Authors Jim Ocean and Kathy Ocean chat with me today about their historical fiction, John Lennon’s Glasses.
Bio:
Music has been in Jim Ocean’s blood since he was a young boy picking out rock ’n’ roll riffs on the string of his fishing pole in his mother’s kitchen. In his twenties—by then a seasoned musician and songwriter living in the burbs—Jim recognized the need for an intimate space where he and other artists could come together to perform their original music, and the Musician’s Coffeehouse was born.
In the decade that followed, Jim toured the country with his darkly satirical band Celtic Elvis, founded one of the granddaddies of the civic free concert series movement—Concord, California’s Music and Market Series—and started the ticketed Community Concerts Series, which was widely credited with bringing regional and national headliners to a suburban audience. Eight years after Jim’s future wife joined the operation (and after they tied the knot), they renamed their joint venture OceanWorks Productions. Today, Jim and Kathy Ocean produce dozens of shows annually, including free summer concert series and benefit concerts, as well as perform-and-produce programs derived from their catalog of original music.
Jim’s knack for blending the whimsical and the serious shines through in his songwriting, where he captures the complexities of the human condition with wit and wisdom. From The Rise and Fall of Practically Everything and Hard to be Real with Celtic Elvis to Fear and Love with his short-lived group the Dogmatics to his solo project Pop Tunes for Mystics to FrankenClime with the Jim Ocean Band, Jim’s music has always pushed the boundaries, using humor and metaphor to examine scientific discoveries and societal dilemmas.
Whether he’s rubbing shoulders with astronauts, stage-managing music festivals, or captivating a crowd from the stage, Jim’s passion for music and community-building shines through in everything he does.
Jim’s dedication to the arts hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2002, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement in Cultural Arts award by the Contra Costa County Arts and Culture Commission and the California State Assembly and Senate.
It should be no surprise to learn that John Lennon has been a significant influence on Jim’s musical journey. Twelve-year-old Jim was profoundly affected when the Beatles landed in America in 1964. Jim has always admired Lennon’s ability to think outside the box, his innovative approach to chord construction, and the evolution of his songwriting over time. Lennon’s messages of peace and universal love resonated deeply with Jim, as did his lyrical honesty, his efforts to be a better person, and his continual quest to inspire positive change.
When he’s not writing magical realism or orchestrating the next musical event, Jim grows beans, greens, and broccoli on his little piece of paradise in the Northern California redwoods, where he lives with his wife, Kathy.
Kathy Ocean is the spirited cofounder of OceanWorks Productions and Jim’s partner in every sense of the word. As a young aspiring singer-songwriter and recovering clarinet player who dabbled in the Indiana University coffeehouse scene, Kathy left the cornfields of her adolescence for the vibrant music culture of San Francisco. After teaming up with Jim in 2000, she brought her energy and creativity to the concert production scene and quickly became an integral part of Jim’s business.
Kathy’s expertise extends well beyond event production. Equal parts project manager, concept shaper, and muse, she cowrites and performs alongside Jim. Together, they create thoughtful, lyric-driven music that explores science, philosophy, and the human experience. Their collaborative projects, such as the immersive planetarium show Astronaut Lullabies, the musical edutainment salon MetaQuizzical Cafe, and their enviro-social project Party for the Planet, showcase their ability to weave educational and cultural themes into their music.
Together, Jim and Kathy Ocean are cultural activists who inspire people to get out of their couches and into their communities. Whether they’re producing a concert, hosting a retreat, or performing together, the Oceans infuse their work with joy and connection. Their mission is simple: to bring people together in a vibrant and engaged community through the power of music.
Welcome, Jim & Kathy. Please tell us about your current release.
John Lennon’s Glasses is a tale of personal transformation – and a wild ride through rock ‘n’ roll history and the music business — rather like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets On the Road with a cast of deceased rock stars.
After a disillusioned, suicidal singer-songwriter receives a mysterious pair of glasses that conjure John Lennon from the afterlife, they embark on a surreal coast-to-coast and cosmic adventure to save the world from a dark force that threatens to extinguish all music from the universe.
The novel comes with not one, but two companion collections of original music: the “Pop Tunes for Mystics” album and “The John Lennon’s Glasses Music Collection.”
What inspired you to write this book?
Jim: The main inspiration for the book came when I was writing a song about universal love. During that process, I tried to imagine that John Lennon was looking over my shoulder reviewing my progress. However, I did this more as a fun songwriting exercise; I didn’t expect that his spirit would take hold and compel me to write a book. Many coincidences happened along the way that kept nudging me along. From time to time during the writing process, I had the feeling that Lennon was living through me, which was unexpected and strange, but also comforting somehow.
Excerpt from John Lennon’s Glasses:
Sure, Lennon. All you need is love when you’re rich and famous and adored by millions of fans. The truth is . . . love distracts you. It sends you down blind paths. It gives you a mission, then leaves you stranded on a beach with unrealized dreams and a broken heart. The truth is, Lennon . . . love can get you shot! You certainly learned that the hard way. All I needed . . . was rent.
What exciting project are you working on next?
Kathy: Since we’re songwriters and performers as well as writers, we’re upping the ante for our coming book tour in support John Lennon’s Glasses by combining interpretive readings with live performance of the original songs that are written by the main character or alluded to during the course of the narrative.
We’re also in early development of a theater project called “Sarcology” where we will write and perform vignettes paired to a collection of our social satire songs.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Jim: In my teens when I began writing short stories with dark twisted plots in the style of Rod Serling, Edgar Allen Poe and H.P Lovecraft.
Kathy: When my second-grade teacher, Miss Bertamen, began including my pieces in her classroom magazine, The Little Squeaker.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Kathy: Neither of us are full-time writers, but we’re lucky enough to be full-time creatives, meaning that our day-to-day life is a tapestry of our creative pursuits – fiction writing, performing, writing, and recording our original “thought rock” music – combined with our vacation rental biz and event production work where we produce concerts for cities, colleges and nonprofits. We’re especially lucky that as work/life partners, we are highly compatible, and our skill sets complement each other so well. One activity tends to meld into and inform another, so we do not need to artificially carve out time for writing per se.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Jim: I’m steeped as a songwriter, so I see each paragraph as a song. I also imagine a movie camera on my shoulder and just write down what the camera sees.
Kathy: It’s maybe not so much a quirk, as an excuse to extract myself from the day-to-day to go on solo retreats to rustic, off-the-beaten-path destinations where I can take a deep dive into writing or editing work. On the musical front, I revel in long backroad “driving rehearsals” to prepare for performances and recording sessions.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Jim: A rock star
Kathy: An oceanographer or archeologist
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Jim: John Lennon is my favorite imperfect human whose life was tragically cut short before he had a chance to gain and share the perspectives that a fuller lifespan may have imparted. My hope is that the reader gains a sense of affinity with Lennon and that they feel closer to his spirit, especially for those who miss him to this day.
Kathy: My hope is that the book allows readers to set down their heavy, world-weary backpack for a spell, and that they find the tale a fun and funny escape from reality that offers a light-hearted road map for transmuting fear into joy.
Links:
Website | Facebook | Novel site (coming soon)