25 years later.....

Today is the 25th anniversary of the death of our beloved Beatle, John Lennon.
It's hard to believe it has been that long since this terrible tragedy changed music history forever. I have often wondered what beautiful pieces of music he would have given the world, had he lived. A horrible loss, not just of his life, but the loss of the creative genius that he was.

John Lennon and the Beatles rose to fame during my teen years, continuing on through my life until that fateful night in December, 1980. I remember the night like it was yesterday, watching Monday night football, then the horrible news broadcast to the world....I remember getting on the phone and calling a friend, it affected all of us of a certain age..we cried together.

Forward to today. There is now a plaque in Central Park across from the very brownstone where he was living and where he was shot by a crazed fan. The plaque is flush with the ground and just says "Imagine" on it with some etching around the edge. As I am typing this, there is a huge crowd standing in "Strawberry Fields" (the area around this memorial plaque), singing Beatles songs from long ago. It is very heart-wrenching and it hurts to watch it, but a heart-felt tribute to John Lennon.

I chose the above picture because it was taken the same day he was murdered. John and Yoko had a photo shoot with the famous photographer, Annie Lebovitz, that very day.. How interesting and prophetic that this was the last picture of John Lennon when he was alive...and how "John and Yoko-ish", that it would be John in the Nude and Yoko completely clothed in black with her hair swirling around them. I would have expected nothing less of them.

So this is MY small tribute to John Lennon on this day in early December, with snow flying outside my windows and John Lennon music playing on my computer,
John...we miss you still.