The World Remembers John Lennon

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John Lennon’s Death Marked, 31 Years Later
by: Dave Swanson 6 hours ago

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Photo: Harry Benson, Getty Images

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John Lennon would have turned 71 years old this past October, but as we all know, his life was tragically cut short by four bullets from an assassin’s gun. John Lennon died 31 years ago today (Dec. 8).

In these days of instant gratification, instant fame and disposable heroes, it seems almost quaint to acknowledge someone like John Lennon. Real in an unreal world, despite the insane heights of fame he reached, he never seemed like anyone but John Lennon. Sure, that definition may have changed a bit over the years. Certainly the Lennon of 1980 was a somewhat different figure from the Lennon of 1972 or 1964, but through all his life, he was still John.

Musician, singer, songwriter, author, artist, activist … what can be said about the man that hasn’t been said a million times over? From humble and troubled beginnings, Lennon would go on to literally change the world with his music, words, wit and his often open-wound approach to living life.

He and Paul McCartney became the most succesful songwriting team of the 20th century. The two wrote songs that became standards of a generation or two, and though other artists would over time sell more records and play to larger stadiums of fans, no one will ever match the impact of the Beatles. It was a time and place never to happen again. Not bad for a bunch of kids who simply loved playing and writing rock ‘n’ roll songs.

Their constant desire to write better songs, to find new sounds and new ways of doing things moved rock and roll music (and pop culture) in directions no one at the dawn of the 1960′s could have ever imagined. From ‘She Loves You’ to ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ in just over 3 years? Incredible! For that matter, the Beatles entire career was there and gone in the time it now takes most bands to release a second album.

Married at a young age, he and his first wife Cynthis had one son, Julain, but due to the explosion of the Beatles, he was gone for much of Julian’s childhood. In 1968, he met the woman who would become his second wife, Yoko Ono. The two were famously inseperable. John always seemed to follow his heart both musically and personally. His solo catalogue drives like a car on a bumpy road. Some incredible highlights and some highly questionable lows, yet anything but dull.

In the early 1970′s, John & Yoko had moved to New York City, a place he very muched loved. During this era, his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam war and the Nixon administration, led Nixon to attempt to slience him under the watchful eyes of the FBI, ultimately leading to him facing deportation. John dropped out of music altogether when his son Sean was born in 1975, famously playing the role of house husband for five years until the spark to make music struck again in 1980. The resulting album, ‘Double Fantasy’, was released barely a month before he was killed.

In 2011, Lennon’s music lives on stronger than ever. His music, solo and Beatles, is still heard everywhere. It has taken on new life forms and shape-shifted it’s way into the hearts and minds of younger generations along the way. It would be hard to tell someone where to start on a journey through Lennon’s music, but putting your ears to albums like ‘Help,’ ‘Revolver,’ The White Album, ‘Plastic Ono Band’ or ‘Imagine’ certainly wouldn’t be a bad launch pad.

For those of us of, ahem, a certain age, it’s impossible to imagine a world without Lennon or the Beatles. They’ve just always been there as part of our DNA. It’s easy to state that the world would be a much different place had Lennon, McCartney, Harrison & Starr never existed. Hell, I wouldn’t be typing this and chances are, there wouldn’t even be a website like this! It’s almost impossible to overstate their impact on the world at large, let alone the music world.

It’s hard to believe that it has been 31 years since John Lennon was murdered. Murdered, in cold blood on the streets of his favorite city, by a so-called fan. There is still no way to wrap your head around the insanity of that act, but there are plenty of ways to wrap our heads around the joy and excitement Lennon and his music has given the world over the years. And that’s what we choose to remember on this December 8th.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/john-lennons-death-marked...

The Washington Post...

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Posted at 04:07 PM ET, 12/08/2011
John Lennon’s death marked by Yoko Ono, fans worldwide 31 years later
By Sarah Anne Hughes

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John Lennon died 31 years ago today in front of his New York City apartment building, leaving behind a legacy of iconic music and a message of peace.

News of the Beatle’s murder by deranged fan Mark David Chapman was announced to millions of TV viewers by Howard Cosell during “Monday Night Football.” Others, like my mother who was a college student at the time, got a phone call from a friend. She traveled to New York to stand outside The Dakota to grieve with hundreds of others. Today, millions remember his work with the Beatles, as a solo musician and an advocate for a more peaceful world.

Thousands of people have shared tributes on ImaginePeace.com, Yoko Ono’s site dedicated to her late husband. The Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland, a memorial constructed from white stone and 15 beams of light, was turned on in October to mark Lennon’s birthday and will stay lit until tonight. It will be turned on again in late December and again in March. A live stream of the Tower can be seen on the memorial’s site.

Ono, who is in Japan for a tribute concert of Lennon’s pieces, told the Vancouver Sun she still sees her husband working in the world today.

“Now that John's a spirit, he has a different effect on people than when he was alive,” she told the Sun. “Spirits talk on a pure level and don't get distracted by people saying things like, 'That's nice, but why's he wearing that?' ... Of course, it would still be better if John was around.”

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http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/John+Lennon+spirit+still+soars+Yoko+de...

The Vancouver Sun...

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John Lennon’s spirit still soars, Yoko Ono declares
The musician was assassinated 31 years ago today
By Marco R. della Cava, USA Today December 8, 2011

Story
Photos ( 3 )

PHOTO: British musician and drummer in cult band The Beatles, Ringo Starr, flashes the peace symbol as he poses next to his replica “knotted gun” statue for The Non-Violence campaign that he unveiled in London, on Thursday. Starr urged other musicians to join the campaign on December 8, the 31st anniversary of the killing of bandmate John Lennon.

Photograph by: ADRIAN DENNIS, AFP/Getty Images

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John Lennon left this earth on Dec. 8, 1980. But the way Yoko Ono sees it, the Beatle’s joyously populist spectre has never been busier.

“Now that John’s a spirit, he has a different effect on people than when he was alive,” Ono, 78, says during a call from Tokyo, where she’ll attend a concert of Japanese musicians performing her husband’s works.

“Spirits talk on a pure level and don’t get distracted by people saying things like, ‘That’s nice, but why’s he wearing that?’ “ she says in a slightly weary voice that betrays the midnight hour. “Of course, it would still be better if John was around.”

Lennon will be very much around Saturday, when musicians such as Steve Forbert and Marshall Crenshaw gather at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York for the 31st annual John Lennon Tribute concert. Last year’s 30th anniversary show recently appeared on CD and iTunes (Live From the Beacon Theater NYC), and features the likes of Jackson Browne (You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away) and Aimee Mann (Jealous Guy). Both concerts are benefits for the Japanese Red Cross.

“The event has its own power source,” says Joe Raiola, co-founder of the concerts for the non-profit workshop Theatre Within. “You put people in a room and ask them to play John Lennon songs, and people get happy.”

That Lennon catalog has in fact earned standards status, says Simon Vozick-Levinson, associate editor of Rolling Stone. “You can’t overstate Lennon’s importance as an artist or his influence on the culture, whether it’s having his songs covered on American Idol or giving comfort to people in the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

Ono agrees that Lennon’s message is especially timely now. “John was about making the world a better place. He sang Gimme Some Truth, so when I see all the activism out there today, I feel like we will turn the corner soon,” she says.

The conceptual artist will travel next to India for an exhibit of her work; she was recently in England, where she met Queen Elizabeth at the opening of the Museum of Liverpool, the gritty town that gave the world the Fab Four.

Ono says that there isn’t much of her husband’s music that hasn’t been released, adding that last year’s 11-CD John Lennon Signature Box was meant as a permanent record of his oeuvre. While the project was led by Ono, hearing his music summons both magic and pain.

“I play John’s songs all the time, but mainly because (musicians) are asking if they can do this song or that,” she says. “But I don’t listen for pleasure. When I do, it chokes me up to remember when it was written.”

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Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/John+Lennon+spirit+still+soars+Yoko+de...

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/12/john-lennon-31-years-death-ann...

Los Angeles Times...

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John Lennon, killed 31 years ago today
December 8, 2011 | 11:59 am

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John Lennon died 31 years ago Thursday. The man who once wrote "Imagine all the people living life in peace" was shot in the back four times by Mark David Chapman at the entrance to the Dakota in Manhattan, where Lennon was living.

Chapman, who snagged an autograph from Lennon just hours before he killed him, is currently an inmate at New York's Attica Correctional Facility, serving a term of 20 years to life. He's been denied parole multiple times.

Robert Hilburn, a longtime pop music critic for the Los Angeles Times, wrote "Corn Flakes With John Lennon."

Hilburn recalls spending time with Lennon in the 1970s, watching "Johnny Carson" at the Beverly Wilshire and eating "corn flakes with cream" late at night.

"Here's a guy who had everything ... anything was at his disposal, but this childhood thing of corn flakes still gave him comfort."

From Hilburn's book:

I've experienced hundreds of memorable concert and interview moments, so it's hard to rank them in any favorite order, but my final hours with John in New York are certainly on the short list. It was just weeks before his death in December of 1980, and his playing the Summer record was an endearing greeting -- and one that was typical of John. Of the hundreds of musicians I've met, John was among the most down-to-earth.

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