John Lennon, 28 years later

I would be remise if I didn't say something about John Lennon on the anniversary of his death at the hands of a very deranged assassin. Most of us learned of his death from Howard Cossell, who was in the booth of Monday Night Football. Lennon had been a guest on the show a few years back when he and ex President Richard Nixon both appeared in the booth at the same time. One of Cosell's most famous quotes when he told Frank Gifford, "You take the ex President, I've got the ex Beatle." (Well it was something like that.) I'll never forget that December 8th night. I was at my mom's house in NJ. It was a fairly warm night for a December evening. I went out for a run at around 7 or so. There were wispy low lying clouds moving fast through the sky and the moon was pretty bright. I noticed the silhouettes of the tree branches reaching up into the evening sky; it created an eerie feeling, reminding me of some black and white horror flicks I had seen. As I was running through a park, I thought that something bad usually happens on nights like this. When I got back to my mom’s house, which itself had the essence of horror house, I settled in to watch Monday Night football. Well, when I first heard that John Lennon’s had been shot, I was hoping it was a mistake. If he was shot, I was praying he would be ok. Then came the news of his death. There was no internet, no CNN or MSNBC. If I remember correctly, all my mom had was just the over the air stations, 2,4,5,7,9,11. When it really hit me, I remember calling an old HS friend who lived in Washington and cried. Why I called that person is also a little sketchy. I finally went to bed late and devastated. On the next Saturday I played touch football with a few friends in Central Park. On Sunday I had decided to attend the memorial service for Lennon in Central Park. I went with a lady friend and it was a pretty cold day, much like it is today. My body was sore and the coldness of the day didn’t help. I stood there aching and stiff shivering as the cold reached into my bones. There were thousands gathered on the same lawn which I had played football the day before. Today, there were no such games being played. I remember the somber mood of the people that had gathered. Both the day before and before the memorial I had walked by the Dakota and saw the memorials had left at the entrance where Lennon had been shot. There was still the continuous vigil of people paying their respects across the street in the park, with Lennon songs being played on tape decks. At both the Dakota and the memorial service, there wasn’t any shouting or excess noise. A few people had banners, but the mood was solemn and everyone there seemed to be in some kind of extended shock. The one noise I do remember during the whole time was the rotors of the helicopters that hovered overhead, which bothered me. Other than the intrusion of the helicopters, I will never forget the respect of those gathered. I hadn’t ever felt like that before or since. I have read almost all of the books written about the Beatles. I have almost a complete catalog of their music as a band and single artists. One article still stands out, especially today. There had been an article about Lennon and Yoko that was in the Sunday NY Times, just prior to his death that coincided with the release of Double Fantasy. What struck me about the article was that I was impressed with where John & Yoko were at. He was totally in love with Yoko and of his time raising Sean. He was also confident about the album and I had a sense he was at peace with who he was and where he was at this time of his life. He wasn’t making apologies about his past or even the future. This record was a statement of who John Lennon was in 1980. After taking time away from the spotlight to raise Sean, he felt it was time to make music again and the music he made was pretty good. He always had an uncanny way of putting his life into the words and music of his songs. It was like he was letting you get a peek into the inner core of John Lennon. When you look back at his catalog of songs, you can see, he put his life out there on his sleeve. Every year, on this date, those feelings of loss and shock come crashing back and I take a step back. I play Lennon and Beatle music. I remember how great the person John Lennon was and how he has inspired us to believe that anything is possible if we just try.

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