Posted on 12/08/2010 6:53:25 PM PST by SamAdams76
I’ll bite. I remember precisely where I was. I had spent a long afternoon and evening holed up in the U of WA library, studying. It was late in the evening when I finally trudged back to my dorm room in McMahon hall. I was just sticking the key in the doorknob when my buddy next door poked his head out his door and said... “Hey! you hear about John Lennon? He was shot!”
I was incredulous. What the hell? Who shoots John Lennon? But yeah... we flip on the TV and there it is...
I was pretty conservative for a college kid back then, but I enjoyed the Beatles and Lennon anyway. Still do.
I can't agree with Matthews on that at all. Imagine that.
I haven’t read the preceding posts, but things happen in our lives that are only viewable in hindsight. I was born in ‘71 and couldn’t care less about the Beatles. But they contributed to where we are today.
I am 39 and love Eminem. In 30 years Ill probably hate him if I’m still alive. But, it is what it is, at the time...
Hope so,but in that moment in time,he did find the answer.
“Everyone is saying I should remember where I was and what I was doing that day - but I have no idea.”
Honestly I think it’s an overblown thing. Any murder is a shame, but Mr. Lennon was no prophet. He was just a man, a rather mixed up man, who wrote some good songs and some bad ones. He was an icon of his age, but, that’s about it.
I think most of his best songs were before he got really strung out.
How does the saying go..."If you're younger than thirty and not a Democrat, you don’t have a heart. If you're over thirty and are not a Republican (conservative) you don't have a head." I think most of us go through the transformation you did. I did. Reagan, who was originally a Democrat, certainly did.
Ah, the Beatles. I was in high school in California during their heydays. In fact, on their last tour and last tour concert in Candlestick Park in S.F., me and a bunch of kids snuck in the back behind a fence in the outfield. At some point I just felt like, "Heck with it, I'm going," ran up, threw myself over the fence and began to scoot across center field towards second base where Ringo was. A whole bunch of kids followed. Never made as security swarmed in but I was fast and got away from them and went back over the fence. Some films show us starting across the outfield during concert.
Fun times. Also sorry Lennon was shot but I too realized later he was a liberal red-diaper-doper baby whack job.
Anyway, I used to see him all the time at an after-hours club on West 72nd street just west of Columbus Ave. We never sat and chatted but I didn't really feel the need to. After seeing each other a few times we fell into a kind of "hey, how ya doin'" nodding thing. He seemed vulnerable most of the time.
The last time I saw him there was probably a month or so before he was shot, maybe more, I forget.
“If you’re young and not a liberal, you’ve got no heart.”
I’ve got some young conservative kids! You should hear my 13 year old verbally lacerate the liberals on the news! And I have another teen who FReeps and follows the political events. Some of the t-shirts he wears are VERY politically incorrect.
Trust me, they have hearts and are pretty compassionate people for their age. . .
Most of us except for the ones who were born perfect conservatives will remember turning points.
The first Beatles Album I bought was the White Album, with the poster inside, sometime in 1968. Paid about $5. It was a turning point in the wrong direction for me. The Beatles had, like Dylan, captured a certain zeitgeist and were like pied pipers leading a segment of our generation away to alternative (evil) spiritual destinations under the guise of peace, love and being cool.
Raised a Christian, I drifted away and was rescued by God in 1978. By the time Lennon was killed, I was on the way out of Egypt. Spent a lot of time in the desert, and struggled with a lot that I would have avoided had I not bought into the Beatles and others that came along.
I appreciate your post. We all have milestones.
Uhm, it was a murder not an assassination.
nothing
I rather like some of Sgt Pepper and most of Abby Road, but agree on some of the others like “Magical Mystery Tour.” I really prefer their early “pop” stuff that was just light and fun and didn’t try to impress some sort of deeper meaning.
Did you happen to see them at Candlestick Park in S.F. in 1966?
Interesting anecdote about 1966 and The Beatles. I was barely four years old at the time and naturally didn't remember a thing about it. But at the time, I was living practically in the shadow of Suffolk Downs (a horse racing track in East Boston) and The Beatles played a concert there that August. It turned out to be one of their very last U.S. concerts ever.
Anyway, my mother told me that the night of the concert, the screaming from that concert was so loud that it carried right into our house. During the concert, my mother carried me out into the yard to see what the fuss was all about. So in a way, I guess I can say I attended a Beatles concert.
And then there were some of us who, even though we had a clue what was going on, just DIDN’T CARE!!! It was really sad how Lennon and his cohorts held others of his generation (who didn’t agree with him) hostage to his stupid ideas.
When he was gunned down, I felt sadness, but it wasn't overpowering. I do remember when it happened. It was just another crappy, gray, cold, otherwise completely forgettable December evening.
No, I saw them at Dodger Stadium two nights earlier. August 1966. It was their 2nd to last concer,t Candlestick being their last. I remember The Circle and Bobby Hebb (spelling?) were The Beatles opening acts. Great show!
On post # 25 I tell how I couldn’t afford to go but had more fun sneaking in. Those were some fun days.
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