We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me

Was it a millionaire who said, “Imagine no possessions”? - Elvis Costello, “The Other Side of Summer”

I already knew that John Lennon was no angel, but this brief memoir by John & Yoko's friend/assistant/babysitter portrays the Clever Beatle as a hapless narcissist who expected Mintz to be available 24/7 for jobs ranging from menial to impossible. Yoko was more capable but equally demanding, and obsessed with using psychics and numerology to guide her actions. In his nine year career as the Lennon-Ono's lackey, Mintz was asked to: find a NYC doctor to give the couple weight-loss injections (from LA); hire a PI to find a potential business partner's birth date so Yoko could vet him with her astrologist; give the millionaire Beatle a few hundo so he could gamble in Vegas; and accompany John on a nighttime spree to stop him from drinking, and report back on his behavior to Mother/Yoko. Mintz eventually had an extra phone line installed in his LA house so he would never miss a call from his overlords...I mean, friends.

The book is competently written, but Mintz engages in a LOT of name dropping, implying that his encounters with scores of celebrities were related to some personal magic, instead of being the natural result of hanging out with two of the most famous people in the world. He alludes to being estranged from his biological family, with John & Yoko serving as surrogate parents, but other than mentioning a few women (mostly nameless) that he slept with, he basically had no life outside of addressing their every whim.

I am somewhat regretful that I read this, but YMMV if you're not bothered by the warning to “never meet your heroes.”