Yoko Ono, famous artist and widow of Beatle John Lennon, spent a solid hour in SL dancing with a hundred people at the inauguration of her SecondLife Imagine Peace Tower. On the occasion of John Lennon's birthday, Yoko Ono travels to Iceland, to the site of the real world Imagine Peace Tower for a lighting ceremony. This year, Yoko started a new annual tradition, joining us in SecondLife to inaugurate her 2nd Imagine Peace Tower, a virtual recreation of the Iceland site. See Apollo Manga's companion iReport for some great photography! http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-339837

Yoko Ono owns an entire SecondLife (SL) region dedicated to her Imagine Peace Tower. Yoko's expert SL builder Bernard Herzog explained that it is a great honor for SecondLife to host the only other Yoko Ono Imagine Peace Tower outside Iceland, where the real life (RL) original shines. Visit Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower in SecondLife here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imagine%20Peace%20Tower/128/128/2

You are probably wondering what Yoko Ono said and did in SL. Yoko made a formal announcement on music stream to light the Peace Tower. Here is a transcript of her unveiling speech:

All spirits of goodness of this magical land, of the planet, and of the universe, thank you, thank you, thank you, for witnessing our humble gathering for the unveiling of IMAGINE PEACE TOWER.

They say, if all the people in China were to jump up and down at the same time, the axis of the globe would shift.

Well, we are here together. Billions of us.
Standing at the dawn of a new age determined to shift the axis of the world to health, peace and joy by loving and caring for all lives on Earth.

Some of us are here physically, some are joining us in spirit.
Some of us are imprisoned, tortured, maimed and silenced, but they are also here today with us.
Some of us have passed away before being able to enjoy a new age of love and peace.

But we are all here today standing together with hope.

The light is the light of wisdom, healing and empowerment.

Even in the moments of confusion, fear and the darkness of your souls,
hold the light in your hearts,
and you will know that you are not alone,
that we are all together in seeing the light of peace.

I thank the people of Second Life, for giving so much love to this tower from its inception.
IMAGINE PEACE TOWER was visualized with love, and realized by love.
It is a gift from John and Yoko and the people of Second Life to the world.
I know that John is with us, too, in this land of Nutopia,
happy that the light tower is finally a reality after 40 years.

Let’s make a wish as the light goes on.
Let’s send light to each other and say I love you!

i ii iii

John, we love you!

--- Yoko Ono Lennon
--- October 2009
--- At the unveiling of IMAGINE PEACE TOWER in Second Life

What happens next is one of the most fun celebrations in SL history. In Picture 3 are imagine peace dancers from left to right: Typote Beck, Perfidia Orsini, Medora Chevalier, Any Gynoid (me! lol), Yoko Ono, Si London, Hugobiwan Zolnir, Sian Starsmith, and Starangler Yoshikawa.

When you visit Yoko's Imagine Peace Tower in SL, you figure out the mystery of why she says "i ii iii." Yoko is and was a famous artist even before she met John. One of her creations is the Onochord, a magical torch that sends a message of love. "i ii iii" denotes a series of flashes of the Onochord which means I Love You. Come round to Image Peace Tower island to get your free SL Onochord, and hear Yoko explain her miraculous artwork in her own words (Picture 6).

Imagine Peace Tower Island also features one of Yoko's most famous participatory artworks, a Wish Tree. You are encouraged to submit a peace wish by Yoko's hand written note (Picture 7). Then the notes are hung on the Wish Tree, and later installed round the Imagine Peace Towers in RL and SL. The RL Wish Tree has received nearly a million peace wishes from Yoko's fans and peace lovers world round. More information about the Wish Trees. http://imaginepeace.com/news/wish

Also, you can relive the days events. See videos of Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower lighting and dance party at these web sites.
Artistide Depres offers this video: http://blip.tv/file/2703352
and Junivers Stockholm has videos at:  http://www.livestream.com/junivers

John Lennon's life and vision is celebrated throughout SL at the SL Imagine Festival, which encourages people to attend Yoko's Imagine Peace Tower lighting. This 3 day events festival runs October 9-11, 2009 this year and includes live shows by hundreds of artists, lecturers, poets, dancers, and live musicians. The core organizers this year comprised a global team: Medora Chevalier (in RL UK), Junivers Stockholm (in RL Sweden), Siri Vita and Cotton Thorne (in RL US), Szavanna Anatra (in RL Africa), and OhMy Kidd (in RL Australia). For SL Imagine Festival, a special stage and immersive art site, Imagine Nest, built by AuraKyo Insoo (Picture 9 for Legend). Imagine Nest includes a unique animated sculpture which is really quite amazing (Picture 10 for Sculpture). Visit the Imagine Festival sculpture at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Four%20Bridges%20North/136/156/1000

More information about Imagine Network, sponsors of SL Imagine Festival at: http://imaginefestival.wordpress.com/
http://imaginenetwork.ning.com

My related iReport about how the global team planned Imagine Festival: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-319011

More information on Yoko Ono's SL initiative at: http://imaginepeace.com/news/archives/8263

Read my related iReport about AuraKyo Insoo's art show: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-337817