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Years ago I was involved with a woman who
was friends with Camella Grace. Camella worked
for a video company called RetinaLogic, whose
most famous client was the late Timothy Leary.
One day out of the blue, I'm told that Camella
is coming to Seattle for a visit, and was it OK
for her to stay with us in my house. I said
sure, and then learned Camella would be bringing
her boyfriend Sean. Sean Lennon.
When I got home from work one night, I
learned Camella and Sean had arrived and were
downstairs. When they came upstairs, Sean
started talking to me about peanut butter. They
stayed a day or two, and I took them to Boeing
Surplus, for some Seattle "color".
Some months later Sean was kind enough to
return the favor. We were invited to stay with
him and Camella in New York. Sean had a
wonderful loft in the village, with the twin
towers in view. Inside his loft was a stairway
that led to his open sleeping area. On the wall
next to the stairway was a poster. The
typography caught my eye, and I realized it was
the original poster his father John had used as
the basis of the song Being For the Benefit
of Mr. Kite! Indeed, the poster is
remarkable enough to warrant a
website of its own.
Sean and Camella had a party on one of the
days we were there. I remember the movie 2001
was playing on a big TV and Sean's mother called
him in the midst of the festivities. We went to
the roof above his loft and I marveled at the
gridlock of Manhattan at rush hour. All in all
it was a wonderful time, and I could see how
warm and charming Sean really was. This all took
place about 1995 or 1996, so I would have been
33 or 34, while Sean was only about 20 or 21. I
could still relate to him well, despite the age
difference. I attributed this to his "worldly"
upbringing.
Time passed, and with it, the inevitable
dissolution of relationships. Sean and Camella
broke up. Camella had moved out of Sean's place
in New York and was now living in LA. She was
assisting Timothy Leary by putting his papers
online. Today this sounds fairly prosaic, but in
1996 it was still rather cutting edge. Camella
invited us to visit her in LA.
Camella had a very nice apartment in
Hollywood, about a block off of Sunset. I seem
to remember it was near some huge and famous
guitar shop. As we settled in as guests, I began
to look through Camella's library. At the risk
of sounding sexist, a lot of her books seemed to
be the things that men would own and read. Lots
of heavy history and non-fiction. One book stood
out; a first edition paperback copy of Abbie
Hoffman's Steal This Book. I understood
that first editions of this book were quite
rare, and thus valuable. I instinctively picked
it up and looked at it. On the inside page was a
hand written note that read " To John and Yoko;
your album "Two Virgins" motivated me to write
this book – Abbie". Well now! Here we had
something that might be valuable on the order of
Sean's poster!
I asked Camella about the book and got a
strangely oblique answer; "It was part of the
settlement" or something like that. Huh, I was
under the impression that Yoko had intervened
and had asked Camella to pack her bags and
leave… But that was based on hearsay, so I don't
honestly know. I doubted there was any
"settlement", and I simply assumed the book had
been taken from Sean. I got a feeling,
though, that Camella simply didn't venerate this
book as I did. I cannot deny that I secretly
hoped that Camella might give me the book when
we departed for Seattle. I was making no secret
that I was twitterpated by the book, and I
casually "left it out". I knew deep down though,
that it was probably stolen from Sean, and that
as much as I might want it, the moral thing
would be to return it to him.
Enter Page Hamilton, lead singer of Helmet.
He was in LA for something or another, and he
knew Camella. We all went out one night and hung
out. Page impressed me as being a very smart
guy, as most of the rock stars I've met are kind
of dopey. Page and I got along well, and when
Helmet performed in Seattle sometime later, I
was able to hang out some more. I understand
that Page was married at this time.
By this time, I was getting a subtle vibe
that Camella was something of a "star fucker",
by the way she was paying attention to Page.
Having been a performer myself , I was familiar
with the signs and symptoms of that.
Eventually we all go back to Camella's
apartment. I had left Hoffman's book out.
Hamilton, being a literate kind of guy, notices
the book as I did. He picks it up and begins to
look through it. But he's not as excited by it
as I was. I think you know what happens next;
she gives the book to Page…
I was reminded of this story last night, as
I just happened to find Sean's MySpace music
page! I had lost contact with him all those
years ago.
I still wonder if Page has that book....
Screeds and Essays
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