John Lennon's Tooth

In September of 1967, I walked up to John Lennon's home south of London. John was asleep, but his housekeeper, Dorothy, let me wait in his garage until he awoke. John came out and invited me in. We spoke about meditation, movies, and music and he invited me to drive into London in his Rolls-royce, where I witnessed my very first recording session. It was "I Am The Walrus."

In September of 1967, I walked up to John Lennon's home south of London. John was asleep, but his housekeeper, Dorothy, let me wait in his garage until he awoke. John came out and invited me in. We spoke about meditation, movies, and music and he invited me to drive into London in his Rolls-Royce, where I witnessed my very first recording session. It was "I Am The Walrus." 44 Years later, I read online about John's tooth coming up for auction, offered by the family of Dorothy, who was now 91 years old. I couldn’t believe it. She was the lady who altered my destiny, and she was still alive. We had our first meeting via Skype and I finally was able to thank her. Then she told me her story, which has never been published before, about life at home with John and his family, teaching John how to drive, and other anecdotes from back in the day.

Mr. Bonzai is the pen name of David Patrick Goggin, award-winning photographer, poet, music journalist and author. He has published over 1,000 magazine articles and five books, including FACES of MUSIC (Cengage, 2006) and MUSIC SMARTS (Berklee Press, 2009). His photos and articles have appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard, Mix, EQ, Pro Sound News, Artist Pro, Keyboard, EQ, Daily Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles magazine, Disney Channel Magazine, Computer Life, Los Angeles Times, Sound & Recording, and Relix, as well as leading music magazines in England, France, Germany, Austria, Australia, and elsewhere on the planet.