somebody tell me, were like,
they're all running to get on a train, You're left behind.
That was a metaphor for the whole thing. They're all
going where they're going, and I'm not going with them.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
That was real.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
That is real, absolutely real. She was left on the
stage train station. Oh yeah. And it was only after
the train gone that she was you know that they realized,
or site Brian realized, really because he kind of took
care of mom as best as he could, you know,
because obviously she was not supposed to be around either.
(07:10):
You know, back in those days, none of the boys
were supposed to be married or had girlfriends, you know,
kids or kids. Thank you very much out of here.
Yeah sure, so, yeah, she was left on this train.
There's actually a picture of her standing on that train
station on her own after the train left the station.
You want to talk about representation, Yeah, well that's it
(07:32):
right there.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
The thing I find interesting when you talk about it
or this is my take, so forgive me if i'm
and that is one of the things that was lost
in his life, your father, because of his success, because
of his preternatural no one lived that life before them,
and because of all that shit with your father, what
was robed from him was a chance to be something
I think he would have been pretty good at, which
(07:55):
was a dad.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Oh yeah, for sure. He began to be that with
Sean for years and during Sean's upbringing as well. And
that's why I love him so much. And because of
what I went through, I don't want to see him,
you know, go through the same kind of crap that
I did. And you know, he's certainly gone through what
I did, and if not worse, you know, having me
(08:15):
as another element to contend with. But he's made his
way through. He's a talented mofo. And yeah, I saw
him the last two nights and we rarely get to
see each other, but we just hang and we order
in and we just talk about life and where we're
at and how we're doing, and we're still here thankfully,
and that we love each other, and that's the most
important thing in the world, regardless of our positions or
(08:39):
where we ended up.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
When you were a child, you picked up musical instruments
to play them, at least within a thought of being
serious about it. You know, one thing to be three
years old, But another thing, when did it really start
to kick in for you?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
When you were How old your music? Well?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I well, the thing was, I think I started playing
a little bit in school about the age of eleven
or two of thirteen. And it was actually my best friend,
Justin Clayton, who's still my best friends from since we
were eleven years old and I still work with him
to this day. He co produced the last album Dude
with Me and co wrote a lot of stuff. It
(09:13):
was actually him that would go to these guitar lessons
to learn how to play rock and roll with the
guitar teacher who had one of those da haircuts. Sorry,
he was a gym teacher. He was a pe teacher
who had a da you know, ducks on grease back haircuts,
and whenever there were breaks, Justin would go and I'm going,
where are you going? What are you doing? And you know,
(09:35):
he'd be there with a few other friends learning puff
the Magic Dragon at first, but then Johnny be Good
and I started getting interested in that. I started playing that,
and then Dad heard about that, and so when I
actually went to visit him in New York when I
was about eleven, I think it was about that time.
You know, he would start teaching me a couple of
basic chords on guitar too. But I actually had an
(09:57):
interest in acting, I believe it. I know I was
going to get before that. Before yeah, before I got
a serious interest in music. Yeah, because I did a
fair amount of I did the year end plays that's
in school, and I had an offer for the Shakespeare Company.
They were scouting and I was picked out as one
(10:17):
of the potentials. But then I learned how to play
four chords and the girls got up and screamed at.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
You for you know.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah, so that was the end of it, you know,
But I guess I really got closer and closer to it.
Justin and I we got heavily you know, as kids
to teenagers, do you start listening to stuff that you love,
whether it's the Beatles or led Zeppelin or a CDC
or Peter Frampton or Keith Jarrett. You know, so steely Dan,
(10:47):
You know, I really fell in love with music in
that regard. And again after learning how to play a
couple of chords and starting to sing a little bit,
that's really where that kind of took off. And he
just in a nice I died writing songs about fifteen
sixteen seventeen.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Was the acting before that week? Yeah? The was before then?
Why didn't the acting last?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I mean I did enjoy it, and I always thought
I'd be an actor later on in life. Still do
still did well, I don't know about do because I
always loved the older actors like Albert Finney, you know,
that deep emotional dark side of acting.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Do you did it for that brief period then you
walked away because of music? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, I just fell head over heels for the music. Also,
one of one of the problems that I still endured
to this day is that I have a terrible memory.
So remembering lines was a big thing for me, and
even remembering lyrics and songs these days as a problem
for me.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
When you started to make your music, were you just
really conscious of just doing what you wanted to do
when you're what you felt, let the echoes fall where
they may, and you didn't really care exactly right?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Well, I mean I cared, you know. I was concerned
about the responses I was going to get. But it
was just a question of enjoying the moment and going
through it and plowing on. And that's what I did,
you know, And.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Did you have your George Martin, somebody who said with
you and saying do this, don't do this, this is better,
this is weaker.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I would have to say that a lot of the
earlier stuff was being pushed around a lot. I mean,
I you know, I went with the flow, but I
did follow the rules back then. I think it was
when I started not following the rules that I was.
I became a diva and the difficult one, and I
started getting dropped by management, dropped by record companies.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Because you wanted to do what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Now, I just didn't want to do that what they
wanted me to do anymore, and I just said no,
I'm not you know, I feel for the kids these days,
because I mean, if we thought we had a lot
to do on the promotional front back in the day,
there's you know, one hundred gazillion times more things to
be done these days. You know, where you can't even breathe, you.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Want Johnny Carson when you were twenty one years old?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that was fabulous.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
I mean, Jesus Christ, how much more pressure can you have?
Twenty one?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
But I know it was all a bit of fun
back there, you know, I mean, no, yes, anxiety, but
it was you know, I was with the band. I
always considered that I was with the band because that's
where I felt comfortable. It's like a lot of the
TV shows that I ended up doing throughout Europe and
America too, that they'd always want to put me on
(13:25):
this podium or platform way in front of the band
and the band behind me. I'm going, no, no, no, no,
no no. You're lining me up with the band so
I can react with the other players that I'm singing
and playing with. I want that, I need that. I
don't feel like this solo artist that should be just
standalone way up in the front there. Although there were
(13:46):
occasions that I had no control over. But for the
most part, I would always try to have the band
be inclusive of whatever scenario I was going through, because
that was the camaraderie. That's where I felt a little
safe for part of a part of and where the
boys joke around. You know. It was a familiarity to
what I'd seen, you know, in the Beatles films and
(14:09):
all of that stuff, where you know, it was this
the lads having a bit of fun, you know. But
don't get me being solo, you know, on your own
in front of all that, with the rest of that
kept away from you. There were a few occasions like
that that with the management. I just I can't be
like that.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Julian Lennon and the Hurricanes.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I know, I had to be in it, you know,
in it with the boys.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Musician, photographer, and philanthropist Julian Lennon. If you enjoy conversations
with the most creative minds in music, check out my
episode with radio Heads Tom York.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
There's always really exciting music being made. It's never not
being made. It's a question of whether you're going to
get to hear it or not. I mean, I kind
of knew the game was up a few years ago
when one of our sort of team of people came
in saying, Nokia wants to offer you, did it are
millions of pounds because they want content for their phones?
(15:11):
And this is like in two thousand, I don't know,
early two thousands, and you're like content, what you know? Content?
What do you mean music?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yes to hear more of my conversation with Tom Yorke,
go to Here's the Thing dot Org. After the break,
Julian Lennon shares his thoughts on the music industry today
and what he enjoys listening to in his downtime. I'm
(15:43):
Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. Julian
Lenin has released seven albums of his own music since
nineteen eighty four. He's an artist with a rich and
diverse background of life experiences to draw inspiration from. I
was curious about Lennon's thoughts on current music and what
the son of a beatle and enjoys listening to in
(16:05):
his free time.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
There's a few new artists that I love out there
that are fusion and jazz orientated. There's a band called
Snarky Puppy. I don't know if you know those down
Snarky Puppy. They can be between up to at least
twenty people in the band, and they're all soloists in
their own right. They have their own albums and they
do their own tours independently, but they also work as trios,
(16:31):
quartets and as this kind of eighteen twenty piece group,
and they come together several times a year to do
an album or two and they tour all together as well.
A friend of mine who actually played on this album.
Two of the founding members of Snarky Puppy, Michael leegh
is an incredible multi instrumentalist bass player, and Bill Lawrence,
(16:54):
who did some piano with me. And we've written a
few things that will come out down the road. But
there's a couple of radiotions I listened to in particular
that play independent stream interesting. Yeah that while I'm while
I'm editing photos, I'm doing stuff like that, or just
working in general, I'll have that music on in the background,
(17:16):
and every time I catch something I like, I'll you know,
shizam it and put it in.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
A standing on chairs and restaurants.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
But I'll just be able to you know then and there,
put my phone up and go and I'll have a
Shazam playlist, which is about two or three hundred songs
now that I'll just rotate in between listening to one
or two of those radio stations.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
In my mind in the way that we experience music,
all the music that goes into your brain in your youth,
and the things that helped to shape you in terms
of your emotional fragility. Like I run out the door
and I see to myself. I got to make as
much money as I can. My father had no money, right,
Having no money destroyed my father. He died when he
(18:02):
was fifty five years old. He had cancer, rabid form
of cancer. And I look at my dad and I
go my father working as hard as he did, not
having any money as were killed him.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
He had six kids, no money, his school teacher, and
I said, I can't. I mean, I remember like walking
around LA when I was first. Don't end up like dad.
Don't end up like that. Don't end up like dad.
I started working when I was twelve, So as you
get older, I can only listen to that music to
soothe me.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yes, that's my music.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, it's a safety in it.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah, it's a part of me. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Well, you know, I agree. I fell in love with
that kind of all the variations of that kind of
music back in the day, and they and half of
the stuff that I still listened to was certainly at
a relatively relevant point in my life, different moments in
my life that I went through where I was growing
(18:54):
up that I can go, you know very much, or
a reminder of a time and a place which I
don't today's music necessarily does, and the same manner at all.
You know, there's certainly a level of emotion that's disappeared
and depth of quality.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
No, but I mean you're like, you sit there and
you go father Mackenzie wiping the dirt from his hands
as he walks from the grave.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
No one was saved. You sit there and go, who
the fuck's going to write that? Now?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Maybe Tom York, Maybe Tom New York.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
He did our show.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, I know he did. I listened to the show
that's why. Yeah, that's what made me want to come
on that and I went, yeah, that was a great show.
So actually one of the first times I've actually heard
him speak and be comfortable and natural on the show.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
We've been people in here. We just really love them.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Now since you're twenty one years old, officer, even before
you're surfing in between. In terms of music, you have
a music career and you start making films. You made films,
directed and produced.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Well, no, what happened was now, and this was much
later in life. It was over twenty five years ago,
that's for sure. But I had a song called salt Wa,
which was an environmental and humanitarian song that pretty much
was top ten, top five worldwide except for America, where
I had a really shitty record company that did no
(20:12):
promotion whatsoever. But I was number one in Australia. So
I went over there and I was touring, doing promo
tour and playing live at the same time, and I
was this was the birth of the White Feather Foundation
as well. We were number one in Australia. I was
hosting all kinds of shows. Saltwater was playing all over
the place. I was invited by the hotel down to
(20:35):
the lobby who said, you know, we've got an indigenous
drive down here that want to talk to you. And
I said, You've got to be kidding, right, You know,
on the road you get these pranks people have played.
So I'm thinking, yeah, sure, sure, going to be hanging
out in the lobby, but they were and with several
news crews, and so I went downstairs. Elevator door opened,
(20:59):
and I don't know thirty forty fifty, I couldn't tell
how many people, you know, It was a bit fuzzy
on the outside of the vision, and there was this
little platform and I stepped up and Indigenous people there,
and this woman who is the elder called Iris sadly
passed a year or two ago from quite possibly the
(21:19):
oldest Indigenous you know, group of people survives in the world,
you know. And she walks up to me in the
middle of the semicircle, hands me this male swan's white
feather and says, you know, can you help us? You
have a voice, can you help us? And I'm like, oh,
(21:41):
you know, do I just continue to be a rock
and roller or do I kind of step up to
the plate. I mean, you know, the song, which is
number one, is about humanitarian and environmental issues. But he's
clincher on this one. And I've told this many times before,
but every time it still affects me too that Dad
had told me that at some point in my life.
(22:03):
And I cannot tell you when or where, but it happened,
and I thought it was peculiar at the time because
I thought this is a weird thing to say to me.
But he said, if something happens to me, the way
that I'll let you know that I'm going to be
okay or that everything's going to be okay will be
in the form of a white feather. So when they elder,
(22:26):
this woman from the oldest indigenous tribe on the planet
hands me a white feather, you know, the goose. I
get goosebumps every time I'm going I'm sorry. Whatever you
believe in, this is undeniable, absolutely undeniable spiritual connection. And
so I went, okay, right, that's it, step up, get
(22:49):
on with it. So I spent ten years with the
director Kim Kindersley as a dear friend of mine, making
a documentary about them, called Whale Dreamers. Not only about
the Moaning Tribe, eighty other tribes, indigenous tribes around the
world who were suffering the same fate, the same plight
as the indigenous in Australia and being thrown off their
(23:10):
land for nuclear testing da da dada onto warring tribes
lands and ongoing you know, the lands had been stolen
from them. We're still fighting with them now to get
their land back, you know, and we're winning at the moment,
So knock on wood, that continues again. We weren't supported,
we didn't have backers. It was just a little independent film.
(23:33):
We won eight International Independent Film Awards, so we did
quite well. But with the advent of the Internet, I
decided to put a website together so I could sell
the film because I said that, you know, if this
film makes any money in any way, shape or form,
I wanted to go back to the Morning people, the
Mirning tribe m I R N I.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
N G mourning, Mourning, urning.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
But the only way I was told that that point
in time to be able to do that was to
start a foundation. So henceforth, the White Feather Foundation was
born purely as a vehicle to get money from the
sales of the film to the Morning Tribe. Then, over
the course of time, I'd start getting these emails going, well,
(24:19):
can you help us? And can you help us? And
I'm going, well, listen, I'm not really a foundation as such,
you know. But then I thought, you know, I am
in a position to try and help. So I started
looking at things that personally I would like to help
with that affected me obviously, indigenous cultures around the world.
That was number one on the list, with you know,
(24:42):
buying back their land and preserving their land and their
culture and their heritage.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
And then you.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Know, there are many many organizations out there that deal
with clean water, but that's still a necessity. So we
still you know, and I guess you could say how
we are. We're a small group. There's only a few
people in fact, me, you know, to do others. But
we live on donations by the public. So it's public
that really help us help them, you know. And I
(25:12):
guess our position, or at least what I've felt about it,
is that we're trying to catch the ones who fall
between the cracks of the big organizations that can't take
care of everybody. So it's the little people and the
little problems that happen here, there and everywhere that we
try and save and help.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
So apart from.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
That, the other elements are health and education for girls.
And I started a scholarship in my mother's name after
she passed because I felt it was a wait to
honor her, you know. So it's the Cynthia Lennon scholarship
for girls.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, so I'm proud of that. We've helped a lot
of girls go through the college and university to come
back again and protect their families and their towns and
their people, yeah, their cultures. So I'm very proud of that.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Have you done many benefit by performances.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
We did one gala once. It was in Monaco, actually,
but the stress and the cost of putting it on
was more than it was worth at the end of
the day, to be honest with you, and walked away
exactly exactly. So that's my preference. It's just you know,
I'll keep shaking hands and trying to get some donations
brought in, but the whole gala thing, I mean, I
(26:28):
myself became a little sick and tired of going to
those kind of things. You know. What happens in my
circumstance is that with everything that I do, whatever hat
I'm wearing, a good proportion of what I earn goes
to the White Feather Foundation. Whether it's from the books,
whether it's from music, whether it's from the documentaries or
(26:49):
you name it.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Now, you lived in places in the United States for
periods of time, Yeah, New York and La, I would imagine,
and you were different for years.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
I was in New York in the late eighties and
I thought I might die here because the party scene
back then in the late eighties was quite serious, robust.
Oh yeah, the Limelight Arena and you know, and everybody
was out, I mean everybody was on the town every night,
you know. And then I went out to LA and
(27:19):
a friend of mine picked me up in an old
convertible and drove me along Mulholland and I went, ah,
this is nice. And then of course, you know, most
bars close up, you know, the last orders at one
thirty two o'clock, and you think you're safe. No, you're
not safe, because that's when everybody goes back to everybody
(27:39):
houses and it's worse than New York and so you know, a.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Chef that makes dinner everything right there.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Oh yeah, yeah, No, it was very I mean I
did enjoy it. I had one of the best times
of my life in LA because I became part of
a brat pack biker crew, you know, with Harley's and
you know the likes of me and Billie Idol, and
every sun day, regardless of our condition, we'd be off
bike riding down the Angelus Crest and oh yeah, but
(28:07):
it was a fabulous time, an enjoyable time back in
the day. I had a good probably five six years there,
and then the seventh and eighth year I became a
little numb, and that's that's when I ended up back
in Europe. I actually went back to see a film,
the film premiere of Backbeat, which is about the Beatles
(28:30):
early days in Hamburg, and I met a friend of
a friend who was a line producer, and he said
to me, you've ever been to Monico before? And I
said no, And he said do you like the Grand Prix?
Do you like Grand Prix? I said, I don't really
care one way or the other. He said, well, what
are you doing this weekend? I said, well, going back
to La to be numb. Why he said, well, listen,
(28:52):
you know I've got a spare room apartment down in Monaco.
I know everybody'd been living there for years. Why don't
you come down. I'll take care of you. Daddy, Daddy da.
So we go down and I find myself on the
very famous Rascass Corner, which is where they come shooting
down after the tunnel coming at you at about one
hundred and eighty miles an hour while you're eating a
(29:14):
shrimp cocktail and all you've got is chicken wire fencing
between you and the car, and I'm going, this is great,
you know. So I spent the summer there and again
it was one of those moments. I had one of
the best times of my life. And I just I
had a little bungalow up on Mulholland and Cold Water,
and I had a caretaker, and I just said, pack
(29:35):
up the house, I'm not coming back. And I just
lived in what I call a Miami vice apartment in Monaco,
which was just this bare room that was kind of white,
marble mirrors, yeah, yeah, yeah, with a little TV on
a chest, a trunk, a couch from the floor, in habitat,
(29:56):
a mattress on the floor. And I lived like that
for a couple of years until I figured out what
I was doing. Again, and you're still there, I'm actually well,
the thing was, I didn't become a resident at that point,
so I do now. I became a resident. Yeah, and
I work with Prince Albert and his foundation with White
(30:16):
Feather as well. We've were looking at a few projects.
So but yeah, I find it. I just it's a listener.
It's a beautiful location. Italy's twenty minutes away, you know,
and I love Italy because of my Italian stepfather, Roberto Bassanini.
And you know, France is beautiful too, Spain's just down
the road for me. Location, location, location, It's just And
(30:39):
I'm a biker now still, So whether it's in a convertible,
little mini or Catholic, is that so?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah? You come back?
Speaker 2 (30:49):
So yeah, when I have time, I get on the
bike and I go and that countryside throughout Europe is
just jaw dropping and I, you know, forever in love
with that.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Julian Lennon.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
If you're enjoying this conversation, tell a friend and be
sure to follow Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app,
Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back.
The Story of the Real Life Princess on the cover
of Julian Lennon's new photography book, Life's Fragile Moments. I'm
(31:35):
Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. Over
the past two decades, Julian Lennon has amassed and impressive
portfolio of work behind the camera, looking through his recent
book of photography. I was so moved by the images
he captured. I was curious about when he first began
pursuing photography and what inspired him to start taking it
(31:57):
seriously as an art form.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
When I actually came to see Dad when I was
about eleven again and maybe even earlier than that, he
had this camera called the Polaroid ssex seventy lamp camera,
the ones that flipped up, folded, and I love those.
I was just fascinated, more so because of the instant
gratification of having the pictures come alive right in front
(32:22):
of you like it is now. Yeah. So I tried
being a real photographer with film, but I made mistakes
all the time and screwed the film bah blah blah.
So I kind of gave it a rest until digital
photography really came into play. And then when it did,
I vowed to myself. I said, well, well I would
(32:45):
like to do and I'm self taught all the way
down the line music, photography, whatever, documentaries, you know, children's books.
You know, I just want to do the best that
I can do, and so I challenged myself to try
to make the digital photography as good as film photography.
And what happened was I did an exhibition in Amsterdam
(33:06):
ten years ago maybe where it was all brit pop
kind of thing. Couple of photographers and musicians doing this exhibition,
and I was cornered by this elderly American photography critic.
And I'm quite shy and quite reserved most of the time,
and I can be quite shut off, and she had
(33:28):
me in the corner I couldn't get out and yes, okay,
and I was trying to be as polite as possible.
And then at the very end of it, she said,
so tell me do you shoot with film or is
it digital? I went, you tell me and that was it.
That's when I went, all right, I'm doing a good job.
And I think I'm doing a good job from and
(33:48):
that's when I just went, yeah, all right. But how
a lot of this came about was when I went
on journeys on behalf of the White Feather Foundation to
Ethiopia with a charity, Water, Scott Harrison Charity Water, who
were an incredible organization. I think they provided more fresh
water to people worldwide than any other. He invited me
(34:10):
to go along to Ethiopia and I it was my
first trip to Africa, and it was mind blowing, and
so I thought, you know, take my camera, you know,
just purely as the point of cataloging and making note
of the moments and times I was going through, not
(34:31):
as a professional photographer by any means. That same trip,
I'd gone to Kenya to schools and health clinics and
a few other things like that. That's where a lot
of the White Feather stuff was born, out of visiting
these places trying to help these plans. That's very importantiation, right, yeah, yeah, no,
absolutely absolutely. So anyway, I started taking a lot of
(34:52):
pictures of all of that stuff, and then when I
had a few moments back home, I put him on
a big screen and I'd start looking at stuff and go, well,
this is really quite beautiful or quite poignant, or quite
you know, deep and dark, and you know, maybe people
should see some of this stuff, you know, or even
the happiest stuff, or just the landscapes.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
And so I started just editing that kind of stuff
and putting it all together into these little collections, and
so that's how that kind of began. But on the
other side, there's another side to it too, which is
when I used to go on the road and do
world tours and all that, you know, back in the
day on TWA and the big old Boeing seven for seven,
(35:35):
so you know, you used to we're talking forty years ago. Whenever,
you know, they'd have a projector of one film if
you were lucky, and then you have a bite to
eat and go to sleep on these long hauls flights,
and I could never go to sleep, so I'd always
be staring out the window. And I just became fascinated
with clouds. I mean, the first my first exhibition was
(35:58):
initially just going to be because I fell in love
with them. I fell in love with the shape, the color,
their form, sunsets, sunrise, and it became a moment where
I'd look out the window and I'd go I'd either
think of nothing at all, just empty my mind and
just be in the moment, or I think about everything,
and I just noticed that the clouds only lasted a moment,
(36:22):
or the light or the shape only lasted a moment.
So it was all fleeting, really fleeting, And so I
started relating that to my life and what was going
on and everything else. And so that's what became important
about photography for me is just trying to catch those
moments that are not set up, that are not lit properly,
that are not you know, and there you go.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I love these pictures, thank you. And I'm a photography freak.
I love books of photographs, but a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
O well, I certainly take that very kindly, sir. That's
Charlene Whitstock, who became Princess Charlene of Monarica. I was
ten minutes before she was getting married. There's a whole
story behind that.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Tell me, okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
So mutual friend calls me up the day before the
wedding and goes, listen, Charlie likes your photographs. I'd met
her once or twice and she just liked what I did,
she said, He said, she wants you to come and
shoot just before the you know, behind the scenes, before
she gets married tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
I'll go.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Really not my kind of thing. Really, I didn't really
know what I was in for. So I say, okay,
all right, I'll do it. I'll break through the fear.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Go.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So there's about three or four security checkpoints to get in.
That was a nightmare to start with. Then finally get
to the hotel where she is. She's got all her
friends dancing around like lunatics.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Backpack.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
I arrive at the hotel before I see them, and
I'm in the lobby just there with my little backpack.
And then walks you know, Patrick to my Shelly a
with the hotel trolley's with equipment after equipment. I'm going,
I'm screwed. How am I going to even anyway?
Speaker 3 (38:10):
So I go in.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I'm the only one allowed in the inner sanctum, which
is great. So I'm in a room probably about the
sides of the studio. She's in front of the mirror.
You got the hairdresser, the hairdresser's assistance, the assistant's assistants,
the makeup, twenty people in a tiny little room and
she's just looking forward, numb, staring into the mirror and
she's going, jewels. I don't know if I can do this.
(38:32):
And I'm going, what are you talking about? And she said, no,
I can't do these photographs. So I don't think. I
said I'm here. I said, listen, I'm really. This is
a this is historic, this is a You're going to
become a princess for me too. This is a magical
moment to capture I said, listen, I don't know what
I'm going to get, not a bloody clue. But at
(38:54):
least i'll be a fly on the wall. I'll be
out of everybody's way. We've only got eight minutes left, literally,
and so I shoot as much as I can. I
don't even know what I'm getting not getting. You know nothing,
I don't have a clue. I get a message from
Vogue dot com. They want a picture from de Machellier,
they want a picture from me to go online. Immediately
(39:15):
after she's where did? And so I go back to
my place, put all the pictures up on a screen,
and I look at them and I go.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
I've got nothing. I've got nothing.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
This looks like crap.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
It looks like shit.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
The one thing Vogue said, we want to see her smiling.
I had two pictures with her smiling. One of them
was the one you pointed out. But the one thing
that she said to me before the shooting was that,
by the way, whatever you do, do not have a
picture of me with a cigarette or alcohol in my hand.
(39:53):
I'm going and I find that one picture that you
pointed out, and I'm going, oh, here we go.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
I'm screwed.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Now I'm not a photo show kind of guy, but
I managed to remove the cigarette, and I'm looking at
the picture, going, well, how am I going to deal
with the with the champagne? And I think, okay. With
every collection I do, it has its own version of
a desaturation. So it's never black and white. As you know,
people say that's black and white. No it's not. It's
a level of desaturation and jews and I work and tones.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
You can see the gold.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
So first I convert the picture to black desaturated too,
a close to black and white, and then I crop
it a little differently, and I look at it and
I go, oh, my god, Princess Grace. You know, the thirties, forties,
fifties black and white, classic high contrast, edited in such
a way like you know, like a Time magazine or
(40:44):
Life magazine, you know, photo shoot. And so I began
to crop all of the pictures like that, and that
was my saving grace. It changed everything. And now that
i'm they're probably some of my most faith pictures of
anybody that I've shot. And the fact that she let
me have the cover of her, with that last glimpse
(41:07):
of her looking at herself before the wedding on the
front of the of the book, you know, forever thankful
for that. One of the really important things that happened
to me in my relationship with photography and the images
was that I would I would have people write to me,
which I really didn't consider or think about earlier at all.
(41:28):
Was that you'd have people that couldn't financially afford to
travel the world or go anywhere, couldn't or were disabled
and couldn't travel the world or go anywhere. And what
they had all said to me is that you bring
these stories to us, You bring the truth, You bring
life to us of cultures that we would never necessarily
(41:48):
know anything about. You do it in such a way,
without an agenda, without just laying it on, just putting
it in front and showing you what is, what exists.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Take people to the world that they can't see.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
And I tried to do that in music as well.
I tried to do the same thing, but photography really
does allow me to do that. I have empathy for
people on the other side of the world that you'll
never ever meet, but you'll at least have some understanding
of what their life is and what they went through
or are still going.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Through my thanks to musician, photographer, and philanthropist Julian Lennon.
You can learn more about his humanitarian work at Whitefeatherfoundation
dot com. His photography book Life's Fragile Moments is now
available for purchase, and his most recent album, Jude, is
(42:43):
streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon and YouTube. This
episode was recorded at CDM Studios in New York City.
Were produced by Kathleen Russo, Zach MacNeice, and Victoria de Martin.
Our engineer is Frank Imperial. Our social media manager is
Danielle Gingrich. Here's the Thing, as brought to you by
(43:05):
iHeart Radio