Lennon Remembered

Twenty-nine years ago this week, my parents and older brother were sitting around the breakfast table over the newspaper talking about something terrible that had happened to a man I'd never heard of.

"Who's John Lemon?" I finally asked.

Of course, it wasn't John Lemon they were talking about, but rather John Lennon. It was the morning after he was gunned down outside his Upper West Side apartment building in Manhattan. That was how we got news then: in the morning paper, the day after it happened. My brother and father were no doubt more distraught than my mother, who was much more of an Elvis fan; while I was more wrapped up in my embarrassment at having gotten his name wrong ("you idiot, Stimpy!!)

We're one year shy of what is no doubt likely to be a whiz-bang commemoration on the 30th anniversary of his death. Still, it's hard to believe it's been 29 years since the world lost Lennon. He was one of the last great artists and peace activists of my parents' generation to be taken down before his time by a crazed killer.

Here in New York, on Dec. 8 every year, fans gather around the Imagine mosaic in Central Park, just steps from where Lennon was shot, to strum their guitars and sing Lennon songs.

Of course, as we all know (or at least those of us old enough to pronounce "Lennon" properly), the rock legend came to fame as one of the founding members of the Beatles, producing some of the best albums of all time, including Abbey Road, Revolver, The White Album, and Help! during the band's 13-year run.

Lennon was ten years into a solo career during which he produced such iconic songs as "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance" when his life was cut short by Mark David Chapman (who remains in prison to this day.)

It's been a good year for the Lennon's legacy, as MTV notes, with the release of the wildly-popular "Beatles: Rock Band" video game as well as the release of a remastered deluxe box set of the band's complete catalog. Now whole new generations of kids can learn to love the music of John Lemon ... I mean, Lennon.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.