Concerts, audio updates as Yoko Ono helps honour John Lennon's 70th birthday

To commemorate John Lennon's 70th birthday, EMI Records has given the Lennon post-Beatles solo career record catalogue an audio update, a project overseen by his wife Yoko Ono, The Australian reported.

In an interview in a hotel suite in Knightsbridge, London, Ono discussed Lennon's birthday and legacy with newspaper.

Ono said she was convinced to make a special effort on Lennon's behalf this year because of the requests she received from all over the globe to attend tribute concerts or other Lennon celebrations.

"I've been getting many letters from around the world saying that 'our town wants to do something to pay tribute to John,'" she said.

"Cities everywhere. It's a great inspiration to me that they wanted to do something. I couldn't go to 200 cities but I can do some, and at least I can send a message or something like that."

Ono performed two shows in Los Angeles last weekend with the re-formed Plastic Ono Band, which was the first vehicle for Lennon and Ono's musical collaboration 31 years ago.

She was joined at those gigs by Lady Gaga, Iggy Pop and her (and Lennon's) son Sean, among others. This weekend she's repeating the process in Reykjavik, Iceland, which is home to the Imagine Peace Tower memorial.

In February she did POB gigs in the US that featured Eric Clapton, one of the original members of the 1969 supergroup.

"I kinda missed John," she said of the February shows, "but to say that isn't really fair on my son Sean, who was really good. He was very caring about my work and I was surprised about that. I was surprised that he knew my work so well."

For all that one senses Ono's integrity in preserving the Lennon legacy in a variety of ways, it is no secret that when it comes to business she can be hard-nosed in protecting her ownership of it.

She continues to be the only non-consenting party in the longstanding negotiations to have the Beatles catalogue made available on iTunes, for example.

The marketing campaign around her late husband's post-Fab-Four output will undoubtedly add more millions to the Ono coffers.