Record Store Will Exhibit John Lennon’s Erotic Art

When John Lennon was felled by an assassin’s bullet in December, 1980, the world lost not only a legendary pop musician but an accomplished artist.

In February, the recently opened Off the Record store in Hillcrest will host a monthlong exhibition of lithographs, etchings, serigraphs and sculptures by the celebrated ex-Beatle.

The highlight of “The Art of John Lennon,” which opens Feb. 3, is a complete “Bag One Suite,” a set of 14 lithographs of sketches depicting Lennon’s early life with and marriage to Yoko Ono.

“Half the suite is erotic lithos of John and Yoko,” said Off the Record co-owner Rich Horowitz. “When they were first being shown in London in 1970, the show was closed down, and there was even an unsuccessful pornography suit filed against Lennon.

“Initially, 300 suites were produced, but over the last 20 years many of them have been broken up by people selling individual pieces. And today, no one knows how many complete suites are left; the estimate is fewer than half.”

The exhibition will also feature five other limited-edition suites of lithographs, etchings and serigraphs. “These were all taken from original Lennon drawings and released by Yoko after his death,” Horowitz said.

In addition, he said, there will be several neons and sculptures designed by Lennon and “a whole array of licensed boutique items--like Lennon sweat shirts, posters, note pads and mugs--put out by the Lennon estate.”

Everything’s for sale, Horowitz said. “Bag One Suite” lithos will be priced from $4,000 to $12,000 apiece; other items will “probably be more in the $400 to $800 range,” he said.

Horowitz said the idea for the exhibition came to him two months ago, when he was in Laguna Beach, viewing an exhibit of etchings by Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood at the Pacific Edge gallery.

“I came back down to San Diego with the notion that this town is in dire need of a place to show rock ‘n’ roll art,” Horowitz said. “So I contacted (Pacific Edge owner) Paul Jillson to see if he would be interested in doing a show together.

“He was, and I suggested a Lennon exhibition. I’ve been a fan of his work for many years, and I thought our new store in Hillcrest would be incredibly conducive to this sort of thing.

“So we made some plans, contacted the Lennon estate in New York, and they were behind it 100%, and then put the whole thing into motion.”

Horowitz said he considers “The Art of John Lennon” exhibition something of an experiment.

“If this is as successful as we anticipate, we’re going to do other rock ‘n’ roll art shows in the future,” he said. “Ron Wood has done a series of what are called dry-point etchings of the Stones, Sam Cooke, people like that, as well as collages of rock stars from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

“Then there’s Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, who is also an artist in his own right, and Neon Parks, who designed the Little Feat album covers.

“We need to bring more of this kind of stuff down to San Diego, and I’m ready to do it.”

In a career that spans more than two decades, Todd Rundgren, appearing Thursday night at the California Theatre downtown, has established himself as something of a rock ‘n’ roll Renaissance man.

Despite limited commercial success--only one gold album, “Something/Anything” in 1972, and one gold single, 1973’s “Hello, It’s Me”--Rundgren has gotten plenty of critical accolades for his studio virtuosity and eclecticism, both as a recording artist and as a producer.

He surfaced in the late 1960s as the leader of the Nazz, a Philadelphia group with a decidedly Liverpudlian sound. By 1970, he was recording solo for Bearsville Records, and, with the release two years later of the landmark “Something/Anything” album--on which he played nearly all the instruments and over-dubbed dozens of vocals--Rundgren became increasingly willing to try just about anything in the studio.

For example, the entire first side of 1976’s “Faithful” consists of, well, faithful covers of such pop classics as the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” the Yardbirds’ “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” and the Beatles’ “Rain” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.” On his 1980 album with Utopia, “Deface the Music,” he parodied the Beatles.

On 1981’s “Healing,” Rundgren played every instrument. Aside from an occasional hand clap, all the sounds heard on 1985’s “A Capella” were generated by a single instrument, his voice.

On the other side of the sound board, Rundgren has been just as eclectic. The disparate acts he had already produced by 1973 included Badfinger, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, James Cotton, Grand Funk Railroad and the New York Dolls.

Since then, he’s produced albums for dozens of other acts, ranging from Patti Smith and Tom Robinson to the Tubes and Meat Loaf, from Hall and Oates to Shaun Cassidy.

Rundgren is now touring the country with a 13-piece band in support of his latest album, “Nearly Human.” And when he stops in San Diego on Thursday night, you owe it to yourself to go. Renaissance men, after all, are few and far between--particularly in rock ‘n’ roll.

LINER NOTES: Two familiar faces in the crowd at last Friday night’s El Vez show at the Casbah in Middletown: Mojo Nixon (wearing an Elvis Presley muumuu he purchased for $35 in a Memphis boutique across the street from Graceland) and San Diego newspaper magnate David Copley. Lest rumors start to fly, no, they didn’t come together. . . . Thirteen years ago this week, expatriate San Diego singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop made his Top 40 debut with “Save It for a Rainy Day.” . . . Joe Satriani’s Feb. 3 concert at the California Theatre downtown has sold out, prompting the addition of a second show the next night. . . . Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday for Aerosmith and Skid Row’s March 2 appearance at the San Diego Sports Arena. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: Clarence (Gatemouth) Brown and the Blonde Bruce Band, Thursday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; the Circle Jerks, Friday at Iguanas in Tijuana; Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Saturday at the California Theatre; Eek-A-Mouse, the Roughneck Posse and Teacher Richie, Saturday at the La Paloma Theater in Encinitas; Michael Martin Murphy, Sunday at Leo’s Little Bit O’ Country in San Marcos; Tyrone Davis, Sunday at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa, and former Cream-mates Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, Jan. 22 at the Belly Up Tavern.