December 5, 2025 • 56 mins
What does it mean to carry the legacy of a music icon while forging your own path? Join host Buzz Knight on this week’s episode of takin' a walk as he engages in an inspiring conversation that happened about a year ago with Julian Lennon, the son of the legendary John Lennon. Julian opens up about his latest photography book, Life's Fragile Moments, which not only showcases his artistic journey but also highlights his unwavering commitment to environmental conservation through the White Feather Foundation.
As a musician and artist in his own right, Julian Lennon reflects on the challenges he faced while editing his photography, revealing the emotional weight of releasing this significant work alongside a major exhibition in Venice. This episode dives deep into the interconnectedness of art, music, and photography, emphasizing Julian's belief that creativity knows no boundaries. Through his experiences, he shares valuable insights into the importance of not being pigeonholed in any artistic medium, making this a must-listen for anyone interested in the music history podcast landscape.
Buzz Knight skillfully navigates the conversation to explore Julian's diverse interests and his creative process, shedding light on how he balances multiple artistic endeavors. The discussion takes a candid turn as Julian opens up about his struggles with anxiety and depression, illustrating how walking serves as a therapeutic outlet for his mental well-being. This Julian Lennon interview episode is not just about art; it’s a testament to music and resilience, making it a poignant addition to the Buzz Knight podcast series.
Listeners will find themselves captivated by Julian Lennon and his inspiring music stories, as he shares behind-the-scenes insights into his life and the Global Music Scene. The episode is rich with musician storytelling that resonates with anyone who has ever felt the weight of expectation or the desire to carve their own niche in the world of creativity. Whether you're a fan of indie music journeys or simply curious about the interviews with musicians that shape our cultural landscape, this episode of takin' a walk promises to deliver.
Join us as we explore the inside stories of music and the profound impact and inspiration of art on our lives. Tune in to hear Julian's thoughts on the songwriting stories that have influenced him and the music history insights that come from living in the shadow of a legend while creating a legacy of his own. Don’t miss out on this enriching episode filled with profound reflections and the spirit of creativity!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
A lot of artists and a lot of people get
pigeonholed all the time, and I've always hated that concept
of pigeonholding. I don't understand it. I don't see the
logic behind it, you know. For me, art his art,
photography is photography. Music is music. It doesn't matter what
genre or where it comes from.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast, where Buzz Night
explores the lives and legacies of artists of all kinds,
and today is no exception as Buzz is joined by
Julian Lennon, whose life has been shaped by his legacy,
his personal exploration, and his advocacy. Julian's carved a path
in the music and philanthropic world which continues to leave
(00:46):
an indelible mark in both worlds. He emerged as an
artist at an early age, working not only in music,
but in the world of photography as well. He continues
to push the boundaries of his creative and artistic side
while continuing to focus on his commitment to environmental conservation
through the White Feather Foundation, which he founded in two
(01:06):
thousand and seven. Julian has carved a path which is
fascinating and he joins Buzznight on this episode of Taking
a Walk.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Right now, Julian, congratulations on your new photography book, Life's
Fragile Moments. I'm so grateful that you're on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Can you tell me how excited you are to get
this out for the world to enjoy it?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Very very excited, And you know, it's it's been many
years in the making. In fact, you know, I had
hoped to have done in a book sooner, but you know,
certain things happen at certain times for certain reasons, and
I think certainly this was an opportune time, and the publisher,
(01:55):
to Noise, you know, came to me earlier this year
approached me to do a book, and you know, they said,
what do you think, what would you consider? You know,
what do you how do you want to approach this?
And I said, well, listen, the reality is is that
the majority of the people out there don't even know
(02:17):
I'm a photographer, a find out photographer. So for me,
the best way forward that I can see is that
the book is a retrospective of sorts, or should I say,
an overview of the better work from all the collections
that I've done over the years to give people an
(02:37):
indication of what I get up to when I'm behind
the camera. It was a very very difficult project to
work on with very little time. And I'll explain why.
Is that we had I had the opportunity to do
the book, and I also have an opportunity to do
the biggest exhibition of ever done and a museum exhibition
(03:02):
in Venice over the past couple of months alongside the
b and rl aids. So I had the opportunity of
doing both of these sins so, but they were separate projects,
but I wanted to bring them together so that the
book would release at the same time as the exhibition
was going to come about, et cetera, et cetera. That's
(03:25):
why when I agree to this, that the that it
became a really tough cookie to work on on a
number of levels because in order to get the book finished, edited,
published in time for the opening of the exhibition, we
(03:47):
had to work on it yesterday. All I can say
is I was very thankful for the publishers and the
and the art director Yan because he was a lovely guy. Now,
I can't imagine trying to work in a virtual world
or like this, because the publishing company was based in
(04:10):
Berlin and I'm elsewhere, so we had to work through
mediums like this, and so editing down hundreds, if not
thousands of images for this book was very, very painful,
and the reason being was the fact that a lot
(04:33):
of my earlier collections especially were anywhere between thirty and
fifty photographs, and those were from thousands edited down from thousands.
So being told that we need to take fifty images
and make them five images to represent that collection was
(04:55):
a daunting, daunting prospect. But the editing process, although very
very scary at the beginning, became a real learning tool
in how to really focus, how to really express the
(05:15):
important stuff and the important images from such a vast choice,
and so going through all the different collections, it was
certainly tough at the beginning, but as time went on
and we only had a few weeks to do this,
and this was literally nine hours a day based the
(05:38):
face with my artistic director Jan going through the files
and folders, barely enough time for the bathroom or a
cup of fee dare I say, and never mind food.
But at the end of the day, an incredible learning
process and I think, I mean, I'm beyond happy. I
(06:00):
mean I was almost almost tearful when when I first
this is the first one that came off the pretz
and was in my suitcase. It's a little damage, but
I still kiss it every once in a while, like
the Belani stone, you know, for good luck, because I
can't believe, you know, that I've finally done it. You know,
(06:22):
I wasn't sure it would ever happen. So to have
the biggest exhibition, museum exhibition I've ever done and the
book out at the same time is so so special.
And you know, again it's been available since the exhibition
over in Europe, but you know, just going to become
(06:45):
available in the US early December. So I'm you know,
I mean, I'm very very excited for people to see
this stuff. You know. You know, it's a lot of blood,
sweat and tears, believe it or not, over the years
in trying to do the best job I can what
I do, and you know, to take on another medium
(07:06):
like photography, you know, there are always a lot of naysayers,
but again I think you just bury your head in
the work, get on with the creativity, get on with
the focus of what you want the end result to be.
And I couldn't be happier. And I think the title
represents the book and its contents remarkably well. It was
(07:31):
not my title, although it is a lyric title from
a song of mine called Disconnected, But Life's Fragile Moments
really did represent all of the elements that we see
in the book, all of the different collections, the flow,
the feel of the book, the over the overview, and
(07:51):
the overall feel of it. So I think I think
it's worked really well. And you know, so far so good.
I was so far so good.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Well, you know it's going to make a great Christmas gift,
certainly for.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You say so. If you say so, I didn't say that.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I definitely say that. And for me it's going to
make a great one to give to my wife, who
happens to be a photographer and is an amazing fan
of your work.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Oh, thank you kindly. That's lovely to hear. That's lovely
to hear. Funnily enough, I'm always surprised to hear that.
It's a weird thing, you know. I've always related that
to music obviously in the past, that people like what
you do, but then hearing it about your photography is
(08:46):
I mean it's the most pleasant thing I could ever hear.
Believe you me. But again, I've worked hard at this
and I think there's some good stuff in there, you
know that. I'm very proud, very proud.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I want to come back to photography, but I do
want to talk about you being throughout your career sort
of a master of multiple you know, wonderful pieces of work,
whether it be your film, whether it be music, whether
it be the children's book aspect of things. Did you
(09:22):
get this diverse set of interests early.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
On in life? You know, I've always been interested. I've
been always been a bit scatter brains as well. I
mean they call it adhd these days or whatever. Add
I'm all over the place all the time. But yeah,
I've always found you know, if I if I can't
(09:47):
find a way forward with one thing, or I need
a temporary break from it to breathe, that I can't
just sit around on a beach twiddle in my thumbs.
I have to find something else to do. You know.
Photography became a major player in that and that in
that way. Yeah, it's it's whenever I found myself at
(10:10):
a loose end or I need a diversion, diversionary tactic
just so I can come back to things. And I
think the same thing with also it works with, you know,
writing books, and the same thing works with putting collections
together or even editing documentary films. It's that same kind
(10:34):
of thing. And I've always enjoyed doing multiple things. I
think I lose my mind if I just stayed the
one course. And you know, the fact of the matter is,
even though I took you know, very large breaks in
between a number of albums in the past to actually
(10:55):
live and breathe again, you know, I did over thirty
years of my life doing music, and I thought, you know,
to have an opportunity to work on another medium that
interests me that I can still be creative with. And
also the reality being for the first time ever I
could be behind the lens was something that I really
(11:19):
really enjoyed because I you know, I can do the
in front of the camera stuff, but it's not my
favorite thing to do. It really isn't, and I'm much
much happier behind the behind the camera lens and behind
the scenes. You know, I don't mind coming out and
saying lifting the rock up and waving every once in
(11:41):
a while, but that's personally as far as my level
of happiness in life or contentment, that's that's where I
prefer to be. So I'm still working, I'm still doing
all of these jobs, wearing all of these hats, but
just in a different way than I did for and
more focused on the work and the creativity rather than
(12:06):
what's expected from the outside. You know.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So you kind of were reading my mind from my
next question, a perfect day for you in terms of happiness,
It sounds like just being incredibly busy and working on
multiple things is a perfect day. Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Pretty much?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
So?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, on the creative front, yeah, I do find and
I have to say this, and you know, I have
an incredible manager, Rebecca, who I work with these days.
It's more of a partnership. You know, we discuss everything beforehand.
But more often than not, you know, you can tend
to have to deal with a lot of admin with
(12:50):
many many art forms. I'm not one also to just
say no, you're go and take care of that, you know,
as a manager or otherwise. Yeah, I have to be
part of the process all the way down the line. Unfortunately,
the admin can bog you down sometimes. I mean there's
been days before Rebecca came along, where I was micromanaging myself.
(13:15):
I'd literally wake up in the morning and there'd be
one hundred emails at my desk, and as I'm working
through that, you know, I'd finish the first thirty and
you know, want to go and get a cup of tea,
a cup of coffee, and by the time I come back,
there's another thirty to fifty emails. And it was this,
It became this endless, insane cycle of where's the creativity,
(13:41):
you know, where's the main focus of what this is
all about. For me, that's been crucial for me to
keep an eye on that and an eye on the
balance of keeping that where it should be, keeping the
ad still doing it, but keeping it at bay because
(14:03):
it's been so admin orientated over the last few years
with exhibitions and books and there. I mean, the creative
elements of that have been exciting but exhausting too. But
I really want to look to the future, especially you know,
beginning with next year really and think about what I
(14:25):
want to create and where I want to go and
what I want to do, you know, get back to
that again, because without that element of it, there's nothing,
you know, and to me, that's everything the creative aspect
and the great thing and the fortunate thing I guess
that I can throw at you at this point in
regards to all of this stuff is that. And I'm
(14:48):
very fortunate in this regard is that most of the
projects that have come along again do no matter what medium,
have all been organic, you know, and all all felt
right at the right time. I've only ever followed through
and what on what my gut tells me these days
(15:08):
and what my heart tells me, you know, too many
times I've been let astray and taking them up down
the wrong road, and I just it's it's it's it's
not worth it. It's really not worth it to be unhappy
at the end of the day or or or have
too many regrets, you know. And I, you know, I
feel privileged being an artist as such in all these mediums,
(15:35):
and and again fortunate that I'm able to do so
many things, and that in it in of itself is inspiring.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
So creative blocks. I'm sure when you hit a creative block,
you probably could go get a cup of tea, go
get a cup of coffee, whatever. But since this podcast
is called taking a walk, do you take a block.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
To That's what I do. That's exactly what I do. Yeah,
I've also you know, I dealt with my fair amount
of depression in my time too, and I still deal
with a fair amount of anxiety on occasion where I
do biil ultimately overwhelmed by you know, I almost almost
(16:19):
have that sense of agoraphobia where I can't really leave
the house. I don't feel like I can leave the house.
And the one thing I know I should do when
I feel like that is leave that house. So even
if that's to go and get you know, some milk
or some bread, or get a newspaper or But you know,
(16:40):
I also I was never really one. I was never
a gym guy. I never liked the you know, no thanks,
you know, I think, to be honest, if you're active
in your life anyway, if you move a lot anyway,
that's enough for me. You know, I live and carry
(17:01):
heavy stuff around all the time. But the walking aspect
of it has absolutely become a priority for me. You know,
A lot of that can be weather dependent, especially you know,
if there's not a good spell of weather for a
week or two, you can get a bit down on
yourself for that but again the monk, I feel that anxiety.
(17:28):
Come on, I go, I've got to get out, I've
got to walk. And whether that's in the mountains, you know,
I normally I would have to take like a ten
minute drive just to get to a location that is
beautiful to walk, So that would be up in the
mountains or down by the sea, walking along some peninsula,
(17:48):
and also without question taking the camera along with me,
you know, because you know, you just never never know
when you're going to be inspired one way or the other.
So yeah, at minim three times a week for a
good a good while, you know, and generally a power walk.
But I'm always inspired when I do that, and I
(18:09):
always I'm able to breathe and feel free and alive
and in the moment again to be able to go
back in and go right where we at, you know,
and get stuck in again.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
I love the teachings of the late Vietnamese monk Ik
not Hahn, who is so wonderful, and he talks about
it in terms of you know, savoring the moment, really,
and I think taking that walk allows you to savor
a moment as well, don't you think.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I think it's probably the only time in the day,
bar actually waking up and before you go to bed,
and your mind, you know, reels you know about life
on your day. I think the walking element is really
where you are present, completely present. And again for me,
(19:08):
I have to I would have to say it's not
dissimilar to how I started and when I started taking photographs,
which is back in the old days with long haul flights,
you know, to America and back in Asia, you know,
and the and the old days, you know, you only
had one movie on a projector on the middle of
(19:29):
the plane. Once that was ober, you're done. We didn't
have anything to gains and things to play with. We
didn't have, you know, fifty other films to watch or
do it. Most people would go to sleep, but I
could never for the sleep on the plane, and I
would always stare out the window at the clouds, whether
(19:50):
that was you know, at night or you know, the
sunsets or sunrises, and I'd always be you know, I
started taking photographs of the clouds because I thought, these
are fleeting moments, These last for a second, they will
never be the same again. It's just like our lives.
(20:11):
So it taught me to be present in the moment
and appreciate what was going on at any different point
in time. But it also allowed I think and that
the same for me is true of walking, is that
it's a moment where you can do one of two things.
You can either empty your mind, blow all the cobwebs out,
(20:33):
not think about anything, breathe it all in and just
look at the scenery around you and appreciate it. Or
it gives you an opportunity away from everything else to
clearly think about what you're doing, what you know, your
pros and your cons in life, How are you moving
you know, how are you moving forward? Et cetera, et cetera,
(20:55):
et cetera. So and I think you can achieve both.
You know, you can actually go in with a headful
of questions and at the end of it come away,
you know, with a balance and being able to breathe
without that stress. I think it without questions a major
stress reliever, you know. And I throw a lot of
(21:16):
stress on my shoulders, I really do, because I want
the work that I'm doing to be the best and
it can be. So I'm always, you know, on myself,
so that walking, those walking moments are very very special,
have become all of the most important thing of my
day really because it allows me to do everything else.
(21:39):
So I want to.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Talk musical influences if I can, And obviously the Beatles
are a major influence in your life. Do you have
particular albums or periods of the Beatles or songs that
are you know, most important to you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
In general? No, not as such. I mean there's there's
there's a few artists. I mean, yeah, occasionally I'll catch
Beatle stuff, you know, on the radio, I mean, because
they're still playing it all the bloody time. But you know,
I have a few key artists that I love, and
(22:19):
I've mentioned these guys many times. You know, it's you know,
it's like Keith Jarrett, the Clone Concert, Steely Dan pick
An album on. It's like you know that that I
will always go back to and listen to, you know,
if if, if they come to mind. But in general,
I have to say that on a listening front, especially
(22:44):
when I'm working here in front of the computer and
more often than not editing collections and photographs and bring
things together, I'll have I'll have the radio on, and
I do have a particular face. I don't know whether
I should mention it or not, but you know you
can edit it out, but absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I won't.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Well, I'm a particular fan and have been for ten
years plus now since I've learned of the station. It's
called the CACRW Eclectic twenty four, and I always have
it on in the background because it always has independent,
new up and coming artists, but generally artists that are
(23:31):
really creative, really melodic, really unique, and stuff you just
don't get to hear on regular radio these days. You know,
you're either still dealing with the same kind of top twenty,
top forty scenario, or you're not hearing any other new,
interesting music unless it's a particular station for seventies rock
(23:53):
and roll you know, or you know you name it.
So at least that station gives me a wide variety
of new artists that comes through that. It's generally how
I learn of new musicians, new singers, and new artists
that I become a fan of. And you know, once
I hear that, use the apt to figure out who
(24:17):
it is, you know, and then I'll go and find
their album and I'll put that on a play. And
one of those guys that once you find a good album,
that are it will be on repeat for the next
three months until I really I've had enough, you know.
But I'll still always be a fan. But yeah, you know,
(24:39):
I've got a couple of key favorites like that.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
I think you're the only person I've ever spoken to
who can say they're a range of music that they
like Spanskeith Jarrett to a C.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
D C. Well why not listen? Why? You know, as
you can imagine, I think that a lot of artists
and a lot of people get pigeonholed all the time.
And I've always hated that concept of pigeonholing. I don't
understand it. I don't see the logic behind it. You know.
(25:15):
For me, artist art, photography is photography. Music is music.
It doesn't matter what genre or where it comes from.
If if it gets you feeling at all, whether that's energized,
or whether that's emotional, or whether that's deep thinking or
(25:38):
I think everything should be available to you. That's that's
why again that I wear many hats. I don't. I
don't want to be in a box. Who says you
have to be in a box? No, thank you. You know,
if you've got the will and the mind to go
for it, then you should go for it. And certainly
that's what I've done, you know, And that's why I
(26:01):
love every kind of genre of music. But you know,
there's not much I don't like, you know, I just happened.
I take a lot of kids in their early teens,
especially from my era, certainly loved, you know, some serious
rock and roll, whether it's you know, a heavy metal
to a degree as well, but you know, the Ozzy Osbourne.
(26:24):
The list goes on. But ac DC were the first
band that I ever saw live at the age of sixteen,
and that was when Bond Scott was singing back in
the day and Angus was on his shoulders. That was
a memorable time, you know, and hey they're still going
(26:45):
strong today. It just shows you that, you know, the
good stuff sticks around, you know. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
I first met you in nineteen eighty four when Volot
came out and.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
To another lifetime.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
It was a lifetime for me as well. But I
was so just impressed with you on how in control
of the situation you were with all the you know,
pressure you had to be your own person, and yeah,
obviously then coming into the limelight, how did you make
(27:23):
it look so easy.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I don't know about that. Well. Number one, I think
it was so shy for the most part that I
kept pretty quiet and pretty much to myself. I think,
and I've mentioned this a number of times before, that
you know, I had to look to the only person
(27:46):
who really I respect and loved throughout my life, which
was my mother Cynthia, you know, and I watched her
go through what she had to go through in the
public eye with grace and such poise and elegance. She
just showed me that no matter what they throw at you,
(28:09):
just keep on keeping on and be strong and believe
that you're worth it. Yeah. I know that sounds like
a hair commercial these days, but I think you understand
what I mean. It's just, yeah, yeah, what other way
out is there? You know? You you either deal with
(28:31):
things gracefully and move forward, or it becomes a negative
and it becomes distractive and it becomes and then why
are you there in the first place. So, you know,
it was just a question of learn as you go along,
try and hold it, hold it all together, and just
do it the best job you can. And that's all
I've ever tried to do, really, you know, I think
(28:54):
a lot of the problems in retrospect that happened, you know,
was the industry itself. That's why I got out of
it so many times. Because sure, the creativity, the work,
the recording and the live performance were all joys. But
again the admin, the people behind the scenes, and what
(29:17):
was what they were trying to get out of you,
that was another story altogether, you know. And I have
to say that, you know, there were few and far
between good people in the industry, and that's just being
absolutely honest, you know. You know, there's always a good few,
you know, but the hard to find someone who was
(29:38):
true to themselves and to everybody else.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
Well, you had a couple of people, though, who were
your core background, if you will, your core foundation back then.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
One is your your lifelong friend Justin right, Justin Layton,
and then also for that work in eighty four, Phil Ramone.
Can you talk about both of them? I mean, obviously
you still work and collaborate with Justin, but talk about
what those two lads meant to you then and mean
(30:26):
to you now.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Well, I mean Justin and I met when we were
eleven years old, so we go way back. I mean
literally touch every other day because you know, just briefly,
the last album, Jude was made up of songs from
thirty years ago and relatively new songs, and we've been
(30:49):
working for five years trying to make those older songs
sound new.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
By the way, Julian, I think, yeah, I think I
think that that album deserves more recognition by the public.
I think it's fantastic, thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I just don't think enough people have got to hear it.
And again, I you know, I don't want to say
that's the label's fault, but I did everything I could
to get it out there, that's for sure. But yeah,
Justin and I are still working. We still have boxes
of old tracks that we're well. I mean, I said
I'd never do another album last time, but I think
(31:28):
really this last album, Jude, was the last. But that
doesn't mean I'm stopping by any means. I mean, I'm
planning to release like a three to five song EP
of stuff that we're working on right now that I
would say is more in tune with a little more Indie,
a little more Pretenders meets XTC. So I'm looking to
(31:53):
have a little bit of fun the tracks that they
are already, so we're just it's just about finishing and
cleaning them up a bit. But Justin and I, you know,
I take all friends and family members go through their
ups and downs, and I'm not going to say it
was always roses with everybody, I mean anybody and everybody
(32:15):
in life. That happens. But we're still hanging in there
forty years later, for fifty years later. Oh don't even
get me counting. So and I'm happy for that, you know,
I'm happy that we're still you know, he really is
my oldest friend and I trust him musically. He's a
great producer, is a great engineer, a great say, a
(32:37):
great writer and performer.
Speaker 6 (32:40):
Phil.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Of course, it meant the world to me when you know,
Atlantic back in the day asked me, you know who
I'd love to produce the first album, and I said
Film Ramone due to Billy Joel's Nylon Curtain album, which
there was some beatlesque elements to that, but there was
a quality in his writing and the production that I
(33:03):
just fell in love with. And then I just remember
receiving a phone call from Phil Ramone, you know about
working together which I was shocked. You know, I was
still a naive young kid at that point in time. Again,
we've all had our demons in the past, and Phil
certainly had a fair amount of those. Two One of
(33:26):
the things that saddens me the most was the fact that,
you know, his dear wife Karen had lupus. And I
became the US ambassador for the Loopers Foundation of America
because my dear friend Lucy, who was the Lucy in
the Sky with Diamonds, died of lupus. And at the
(33:50):
last event that I was at for the Loopers Foundation
of America in New York, I didn't know Phil's wife
Karen had loopas and she was there, and he was there,
and it had been the first time I had seen
him in years. I'd run in term before and the
relationship was a bit old. But we saw each other
(34:10):
at the at this at this Garla event in New York,
and it was like falling in love again because we
got on so well, and we'd missed each other so
much that we talked about, you know, getting back in
the studio together. I was longing for that. And then,
of course it wasn't long after that that he sadly passed,
(34:34):
which was a real, real shocker to me because I
felt like it was a book that was never finished.
The pages had closed on us too soon, which was
a real shame because I felt we had more to
do together.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
You know, I want to talk about the White Feather Foundation,
and you're great, sure work there, and so would first
would you tell the amazing story about the weight Feather,
about what your dad said to you, and then how
you came upon the weight feather ultimately.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, yeah, I'll tell that in reverse order. But yeah.
So I was in Australia. I had a number one
song at the time called Saltwater, which is an environmental song,
which did very well around the world except America, but
that's another story. Anyway. I was in Adelaide. We were
(35:34):
on a promotel but playing live shows too, and I
was approached in the hotel by an indigenous group called
the Morning People, and they wanted to see me down
in the lobby. I thought, what's this about. I thought
it was a joker. At first, I thought it was
(35:54):
a prank. The management said, no, no, mister Lenna, there's
an Aboriginal group down here with some TV crews and
a number of people and they really would like to
see you. And I said, all right, well, I don't
know what this is about, but I'll go down and
I the elevator opens and there's this one step up
(36:17):
onto this sort of platform, and all these people and
are going, oh, what is this about? And the elder
who is this woman called Iris, she was the elder
of the tribe. She walks up to me and it's
on camera, it's on film, and she presents me with
(36:37):
a white feather. It's a male swan's white feather. It's
about fifteen inches long, something like that. And she said
to me, you know, can you help us? You have
a voice, or you have a voice, can you help us?
And it was that point in time that I thought, well,
or do I continue being a rock and roller or
(36:58):
do I step up to the plate. The real thing
about this, and the real reason I got I did
step up to the playton that I got goose bumps
at this moment in time was the fact that Dad
had said to me. And I couldn't tell you where
or when or what time it was. It just wasn't
one of those things. But it was clear as day
(37:21):
that he said to me listen, if something happens to
me to let you know that I'm going to be okay,
or that we're all going to be okay. It's going
to be It'll be in the form of a white feather.
And so when I received that white feather, to me,
that was undeniable truth, undeniable connection with the spiritual world.
(37:46):
I'm not a religious guy, but spiritual yes. So from that,
you know, I went away and thought about the situation,
and I learned about the plight of that particular indigenous tribe,
and then the indigenous tribes all across the globe, I
mean like eighty different tribes, and a major documentary about
(38:06):
them called Whale Dreamers. It took ten years. We weren't supported,
and we didn't have sponsors, but we weren't about eight
International Independent Film Awards, and I thought, you know, if
this film does any good or make some money, you know,
I want the money to go back to the indigenous
(38:28):
tribe so that they can keep hold of their culture
and buy back their lands that they've been kicked off of,
et cetera, et cetera. And the only way I could
do that back in those days was to actually do
it through a Foundation. Hence the White Feather Foundation was born.
(38:50):
So the moment the Internet came about, you know, I
set up a web page to sell the film and
you know, on video tape and the vds. Eventually, and
all of a sudden, you know, I'd start getting these
emails saying, well, can you help us? And can you
help us? And I'm going, oh, hold on, I said, listen,
(39:13):
you know, I'm not really a foundation. This is a
vehicle for the film if the film makes money to
help the indigenous. But then after so many I've started thinking, well,
you know again, I've got a platform here. I should
I should use it to help those who have no voice, basically,
and so I decided that the Whiteside the Foundation should
(39:37):
be something. It should be more than just that. And
that's when I decided to follow through on subjects that
affected me the most. Number one was indigenous causes around
the world. Number two clean water. I don't care how
many charities there are claiming to do or doing clean water.
(39:59):
Everybody deserve to have clean water. So we help where
we can. We work with NGOs around the world doing
whatever we can, all based on donations by the public,
by the way, so it's thanks to my fans and
people out there that see what we're doing, who donate
fifty cents a dollar, every penny makes a difference. The
(40:23):
other things have been health, clinics and schools. So health
and education is another one of our causes. I mean,
I always tend to believe that we are. We're not
a big foundation. We never went that route. I never
wanted to do that. But what they do feel that
(40:46):
we do is that a lot of causes, a lot
of people get lost between the cracks. What the White
Feather Foundation tries to do is catch those pauses and
again help those people without a voice. Again, thanks to
our audience that we get things done. When Mum passed away,
(41:10):
I decided to do a scholarship in her name, the
Cynthia Lena Scholarship for Girls, where we put young girls
from Africa and around the world in fact, but predominantly
in Africa through a college and university. Many of them
that I spoke to want to go back to their
(41:31):
little towns and protect be lawyers, to help protect their
families and their friends from the villages that they came from.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
So it's a nice circle that how that operates. But yeah,
so it's always been a very important thing. And the
only other thing I'll say about it is that whatever
hat I'm wearing, if I'm making any money, then a
proportion of whatever I make, whether it's the book sales,
whether it's the documentary, whether it's the music or the
(42:03):
children's books, proportion of the money that I make certainly
goes to the White Feather Foundation to keep it ticking along.
Certain pay everybody that works there, you know, you know,
but that's that's that's how we that's how we roll.
And again thanks for the donations, because without people we
(42:23):
you know, we wouldn't exist. Bravo, bravo.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
So you mentioned though spirituality back there, and I produce
this other podcast. It's called Music Save Me. It's about
the healing power of music.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Bro.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
You personally believe music has healing powers.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah, that without question, without question. I can't be precise
in how it does that, but certainly with certain sounds,
moods tones, uh elevations, arrangements, styles, you can certainly be
lifted out of the doldrums. You can certainly become more
(43:11):
introspective and be able to work on yourself through that
mode as well. Yeah, I mean music It's not my
go to on a personal level, but certainly there'll be
moments where I just decide that I want to sit
down and I'll say, you know, I'll just open the
(43:32):
windows and open the doors and play a bit of music,
and that again will well allow me what I will
now call a cloud moment, which is where you find
those moments of peace and think about nothing or you
think about everything you know. And I think just having
that connection alone allows you to move forward and be
(43:57):
motivated and make some important decisions in life. So yeah,
it definitely music affects your rhythm, your soul, your heart,
your mind absolutely without question.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Can you take me back to your first experiences with
a camera?
Speaker 2 (44:17):
The first I recall, well, it's a bit difficult to say,
but because I just remember as a kid that pretty
much every family on the planet, whether they had a
real camera or whether they had one of those throwaway
cameras that used to buy at the pharmacy or the airport,
(44:37):
you know, and you take it back the next day
and they print it out for you. You know those
you know, those those were take for taking a snap
of a moment in time, They weren't, you know, you
weren't focusing, you weren't dealing with any of the technical
aspects of it. Yeah, I remember used to that I
used to have one of those, or Mum used to have,
(44:59):
or we we shared the camera. I think the first
time a camera became relevant a tool was probably visiting
Dad in I think it was in New York. I
know that there were cameras around, and I know that
also when he had his lost weekend with May May
(45:21):
Pang that you know, she was a photographer, so so
there were cameras around. But I think the one thing,
and it's swunny I was talking about this before, the
one thing that excited me the most was the camera
that Dad had called the Polaroid SX seventy land camera,
which is the one I have here. The reason I
(45:43):
was intrigued about this because I was fascinated by its
look and it's feel and how it unfolded and from
a flat block became this really quite unique camera. And
I loved the fact that you didn't have to do
any developing and you see, so I I fell in
(46:05):
love with this cament and played around with it. A
lot of many many filed away pictures, a lot of
black and white high contrasts, but color stuff too. But
and then I kind of that kind of fell to
the wayside, and I was far more involved in music
again Da da da da da. But I think when
the true interest in photography came back for me. Although
(46:28):
I did try working with film and camera, but I
was a bit bumby on that front. And although I
have great patience for some things, I have little for others.
So fiddling around with film and keep trying to get
that right, oh no, and blowing, you know, and losing
the pictures and the express So when digital came along,
(46:50):
digital cameras, I went, there you go, there we go that.
That's that's for me. That's when I fell in love
with the taking pictures again and the fact that it
was that instant gratification of knowing that you'd got something
pretty much straight away. And then my job, my challenge
(47:12):
to myself was how do I make digital pictures look
like their film? That was something that I worked on
for a number of years in trying to finesse digital
photography to look like real film. How the realization of
what I was doing was the right thing came along
was I was part of a writ Hoop exhibition in
(47:37):
Amsterdam of a number of British photographers, and I was
cornered by this fine art critic from America, this older lady,
and she'd cornered me from some time, and that I
couldn't get out of the conversation. I was a bit
shy anyway. At the end of it, she said to me, so,
(47:58):
you know, tell me do you work with film or digital?
And I went, you tell me. I realized at that
point in time that I'd done it, you know, that
I'd risen to that challenge. And so from that point on,
I just tried to do better and better and better
and better. Each every time I'm doing photography work from
(48:22):
now on is trying to finesse it that much more,
that much more relatable, that much more focused. And again,
doing the photography book and the exhibition really was a
learning curve on how to be more focused and more
precious about the work that you're delivering. How can you
(48:43):
tell the same story of fifty images in five images?
You know that kind of thing. It really helped me
hone my craft more than before, having done the book
and the exhibition. So that was with a win win
for me, that all that hard work there was a
(49:03):
I learned a lot from that.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Do you have a go to camera for those quick
walks that you can, you know, just sort of have
with you Just.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Hate to say it. I hate to say it. You know,
even well known photographers that I know that love their
cameras admit that sometimes you just take a shot on
your phone and the quality these days is almost, not
(49:34):
quite but almost as equal to a good camera. You know,
you don't quite have the lens quality, or quite the
depth of field, and many few other things, but certainly
you can nab some pretty down good shots on your phone.
And obviously the ease of just having it in your pocket,
(49:59):
it just makes for a lot easier, I'm afraid to say,
you know. I mean, they're so far ahead now that
people are doing movies on their phones. You know, it's crazy,
but leaps and bounds. Certainly things have come along leaps
and bounds. But I still have a couple of go
to cameras that I and I've said this before. You know, well,
(50:20):
what's your favorite camera. Well, listen, it's not really the
camera at the end of the day. It's not the hardware.
It's what you see and what you get out of
what you're trying to relate emotively and what the story
is and the message. So the camera doesn't really matter
at the end of the day. But certain cameras do
certain things a little better than other cameras, but at
(50:43):
the moment. And I've always been a fan of likers,
you know, because there are classic cameras. I've done exhibitions
around the world with these guys. I think I'm not
to with Venice, I'm not to exhibition forty two in
the last clean years or whatever. So I've been working
(51:04):
my favorite check it in my bag camera is, I
have to say, as the like a Q three at
the moment, which you can use on auto or manual,
so it gives you the best of both worlds. And
you know the quality the work. The quality is beautiful,
you know, the pictures are gorgeous.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
Who are some photographers you admire.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
That's a difficult one because a lot of names I
don't I don't remember. I know that sounds terrible, but
if I was to give you one, just one guy
that has been a mainstay for me, obviously, there's in
Timothy White because he got me into this mess in
(51:47):
the first place. Although you know his his photography is
more celebrity orientated and more fashion and celebrity and film orientated.
He's still a tremendous, tremendous photographer. But you know, my
kind of cup of tea there, I say, would be
the likes of Elliott Owit, Ansel Adams, you know, the classics.
(52:11):
I mean, there's some other great, great stuff out there.
But you know, whenever I'm asked who's what's your favorite?
Who's your favorite? My mind goes blank. It's one of
those what can I say it, it's you know, useless
and bloody useless.
Speaker 3 (52:28):
I don't think so. So I know your pals with
the boys and you two and they had that run
at that place in Las Vegas called the Sphere.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
Yeah, yeah, I was there.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
You were there. So what's your impression of that experience.
It's a bit of a weird.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
Run, I have to say, because your attention is certainly
drawn to the visuals because you're seeing little people that
look like ants running around on this little stage down
but you're taken in by the actual visuals of the experience.
On one hand, I'm not sure what to make of it,
(53:10):
and I'm not sure that is it worth having a
live band there because I think the reality is you're
you're you're obviously you're listening to the experience, but it's
more of a visual experience too, from at least my
perspective and my you know, I just wanted to see
this wrap around three D or you know, this almost
(53:33):
three sixty degree a screen, you know, where you're being
drawn into this otherworldly experience. And yeah, it was nice
having the band there, but I don't want to say
they were insignificant, because that would be totally and wholly incorrect.
But it was for me predominantly a visual draw at
(53:57):
the end of the day than a lie band draw.
You know, you could, for me, you could have just
played the music from their albums and put the visuals
on and it would have been no disrespect, but it
would have been just as exciting in many respects. Not
that there weren't a few moments, certainly with the live situation,
(54:20):
but again I think it was This is very early
days with this kind of setup and this technology, and
I think it will only get better and improve even
more as they home down what it actually means to
do a show like that. There. I know that they're
building smaller versions of the sphere, which may be more
(54:42):
helpful for the band, so that there's still that relative
relationship between the live music and the audience. And you know,
the expanse of some of the visuals, but with the
spere it's kind of ott. You know, it's arizing, and
I just think the live band scenario gets a little lost,
(55:06):
but still still a bit jaw dropping, you know. But
I you know, with with the with the band, like
you two, they've always been at the forefront of unique
stage presentation. So in many respects, I expected nothing less,
you know, like, what did you think? I said, Well,
I expected nothing less. That's what I expected. Yeah, yeah,
(55:30):
I was blown away, but you know it was Yeah,
I kind of expected it, which is a weird thing
to say, but that's how I feeled.
Speaker 1 (55:38):
You know.
Speaker 3 (55:39):
Well, congratulations on life's fragile moments, which is going to
make a great I would say stocking.
Speaker 4 (55:46):
Stuffer, but it's a little bit big maybe, but it
could be a stocking stuffer.
Speaker 3 (55:52):
It'll look nicely under under the tree.
Speaker 5 (55:55):
And congratulations on it.
Speaker 3 (55:59):
And I have to just tell you.
Speaker 4 (56:02):
When I think of how grateful I am doing this podcast,
this is one of those moments where I'm doubly grateful
for doing this podcast for an opportunity to speak with.
Speaker 1 (56:14):
You, Julian.
Speaker 5 (56:14):
I appreciate everything about you and that you continue to
give us. I'm so grateful and thank you for being
on the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
Thank you Bus. It's been my absolute pleasure and I
hope to see you sooner than later. Maybe on a
walk one day.
Speaker 3 (56:35):
I'd love it.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
A lot of artists and a lot of people get
pigeonholed all the time, and I've always hated that concept
of pigeonholding. I don't understand it. I don't see the
logic behind it, you know. For me, art his art,
photography is photography. Music is music. It doesn't matter what
genre or where it comes from.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast, where Buzz Night
explores the lives and legacies of artists of all kinds,
and today is no exception as Buzz is joined by
Julian Lennon, whose life has been shaped by his legacy,
his personal exploration, and his advocacy. Julian's carved a path
in the music and philanthropic world which continues to leave
(00:46):
an indelible mark in both worlds. He emerged as an
artist at an early age, working not only in music,
but in the world of photography as well. He continues
to push the boundaries of his creative and artistic side
while continuing to focus on his commitment to environmental conservation
through the White Feather Foundation, which he founded in two
(01:06):
thousand and seven. Julian has carved a path which is
fascinating and he joins Buzznight on this episode of Taking
a Walk.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Right now, Julian, congratulations on your new photography book, Life's
Fragile Moments. I'm so grateful that you're on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Can you tell me how excited you are to get
this out for the world to enjoy it?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Very very excited, And you know, it's it's been many
years in the making. In fact, you know, I had
hoped to have done in a book sooner, but you know,
certain things happen at certain times for certain reasons, and
I think certainly this was an opportune time, and the publisher,
(01:55):
to Noise, you know, came to me earlier this year
approached me to do a book, and you know, they said,
what do you think, what would you consider? You know,
what do you how do you want to approach this?
And I said, well, listen, the reality is is that
the majority of the people out there don't even know
(02:17):
I'm a photographer, a find out photographer. So for me,
the best way forward that I can see is that
the book is a retrospective of sorts, or should I say,
an overview of the better work from all the collections
that I've done over the years to give people an
(02:37):
indication of what I get up to when I'm behind
the camera. It was a very very difficult project to
work on with very little time. And I'll explain why.
Is that we had I had the opportunity to do
the book, and I also have an opportunity to do
the biggest exhibition of ever done and a museum exhibition
(03:02):
in Venice over the past couple of months alongside the
b and rl aids. So I had the opportunity of
doing both of these sins so, but they were separate projects,
but I wanted to bring them together so that the
book would release at the same time as the exhibition
was going to come about, et cetera, et cetera. That's
(03:25):
why when I agree to this, that the that it
became a really tough cookie to work on on a
number of levels because in order to get the book finished, edited,
published in time for the opening of the exhibition, we
(03:47):
had to work on it yesterday. All I can say
is I was very thankful for the publishers and the
and the art director Yan because he was a lovely guy. Now,
I can't imagine trying to work in a virtual world
or like this, because the publishing company was based in
(04:10):
Berlin and I'm elsewhere, so we had to work through
mediums like this, and so editing down hundreds, if not
thousands of images for this book was very, very painful,
and the reason being was the fact that a lot
(04:33):
of my earlier collections especially were anywhere between thirty and
fifty photographs, and those were from thousands edited down from thousands.
So being told that we need to take fifty images
and make them five images to represent that collection was
(04:55):
a daunting, daunting prospect. But the editing process, although very
very scary at the beginning, became a real learning tool
in how to really focus, how to really express the
(05:15):
important stuff and the important images from such a vast choice,
and so going through all the different collections, it was
certainly tough at the beginning, but as time went on
and we only had a few weeks to do this,
and this was literally nine hours a day based the
(05:38):
face with my artistic director Jan going through the files
and folders, barely enough time for the bathroom or a
cup of fee dare I say, and never mind food.
But at the end of the day, an incredible learning
process and I think, I mean, I'm beyond happy. I
(06:00):
mean I was almost almost tearful when when I first
this is the first one that came off the pretz
and was in my suitcase. It's a little damage, but
I still kiss it every once in a while, like
the Belani stone, you know, for good luck, because I
can't believe, you know, that I've finally done it. You know,
(06:22):
I wasn't sure it would ever happen. So to have
the biggest exhibition, museum exhibition I've ever done and the
book out at the same time is so so special.
And you know, again it's been available since the exhibition
over in Europe, but you know, just going to become
(06:45):
available in the US early December. So I'm you know,
I mean, I'm very very excited for people to see
this stuff. You know. You know, it's a lot of blood,
sweat and tears, believe it or not, over the years
in trying to do the best job I can what
I do, and you know, to take on another medium
(07:06):
like photography, you know, there are always a lot of naysayers,
but again I think you just bury your head in
the work, get on with the creativity, get on with
the focus of what you want the end result to be.
And I couldn't be happier. And I think the title
represents the book and its contents remarkably well. It was
(07:31):
not my title, although it is a lyric title from
a song of mine called Disconnected, But Life's Fragile Moments
really did represent all of the elements that we see
in the book, all of the different collections, the flow,
the feel of the book, the over the overview, and
(07:51):
the overall feel of it. So I think I think
it's worked really well. And you know, so far so good.
I was so far so good.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Well, you know it's going to make a great Christmas gift,
certainly for.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You say so. If you say so, I didn't say that.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I definitely say that. And for me it's going to
make a great one to give to my wife, who
happens to be a photographer and is an amazing fan
of your work.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Oh, thank you kindly. That's lovely to hear. That's lovely
to hear. Funnily enough, I'm always surprised to hear that.
It's a weird thing, you know. I've always related that
to music obviously in the past, that people like what
you do, but then hearing it about your photography is
(08:46):
I mean it's the most pleasant thing I could ever hear.
Believe you me. But again, I've worked hard at this
and I think there's some good stuff in there, you
know that. I'm very proud, very proud.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I want to come back to photography, but I do
want to talk about you being throughout your career sort
of a master of multiple you know, wonderful pieces of work,
whether it be your film, whether it be music, whether
it be the children's book aspect of things. Did you
(09:22):
get this diverse set of interests early.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
On in life? You know, I've always been interested. I've
been always been a bit scatter brains as well. I
mean they call it adhd these days or whatever. Add
I'm all over the place all the time. But yeah,
I've always found you know, if I if I can't
(09:47):
find a way forward with one thing, or I need
a temporary break from it to breathe, that I can't
just sit around on a beach twiddle in my thumbs.
I have to find something else to do. You know.
Photography became a major player in that and that in
that way. Yeah, it's it's whenever I found myself at
(10:10):
a loose end or I need a diversion, diversionary tactic
just so I can come back to things. And I
think the same thing with also it works with, you know,
writing books, and the same thing works with putting collections
together or even editing documentary films. It's that same kind
(10:34):
of thing. And I've always enjoyed doing multiple things. I
think I lose my mind if I just stayed the
one course. And you know, the fact of the matter is,
even though I took you know, very large breaks in
between a number of albums in the past to actually
(10:55):
live and breathe again, you know, I did over thirty
years of my life doing music, and I thought, you know,
to have an opportunity to work on another medium that
interests me that I can still be creative with. And
also the reality being for the first time ever I
could be behind the lens was something that I really
(11:19):
really enjoyed because I you know, I can do the
in front of the camera stuff, but it's not my
favorite thing to do. It really isn't, and I'm much
much happier behind the behind the camera lens and behind
the scenes. You know, I don't mind coming out and
saying lifting the rock up and waving every once in
(11:41):
a while, but that's personally as far as my level
of happiness in life or contentment, that's that's where I
prefer to be. So I'm still working, I'm still doing
all of these jobs, wearing all of these hats, but
just in a different way than I did for and
more focused on the work and the creativity rather than
(12:06):
what's expected from the outside. You know.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So you kind of were reading my mind from my
next question, a perfect day for you in terms of happiness,
It sounds like just being incredibly busy and working on
multiple things is a perfect day. Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Pretty much?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
So?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, on the creative front, yeah, I do find and
I have to say this, and you know, I have
an incredible manager, Rebecca, who I work with these days.
It's more of a partnership. You know, we discuss everything beforehand.
But more often than not, you know, you can tend
to have to deal with a lot of admin with
(12:50):
many many art forms. I'm not one also to just
say no, you're go and take care of that, you know,
as a manager or otherwise. Yeah, I have to be
part of the process all the way down the line. Unfortunately,
the admin can bog you down sometimes. I mean there's
been days before Rebecca came along, where I was micromanaging myself.
(13:15):
I'd literally wake up in the morning and there'd be
one hundred emails at my desk, and as I'm working
through that, you know, I'd finish the first thirty and
you know, want to go and get a cup of tea,
a cup of coffee, and by the time I come back,
there's another thirty to fifty emails. And it was this,
It became this endless, insane cycle of where's the creativity,
(13:41):
you know, where's the main focus of what this is
all about. For me, that's been crucial for me to
keep an eye on that and an eye on the
balance of keeping that where it should be, keeping the
ad still doing it, but keeping it at bay because
(14:03):
it's been so admin orientated over the last few years
with exhibitions and books and there. I mean, the creative
elements of that have been exciting but exhausting too. But
I really want to look to the future, especially you know,
beginning with next year really and think about what I
(14:25):
want to create and where I want to go and
what I want to do, you know, get back to
that again, because without that element of it, there's nothing,
you know, and to me, that's everything the creative aspect
and the great thing and the fortunate thing I guess
that I can throw at you at this point in
regards to all of this stuff is that. And I'm
(14:48):
very fortunate in this regard is that most of the
projects that have come along again do no matter what medium,
have all been organic, you know, and all all felt
right at the right time. I've only ever followed through
and what on what my gut tells me these days
(15:08):
and what my heart tells me, you know, too many
times I've been let astray and taking them up down
the wrong road, and I just it's it's it's it's
not worth it. It's really not worth it to be unhappy
at the end of the day or or or have
too many regrets, you know. And I, you know, I
feel privileged being an artist as such in all these mediums,
(15:35):
and and again fortunate that I'm able to do so
many things, and that in it in of itself is inspiring.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
So creative blocks. I'm sure when you hit a creative block,
you probably could go get a cup of tea, go
get a cup of coffee, whatever. But since this podcast
is called taking a walk, do you take a block.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
To That's what I do. That's exactly what I do. Yeah,
I've also you know, I dealt with my fair amount
of depression in my time too, and I still deal
with a fair amount of anxiety on occasion where I
do biil ultimately overwhelmed by you know, I almost almost
(16:19):
have that sense of agoraphobia where I can't really leave
the house. I don't feel like I can leave the house.
And the one thing I know I should do when
I feel like that is leave that house. So even
if that's to go and get you know, some milk
or some bread, or get a newspaper or But you know,
(16:40):
I also I was never really one. I was never
a gym guy. I never liked the you know, no thanks,
you know, I think, to be honest, if you're active
in your life anyway, if you move a lot anyway,
that's enough for me. You know, I live and carry
(17:01):
heavy stuff around all the time. But the walking aspect
of it has absolutely become a priority for me. You know,
A lot of that can be weather dependent, especially you know,
if there's not a good spell of weather for a
week or two, you can get a bit down on
yourself for that but again the monk, I feel that anxiety.
(17:28):
Come on, I go, I've got to get out, I've
got to walk. And whether that's in the mountains, you know,
I normally I would have to take like a ten
minute drive just to get to a location that is
beautiful to walk, So that would be up in the
mountains or down by the sea, walking along some peninsula,
(17:48):
and also without question taking the camera along with me,
you know, because you know, you just never never know
when you're going to be inspired one way or the other.
So yeah, at minim three times a week for a
good a good while, you know, and generally a power walk.
But I'm always inspired when I do that, and I
(18:09):
always I'm able to breathe and feel free and alive
and in the moment again to be able to go
back in and go right where we at, you know,
and get stuck in again.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
I love the teachings of the late Vietnamese monk Ik
not Hahn, who is so wonderful, and he talks about
it in terms of you know, savoring the moment, really,
and I think taking that walk allows you to savor
a moment as well, don't you think.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I think it's probably the only time in the day,
bar actually waking up and before you go to bed,
and your mind, you know, reels you know about life
on your day. I think the walking element is really
where you are present, completely present. And again for me,
(19:08):
I have to I would have to say it's not
dissimilar to how I started and when I started taking photographs,
which is back in the old days with long haul flights,
you know, to America and back in Asia, you know,
and the and the old days, you know, you only
had one movie on a projector on the middle of
(19:29):
the plane. Once that was ober, you're done. We didn't
have anything to gains and things to play with. We
didn't have, you know, fifty other films to watch or
do it. Most people would go to sleep, but I
could never for the sleep on the plane, and I
would always stare out the window at the clouds, whether
(19:50):
that was you know, at night or you know, the
sunsets or sunrises, and I'd always be you know, I
started taking photographs of the clouds because I thought, these
are fleeting moments, These last for a second, they will
never be the same again. It's just like our lives.
(20:11):
So it taught me to be present in the moment
and appreciate what was going on at any different point
in time. But it also allowed I think and that
the same for me is true of walking, is that
it's a moment where you can do one of two things.
You can either empty your mind, blow all the cobwebs out,
(20:33):
not think about anything, breathe it all in and just
look at the scenery around you and appreciate it. Or
it gives you an opportunity away from everything else to
clearly think about what you're doing, what you know, your
pros and your cons in life, How are you moving
you know, how are you moving forward? Et cetera, et cetera,
(20:55):
et cetera. So and I think you can achieve both.
You know, you can actually go in with a headful
of questions and at the end of it come away,
you know, with a balance and being able to breathe
without that stress. I think it without questions a major
stress reliever, you know. And I throw a lot of
(21:16):
stress on my shoulders, I really do, because I want
the work that I'm doing to be the best and
it can be. So I'm always, you know, on myself,
so that walking, those walking moments are very very special,
have become all of the most important thing of my
day really because it allows me to do everything else.
(21:39):
So I want to.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Talk musical influences if I can, And obviously the Beatles
are a major influence in your life. Do you have
particular albums or periods of the Beatles or songs that
are you know, most important to you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
In general? No, not as such. I mean there's there's
there's a few artists. I mean, yeah, occasionally I'll catch
Beatle stuff, you know, on the radio, I mean, because
they're still playing it all the bloody time. But you know,
I have a few key artists that I love, and
(22:19):
I've mentioned these guys many times. You know, it's you know,
it's like Keith Jarrett, the Clone Concert, Steely Dan pick
An album on. It's like you know that that I
will always go back to and listen to, you know,
if if, if they come to mind. But in general,
I have to say that on a listening front, especially
(22:44):
when I'm working here in front of the computer and
more often than not editing collections and photographs and bring
things together, I'll have I'll have the radio on, and
I do have a particular face. I don't know whether
I should mention it or not, but you know you
can edit it out, but absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I won't.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Well, I'm a particular fan and have been for ten
years plus now since I've learned of the station. It's
called the CACRW Eclectic twenty four, and I always have
it on in the background because it always has independent,
new up and coming artists, but generally artists that are
(23:31):
really creative, really melodic, really unique, and stuff you just
don't get to hear on regular radio these days. You know,
you're either still dealing with the same kind of top twenty,
top forty scenario, or you're not hearing any other new,
interesting music unless it's a particular station for seventies rock
(23:53):
and roll you know, or you know you name it.
So at least that station gives me a wide variety
of new artists that comes through that. It's generally how
I learn of new musicians, new singers, and new artists
that I become a fan of. And you know, once
I hear that, use the apt to figure out who
(24:17):
it is, you know, and then I'll go and find
their album and I'll put that on a play. And
one of those guys that once you find a good album,
that are it will be on repeat for the next
three months until I really I've had enough, you know.
But I'll still always be a fan. But yeah, you know,
(24:39):
I've got a couple of key favorites like that.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
I think you're the only person I've ever spoken to
who can say they're a range of music that they
like Spanskeith Jarrett to a C.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
D C. Well why not listen? Why? You know, as
you can imagine, I think that a lot of artists
and a lot of people get pigeonholed all the time.
And I've always hated that concept of pigeonholing. I don't
understand it. I don't see the logic behind it. You know.
(25:15):
For me, artist art, photography is photography. Music is music.
It doesn't matter what genre or where it comes from.
If if it gets you feeling at all, whether that's energized,
or whether that's emotional, or whether that's deep thinking or
(25:38):
I think everything should be available to you. That's that's
why again that I wear many hats. I don't. I
don't want to be in a box. Who says you
have to be in a box? No, thank you. You know,
if you've got the will and the mind to go
for it, then you should go for it. And certainly
that's what I've done, you know, And that's why I
(26:01):
love every kind of genre of music. But you know,
there's not much I don't like, you know, I just happened.
I take a lot of kids in their early teens,
especially from my era, certainly loved, you know, some serious
rock and roll, whether it's you know, a heavy metal
to a degree as well, but you know, the Ozzy Osbourne.
(26:24):
The list goes on. But ac DC were the first
band that I ever saw live at the age of sixteen,
and that was when Bond Scott was singing back in
the day and Angus was on his shoulders. That was
a memorable time, you know, and hey they're still going
(26:45):
strong today. It just shows you that, you know, the
good stuff sticks around, you know. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
I first met you in nineteen eighty four when Volot
came out and.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
To another lifetime.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
It was a lifetime for me as well. But I
was so just impressed with you on how in control
of the situation you were with all the you know,
pressure you had to be your own person, and yeah,
obviously then coming into the limelight, how did you make
(27:23):
it look so easy.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I don't know about that. Well. Number one, I think
it was so shy for the most part that I
kept pretty quiet and pretty much to myself. I think,
and I've mentioned this a number of times before, that
you know, I had to look to the only person
(27:46):
who really I respect and loved throughout my life, which
was my mother Cynthia, you know, and I watched her
go through what she had to go through in the
public eye with grace and such poise and elegance. She
just showed me that no matter what they throw at you,
(28:09):
just keep on keeping on and be strong and believe
that you're worth it. Yeah. I know that sounds like
a hair commercial these days, but I think you understand
what I mean. It's just, yeah, yeah, what other way
out is there? You know? You you either deal with
(28:31):
things gracefully and move forward, or it becomes a negative
and it becomes distractive and it becomes and then why
are you there in the first place. So, you know,
it was just a question of learn as you go along,
try and hold it, hold it all together, and just
do it the best job you can. And that's all
I've ever tried to do, really, you know, I think
(28:54):
a lot of the problems in retrospect that happened, you know,
was the industry itself. That's why I got out of
it so many times. Because sure, the creativity, the work,
the recording and the live performance were all joys. But
again the admin, the people behind the scenes, and what
(29:17):
was what they were trying to get out of you,
that was another story altogether, you know. And I have
to say that, you know, there were few and far
between good people in the industry, and that's just being
absolutely honest, you know. You know, there's always a good few,
you know, but the hard to find someone who was
(29:38):
true to themselves and to everybody else.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
Well, you had a couple of people, though, who were
your core background, if you will, your core foundation back then.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
One is your your lifelong friend Justin right, Justin Layton,
and then also for that work in eighty four, Phil Ramone.
Can you talk about both of them? I mean, obviously
you still work and collaborate with Justin, but talk about
what those two lads meant to you then and mean
(30:26):
to you now.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Well, I mean Justin and I met when we were
eleven years old, so we go way back. I mean
literally touch every other day because you know, just briefly,
the last album, Jude was made up of songs from
thirty years ago and relatively new songs, and we've been
(30:49):
working for five years trying to make those older songs
sound new.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
By the way, Julian, I think, yeah, I think I
think that that album deserves more recognition by the public.
I think it's fantastic, thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I just don't think enough people have got to hear it.
And again, I you know, I don't want to say
that's the label's fault, but I did everything I could
to get it out there, that's for sure. But yeah,
Justin and I are still working. We still have boxes
of old tracks that we're well. I mean, I said
I'd never do another album last time, but I think
(31:28):
really this last album, Jude, was the last. But that
doesn't mean I'm stopping by any means. I mean, I'm
planning to release like a three to five song EP
of stuff that we're working on right now that I
would say is more in tune with a little more Indie,
a little more Pretenders meets XTC. So I'm looking to
(31:53):
have a little bit of fun the tracks that they
are already, so we're just it's just about finishing and
cleaning them up a bit. But Justin and I, you know,
I take all friends and family members go through their
ups and downs, and I'm not going to say it
was always roses with everybody, I mean anybody and everybody
(32:15):
in life. That happens. But we're still hanging in there
forty years later, for fifty years later. Oh don't even
get me counting. So and I'm happy for that, you know,
I'm happy that we're still you know, he really is
my oldest friend and I trust him musically. He's a
great producer, is a great engineer, a great say, a
(32:37):
great writer and performer.
Speaker 6 (32:40):
Phil.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Of course, it meant the world to me when you know,
Atlantic back in the day asked me, you know who
I'd love to produce the first album, and I said
Film Ramone due to Billy Joel's Nylon Curtain album, which
there was some beatlesque elements to that, but there was
a quality in his writing and the production that I
(33:03):
just fell in love with. And then I just remember
receiving a phone call from Phil Ramone, you know about
working together which I was shocked. You know, I was
still a naive young kid at that point in time. Again,
we've all had our demons in the past, and Phil
certainly had a fair amount of those. Two One of
(33:26):
the things that saddens me the most was the fact that,
you know, his dear wife Karen had lupus. And I
became the US ambassador for the Loopers Foundation of America
because my dear friend Lucy, who was the Lucy in
the Sky with Diamonds, died of lupus. And at the
(33:50):
last event that I was at for the Loopers Foundation
of America in New York, I didn't know Phil's wife
Karen had loopas and she was there, and he was there,
and it had been the first time I had seen
him in years. I'd run in term before and the
relationship was a bit old. But we saw each other
(34:10):
at the at this at this Garla event in New York,
and it was like falling in love again because we
got on so well, and we'd missed each other so
much that we talked about, you know, getting back in
the studio together. I was longing for that. And then,
of course it wasn't long after that that he sadly passed,
(34:34):
which was a real, real shocker to me because I
felt like it was a book that was never finished.
The pages had closed on us too soon, which was
a real shame because I felt we had more to
do together.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
You know, I want to talk about the White Feather Foundation,
and you're great, sure work there, and so would first
would you tell the amazing story about the weight Feather,
about what your dad said to you, and then how
you came upon the weight feather ultimately.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, yeah, I'll tell that in reverse order. But yeah.
So I was in Australia. I had a number one
song at the time called Saltwater, which is an environmental song,
which did very well around the world except America, but
that's another story. Anyway. I was in Adelaide. We were
(35:34):
on a promotel but playing live shows too, and I
was approached in the hotel by an indigenous group called
the Morning People, and they wanted to see me down
in the lobby. I thought, what's this about. I thought
it was a joker. At first, I thought it was
(35:54):
a prank. The management said, no, no, mister Lenna, there's
an Aboriginal group down here with some TV crews and
a number of people and they really would like to
see you. And I said, all right, well, I don't
know what this is about, but I'll go down and
I the elevator opens and there's this one step up
(36:17):
onto this sort of platform, and all these people and
are going, oh, what is this about? And the elder
who is this woman called Iris, she was the elder
of the tribe. She walks up to me and it's
on camera, it's on film, and she presents me with
(36:37):
a white feather. It's a male swan's white feather. It's
about fifteen inches long, something like that. And she said
to me, you know, can you help us? You have
a voice, or you have a voice, can you help us?
And it was that point in time that I thought, well,
or do I continue being a rock and roller or
(36:58):
do I step up to the plate. The real thing
about this, and the real reason I got I did
step up to the playton that I got goose bumps
at this moment in time was the fact that Dad
had said to me. And I couldn't tell you where
or when or what time it was. It just wasn't
one of those things. But it was clear as day
(37:21):
that he said to me listen, if something happens to
me to let you know that I'm going to be okay,
or that we're all going to be okay. It's going
to be It'll be in the form of a white feather.
And so when I received that white feather, to me,
that was undeniable truth, undeniable connection with the spiritual world.
(37:46):
I'm not a religious guy, but spiritual yes. So from that,
you know, I went away and thought about the situation,
and I learned about the plight of that particular indigenous tribe,
and then the indigenous tribes all across the globe, I
mean like eighty different tribes, and a major documentary about
(38:06):
them called Whale Dreamers. It took ten years. We weren't supported,
and we didn't have sponsors, but we weren't about eight
International Independent Film Awards, and I thought, you know, if
this film does any good or make some money, you know,
I want the money to go back to the indigenous
(38:28):
tribe so that they can keep hold of their culture
and buy back their lands that they've been kicked off of,
et cetera, et cetera. And the only way I could
do that back in those days was to actually do
it through a Foundation. Hence the White Feather Foundation was born.
(38:50):
So the moment the Internet came about, you know, I
set up a web page to sell the film and
you know, on video tape and the vds. Eventually, and
all of a sudden, you know, I'd start getting these
emails saying, well, can you help us? And can you
help us? And I'm going, oh, hold on, I said, listen,
(39:13):
you know, I'm not really a foundation. This is a
vehicle for the film if the film makes money to
help the indigenous. But then after so many I've started thinking, well,
you know again, I've got a platform here. I should
I should use it to help those who have no voice, basically,
and so I decided that the Whiteside the Foundation should
(39:37):
be something. It should be more than just that. And
that's when I decided to follow through on subjects that
affected me the most. Number one was indigenous causes around
the world. Number two clean water. I don't care how
many charities there are claiming to do or doing clean water.
(39:59):
Everybody deserve to have clean water. So we help where
we can. We work with NGOs around the world doing
whatever we can, all based on donations by the public,
by the way, so it's thanks to my fans and
people out there that see what we're doing, who donate
fifty cents a dollar, every penny makes a difference. The
(40:23):
other things have been health, clinics and schools. So health
and education is another one of our causes. I mean,
I always tend to believe that we are. We're not
a big foundation. We never went that route. I never
wanted to do that. But what they do feel that
(40:46):
we do is that a lot of causes, a lot
of people get lost between the cracks. What the White
Feather Foundation tries to do is catch those pauses and
again help those people without a voice. Again, thanks to
our audience that we get things done. When Mum passed away,
(41:10):
I decided to do a scholarship in her name, the
Cynthia Lena Scholarship for Girls, where we put young girls
from Africa and around the world in fact, but predominantly
in Africa through a college and university. Many of them
that I spoke to want to go back to their
(41:31):
little towns and protect be lawyers, to help protect their
families and their friends from the villages that they came from.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
So it's a nice circle that how that operates. But yeah,
so it's always been a very important thing. And the
only other thing I'll say about it is that whatever
hat I'm wearing, if I'm making any money, then a
proportion of whatever I make, whether it's the book sales,
whether it's the documentary, whether it's the music or the
(42:03):
children's books, proportion of the money that I make certainly
goes to the White Feather Foundation to keep it ticking along.
Certain pay everybody that works there, you know, you know,
but that's that's that's how we that's how we roll.
And again thanks for the donations, because without people we
(42:23):
you know, we wouldn't exist. Bravo, bravo.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
So you mentioned though spirituality back there, and I produce
this other podcast. It's called Music Save Me. It's about
the healing power of music.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Bro.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
You personally believe music has healing powers.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah, that without question, without question. I can't be precise
in how it does that, but certainly with certain sounds,
moods tones, uh elevations, arrangements, styles, you can certainly be
lifted out of the doldrums. You can certainly become more
(43:11):
introspective and be able to work on yourself through that
mode as well. Yeah, I mean music It's not my
go to on a personal level, but certainly there'll be
moments where I just decide that I want to sit
down and I'll say, you know, I'll just open the
(43:32):
windows and open the doors and play a bit of music,
and that again will well allow me what I will
now call a cloud moment, which is where you find
those moments of peace and think about nothing or you
think about everything you know. And I think just having
that connection alone allows you to move forward and be
(43:57):
motivated and make some important decisions in life. So yeah,
it definitely music affects your rhythm, your soul, your heart,
your mind absolutely without question.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Can you take me back to your first experiences with
a camera?
Speaker 2 (44:17):
The first I recall, well, it's a bit difficult to say,
but because I just remember as a kid that pretty
much every family on the planet, whether they had a
real camera or whether they had one of those throwaway
cameras that used to buy at the pharmacy or the airport,
(44:37):
you know, and you take it back the next day
and they print it out for you. You know those
you know, those those were take for taking a snap
of a moment in time, They weren't, you know, you
weren't focusing, you weren't dealing with any of the technical
aspects of it. Yeah, I remember used to that I
used to have one of those, or Mum used to have,
(44:59):
or we we shared the camera. I think the first
time a camera became relevant a tool was probably visiting
Dad in I think it was in New York. I
know that there were cameras around, and I know that
also when he had his lost weekend with May May
(45:21):
Pang that you know, she was a photographer, so so
there were cameras around. But I think the one thing,
and it's swunny I was talking about this before, the
one thing that excited me the most was the camera
that Dad had called the Polaroid SX seventy land camera,
which is the one I have here. The reason I
(45:43):
was intrigued about this because I was fascinated by its
look and it's feel and how it unfolded and from
a flat block became this really quite unique camera. And
I loved the fact that you didn't have to do
any developing and you see, so I I fell in
(46:05):
love with this cament and played around with it. A
lot of many many filed away pictures, a lot of
black and white high contrasts, but color stuff too. But
and then I kind of that kind of fell to
the wayside, and I was far more involved in music
again Da da da da da. But I think when
the true interest in photography came back for me. Although
(46:28):
I did try working with film and camera, but I
was a bit bumby on that front. And although I
have great patience for some things, I have little for others.
So fiddling around with film and keep trying to get
that right, oh no, and blowing, you know, and losing
the pictures and the express So when digital came along,
(46:50):
digital cameras, I went, there you go, there we go that.
That's that's for me. That's when I fell in love
with the taking pictures again and the fact that it
was that instant gratification of knowing that you'd got something
pretty much straight away. And then my job, my challenge
(47:12):
to myself was how do I make digital pictures look
like their film? That was something that I worked on
for a number of years in trying to finesse digital
photography to look like real film. How the realization of
what I was doing was the right thing came along
was I was part of a writ Hoop exhibition in
(47:37):
Amsterdam of a number of British photographers, and I was
cornered by this fine art critic from America, this older lady,
and she'd cornered me from some time, and that I
couldn't get out of the conversation. I was a bit
shy anyway. At the end of it, she said to me, so,
(47:58):
you know, tell me do you work with film or digital?
And I went, you tell me. I realized at that
point in time that I'd done it, you know, that
I'd risen to that challenge. And so from that point on,
I just tried to do better and better and better
and better. Each every time I'm doing photography work from
(48:22):
now on is trying to finesse it that much more,
that much more relatable, that much more focused. And again,
doing the photography book and the exhibition really was a
learning curve on how to be more focused and more
precious about the work that you're delivering. How can you
(48:43):
tell the same story of fifty images in five images?
You know that kind of thing. It really helped me
hone my craft more than before, having done the book
and the exhibition. So that was with a win win
for me, that all that hard work there was a
(49:03):
I learned a lot from that.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Do you have a go to camera for those quick
walks that you can, you know, just sort of have
with you Just.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Hate to say it. I hate to say it. You know,
even well known photographers that I know that love their
cameras admit that sometimes you just take a shot on
your phone and the quality these days is almost, not
(49:34):
quite but almost as equal to a good camera. You know,
you don't quite have the lens quality, or quite the
depth of field, and many few other things, but certainly
you can nab some pretty down good shots on your phone.
And obviously the ease of just having it in your pocket,
(49:59):
it just makes for a lot easier, I'm afraid to say,
you know. I mean, they're so far ahead now that
people are doing movies on their phones. You know, it's crazy,
but leaps and bounds. Certainly things have come along leaps
and bounds. But I still have a couple of go
to cameras that I and I've said this before. You know, well,
(50:20):
what's your favorite camera. Well, listen, it's not really the
camera at the end of the day. It's not the hardware.
It's what you see and what you get out of
what you're trying to relate emotively and what the story
is and the message. So the camera doesn't really matter
at the end of the day. But certain cameras do
certain things a little better than other cameras, but at
(50:43):
the moment. And I've always been a fan of likers,
you know, because there are classic cameras. I've done exhibitions
around the world with these guys. I think I'm not
to with Venice, I'm not to exhibition forty two in
the last clean years or whatever. So I've been working
(51:04):
my favorite check it in my bag camera is, I
have to say, as the like a Q three at
the moment, which you can use on auto or manual,
so it gives you the best of both worlds. And
you know the quality the work. The quality is beautiful,
you know, the pictures are gorgeous.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
Who are some photographers you admire.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
That's a difficult one because a lot of names I
don't I don't remember. I know that sounds terrible, but
if I was to give you one, just one guy
that has been a mainstay for me, obviously, there's in
Timothy White because he got me into this mess in
(51:47):
the first place. Although you know his his photography is
more celebrity orientated and more fashion and celebrity and film orientated.
He's still a tremendous, tremendous photographer. But you know, my
kind of cup of tea there, I say, would be
the likes of Elliott Owit, Ansel Adams, you know, the classics.
(52:11):
I mean, there's some other great, great stuff out there.
But you know, whenever I'm asked who's what's your favorite?
Who's your favorite? My mind goes blank. It's one of
those what can I say it, it's you know, useless
and bloody useless.
Speaker 3 (52:28):
I don't think so. So I know your pals with
the boys and you two and they had that run
at that place in Las Vegas called the Sphere.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
Yeah, yeah, I was there.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
You were there. So what's your impression of that experience.
It's a bit of a weird.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
Run, I have to say, because your attention is certainly
drawn to the visuals because you're seeing little people that
look like ants running around on this little stage down
but you're taken in by the actual visuals of the experience.
On one hand, I'm not sure what to make of it,
(53:10):
and I'm not sure that is it worth having a
live band there because I think the reality is you're
you're you're obviously you're listening to the experience, but it's
more of a visual experience too, from at least my
perspective and my you know, I just wanted to see
this wrap around three D or you know, this almost
(53:33):
three sixty degree a screen, you know, where you're being
drawn into this otherworldly experience. And yeah, it was nice
having the band there, but I don't want to say
they were insignificant, because that would be totally and wholly incorrect.
But it was for me predominantly a visual draw at
(53:57):
the end of the day than a lie band draw.
You know, you could, for me, you could have just
played the music from their albums and put the visuals
on and it would have been no disrespect, but it
would have been just as exciting in many respects. Not
that there weren't a few moments, certainly with the live situation,
(54:20):
but again I think it was This is very early
days with this kind of setup and this technology, and
I think it will only get better and improve even
more as they home down what it actually means to
do a show like that. There. I know that they're
building smaller versions of the sphere, which may be more
(54:42):
helpful for the band, so that there's still that relative
relationship between the live music and the audience. And you know,
the expanse of some of the visuals, but with the
spere it's kind of ott. You know, it's arizing, and
I just think the live band scenario gets a little lost,
(55:06):
but still still a bit jaw dropping, you know. But
I you know, with with the with the band, like
you two, they've always been at the forefront of unique
stage presentation. So in many respects, I expected nothing less,
you know, like, what did you think? I said, Well,
I expected nothing less. That's what I expected. Yeah, yeah,
(55:30):
I was blown away, but you know it was Yeah,
I kind of expected it, which is a weird thing
to say, but that's how I feeled.
Speaker 1 (55:38):
You know.
Speaker 3 (55:39):
Well, congratulations on life's fragile moments, which is going to
make a great I would say stocking.
Speaker 4 (55:46):
Stuffer, but it's a little bit big maybe, but it
could be a stocking stuffer.
Speaker 3 (55:52):
It'll look nicely under under the tree.
Speaker 5 (55:55):
And congratulations on it.
Speaker 3 (55:59):
And I have to just tell you.
Speaker 4 (56:02):
When I think of how grateful I am doing this podcast,
this is one of those moments where I'm doubly grateful
for doing this podcast for an opportunity to speak with.
Speaker 1 (56:14):
You, Julian.
Speaker 5 (56:14):
I appreciate everything about you and that you continue to
give us. I'm so grateful and thank you for being
on the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
Thank you Bus. It's been my absolute pleasure and I
hope to see you sooner than later. Maybe on a
walk one day.
Speaker 3 (56:35):
I'd love it.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
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