Dec. 8, 1980 - 25 Years...What a Loss...JOHN LENNON

[Ireneparalegal]

I was 15 years old when he was murdered. I cried. It was the first time I had ever cried for the death of someone who was famous, well-known, whatever label you want to put on him. He was a legend. He was a man. He was a musician who left us with many special songs. Some with the Beatles, the rest with his wife, Yoko. It doesn't seem it's been 25 years, but it will be. I miss him so. May he rest in peace.

[eltonfan80]

yea it was a sad day i don't remember becuase i was only 9 months old but my parents told me about it

[Steve M.]

I read somewhere that a Soviet invasion of Poland - the Pope's homeland - was in the works for December 5 or 8, 1980. Imagine if that had actually happened - it would have made an already bad time (Reagan had just been elected President) far worse! :(

[cheers freak]

Well I wasn't born yet but its still a sad day for me as John Lennon is one of my heroes. He was such a brilliant man and fought for many causes I believe in to this day. The most important being of course: PEACE. With the state of the world today we need more people like him.

[Shine]

This was a very sad day in the history of music. :(

[Ireneparalegal]

You are all so right. Such a great man, and his desire for Peace, is probably the thing that sticks out in my mind the most abt him. Such a simple man who wanted nothing but Peace in this world. I remember an interview he did saying he chose to live in the U.S. as opposed to his homeland because he loved the way he had freedom to walk around and be at peace, he could be left alone and even if people did approach him for a pic or autograph, it was done with courtesy. He said his fans weren't rude or obtrusive. How sad, that this freedom he loved so much is the very thing that killed him. A maniac goes right up to him and kills him. FOR WHAT?????? Stupid a$$.

[EmoJoe]

I wasnt born yet but its sad :(

[Karen*]

That's so sad. :( My senior yearbook quote is from his great song "Imagine"

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

[tv star collector]

I was 15 years old when he was murdered. I cried. It was the first time I had ever cried for the death of someone who was famous, well-known, whatever label you want to put on him. He was a legend. He was a man. He was a musician who left us with many special songs. Some with the Beatles, the rest with his wife, Yoko. It doesn't seem it's been 25 years, but it will be. I miss him so. May he rest in peace.
I was 33 years old. I remember opening the newspaper and there it was on the
front page. The headline read "The Dream Is Over." Oddly, I never turned on
the television that morning. I guess I was in too much of a state of shock. I
was a teenager when The Beatles came to America and the birth of "Beatlemania" began. John was a strange man of many contradicitions, as
geniuses often are. His living legacy is his music. And we can only imagine
how much more he might have given us had he lived. R.I.P.

[Ireneparalegal]

I had just purchased the 45 record "Starting Over". It was an awesome song. It still is. I felt like a knife had been plunged into my heart.

[tv star collector]

That's the saddest part, I think. John was just getting his personal life and his
professional life put back together. Such a senseless tragedy.

[Jrnygrl]

I had just purchased the 45 record "Starting Over". It was an awesome song. It still is. I felt like a knife had been plunged into my heart.

Irene I have a friend who bought the Double Fantasy album the day he was killed and she has never opened it. It is still in the shrink wrap.

[Ireneparalegal]

Irene I have a friend who bought the Double Fantasy album the day he was killed and she has never opened it. It is still in the shrink wrap.
OMG, what a treasure she has. I wish I had the sense to have done that. I love John Lennon. I want a bigger house so I can hang large pics of him, like in a family room or something. I seen some really nice ones at one of the memorabilia stores we have. It's such a huge store and they have so many diff. things of John Lennon.

[phoebe7165]

That's the saddest part, I think. John was just getting his personal life and his
professional life put back together. Such a senseless tragedy.

So, so true.

Extreme has a song called "Peacemaker Die" and there's a line in it that goes, 'Peacemaker die, hey Mr. Music man, don't turn your back on me, because I'm the one with the gun.'

Such a tremendous loss to the world.

[rusyd]

I was 17 years old when he was murdered. I remember my sister waking me up to tell me he had been shot and my heart just sank. It was a terrible loss.:(

[Ireneparalegal]

:(

[rusyd]

I used to have the Statue of Liberty pic on my wall in my apartment years ago.:)

[musicradio77]

John Lennon has ben dead for 25 years. I hope you fans would love to have an aircheck of Dan Ingram where he does mornings on Musicradio WABC on the day after John Lennon was shot to death in a Dakota building near Central Park. I found this aircheck off of Allan Sniffen's Musicradio WABC website. This was from December 9th, 1980:

Click here to listen (http://musicradio.computer.net/images/ing12-9-80.ram)

[Dr. Jazz]

John Lennon's Death Lingers for Witnesses


By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer
12/04/05



NEW YORK - A television news producer. An emergency room doctor. Two NYPD beat cops. Before that December night 25 years ago, they shared little but this: As children of the '60s, the soundtrack of their lives came courtesy of the Beatles.

Alan Weiss, a two-time Emmy winner before his 30th birthday, was working at WABC-TV. His teen years were the time of "Revolver" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." In his 20s, Weiss admired John Lennon's music and politics.

Dr. Stephan Lynn was starting his second year as head of the Roosevelt Hospital emergency room. He remembered the Beatles playing "The Ed Sullivan Show," although he didn't quite get the resultant hysteria.

Officer Pete Cullen, with partner Steve Spiro, did the night shift on Manhattan's Upper West Side. They'd occasionally run into Lennon walking through the neighborhood with his son, Sean. "The Beatles were a big part of my life," Cullen said.

On the night of Dec. 8, 1980, Lynn was in the ER, Weiss was heading home from the newsroom, Cullen and Spiro were on the job — and Mark David Chapman was lurking outside Lennon's home.

The chubby man with the wire-rimmed glasses stood patiently in the dark outside the Dakota apartment house. He carried a copy of "The Catcher In the Rye," the J.D. Salinger tale of disaffected youth, and a five-shot Charter Arms .38-caliber revolver.

Lennon, just two months past his 40th birthday, returned from a midtown Manhattan recording studio at 10:50 p.m with wife Yoko Ono. The limousine stopped at the ornate 72nd Street gate; John and Yoko emerged. Chapman's voice, the same one that had beseeched the ex-Beatle for an autograph hours earlier, rang out: "Mr. Lennon!"

The handgun was leveled at the rock world's foremost pacifist. Four bullets pierced their famous target.

The voice of a generation was reduced to a final gasp: "I'm shot."

"Do you know what you just did?" screamed the Dakota's doorman.

"I just shot John Lennon," Chapman replied softly.

___

THE COPS

Back in 1965, while still in the Police Academy, 23-year-old Pete Cullen's first real assignment was working security outside the Warwick Hotel on West 54th Street. Upstairs, safe from the insanity below, were the Beatles.

Fifteen years later, the officer was staring at a dying John Lennon within minutes after Chapman opened fire. Cullen and Spiro were first to answer the report of shots fired.

Cullen was struck by the lack of movement: the doorman, a building handyman and the killer, all standing as if frozen.

"Somebody just shot John Lennon!" the doorman finally shouted, pointing at Chapman.

"Where's Lennon?" Cullen asked. The rock star was crumpled inside a nearby vestibule, blood pouring from his chest. There were bullet holes in the glass; Cullen went to Lennon's side as Spiro cuffed the gunman.

Two other officers lugged Lennon's limp body to a waiting police car, which sped downtown to Roosevelt Hospital. The cuffed suspect directed Spiro to his copy of "The Catcher in the Rye," which was lying on the ground nearby with the inscription, "This is my statement." And then he spoke: "I acted alone," Chapman said.

"That blew my mind," said Spiro, who suddenly felt like he was in a movie. The veteran officer later thought about Lennon's 5-year-old son, Sean, who was sitting a few floors above. Spiro had a boy the same age.

In the midst of the chaos, Cullen spotted Yoko Ono. "Can I go, too?" she asked as her husband disappeared. A ride was quickly arranged. Cullen and Spiro then loaded Chapman into their car for a trip to the 20th Precinct.

"He was apologetic," Cullen recalled — but not for shooting Lennon. "I remember that he was apologizing for giving us a hard time."

___

THE PRODUCER

As the wounded Lennon made the one-mile trip to Roosevelt Hospital, Alan Weiss was already there. The TV news producer's Honda motorcycle collided with a taxi around 10 p.m., and he was awaiting X-rays.

A sudden buzz filled the room: A gunshot victim was coming in.

The ER doors opened with a crash as a half-dozen police officers burst through, carrying a stretcher with the victim. Doctors and nurses flew into action. Two of the cops paused alongside Weiss' gurney.

"Jesus, can you believe it?" one asked. "John Lennon."

Weiss was incredulous. He bribed a hospital worker $20 to call the WABC-TV newsroom with a tip that Lennon was shot. The money disappeared, and the call was never made.

Five minutes passed, and Weiss heard a strangled sound. "I twist around and there is Yoko Ono in a full-length fur coat on the arm of a police officer, and she's sobbing," he said. Weiss finally persuaded another cop to let him use a hospital phone, and he reached the WABC-TV assignment editor with his tip around 11 p.m.

The editor confirmed a reported shooting at Lennon's address. Weiss returned to his gurney, watching in disbelief as the doctors frantically worked on the rock icon. A familiar tune came over the hospital's Muzak: the Beatles' "All My Loving."

It was surreal. And then too real.

"The song ends. And within a minute or two, I hear a scream: `No, oh no, no no no,'" Weiss said. "The door opens, and Yoko comes out crying hysterically."

Weiss' tip was confirmed and given to Howard Cosell, who told the nation of Lennon's death during "Monday Night Football."

___

THE DOCTOR

Dr. Stephan Lynn walked to the end of the emergency room hall where Yoko Ono was waiting in an otherwise empty room. It was his job to deliver the word that John Lennon, her soulmate and spouse, was dead.

"She refused to accept or believe that," Lynn recalled. "For five minutes, she kept repeating, `It's not true. I don't believe you. You're lying.'"

Lynn listened quietly.

His 15 1/2-hour shift had ended at 10:30 p.m., with Lynn returning to his home in Lennon's neighborhood. His phone was soon ringing; could he come back to help out? A man with a gunshot to the chest was coming to Roosevelt.

Lynn arrived by cab just before his patient did. The victim had no pulse, no blood pressure, no breathing. Lynn, joined by two other doctors, worked frantically. Gradually, they came to realize that they were trying to save the life of one of the world's most famous men.

Twenty minutes later, they gave up.

Ono left the hospital to tell her son the news, leaving Lynn to inform the media throng that Lennon was gone.

Back in the emergency room, Lynn arranged for the disposal of all medical supplies and equipment used on Lennon — a move to thwart ghoulish collectors.

It was almost 3 a.m. when he began walking home up Columbus Avenue. His wife and two daughters were there; one of them attended the same school as Lennon's son Sean. Many nights, the Lynns and the Lennons sat in the same restaurant eating sushi. Often, the famous family strolled down 72nd Street.

That world was gone along with Lennon.

"I never again saw Yoko and Sean walking the streets," the doctor said. "Going out in public? That ceased to take place."

___

Yoko Ono never remarried, and still lives in the Dakota. She tends to the Lennon legacy, which includes convincing the state parole board that Chapman should die behind bars. He comes up for parole next year.

The cops from the 20th Precinct hold a reunion every two years. Cullen comes up from his home in Naples, Fla., to hang out with the old gang. They don't talk about the Lennon shooting.

Weiss, after getting the scoop of his career, wound up leaving the ultra-competitive news business. "The major events of my professional career all had to do with other people's tragedy," he said. He now produces a syndicated show with teens reporting the news for teens.

Lynn is still working at Roosevelt Hospital, still the director of the department. As Dec. 8 approaches each year, he gets phone calls from reporters, from fans, from kids born years after Lennon's murder.

"It's hard to imagine it's 25 years," he said.

Imagine.

[Jrnygrl]

John Lennon has ben dead for 25 years. I hope you fans would love to have an aircheck of Dan Ingram where he does mornings on Musicradio WABC on the day after John Lennon was shot to death in a Dakota building near Central Park. I found this aircheck off of Allan Sniffen's Musicradio WABC website. This was from December 9th, 1980:

Click here to listen (http://musicradio.computer.net/images/ing12-9-80.ram)


:thanks:

Life magazine has a whole issue out remembering John Lennon.

[Cactus Jack]

:( RIP

[Steve M.]

Someone once called his killer "Mark David Loser." That's an insult to losers!

[Ireneparalegal]

John Lennon's Death Lingers for Witnesses


By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer
12/04/05



NEW YORK - A television news producer. An emergency room doctor. Two NYPD beat cops. Before that December night 25 years ago, they shared little but this: As children of the '60s, the soundtrack of their lives came courtesy of the Beatles.

Alan Weiss, a two-time Emmy winner before his 30th birthday, was working at WABC-TV. His teen years were the time of "Revolver" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." In his 20s, Weiss admired John Lennon's music and politics.

Dr. Stephan Lynn was starting his second year as head of the Roosevelt Hospital emergency room. He remembered the Beatles playing "The Ed Sullivan Show," although he didn't quite get the resultant hysteria.

Officer Pete Cullen, with partner Steve Spiro, did the night shift on Manhattan's Upper West Side. They'd occasionally run into Lennon walking through the neighborhood with his son, Sean. "The Beatles were a big part of my life," Cullen said.

On the night of Dec. 8, 1980, Lynn was in the ER, Weiss was heading home from the newsroom, Cullen and Spiro were on the job — and Mark David Chapman was lurking outside Lennon's home.

The chubby man with the wire-rimmed glasses stood patiently in the dark outside the Dakota apartment house. He carried a copy of "The Catcher In the Rye," the J.D. Salinger tale of disaffected youth, and a five-shot Charter Arms .38-caliber revolver.

Lennon, just two months past his 40th birthday, returned from a midtown Manhattan recording studio at 10:50 p.m with wife Yoko Ono. The limousine stopped at the ornate 72nd Street gate; John and Yoko emerged. Chapman's voice, the same one that had beseeched the ex-Beatle for an autograph hours earlier, rang out: "Mr. Lennon!"

The handgun was leveled at the rock world's foremost pacifist. Four bullets pierced their famous target.

The voice of a generation was reduced to a final gasp: "I'm shot."

"Do you know what you just did?" screamed the Dakota's doorman.

"I just shot John Lennon," Chapman replied softly.

___

THE COPS

Back in 1965, while still in the Police Academy, 23-year-old Pete Cullen's first real assignment was working security outside the Warwick Hotel on West 54th Street. Upstairs, safe from the insanity below, were the Beatles.

Fifteen years later, the officer was staring at a dying John Lennon within minutes after Chapman opened fire. Cullen and Spiro were first to answer the report of shots fired.

Cullen was struck by the lack of movement: the doorman, a building handyman and the killer, all standing as if frozen.

"Somebody just shot John Lennon!" the doorman finally shouted, pointing at Chapman.

"Where's Lennon?" Cullen asked. The rock star was crumpled inside a nearby vestibule, blood pouring from his chest. There were bullet holes in the glass; Cullen went to Lennon's side as Spiro cuffed the gunman.

Two other officers lugged Lennon's limp body to a waiting police car, which sped downtown to Roosevelt Hospital. The cuffed suspect directed Spiro to his copy of "The Catcher in the Rye," which was lying on the ground nearby with the inscription, "This is my statement." And then he spoke: "I acted alone," Chapman said.

"That blew my mind," said Spiro, who suddenly felt like he was in a movie. The veteran officer later thought about Lennon's 5-year-old son, Sean, who was sitting a few floors above. Spiro had a boy the same age.

In the midst of the chaos, Cullen spotted Yoko Ono. "Can I go, too?" she asked as her husband disappeared. A ride was quickly arranged. Cullen and Spiro then loaded Chapman into their car for a trip to the 20th Precinct.

"He was apologetic," Cullen recalled — but not for shooting Lennon. "I remember that he was apologizing for giving us a hard time."

___

THE PRODUCER

As the wounded Lennon made the one-mile trip to Roosevelt Hospital, Alan Weiss was already there. The TV news producer's Honda motorcycle collided with a taxi around 10 p.m., and he was awaiting X-rays.

A sudden buzz filled the room: A gunshot victim was coming in.

The ER doors opened with a crash as a half-dozen police officers burst through, carrying a stretcher with the victim. Doctors and nurses flew into action. Two of the cops paused alongside Weiss' gurney.

"Jesus, can you believe it?" one asked. "John Lennon."

Weiss was incredulous. He bribed a hospital worker $20 to call the WABC-TV newsroom with a tip that Lennon was shot. The money disappeared, and the call was never made.

Five minutes passed, and Weiss heard a strangled sound. "I twist around and there is Yoko Ono in a full-length fur coat on the arm of a police officer, and she's sobbing," he said. Weiss finally persuaded another cop to let him use a hospital phone, and he reached the WABC-TV assignment editor with his tip around 11 p.m.

The editor confirmed a reported shooting at Lennon's address. Weiss returned to his gurney, watching in disbelief as the doctors frantically worked on the rock icon. A familiar tune came over the hospital's Muzak: the Beatles' "All My Loving."

It was surreal. And then too real.

"The song ends. And within a minute or two, I hear a scream: `No, oh no, no no no,'" Weiss said. "The door opens, and Yoko comes out crying hysterically."

Weiss' tip was confirmed and given to Howard Cosell, who told the nation of Lennon's death during "Monday Night Football."

___

THE DOCTOR

Dr. Stephan Lynn walked to the end of the emergency room hall where Yoko Ono was waiting in an otherwise empty room. It was his job to deliver the word that John Lennon, her soulmate and spouse, was dead.

"She refused to accept or believe that," Lynn recalled. "For five minutes, she kept repeating, `It's not true. I don't believe you. You're lying.'"

Lynn listened quietly.

His 15 1/2-hour shift had ended at 10:30 p.m., with Lynn returning to his home in Lennon's neighborhood. His phone was soon ringing; could he come back to help out? A man with a gunshot to the chest was coming to Roosevelt.

Lynn arrived by cab just before his patient did. The victim had no pulse, no blood pressure, no breathing. Lynn, joined by two other doctors, worked frantically. Gradually, they came to realize that they were trying to save the life of one of the world's most famous men.

Twenty minutes later, they gave up.

Ono left the hospital to tell her son the news, leaving Lynn to inform the media throng that Lennon was gone.

Back in the emergency room, Lynn arranged for the disposal of all medical supplies and equipment used on Lennon — a move to thwart ghoulish collectors.

It was almost 3 a.m. when he began walking home up Columbus Avenue. His wife and two daughters were there; one of them attended the same school as Lennon's son Sean. Many nights, the Lynns and the Lennons sat in the same restaurant eating sushi. Often, the famous family strolled down 72nd Street.

That world was gone along with Lennon.

"I never again saw Yoko and Sean walking the streets," the doctor said. "Going out in public? That ceased to take place."

___

Yoko Ono never remarried, and still lives in the Dakota. She tends to the Lennon legacy, which includes convincing the state parole board that Chapman should die behind bars. He comes up for parole next year.

The cops from the 20th Precinct hold a reunion every two years. Cullen comes up from his home in Naples, Fla., to hang out with the old gang. They don't talk about the Lennon shooting.

Weiss, after getting the scoop of his career, wound up leaving the ultra-competitive news business. "The major events of my professional career all had to do with other people's tragedy," he said. He now produces a syndicated show with teens reporting the news for teens.

Lynn is still working at Roosevelt Hospital, still the director of the department. As Dec. 8 approaches each year, he gets phone calls from reporters, from fans, from kids born years after Lennon's murder.

"It's hard to imagine it's 25 years," he said.

Imagine.
Thankx Dr. Jazz...very touching and painful to read...I saw a documentary today on cable and one scene showed John Lennon speaking to a guy who had trespassed on his England estate (before he moved to New York). The guy had been sleeping in John's rose garden. A guard found the guy but John asked the guard to bring him to the house. The guy was all dirty and had long hair and a beard. He asked John how did John know abt him. The guy went on to say that a particular song that John wrote and sang describes this guys life. John went on to say he just writes what comes to his mind. Nothing unusual abt that. John said when he writes love songs he thinks of Yoko. Other songs are just whatever comes to his mind. John then asked the guy if he was hungry. The guy said "yes". John asked him to come inside and they prepared breakfast and they sat down at the table. Yoko was narrating and she stated the reason John met with his fans whenever they came to his house, just like this guy, was because John felt if someone took the time to listen to his songs, then he should take the time to talk and know the person. I was so touched watching this poor guy eating breakfast at their breakfast table and they were talking as if they had known each other for a long time. Very touching. Very loving man John was.

[ABlairican Pie]

As unbelievable as this may seem, but did you know that my reaction to hear of John Lennon's assassination was CYNICISM?? Yes, I was a very young born again Christian who was struggling with doing what was "required" as a new believer, I had become "born again" the year before, and I was with a cluster of like-minded friends who thumbed their noses at rock and roll and the goings-on of pop culture. John Lennon was a "bad guy" who had "bad-mouthed" Christianity almost fifteen years before for saying the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus" (which was true). But that weekend I had gone up to an apartment complex where we had a listening party for the Beatles, sat around in the recreation room by the pool where we sat eating pizza and drinking pop, and just getting into the music of the Beatles. And it came back to me, just how great they were, and how much John Lennon was going to be missed. :crying:

[Ireneparalegal]

As unbelievable as this may seem, but did you know that my reaction to hear of John Lennon's assassination was CYNICISM?? Yes, I was a very young born again Christian who was struggling with doing what was "required" as a new believer, I had become "born again" the year before, and I was with a cluster of like-minded friends who thumbed their noses at rock and roll and the goings-on of pop culture. John Lennon was a "bad guy" who had "bad-mouthed" Christianity almost fifteen years before for saying the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus" (which was true). But that weekend I had gone up to an apartment complex where we had a listening party for the Beatles, sat around in the recreation room by the pool where we sat eating pizza and drinking pop, and just getting into the music of the Beatles. And it came back to me, just how great they were, and how much John Lennon was going to be missed. :crying:
Yes, that "more popular than Jesus" thing didn't help the Beatles very much. As John Lennon stated when he was confronted publicly abt that statement, he stated he did say that, however, he was stating what was already being printed in papers and magazines. He wasn't in agreement with it, but he was reiterating what he had read and how teens at that time felt abt the Beatles. Like he said, "We are not better than Jesus, or God, or whatever it is" (he was trying to be politically correct when he made this statement).

[Zoneboy]

Absolutely one of the most tragic events in music history. I was 16 at that time & was trying to cope with the loss of a cousin who had died in a car crash 4 months prior. Lennon's death only made matters worse but time heals & I was able to move on. My cousin & John Lennon are gone now but they will never be forgotten. Two other deaths in music history that occurred on Dec 8th were those of country music legend Marty Robbins who died in 1982 & Dimebag Darrell of Pantera/Damage plan who was gunned down by a crazed fan at age 38 in 2004.

R.I.P. John Lennon 10-09-40 - 12-08-80:(
R.I.P. Jeff Russell 03-10-62 - 08-01-80:(

[Penny Lane]

[QUOTE=tv star collector]I was 33 years old. I remember opening the newspaper and there it was on the
front page.

OMG! There is someone here older than I am! Thank goodness!:lol: I was 30 at the time.

A pox on the creep who killed John!:mad:

RIP John:(

[80sTrivia]

It always makes me very sad to think about John Lennon and his senseless murder. Dateline NBC did a special episode about Mark David Chapman and his lifelong obsession with John Lennon... :(

[Dumballa]

Thank You John.
I have spent many hours listening to your work feeling a little more aware after comin out tha otherside:)

[Penny Lane]

It always makes me very sad to think about John Lennon and his senseless murder. Dateline NBC did a special episode about Mark David Chapman and his lifelong obsession with John Lennon... :(


I have had a lifelong obsession (40 years) with The Beatles and I never once thought about killing any of them!:eek: What a pathetic little weasel that loser is! He does not deserve any notoriety at all! Hanging is too good for him!:mad:

[Ireneparalegal]

It really is a tragedy. It was the first time I had ever cried for a celebrity who had died. The second was Lucille Ball, the third, Princess Diana.
I was fifteen when John was murdered. I just learned an ironic thing yesterday. I was watching Real Sports on HBO and i had totally forgotten abt John Lennon appearing side by side with Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football. It would be Howard Cosell who would later tell the nation that fateful Monday evening that John Lennon had been shot and killed. Howard went on to say that this game is not important, the sport is not important, etc. :(

[Ireneparalegal]

:(

[Steve M.]

If John Lennon had survived the shooting, do you think he would have forgiven Mark David Chapman in person, just as Pope John Paul II forgave Mehmet Ali Agca in person? Both Lennon and the Pope opposed capital punishment and advocated nonviolence.

I ask because I just saw the CBS movie about the Pope, and next May 13 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of his shooting.

[Ireneparalegal]

If John Lennon had survived the shooting, do you think he would have forgiven Mark David Chapman in person, just as Pope John Paul II forgave Mehmet Ali Agca in person? Both Lennon and the Pope opposed capital punishment and advocated nonviolence.

I ask because I just saw the CBS movie about the Pope, and next May 13 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of his shooting.
I know he would have forgiven him...in person? I don't know, don't know if they would allow that, but definitely he and Yoko would forgive him. I know that Mark David Chapman has asked for forgiveness from Yoko; he did awhile back. I am not 100 percent sure, but I think she did forgive him, but she doesn't want him to get out either.

[Ireneparalegal]

THINKING OF JOHN LENNON TODAY...CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN 25 YEARS:(

[Sharop]

I wasn't around when John died, but the Beatles are one of my favourite groups, and it was a terrible day for his family, friends and fans. I watched a programme about Mark Chapman; he was certainly very disturbed.

I like to think that John is having fun, though.

[musicradio77]

http://www.musicradio77.com/TOP80s.jpg

[Dean Winchester]

I was a year old when Lennon was shot, so at the time I didn't know who he was or anything. I think I found out he had been shot when I was 4 or 5 and I was looking at my sisters tape collection and she had a copy of "The John Lennon Collection" and her friend said something about "did you know he's dead?"

However, I think it is easily the biggest tragedy to happen in music history. I am of the belief that both him and McCartney got better when they went on their own and think that Lennon really kicked ass as a solo artist, and Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey were showing that he was entering the 1980's with style. Really sad that a life that was so committed to peace, love and understanding ended in such a violent way.

With the recent DVD releases of Imagine: John Lennon and The Dick Cavett Show: John & Yoko Collection, at least people can watch those and celebrate his life instead of his death.

[Ireneparalegal]

Many faces of John Lennon

[Dean Winchester]

her music is the epitome of acquired taste, but if you like her, Yoko Ono's Season Of Glass is definately a must-listen to any Lennon fan, it was the first album she recorded after Lennon's death and the album is pretty much therapy on wax. Some of the music on the album is almost unlistenable (not for reasons one might think) but because the heartbreak she laid into the album is very genuine. The CD adds in a home-tape recording of "I Don't Know Why" that she recorded in the Dakota the day after Lennon's death and it's one of the most haunting tracks you'll ever hear because all of the emotions she was going through completely shined into the demo, she even stops the tape because she cannot handle it. It's one of the most heartbreaking things ever put onto record and whether you think Yoko Ono is a genius artist or a horrible talentless woman who got famous on her husbands wings, you cannot deny the power of that recording.

[Steve M.]

On the night of December 8, 1980, Bruce Springsteen was performing a concert to support The River, when word got through to him about what happened to John Lennon. He announced the news to the audience, then led the band into John Fogerty's "Bad Moon Rising," a song of dark forebodings that was apprproiate that night and equally and ominously appropriate five weeks earlier, when Ronald Reagan had been elected President of the United States - and America had, in the words of rock critic Dave Marsh, "saddled itself with a Boraxo future." :mad:

[Steve M.]

I know he would have forgiven him...in person? I don't know, don't know if they would allow that, but definitely he and Yoko would forgive him. I know that Mark David Chapman has asked for forgiveness from Yoko; he did awhile back. I am not 100 percent sure, but I think she did forgive him, but she doesn't want him to get out either.


Well, Lennon might have forgiven him in person, as Pope John Paul II did with his attacker, but chances are Lennon wouldn't have hugged him. Another off-topic papal story: in December 1958, Pope John XXIII preached to a congregation of hardened criminals in a prison in Rome, and he declared, "We are all children of God. And I," referring to the Old Testament story, "am Joseph, your brother." The inmates started crying, and a convicted murderer approached the pope and asked, "Can there be any forgiveness for me?" The Holy Father simply hugged him in response.

No, I don't think John the Beatle would have gone as far as John the Pope.

[Ireneparalegal]

Well, Lennon might have forgiven him in person, as Pope John Paul II did with his attacker, but chances are Lennon wouldn't have hugged him. Another off-topic papal story: in December 1958, Pope John XXIII preached to a congregation of hardened criminals in a prison in Rome, and he declared, "We are all children of God. And I," referring to the Old Testament story, "am Joseph, your brother." The inmates started crying, and a convicted murderer approached the pope and asked, "Can there be any forgiveness for me?" The Holy Father simply hugged him in response.

No, I don't think John the Beatle would have gone as far as John the Pope.
i couldn't help but think of Johnny Cash when reading your post. In the movie, Johnny Cash wants to play for the inmates at Folsom prison. He is told by mgmt. at record company that his fans, particularly his christian fans, will not like him if he plays for inmates. Johnny's response: "Well then, they ain't Christians." Bravo!!!!!!
I agree abt John Lennon. Forgiveness, yes, certainly. A hug, no.

[musicradio77]

Here is an audio clip from Howard Cosell where he broke the story that John Lennon was dead 25 years ago on Monday Night Football.

http://s51.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2MNCGFTXPMTLU1MTFQ70R5F5P1