By: David Schultz


There are very few untold stories of that night or of the world's reaction. Howard Cosell broke the news in the midst of a Monday Night Football telecast and in New York, Vin Scelsa informed WNEW's audience and played host to an all-night public grief -therapy session. This year, Lennon's death strikes me as a bit more resonant as I'm now the same age as Lennon was when he died. I can't regale you with memories of seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, mourning their break up or reacting to his peacenik antics. Too young to truly appreciate his significance, I did know "Imagine" and was generally aware of who Lennon was; I got Double Fantasy when it came out because I thought "Watching The Wheels" was a fantastic song. On December 9, 1980, I was also too young to understand why someone would kill a musician. Scratch that: it's nearly thirty years later and I still can't fathom why someone would kill John Lennon.

Labels: John Lennon

John Lennon and Yoko Ono posed for many famous pictures, but one of the more memorable ones was the nude pose John struck straddling Yoko the ended up on the cover of Rolling Stone. Now, Lennon's son Sean has recreated the Annie Leibovitz shot with his naked model girlfriend Kemp Muhl.

In the modern version, Sean switches places with his Mom in the pose, while Kemp goes nude ala John. You can check out the NSFW pic here. The shot is part of a Purple magazine story due out this fall, which looks like it will also include an interview with the couple and one with Yoko.

Labels: John Lennon, Sean Lennon

Infamous manager Allen Klein died over the weekend. The stereotype many people have of the brusque, strong-arming and unyielding manager comes from Klein and the manner in which he handled his dealings with and on behalf of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

His stint with The Stones ended in a lawsuit over Klein's rights to ownership of some of their songs and he, not Yoko Ono, may have been the prime factor in the breakup of The Beatles. Also among Klein's legacy: John Belushi's brief cameo as the abusive Ron Decline in Eric Idle's The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash is based on Klein. John Lennon made his feelings about his manager quite clear in “Steel And Glass,” from his Walls and Bridges record.

Klein was 77 years old.

Labels: Beatles, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones

December 8th marks the 27th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. In memory of the late Beatle, Yoko Ono is urging Lennon's fans to display the anti-war poster depicted on the left in their hometown. The poster, which is available for download at imaginepeace.com is a replication of the banner the two had posted on billboards in 1969 in 11 cities worldwide.

It's a bit disconcerting that enough time has passed that anyone younger than 30 has no real memories of John Lennon; in many ways he's a historical figure. I learned of Lennon's shooting the morning after it happened. All that day in school, I was preoccupied by one question, "Why would anyone want to shoot a musician?"

It's 27 years later and I still don't have an answer to that question.

Labels: John Lennon

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, fortunately, had no clue that David Bowie wanted Satan out of his swimming pool, Iggy Pop ate nothing but German sausages for about a year or that Ozzy Osbourne reportedly went directly from rehab to a local pub. Breyer flunked the "pop" quiz on a weekend appearance on NPR. Hopefully, he still knows a bit about "separation of powers" and the "checks and balances" inherent in our system of government that some seem to have forgotten.

Tori Amos has a new record coming out. BuzzSugar has a new tune up that may be the first single for the disc that will hit stores in May and aptly notes that Tori, unlike Liz Phair, has stayed true to what fans initially liked about her.

The Noisettes are set to kick off a tour with TV on the Radio, but before they do they'll do a solo date in NYC. They'll play the Mercury Lounge on Monday, April 23rd. And, if you haven't gotten tickets for your preferred date with their pairing with TV on the Radio, you might be able to win some here.

MP3 Offerings:
Noisettes: Scratch Your Name
Neva Geoffrey: Corduroy Boy
Vandaveer: However Many Takes It Takes
Hayward Williams: Problems With Hemmingway
Martha Berner: Ten Tiny Little Pieces
Martha Berner: Sunday Morning
(Velvet Underground cover)
The Scourge of the Sea: Smitten Kitten
Scourge of the Sea: Waterwings

Andrew Bird, who put on a solid set at Stubbs during SXSW, is featured on Studio 360. If you're unfamiliar, Studio 360 is weekly show hosted by novelist, journalist and co-founder of Spy Magazine Kurt Andersen.

John Lennon's sun glasses will be part of a charity auction to benefit Music Rising. The charity was co-founded by U2 guitarist The Edge. The auction will also include items from Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead. Some of the items will be exhibited in Los Angeles from tomorrow, then in Dublin and London before Julien's Auctions conducts the live sale (online bidding too) in New York on April 21st.

Labels: Beatles, John Lennon, Mp3s

Revolver Magazine has a new readers poll. The winners include, Best Band Ever: Pantera; Album of the Year: Sacrament, Lamb of God; Hottest Chick in Metal: Lacuna Coil frontwoman Christina Scabbia; Breakthrough Band: Trivium and Who Should Be The Next President: Rob Zombie - he couldn't do much worse than what we've got now!

John Ondrasik (Five for Fighting) - who recently donated some music to the MusicForTroops project that Earvolution is supporting, has put together a charity-driven video upload site where you can submit a video for the song "World" from his recent disc Two Lights.

Mp3 offerings:
Wilco - What Light
Pawnshop Roses: Goodbye Sarah K
Basement Kids: Barefoot in the Rain
Sister Vanilla - Jamcolas
Basement Kids: Cold and Tired
Skeletons and the King of All Cities: Don't Worry
Let's Go Sailing - Icicles
Idlewild: In Competition for the Worst Times
Aqualung: "Pressure Suit, In The Studio" Video:
Quicktime | Real Player | Windows Low | Windows High

Yoko Ono is reportedly blocking a documentary on John Lennon. E! reports that "The world premiere of Three Days in the Life, comprising two hours of previously unseen footage of the late Beatles icon, was canceled Tuesday after Yoko Ono's lawyers warned the film's producers that she hadn't authorized the project for public viewing." I'm glad they did the silly "Let it Be" pun, because it stopped me from doing it!

Speaking of lawyers...Experience Hendrix, LLC, the company founded by Jimi Hendrix's father, filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against Craig Dieffenbach and his companies saying they have unlawfully used Jimi Hendrix trademarks to promote the "Hendrix Electric" vodka brand.

Speaking of mind altering substances...George Michael has made DoubleViking's list of Most Awkward Interviews for his chat about pot where he says it keeps him sane and happy, but you shouldn't light up until you've achieved all your goals. Well if having sexy time in a public restroom is a goal, then light up George! Paula Abdul, of course, makes the list as well. And, I actually saw the Vanilla Ice clip with Jon Stewart on MTV when it first aired - quite scary!

Labels: Hendrix, John Lennon, Mp3s, Pawnshop Roses, Wilco

The Beatles have been moving a lot of product with the release of Love just before the holiday season. If the alternative versions of old songs did so well, there's bound to be some significant hype for a brand new song from the fab four. Ok, not entirely brand new, but new nonetheless.

Paul McCartney reportedly is thinking with the idea of going back in the studio to add some harmonies to a John Lennon lead vocal track of a song they wrote "all those years ago" (sorry, couldn't help it). The tune "Now and Then" was apparently considered for release in the 1990s, but George Harrison apparently wasn't happy with the song. McCartney himself is quoted as saying "It needed a bit of reworking but it had a beautiful verse." With his divorce from Heather Mills still in an ugly phase, this is just the sort of project Sir Paul may delve into to gain back a bit of the dignity lost in 2006's tabloid frenzy.

Labels: Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney

Lennon (still known to some as Lennon Murphy) made a big splash with her 2001 release 5:30 Saturday Morning. Around that time, the press swooned with Rolling Stone calling her a "voluptuous teenage vixen with a penchant for bawdy lyrics and dark metal riffs," while Nashville Scene praised her "richly emotional voice" as "an arresting combination of strength and fragility." But, like many artists these days, she has taken her time with her sophomore effort. After, and in between, relentless touring she wrote new tunes and hit the studios with her newest offering Damaged Goods set to hit stores on September 19th. You can download a single from the record called "Where Do I Fit In" and preview the entire cd here.

Labels: John Lennon

The soundtrack to the feature length documentary film, The U.S. vs John Lennon will be available on CD and digitally on September 26. The disc will include "Imagine," "Nobody Told Me," "Instant Karma (We All Shine On)," "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," and "Power To The People," as well as two previously unreleased tracks, "Attica State," recorded live at 1971's "John Sinclair Freedom Rally" benefit concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the film's instrumental version of "How Do You Sleep."

The film, documenting reported tracking of Lennon by the US Government, will open in New York and Los Angeles theaters on September 15th, followed by wide release at the end of September.

"Never in a million years, did we think that promoting World Peace could be dangerous. Were we naive? Yes, on that account, we were. John sings: 'Nobody told me there'd be days like these.' That was his true confession," says Yoko Ono Lennon, "These songs have become relevant all over again. It's almost as if John wrote these songs for what we are going through now."

Labels: John Lennon

John Lennon's former concubine May Pang says the recent "seance" with John Lennon couldn't have been real.

Pang told Page Six: "Please, if they had really contacted John, he would have talked about the music." That's what I said!

Given her "close" relationship with the Beatle, may ought to know. According to Wikipedia, May was hired as assistant at ABKCO, Allen Klein's management company that represented Apple Records and three Beatles: John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. May got to know John and Yoko and eventually became their personal assistant. Things got really personal in 1973, when Yoko ordered May to be both friend and lover to Lennon because of their marital troubles. What a wife!

May even appears on John's 1974 record. Walls and Bridges. May whispers John's name and sings background with John and 2 other singers on #9 Dream." In her book, Loving John, May says she kept meeting John long after the official reuniting of John and Yoko in 1975.

Pang eventually married producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie/Boomtown Rats/The Seahorses). The couple divorced in 2000 and May currently resides in NYC.

Labels: John Lennon

I didn't see it. But, many saps...ahem...I mean believers paid $9.95 to see a pay-per-view seance with Beatle John Lennon. The "show" aired last night to a global audience and apparently John has a message: "Peace...The message is Peace."

According to one report:

On the television show, filming at La Fortuna suddenly stopped and a narrator said something odd has happened. Show participants said that a mysterious voice can be heard on Power's voice feed. The producers called in "EVP specialist" Sandra Belanger to examine the voice and she proclaims it Lennon's. Producer Paul Sharratt, who heads Starcast Productions and calls himself a sceptic [sic], said hearing the voice has made him a believer.

Come on...if that were really John's voice on that tape wouldn't he say "Paul is Dead?"

If you want to hear from John on a regular basis, enter this contest to win the complete Beatles catalog on digitally remastered discs.

Labels: John Lennon

Ireland Online is reporting that Mark David Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon in 1980 in New York City, basically did it to "cement his identity in the eyes of the world." What a shame. Imagine if...

Labels: John Lennon