GIVE PIECES A CHANCE

Yesterday I saw a news item online announcing a brand new flavor from the Ben and Jerry ice cream company. In conjunction with John Lennon’s estate, the world will soon be introduced to “Imagine Whirled Peace.” Described as “a caramel and sweet cream whirl of chocolate-covered peace signs and toffee pieces,” you can almost feel your hips expanding just reading about it. In addition, the new dairy delight will be heralded by a re-enactment of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-In for Peace. Well, the whole thing sure got my attention. If there’s two things I love in this world, it’s ice cream, and peace!

For those who might like a refresher, here is A Quickie History of the Bed-In. Back in 1969, when John and Yoko got married, they decided to invite the whole world along on the honeymoon, and turned it into a celebration promoting peace. The media and other invited guests could stop by, hang out - whatev - from nine in the morning ‘til nine at night. John and Yoko greeted everyone, gave interviews etc. in their PJs, all while ensconced in their hotel room bed. The honeymoon Bed-In happened in Amsterdam, but it was so much fun, not to mentioned effective at getting the message out, they decided to hold another one in New York. Of course, there was the small matter of John’s 1968 marijuana conviction, which put the kibosh on a U.S. location (too politically hot) so they went to the Bahamas, but left after one night (too meteorologically hot) and flew to Montreal (you can pretty much always count on Canada to be cooler, meteorologically and politically!). That’s the Bed-In that most people remember, because of the famous video of everybody singing “Give Peace A Chance” (see 18 Feb 2008 post). At the time, Lennon took some flack from the press, who accused him of doing it as a stunt for publicity (what’s wrong with publicizing peace?) and for money. Lennon shot back that if he was in it for money, he could make a lot more in one hour writing a song than he could spending seven days in bed talking about peace (touché!). From there, the whole idea has gone on to become a staple of the pop cultural repertoire, from protests to performance art. The latest reference I could find was dated 2006, by the group Green Day, so you gotta know the association of peace and beds is here to stay. And now, we can add another thing to the list. Ice cream.

Actually, the combination isn’t as far-fetched as you and I might at first think. Ben and Jerry’s is actually one of the more “green" companies out there (and no strangers to social causes like fair trade either). Here’s a taste of what’s on their website (and no, I am not getting any freebies for doing this, darnit) http://www.benjerry.com/our_company/

Meanwhile, the new Imagine Whirled Peace flavor takes its place along with flavors named in honor of other famous musicians, such as Xavier Nougat, Milli Vanilla, Honey Bono, and of course, the B&J all-time best seller, and my personal fave, Cherry Garcia. Beyond that, there’s a who’s who of the famous from Desmond Tutti-Frutti to Candy Warhol to Sherbet Hoover. If there’s a third thing I love in this world, it’s a real goofy pun.

John Lennon, Imagine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg
This is such a lovely video, I think you'd know it was about peace even if you didn't know the song.

Ben and Jerry, Cookie Dough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZzS5co0KfY