The LuLac Edition #1398, Dec. 8th, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: JOHN LENNON.

JOHN LENNON-30 YEARS ON

I was sick as a dog in bed the night John Lennon was shot. Intestinal flu. I was watching the NFL Monday Night football game in bed on a little black and white TV that I had since I was 17. When Howard Cosell made the announcement I was stunned. A few moments later, the future Mrs. LuLac called and expressed her shock and surprise. In our burgeoning relationship, a common bond was the love of the Beatles. Her favorite was Ringo but John was a close second. Asking a Beatles fan who their favorite is, well that akin to asking a mother who her favorite kid is. 30 years later we of a certain age still feel the shock, horror, disappointment and visceral anger at the true potential destroyed by a bullet. It’s pretty ironic that Lennon who stood for a lot of peace and justice issues, facing down governments and crowds was shot in the back by a coward who couldn’t look him in the eyes as he was doing it. He was an artist. His only agenda was making records. If JFK’s death was the death knell of possibility for the WWII generation, then the death of John Lennon opened up the floodgates for “anything goes” in terms of one on one violence that didn’t make any sense against anyone in the world. It’s 3 decades later and I’m still pissed. But then just when the bitterness is about to take me over, along comes the music. And it heals the pain. For a while.