News

It has been quiet for Julian recently, taking time out to recover from a hectic 1999. People who signed up to the www.julianlennon.com mailing list recieved this wonderful message from Julian not long ago:

Hi folks!

I thought I'd give you an update on what's happened my end asregards life, love and music.

After a year concentrating on my home life I'm now focusing my thoughts ona new album.Last year I started putting some song ideas on tape for a new album. Now,I'm in the process of meeting with possible collaborators - new musiciansand producers. I'm also starting to put together a home studio which willin the future be able to send music straight to the website via MP3/Broadband, so that you'll be able to hear work in progress. But that'saway off yet!I've already sung and produced a cover of the Beatles song 'Blackbird'. This track is intended to go on a Linda McCartney album for the Americancharity Women Against Cancer.Another song I'm working is 'Things She Said', which was originally sungby Kevin Gilbert, the multi-talented singer/songwriter friend of mine whopassed away some years ago ('Crucified' from 'Photograph Smile' is dedicated to Kevin). A friend of his is putting together a tribute album and has been approaching people and friends who worked with Kevin to come together in remembering Kevin with an album of his work sung by otherartists. This is something I'm really looking forward to working on.There are also similar projects in the pipeline!

Last year I finally bought a vacation home in the Mediterranean and most of the year was given over to designing and rebuilding it. Boy its been chaotic! Builders...plumbers...electricians - you name them they've all been at my house. It's played havoc with my cooking. I spent months making Sunday roast dinner for six or more on a hot plate with two electric burners and a dodgy microwave. Talk about camping in your own home! But it's all coming to an end and if nothing else it's been character building.Now my kitchen is a working one and I've been doing a lot of cooking -anything from Italian to Thai, from English to French. You name it I'll try it. I'm getting into the habit of writing down the recipes and I hope one day I'll do a cookery book with either sketches or photographs I've taken. I might even put a couple on the web site for you to try out. I should say though, I'm not one for following recipes to the T. I'd much rather challenge myself and try out variations on traditional recipes or make something up as I go along. And then, if they taste great, I've got to remember how the heck I made them! I've only got about 40 recipes written down that I'm completely happy with, but its early days yet.

Apart from cooking, I've also been trying to get out into the garden as much as possible to learn about plants e.g.. what should be planted at what time of year and what suits what kind of soil. I'm growing all kindsof vegetables and luckily I've got a few fruit trees, so I've beenenjoying homemade lemonade, freshly blended fruit and vegetable drinks.You can't beat homegrown!

There's more exciting news coming up about the website and my music label.More about that in a couple of weeks.And all the best for 2001 (I think it's going to be a lucky year for all of us)

Julian