OT: It's December 8 again. RIP John Lennon

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Because it's on my mind: Where were you when you heard the news?

Got any Lennon stories you want to contribute?

He's gone, but he'll never be forgotten.

[vespapod]

Every time I go to NYC and see the memorial in Central Park, I am astonished at the mob of people and flowers on the site....a very peaceful scene...Sockii and I went to the site of the shooting...cant help getting a tear in your eye.

The killer should have been garroted immediately...no trial (you lay somebody on their tummy and tie up their arms then go around the neck and then their ankles....they have to keep their ankles up to keep breathing...eventually they get tired and DIE!....(sorry folks...if you dont have gun control you need the death penalty..PAIN included...no sympathy from this nutter...He killed a great artist)

By the way-garroting comes from Corsica...the home of Henry Padovani--he's French...not Italian...good trivia question..but Napoleon was Corsican and hes Italian...go figure....politics involved!

Merry Christmas!!

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Well, the guy is certified mentally ill - he's a schizophrenic, which is no picnic - and I've heard arguments that Lennon shouldn't have talked in the press about where he lived, he should have hired security, etc.

In fact, in some interview, when asked how long he thought he'd live he said he expected to be "popped off by some loony." Wonder why he didn't think about what he could have done to prevent it, or didn't implement it.

Anyway, Mr. Dive and I visited Abbey Road Studios this fall on our trip to London. LOTS of Lennon-related graffiti, in different languages.

You know, sometimes I do think about the power of art to change the world. In a lot of ways it has more influence than just about anything else.

[Shangeris]

BTW today's Jim Morrison's birthday. I don't actually like his songs, but he was a great artist.

-he's French...not Italian...

I'd rather say he's Corse (or Corsic!?)

[shyvixen]

I was in my bedroom listening to the radio when I heard the news. I remember it vividly, it was so shocking.

[sockii]

I was only 8 years old when John Lennon died, but I absolutely remember the day with vivid clarity. That may seem weird but...The Beatles were my first musical love from the time I was about 3-4 years old. I used to *obsessively* listen to my mother's old Beatles lps (in fact, they were all I wanted to listen to for many years!) and Christmas gifts for me even as a little kid were usually Beatles-related...their new solo lps, posters, books, anything of the kind. I remember getting Double Fantasy as soon as it was released and how much I was listening to it at the time that late summer/fall.

Then I got off the school bus one day in December and the moment I entered the front door, in the kitchen, my grandmother (I lived with my grandparents) told me the news. I didn't know how to react. I remember going into the living room and just watching the fish in our fish tank for a couple hours, because I couldn't deal with anything else or watch the news just yet. At 8 years old, John Lennon was the first person who mattered to me who I had to deal with dying. It was a huge, huge thing in our family. I remember watching Channel 4 NBC news that night out of New York and that was all they talked about. We decorated for Christmas that year solely to Beatles/John music. I still get teary-eyed every year thinking about it.

[vespapod]

I think he wanted to live a simple life in NYC...no security, no chauffers..all that stingo shit...just walk about and enjoy...

[sockii]

I think he wanted to live a simple life in NYC...no security, no chauffers..all that stingo shit...just walk about and enjoy...

Yeah, definitely. Both my mom and my aunt lived in an apartment within a few blocks of John at the time of his death on the Upper West Side...it was pretty much common knowledge in the area that he was just "around" and you might see him in the streets or in the little Italian opera cafe some night around there. And he ended up paying the price for trying to live some kind of normal life.

[njperry]

I heard about it at breakfast the day after. I was in middle school and wasn't a huge Beatles or John fan, but my best friend was. (I later became a serious Beatles fan, a band that only has one rival for the top level of my affections, a 3 piece band with a certain drummer.)

I remember seeing a show on PBS about the incredibly bizarre mind of Mark David Chapman and his obsession with Catcher in the Rye.

We also just passed the 8th anniversary of the passing of George Harrison, on November 29, 2001.

RIP, John and George.

TASTELESS JOKE WARNING:
What is a sure sure that there isn't a god?
When Mark David Chapman fired 5 shots on December 8, 1980, 4 hit John Lennon and none hit Yoko Ono.

[conroy]

I can't believe that next month I'll be the same age Lennon was when he died It seems like it just happened yesterday. I was in 5th grade and remembered that Double Fantasy hadn't been out for very long when it happened.

[ltwoman]

RIP John and George. I'm really going to feel like I've become my parents when Paul or Ringo go. God bless them and watch over them.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

(BTW, Ringo has a new album coming out in January - called 'Y Not'. It's even got Macca on a couple tracks)

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/i ... lbum-y-not

[Pre-Legacy A152]

Thanks for this lovely place for memorials DMOD !
One of the most powerful life lessons was taught to me when John as murdered-in short-the one
about "he who hesitates" . Excitedly,my friends and I read in the Fab fanzines at the time about how
receptive John was to fans at the Dakota in the months that he was coming out of his
"househusband" period to resurface into the pop world with Double Fantasy. We dreamed
of flying from Chicago to New York over Thanksgiving weekend to try to meet him and
attempt to thank him for all the joy the Fabs had brought us all . The crunch for final exams approached
and we talked ourselves out of spending the Xmas budget on airfares, and decided to hope that
the rumors of a tour including South America in early 1981 were true and that we would have a
chance to hear him play live. Late on the night before my American Lit final holed up studying in my room,
my schoolteacher mom decided not to pass along the news from the phone call my hysterical friend
in Texas made to tell me lest I blow the exam the next day. One flick of the radio button the next morning
as I was getting dressed,and life was never the same again.
I vowed I would never miss a chance to hear a Fab play live again. I never did get to hear
George play live. But by budgeting as carefully as i could, all these eons later Ive heard/seen Sir Paul more
than 70 some times, (lost count somewhere on the 03 tour) and Ringo about 30 to 40 - and had a blast
running around with the same bunch of friends doing that for 30 plus years now. Besides being a classical music
geek, I never spent a "music"-penny on any other artists right up until two of those friends needed a ride to
hear a quirky little trio in '81 and invited me to join them intead of just chauffeuring them -you guessed it !
Dear God , the fun and joy we've had - and we owe it all to John-; the "carpe diem" lesson was taught to all of us really, by John's murder - art can certainly change the world by changing people. Thanks for the chance to
remember why we thank God for him every year on October 9th - Happy Crimble to all the Fab fans !!

[Lilrock]

I remember all right. It was like getting kicked in the stomach. My hubby woke me up that morning with the news. Could not believe it. Stayed on the phone all day w/ my brother. He and I worshipped Lennon and were the ultimate Beatlemaniacs back in the day. The 2 times I've been to NY, went to the park and the Dakota and lost it both times, 20 years apart. It was a sad, sad day, week, month, year. I don't think any of us will ever get over it completely.

[ltwoman]

I think it's odd that I can't really recall when/where I heard the news, but it reunited me with my childhood friend who tracked me down and called me the next night. She and I made guitars out of cardboard (the body of the guitar), bamboo (the neck), and the flyers/streamers you used to attach to your bike handles back in the day (the guitar strings). We would play the Beatles on the record player and hold a little concert on her back porch for the neighborhood (I don't remember that we ever had an audience, but we thought we ROCKED!).