This is my new avatar for John Lennon. December 8th 1980

[giovanni]

Well, how can I forget?
Let It Be is one of the records I grew up with, and the first one I loved of The Beatles; I was just 4 years old when it came out, but I do remember very well when my sisters bought it and played it at home for hours and hours...a year later I got my first drumset as a Christmas gift (thank you Mum and Dad), and started keeping the beat on tracks by Led Zeppelin, The Stones, Deep Purple, Grandfunk Railroad, Bowie, and a few years later a band called The Police shocked me from the first time I saw them on tv jumping and dancing in the dressing room of a backstage, the song was 'Message In A Bottle'...Listening to Reggatta De Blanc I got in love with another instrumenti, the guitar, as I felt like my hands wanted to try and play that incredible music...some time later I friend of mine asked me if I wanted to play the bass in his band, and when I embraced the bass for the first time, well...it was love at first note.
Years have passed; drums, guitar and bass are still part of my life, as well as LET IT BE, that is in my blood, in my veins, in my heart, in my soul, with all the music that came after that...magic moments.
If John and George have left, their music will never never never disappear from my life, and is helping me a lot in these days, together with a lot of other records that I regularly listen to, as I'm experiencing something personal very difficult to face, but with that magical energy that music can give, I feel enough strong to keep going on with my eyes open and with a smile in my heart.

[Throb]

What a beautiful post. Funny, I to was 4 years old when Let it Be was released and oh how I remember the same feeling listening to 8 tracks of the Beatles in my best friend’s garage. The same best friend who started banging a drum set and later we discovered The Police together….

Peace and love on this sad day.

[smax]

word.

i made some rash comment somewhere a while ago about finding alot of his stuff unlisten-to-able, so i've been listening to some more of his stuff....... and reviewing my opinion, a bit.

nobody told me there'd be days like these. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBCdlBrgEmE

i remember watching, as a 6 year old, as John Craven informed the uk's kids on Newsround (kiddies TV news show) of his death... probably the first "where were you when?" moment of my life.

[Kim]

I think I was too young to really appreciate him. I didn't like his solo material but I do like the Beatles. I remember my dad waking me up the next morning with the news.

[HalcyonLisa]

that is such an amazing tribute Gio <3

my mum really didnt approve of me listening to all the new loud, brash music that was around when I was a teenager, when I was playing my So Lonely album I was greeted with raised eyebrows and tuts and sighs from my mum

you see she had brought me up listening to With The Beatles and Help and Rubber Soul and my favourite as a child Sgt Pepper. My mums favourite Beatle was Paul McCartney, she said he was good looking, mine was John Lennon because he was a bit of a rebel and had something meaningful to say, he also came from a broken home & I knew how that felt. When he sang about Giving Peace a Chance I wanted to go on those CND rallies that they were showing on the TV, I wanted to go so badly, I was 10...

I was in high school, I was 13 the day he died, full of teenage hormones, I cried in Geography class, my friends didn't know who he was, they only knew Adam Ant & Boy George, they didn't understand that their generation and the next had been robbed of a genius

[ltwoman]

I hope John has found peace at last. RIP John Winston Lennon.

[kmart]

Giovanni,

I thought your post was excellant. I could tell it was thoughtful and from the heart. I hope your personal issues are resolved.

KMART

[giovanni]

>I hope your personal issues are resolved.
Thank you KMart...but unfortunately they won't, I'm dealing with my mum's illness and I guess (as I already know) that in a few months, if not weeks, she will say goodbye to this world.
I'm feeling ok, anyway.

[moonstone]

[quote="giovanni"]If John and George have left, their music will never never never disappear from my life, and is helping me a lot in these days, together with a lot of other records that I regularly listen to, as I'm experiencing something personal very difficult to face, but with that magical energy that music can give, I feel enough strong to keep going on with my eyes open and with a smile in my heart.[/quote]

I think that's what makes music magic.

It sees us through the best and the worst times in our lives and sometimes just makes the unbearable more, well if not bearable, at least more understandable.

Love and Hugs to you Gio. X

[Horacio]

Close my eyes and I´m sending a very energetic atom of true love to Lennon in the sky.
And another to your mum.
Nice day,ragazzo!

[Divemistress of the Dark]

SO sorry to hear that, Gio. Let us know if there's anything we can do.

Some of us were talking about JWOL and virtually lighting candles on Facebook last night. I had thought I was really not going to focus on memories of 12/8/80 but I just couldn't help it - especially since there were Lennon tributes all over TV, radio, online.

As a person who's been hugely influenced by his work, I can't really avoid thinking about 12/8/80, because that's the only real memory I have of him - intertwined with how excited I was when 'Double Fantasy' came out. I had been in the midst of wearing out the grooves on the copy of it my folks had bought me when I heard the news. (First thought it was just some sick joke the kids at school were playing on me - all my life I've heard how "different" and "weird" I am. Now I'm damn proud of it, but as a kid in school it wasn't always as much fun, and my schoolmates knew how much I loved the Beatles, and John in particular.)

In fact, I think I've loved him (and his whole family) so much *because* he sort of lit the way on how to be different, weird, and proud of it. On top of being brilliant, he was so courageous - did things his own way and told people to get lost if they didn't want to be a part of it.

You know, though, there just isn't anything we can do (short of remembering him, and being cool to each other, and donating to various nonprofit groups in his name - which I already did in October, on his birthday.) I don't think he'd want the world to sit around moping - he was very practical - I think he'd have wanted us to get on with things, already.

So yesterday afternoon I went and did about 30% of what's turning out to be a pretty good painting. I think that's how we honor him - by paying it all forward. Sounds corny but I'm really not sure he's dead, in a sense, since so many millions of people were moved by him to make the world a better place.

Just some $.02. DD

(Oh, and - my avatar is a 12"x20" drawing of him I did earlier this year. I have another one I finished in 1987. I've been told I should sell this, along with the one I drew of Paul McCartney, but I'm not sure I'm ready to do that yet....)

[sockii]

I wrote about my impressions of John Lennon and his passing in an article over the weekend. For those who might be curious:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... tml?cat=33

Although I was only 8 years old at the time, it DID affect me deeply. I was already a hardcore Beatles fan thanks to my mother, in fact theirs was the only music I would listen to for the most part at that age. Lennon's murder was the first time someone I cared about (be it from a distance or closer) had died so it was a real turning point for me.

Watching some of the video this week replaying those old newscasts from Dec 1980 has been really freaky. I literally remembered seeing some of those scenes on local New York tv and it just...almost was too much. Then Pierre Robert did a beautiful tribute to John on WMMR in Philly yesterday that totally killed me.

It was weird, and sad, also realizing that so many of my younger friends have never known a world in which John Lennon was alive.

[Kim]

>I hope your personal issues are resolved.
Thank you KMart...but unfortunately they won't, I'm dealing with my mum's illness and I guess (as I already know) that in a few months, if not weeks, she will say goodbye to this world.
I'm feeling ok, anyway.

I'm so sorry... We are here for you.

[zilboy]

Wow - am I an idiot! My world has been in such chaos this week that would you believe I forgot! Last weekend, I had the flu, Tuesday my chorus gave their holiday concert, then my wife sprains her foot...

And last night we were watching RAIN (Beatles Tribute) on PBS and STILL it didn't dawn on me!

I was a sophomore in high school on that day and even though I was only faintly familiar with their/his work, I knew the world would never be the same.

He was brilliant, unique and courageous. He never suffered fools gladly. He spoke his mind and told the truth and put it all into perspective.

May he at last be enjoying the peace he sought for so long.

[English-lion]

Sorry to hear about your Mum Gio celebrate the time you have together