Synopsis

What if the story of John Lennon didn’t end in 1980? What if his spirit lived on?

Jimmy Drake, struggling songwriter, is on the brink of giving up . . . until an unlikely encounter with a late Beatle alters his path.

During a soul-crushing meeting with a jaded music executive, a bizarre incident involving a Jolly Rancher candy sets Drake on a mystical road trip and sparks a series of surreal encounters with Lennon’s spirit.

But it’s not just Drake’s musical career that needs divine intervention. In the cold reaches of space, a malevolent force is closing in, threatening to silence all music forever. Drake must find the courage to help the First Sol Brigade, a group of legendary, deceased musicians fighting for our survival—and help Lennon close an important chapter of his own.

As Drake confronts his past and faces his future, he discovers that the true magic of life lies in the connections we forge, the love we make, and the legacies we leave behind. John Lennon’s Glasses is a compelling tale of love, loss, and the enduring power of music.

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The book releases on 3/20/25 – preorder today!

Excerpts

EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER ONE: THE JOLLY RANCHER INCIDENT

“All you need is love.” What a bunch of crap! John Lennon sure caught a lot of fish when he released that song in 1967. And I was one of them.

A whole generation of guppies flopping in the net of a song that promised human salvation through universal love. I believed it the first time I heard it. I swallowed it hook, line and sinker; and the hook set itself into my heart. I’d go around singing it, hoping for a better world. I’d hum it in high school for girls to hear. (In those days it was cool to be sensitive.) When I started writing songs in my mid-teens, I argued for it; and by age twenty, I dedicated my life to it.

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.

I wasn’t mad at Lennon, personally, just angry for leading me to believe that the world would be a more peaceful place by now. I mean, songs like that have good intentions, but do they really change the world? Or do they mislead us into some kind of liberal naivety? I don’t know about you, but looking around the world today, I don’t see the sun coming up in the Age of Aquarius.

My pissy mood, steeping for years, was now boiling over. I’d flown to L.A. for a soul-crushing meeting with Platinum Song Publishing in hopes of finding placement for my songs. Two hours earlier, I’d been in a meeting with their assistant director of marketing, Mark Westhrope. He told me that my songs were dated and too intellectual for an American audience. But for another $1500.00, they would shop my stuff to the international market. Westhrope, 25 years my junior, said that songs about universal love went out in the sixties and that I’d be better off singing about romantic love . . . sex, trucks, beer, guns or just about anything else.

“You know, Mr. Drake . . . can I call you Jimmy? You know, Jimmy. The chase, the mating game, the dating game, boy meets girl, boy meets boy, girl meets girl, whatever. The conquests, the heartaches, the STD’s–ha-ha, just kidding. Universal love is boring, dude.”

“But I’m not into the chase. I’m focusing on my music right now.” That was a lie. I had a painful crush on a woman who worked at my local coffee bar. But I wasn’t chasing her; just buying my mochas, leaving extra tips, and waiting for the universe to make it happen. I believe that if you stand in the path of Cupid long enough, you’ll take an arrow.

Westhrope wasn’t buying it. “Well . . . fake some heartbreak, dude. That shouldn’t be too hard for you. I mean, look at you man. You reek heartbreak!”

“But that isn’t who I am. Shouldn’t music try to take the human species to a higher level? Shouldn’t songs offer hope for the future?”

“Don’t confuse music with politics or therapy, dude. Here’s the deal. I know it’s hard to take, but your generation is dying off. And my generation is taking over. We just wanna have some fun before the world ends. We want songs to get us off, not turn us on. Don’t you watch the Walking Dead? Might as well have a little roll in the hay before doomsday, dude!”

EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER TWO – THREE KINDS OF HEAVEN

“As your friend and sponsor, John, I’m reminding you there are no shortcuts in Near Heaven, Nearer Heaven, or Heaven itself. So, stop resisting! Please . . . Just do the work or you’ll never get out of here!”

John Lennon listened to his old bandmate, George Harrison, with a mixture of irritation and resignation. They had left Earth somewhat estranged. The tragic surprise of Lennon’s murder didn’t give them enough time to resolve their differences.

Sprawled out on white couches, they faced each other strumming big beautiful, blonde acoustic guitars. The yawning expanse of Near Heaven, a beige-on-beige opaqueness, stretched on forever in all directions.

“You can’t stay here forever, John. This dull nirvana will drive you mad.

“I know, I know. I’ve been here longer than I thought I’d be.”

You know, John, Yoko would hate it here.” And she’d be extremely disappointed with you for staying here so long.”

Lennon nodded. But he had a secret, one he didn’t share with Harrison or any other souls waifing around Near Heaven.

Lennon figured that in the unlikely event Yoko decided to re-incarnate, he would too. In Near Heaven, souls could still decide to do that. He was so confident of their immortal connection he was sure they would meet again in the next life. But considering the hell she had been through during her childhood with the fire-bombing and nuking of her home country in WWII, plus the purgatory of fame he’d put her through with the Beatles, he guessed Yoko had had enough of the bipolar dualities of Earth. It was more likely that Yoko would jump right over his head and fly straight into Heaven to stare into the feral eyes of God herself.

In this event, he would do exactly what George wanted of him. He would climb the stairway to heaven and be with her for eternity. If, however, she chose to reincarnate, he would follow. For now, he feigned diligence and dog paddled through the spiritual lessons, tasks and missions that Harrison gave him, just biding his time.

“Alright George, I’ll do the bloody work. Who’s my next client? What’s his trip?”

“The usual. A veteran singer-songwriter influenced mostly by you, about to do himself in.”

About the Authors

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.

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