Lennon

In December of 1980, I was working an overnight job and still living at home. One morning, when I came in, my mother, only a year almost to the day away from her own death, informed me that John Lennon had been killed. Immediate shock set in along with a need to learn what happened. I tossed a tape into my giant size Betamax machine and hit TODAY, then GOOD MORNING AMERICA and all the rest of the coverage that went on throughout that sad day. I captured images of weeping fans, angry fans, confused fans. I caught remembrances by Geraldo, Richard Lester, Lauren Bacall and scores of others who knew and/or loved John Lennon through his life or his music. I captured Paul McCartney's infamous in shock remark upon having a microphone thrust in his face and asked what he thought of his old friend's death (" 'Sa drag, innit?"), Ringo rushing to Yoko's side, the memorials, the old clips, and the music, always the music. I taped hours of footage over a period of days, ending with balloons being released over the weekend. Just yesterday, I heard Lennon's Christmas song with its refrain of "War is over if you want it" on the radio and it fit today's world so well. Twenty-five years. Imagine...