OCT 9TH EVENTS

A special weekend for fans of 1960s Art and music. Birthday wishes to John and Sean Lennon, who share October 9th birthdays (and congrats to Paul McCartney on his wedding this Oct 9th!). To get us in the mood, here is an amusing video mash-up that places James Bond at one of the summer 1966 Tokyo Beatles concerts. The filming of You Only Live Twice started in July 1966, so it's fun to imagine these major pop-culture events coming together.

In honor of John Lennon, Yoko Ono is scheduled to relight the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland this weekend. The structure was conceived from an idea that Ono had in the 1960s about architecture built entirely of light and prisms. The Imagine Peace Tower uses fifteen searchlights and prisms to create a shaft of light that reaches upwards of 4,000 meters. Construction was finished in 2007, and it is lit annually between October 9th and December 8th (the date of Lennon's passing in 1980).

More info about how you can contribute to the event from Yoko: "Dear Friends, On 9th October 2011, I will be in Reykjavík, Iceland to relight IMAGINE PEACE TOWER at 8pm (9pm London, 4pm NY, 1pm LA, 5am Tokyo) in memory of my husband John Lennon. I hope you will join us at http://IMAGINEPEACETOWER.com for the live event where you can tweet, email & Facebook chat your wishes live to @IPTower and watch a live feed of the event."

A special John Lennon exhibit has been set up in NYC for the weekend, in honor of what would have been Lennon's 71st birthday. There is also an exhibit of Yoko Ono's work at Stoney Brook University through October 15th. More information at the New York Times here. Spy Vibe on 1960s surrealism and satire in the UK here.

My wish in celebration of John Lennon's 71st birthday, going out to the armed populations in the world- Camera Piece: carry a camera instead of a weapon for 1 day, then 1 week. Look at people through the lens until you see that you are one.