Where were you on the night of December 8, 1980?

[poltr1]

Give it up for new LJ'er jodimuse! That means all three members of Urban Tapestry are now on LiveJournal!

I just copied my Thanksgiving trip report from the laptop to the main computer. After some major editing, I'll post it here. It may be a while. When I'm on "daddy duty", I have Maria in one arm and am trying to type with the free hand. I have a Snugli, but she gets too warm when she's in it.

allisona and doeadear already posted their memories of the night John Lennon was murdered. Where was I? I was a senior in high school. I was in my room, listening to the Dr. Demento show on the radio. My dad was watching Monday Night Football. Just after 11 pm, an announcer cut in and said that John had been shot. A few minutes later, the same announcer cut in and said that John was dead. I was stunned. My dad also came in to give me the bad news. He wasn't a Beatles fan -- nor was I at the time -- but he knew that I knew and appreciated their music.

I knew of the Beatles, of John's music, of Yoko, and of his struggle to emigrate to this country. Neil Sedaka wrote a song in the mid-70s, called "The Immigrant", which was about (and dedicated to) John. About the only times I heard it were on the weekly American Top 40 radio program, when Casy Kasem was still countin' down the hits. That's where I heard most of John's other solo works, including "Number 9 Dream" and "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" (a duet with Elton John).

As for the Beatles albums, I only own one -- "1", which I bought last year. Both the "Red Album" (1963-66) and "Blue Album" (1967-70) collections have been on my wish list for years. While it would be nice to own their complete collection, including the three Anthology CDs, I'd have to shell out a small fortune for them. I'd be happy to just have the Red and Blue sets.

I don't have my high school journal handy (but I still have it), so I don't know if I wrote anything in it about John's death. It didn't affect me as deeply as profoundly as it has other people. I often wonder how modern music would have been different if John was still alive.

Comments

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

I started acquiring the entire Beatles collection on vinyl after I got the Red and the Blue albums when I was 11. Every birthday and Christmas, I would ask for another album. Then, when I started baby-sitting, I would buy an album. I have every single one of their Capitol releases on vinyl. However, when everything came out on CD, I decided only to buy what I thought were the "essential" titles, for me, at least. These would be the White Album, Abbey Road, Revolver, Rubber Soul, and Sgt. Pepper. I also have all three Anthology Albums on CD and the Beatles 1. Of course, when the collection came out on CD, it was in the EMI format, so the songs were in a different order or on a completely different album, in some cases. OH the confusion. Thank you for sharing your memories. :-)

[allisona.livejournal.com]

So scary how much our Beatle experiences are alike, Doeadear :). I was the same, bought the red and blue albums at 13 and then slowly started buying all the original albums after that. Upgraded a number of albums to cassette tapes next, particularly the early and mid period Beatle stuff. It's only my favorite Beatle albums that have been upgraded to CDs so far- Rubber Soul and Revolver, and I'm really happy they're the original British recordings with extra songs not on the original American recordings. I've been given one of the anthology collections and "1" as Christmas presents, though.

If you're starting a collection, though, you still can't go wrong with the red and blue albums.

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

But you know, some of my fave songs aren't on the Red and the Blue. I discovered those later. Hey, another big Beatle fan is ragdoll. She's been writing Fan Fic since forever. And, it turns out she and I were in the same Beatles fan club when we were teens, but didn't know it. She's from Long Island, NY, and is younger than me by 9 months. Since she's a Pisces and I am a Gemini, we always make George and Paul comparisons. :-)

Anyway...I visited New York in June, and met up with her there, and we went to the Dakota and Strawberry Fields. When she was a pre-teen, she would wait outside the Dakota for John, and saw him once! I took lots of pictures. Here I am at the Imagine mosaic:



Have you ever been?

[allisona.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting the lovely photo of you at Strawberry Fields! I've always wanted to visit Strawberry Fields (though I don't think I could ever go to the Dakota), but I have never had the chance yet to visit New York City. If I ever go to Strawberry Fields I always figure I'll have to make some kind of ritualistic gesture, like bury a guitar pick in the ground or something, just something to show the impact John Lennon and The Beatles had on my life (I play guitar in a folk group now as well as playing constantly at the school where I teach).

Your friend writes -Beatle- fanfic? That's new to me. I've read science fiction and fantasy fanfic forever. Right now my fanfic of choice is anything good inspired by "Lord of The Rings".

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my friend and her friend since school days made up some group, and each one of them is in love with one of the Fabs. As for Strawberry Fields, it is directly across the street from the Dakota, so you wouldn't be able to avoid the Dakota. Jan told me about the old guard who used to be at the gate, the one who was there the night John died. She said he was the sweetest man. He has since died. There were two new guys at the gate. I took a picture of the courtyard and everything. Jan even pointed out where Yoko's apartment is, from the street, at least.