Questions:

In addition to his work with the Beatles and his solo music career, John Lennon devoted much of his time to non-musical art projects, ranging from sketching to prose to poetry.

In 1964, John Lennon published what book containing his own poetry and drawings?

Which member of the Beatles left the group early on to pursue a career in painting?

Musician and former U.S. Congressman John Hall has mixed music and political activism for close to 40 years.

1. What Janis Joplin classic, included in her Pearl album, was written and later recorded by John Hall with his group, Orleans?
2. Aside from adding guitar and vocals, what 1973 album did Hall help produce for Bonnie Raitt?
3. As an activist, John Hall helped form the Winston Farm Alliance to combat the formation of a huge waste dump. That site became known for what historic festival?
4. Along with Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash and Jackson Browne, what group did Hall co-found to combat the building of a nuclear plant along the Hudson River?

Answers:

John Lennon spent many years creating art other than music. In March, 1964, at the height of Beatlemania, he published In His Own Write, a book of poems, stories (of a sort) and inimitable line drawings. He followed up in 1965 with his second book of stories and drawings, A Spaniard in the Works.

Stuart Sutcliffe was the original bassist for the Beatles. When he left the band to pursue his studies in art (primarily painting), Paul McCartney was forced to take over as the group’s bass player. Sadly, Sutcliffe never realized his dream. Instead, he died as the result of a brain aneurysm on April 10, 1962.

1. John Hall has had a long and varied career. He and his former wife, Johanna, wrote “Half Moon,” which appeared on Janis Joplin’s Pearl and which he later recorded with Orleans.

2. In addition to accompanying Bonnie Raitt on guitar, Hall helped produce her third album, Takin’ My Time, in 1973.

3. The Winston Farm Alliance formed to prevent the building of a solid waste dump in Saugerties, NY on the site that would later host Woodstock ’94.

4. In 1979, Hall, along with Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne and journalist Harvey Wasserman, formed Musicians United for Safe Energy, a group dedicated to advocating against the use of nuclear energy. Over the years, everyone from David Crosby to Stephen Stills to Bruce Springsteen has participated in the group’s benefit shows.