Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?

Subject: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:22 PM

Radio reminded me that Lennon was killed 19 years ago, today. They played Imagine in his memory. That was a day I will never forget. As soon as I heard, I went out and bought his last interview, which was in Playboy and the last album he made, which was with Yoko. Then my girlfriend and I took a bottle, went out to Roger's and my mini-ranch and got drunk, crying and listening to John sing. We've been in touch every years since then on this date.

Where were you?

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: MMario
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:31 PM

working. actually didn't hear about it for about two days because I pulled a double shift, went home, crashed and then had the next day off....

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Matt
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:39 PM

I was headed to Bakersfield Sound Studios for a rehearsal with my brother Mike and our two friends William and Jim. Their responses were stunned disbelief. We played on, each of us silent between songs.

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Vixen
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:42 PM

I was driving to work, listening to WNBC and Imus...I couldn't believe it. Can't believe it's been 19 years either.

All good artists die. So do mediocre and bad artists, but I don't seem to miss their creative spark as much.

V

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Willie-O
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:50 PM

Went on a cross-country skiing solo bush-whack deep in the woods near Algonquin Park. Over the hill from Lake St. Peter, eventually came to MacKenzie Lake, skiied from one end to the other, jesus was it cold. 10-15 below F. Stopped and tried to start a fire at the edge of the lake--couldn't get it going and my hands were turning red (right before they turn blue) striking matches. So I gave up and kept going. My destination was the house of friends about a mile up the road from the north shore, people I always liked visiting. They had no power line or phone so when you showed up there it was an event. Got there maybe five o'clock. My friend Karen was alone in the house--first thing she said was "I've been listening to the radio. John Lennon is dead!"

There ain't no getting away from it all.

Bill

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Mbo
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:50 PM

I was lying in a crib in Philadelphia, no doubt.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: MMario
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:58 PM

Mbo - three years old and you weren't out of your crib? Shame on you!

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 03:03 PM

I didn't think John Lennon was particularly important to me; but for some reason, his death does stick in my memory. The candlelight vigil for him in downtown Sacramento is an image that comes to mind more often than I'd expect. Why is the memory of Lennon's death stronger in my mind than the 1993 death of Cesar Chavez, for example?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Mbo
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 03:08 PM

I probably was, but since this was at my grandparents' rather small row house, I slept in a crib. They also probably kept me in there to keep me out of trouble. I was obsessed with cars in those days, or "car-cars" as I called them, and would stand outside, correctly identifying vehicles as they went past. It was the first snow I had ever seen, and my mother was like "Look at the snow, Matthew!" And I was going "Dump truck. Cement mixer. Ooh, tractor-trailer." Sorry, music didn't come along until a LOT later. But don't feel bad about John Lennon, folks. I don't particularly like him, but all I have to say is, he's free as a bird, because it's the only way to be.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Mbo
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 03:15 PM

Help folks, I'm suffering from a severe case of CRS, like poor ol' Bert. In December 1980, I was in a bed (yes, a bed) in Camp Pendleton, California. My fear of tall trees had just started. What ever happened to the days that we once knew? They always made me feel so freeeeeeeee...

--Mbo (love that song)

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: InOBU
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 03:25 PM

That was one of the mornings that having a radio alarm clock was not blessing. My wife and I, living in NY, awoke to a single sentence, John Lennon has been shot and died at the hospital. For thouse of our generation, the shock has profound, perhaps as much as the day, over the school PA, the anouncement that President Kennidy was shot. As to you who were too young, and how time flies. I went to law school, later in life. A number of us grey headed students used to hang around one end of the coffie lounge. One day, the Kennidy assasination came up, and we spoke of the effect of the PA, anouncement. The youngest student at the table, who we never thought of as much younger than the rest of us, said, You guys had PAs in school then! So did we, I remember when I was in third grade (or so) and I heard that the space shuttle had exploded. Most of us, as adults when that happened, felt it was only the other day, and suddunly felt about 30 years older then a moment before. I guess we messure time by our survival of these horrible moments. Emagine that. Larry

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Wesley S
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 03:30 PM

I was watching Monday night football if my memory serves me well. I was sitting with my fiancee { I miss Lennon - not her } and my roomate heard it on the radio and came out to tell us. It was reported on the football game a few minutes later by Howard Cosell I think.

Interesting - We just drove by the Dakota last Saturday while on vacation and it gave me a chill to think that his life ended on that spot. What a waste.

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: JedMarum
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 03:32 PM

I was standing in the driveway of a residence site we were working, on Route 20 just east of Sudbury Massachusetts. I had been hauling 8 to 10 yard truckloads of bank gravel into this site all day, dumping a load, and zooming back to the pit to pick up another. My boss was running the dozer and spreading the fill, but on one trip late that morning he motioned for me to come and talk to him. He had a radio in hand, and they were just repeating the news story; John Lennon had been killed by a lone assassin.

John had probably reached his creative peak some years before, and I had heard that he had developed an unhealthy lifestyle in those final years (perhaps his sudden death was a blessing for him) - still I was sad that this man was murdered. Cut down so bloodily and senselessly.

I must say, though, that John's life, (his work) affected me much more than his death. He and the Beatles had a major impact on the world we live in today - perhaps more as harbingers or even catalysts rather than the causes of change - but their influence was significant. I am sorry we lost John in the manner we did, but happy we had the benefit of his music from his early years. He has left behind a wonderful legacy!

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Melodeon
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 04:20 PM

I spent the day grieving for the loss of my youth while caring for my six month old son who had rubella at the time. strangely he is now a great lover of Lennon's music if not his message.

Viv

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 04:48 PM

I was awakened by the news by my clock radio, went to school, dazed and tearstained, and broke down and had to be helped out of assembly by a friend..... My older brother had been a great fan, I sort of grew up with John, Paul, George and Ringo as additional elder brothers. When I heard John was dead, it was like losing my own brother again, at an age when I could understand it more. Strangely enough, it resolved a lot of the anger and grief I had, but never really understood from when my brother died when I was 9 and he 17.

LTS

Subject: Lyr Add: IMAGINE (John Lennon)
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 05:10 PM

Posted just because:

IMAGINE
John Lennon
As recorded by John Lennon on "Imagine" (1971)

1. Imagine there's no heaven.
It's easy if you try:
No hell below us,
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
Living for today. I—

2. Imagine there's no countries.
It isn't hard to do:
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too.
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace. You—

CHORUS: You may say I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us,
And the world will be as one.

3. Imagine no possessions.
I wonder if you can:
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world. You—

CHORUS: You may say I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 05:40 PM

I can't remember where I was or what I was doing at the time and I can't say that the loss of a star's life (even if they are murdered like that) has ever been of any special concern to me because of who they are. I tend to be more concerned about people I know, know of or have some form of connection with... than this sort of death (although naturally, I wouldn't have wanted his or anybody elses life to end like that).

Jon

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 05:46 PM

It was his music which connected me to him, Jon. It just seemed a terrible waste for it to end that way.

I just called my friend whom I mentioned above. She'd called me this a.m. when neither one of us remembered it was today. I mentioned it to her this afternoon; told her I almost called her back this a.m. and told her to have a drink for old memories's sake. She was pretty stunned. Seems she almost called ME back, this morning, still not knowing the significance of the day, to say she was bringing some wine up and having lunch with me. Nice to have that kind of connection.

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Áine
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 05:56 PM

That was indeed a horrible day. A few hours after hearing about John's death, I got a call from my mother telling me that my cousin had been murdered. My cousin was a beautiful girl who could sing, dance, write poetry, and had just gotten her first part in a movie.

It was a season of waste and a winter of want.

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Willie-O
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 06:01 PM

Thread creep: You know, come to think of it, when the Challenger blew up I was warming up in the car, having just made several attempts to survey a lot line in a woodlot near Cornwall Ontario in weather that I think was even colder than where I was when Lennon was shot. (Of course, that's why the Challenger blew up). I think I should quit going out in the woods when it's too cold!

scary to think I control the world after all. wish I'd known sooner.

Bill

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: MK
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 06:26 PM

I was living alone, in an apartment in central Toronto, struggling to make ends meet as a professional musician, and had just gotten up. I was heading up the street to go to a restaurant for breakfast and as I was passing a newpaper box, I saw the headline, which stopped me dead in my tracks. I purchased a newspaper and stood there on the street reading the entire story with tears streaming down my face. I was in complete disblief and utter shock and I felt like I had lost one of my best friends. I remember this like it was yesterday. It took me months to get over it, emotionally.

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: InOBU
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 06:32 PM

Further thread creep... the night the challenger blew up, a friend of mine from Derry and I went onto his roof, our legs hanging over the edge, too bloody high up, big high teniment, and we passed a too big jug of Yugoslavian wine back and forth, crying, it was raining, and Tony T-Bags kept saying over Fuckin doggie gone, Teacher fuckin doggie gone - doggie gone,
then we would have a wee barf between our legs, over the side of the roof and have another glup, amazing I survived my twenties.

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: emily rain
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 07:52 PM

richfield, MN. age 5.

naturally i wasn't devestated, though i'm sad now looking back on it. : )

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 08:05 PM

strange...I know exactly where I was for the Challenger, MLK, JKF, RFK and FDR!!(I was 6, and my mother was crying)...but Lennon--I guess I just read the newspaper and said "gosh"...he simply was not a part of my life and conciousness the way the others were..he WAS a major cultural icon to many, but not to everyone

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Callie
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 08:08 PM

Aine, how terrible that happened to you. Makes all the fuss about Lennon's death seem trivial when faced with such personal tragedy.

I remember the event clearly. I was 12 and just becoming obsessed with music, esp the Beatles.

I was travelling with my much older cousin and we were in Melbourne Australia. She went out partying and left me in the motle room whcih had mirrors on every wall. It was really freaky and I had a sleepless night trying NOT to think about the creepy stories I'd read where creepies come into the room through the mirror to get you. Next morning I heard Lennon had been shot and I was tired and emotional!

By the way, in Australia they have a tv ad for Nike shoes to the song "Instant Karma" which I think is pretty vile. Anything to make a buck these days.

Callie

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Bugsy
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 09:01 PM

Where was I on that day?

Well I was in Australia, thousands of miles from the USA.

It must have been someone else did it.

CHeers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 09:08 PM

Bugsy you miserable Aussie bastard!!! I read this entire thread and was thinking, "Oh yeah, I got the smart-ass response all planned." And I get to the LAST POST...YOU...and I felt the shaft from down under....and that's a painful place to be stabbed!!!!

Good line man....even if I was gonna use it myself!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 09:32 PM

Funny how different events effect us. I remember Challenger blowing up but I have far more vivid memories of an RAF helicopter from RAF Valley, Angelsey, North Wales carrying young cadets going down in a spiral and sinking into the lake (it was captured on video by somebody and was shown on local TV).

Jon

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Gint
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 09:36 PM

I had just come off shift on a ship as a croupier and on my way home in the car, it wasn't until I got out of the car until it hit

More of a shock

A bit of a thread creep but

I was living in a commune in Kent England (yeh old hippy me)and it was my turn to visit the local shop about 2 miles away, pick up the fortnightly paper a treat a bottle of milk and the post.

I walked into the shop saw the paper, bought it, went back qand said Elvis is dead.

No one talked much for about a week and most of the songs sung at night were dismal

how life changes I would now celabrate his life not sorrow because of his death

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Bugsy
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 09:37 PM

Thanks 'Spaw, you're a real gentleman.

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Áine
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 10:10 PM

It's me again, with a little thread creep myself -- but it's kinda relevant --

Years after John's death, I went to a concert by his son, Julian, with a girlfriend. We were late getting there, and we ran across the street -- against the red light -- to get to the concert hall. A long white limo almost hit us -- just missed us by inches. The limo pulled around the corner and stopped. The darkened window rolled down, out pops Julian Lennon's head. He sticks his arm out the window and shakes his finger at the pair of us and says, 'Now girls, you be more careful than that now, all right? See you inside.'

Totally bizarre.

And thank you, Callie. My heart has healed, as much as it can. I was closer to my cousin than even my own sister. She was a beautiful person and artist that deserved a much longer life than she was allowed. Every song I sing, I sing for her. She will live in my heart for as long I live, and I thank God that I was allowed the gift of her love.

With every good prayer, Áine

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: Patrish(inactive)
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 10:29 AM

A bit of a thread creep here.....
I remember sitting on the carpet doing a jigsaw of a medieval jousting tournament, when the phone rang, and my Mum then told my Dad that his mum - my Nana had died. It is almost 33 years to the day. It was the first time I saw my father cry. It was the first time I appreciated what death meant. It took me 31 years to forgive my nana for dying. I felt as if time stood still for me all those years ago, I was so angry and stunned.
My Nana was the world to me, she introduced me to folk music, sugar and rhubarb, and dolly mixtures. When someone famous dies, I feel very much for their relatives, because it all becomes so public. In some ways that must be a comfort because anyone who has ever lost a loved one must find it hard to understand how people go on living normally. ( I can remeber thinking how can the milk just be delivered.....my mum has just died..!! but it is the way... life goes on) So when John Lennon or Princess Diana died there is a great outpouring of grief, but ite the private getting on with you life that is the real hurdle.

sorry if I have gotten a bit emotional about this

kindest regards
Patrish

Subject: RE: Where were U 19yrs ago- Lennon was shot?
From: JedMarum
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 10:48 AM

Áine - touching words for your cousin's memory, and it is clear she lives today in your words, songs and heart.