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HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by Spursfan on 9 October 2010 9:00am

.....to our beautiful daughter, Genevieve.

And also posthumously to John Lennon who would've been 70 today. :'(

I can't believe it is nearly 30 years since he was shot dead (on our wedding anniversary, as it was 11 p.m. or thereabouts NY time on 8th December, but 9th December here).

I can remember Mom telephoning to wish us a happy anniversary, (Dad had died 2 or 3 weeks before), and asking me if I'd heard about John, as she knew I was a fan.

I shall probably bore you all again with this story in December!!

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by sighthound on 9 October 2010 5:13pm

Congrats to Genevieve!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130429818

Scott Simon did this amazing segment this morning on NPR with a writer who spent 3 weeks with Lennon and played tapes from those interviews; the Playboy article that resulted was published 2 days before he was killed.

Some of it is great (but heart-breaking!) because it showed what a good place John was in and his great joy in what the future would bring. Parts are chilling - like where he talks about peace advocates like Gandhi and King dying by violence.

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by Spursfan on 9 October 2010 6:31pm

When I was at school, I read an interview with the Beatles in some mag or other. They were all asked what they saw themselves doing when they were 40 (they were probably still in their 20s) and I remember as if it was yesterday John saying that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't imagine being 40 and over. He just couldn't see himself as 40.

And it wasn't that he just couldn't imagine being that age (let's face it - I couldn't imagine being 25!!) - no it went deeper than that.

It really stuck with me, though I completely forgot the rest of the interview and the million other interviews and articles I read about them!! Even then, at that young age, I thought that was weird. I guess the other three must've said something witty about being over 40.

When he died, just a couple of months after his 40th birthday, one of my first thoughts was of that interview. I wonder if he'd had some sort of premonition.

And here is a birthday message recorded and sent by Janis Joplin to John in 1970. She recorded it on October 1st, died on October 4th and John received it on October 6th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLwCj_Oj_Kc

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by suzulu on 10 October 2010 12:24am

Happy Birthday!

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by Loretto on 10 October 2010 2:14pm

Yesterday morning the news reported that crowds were gathering in NY's Central Park to remember John Lennon. So guess what?.....We went in to see what was going on. Huge crowd of people gathered around a mosaic of IMAGINE and on a path called Strawberry Field. We were all singing and people lining up outside the Dakota, the apartments where Lennon and Ono lived.

Now I wouldn't call myself a huge Lennon fan, but there was a lovely atmosphere in NY yesterday. The man was well loved for sure. I'll have some pics and video at the end of the week.

My Irish nephew told me about a 14 year old boy who managed to get an interview with Lennon in a hotel room in 1969. I love how Lennon treats this fourteen year old with respect and intelligent answers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmR0V6s3NKk

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by Spursfan on 10 October 2010 4:04pm

Oh that sounds great, Loretto! A lovely way to remember a great man.

And your link was WONDERFUL!! Thank you for sharing. The animation that accompanied it was excellent. And as for the interview, well ok, maybe not brilliant, but if I had snuck into his hotel room in 1969 (I was 16 then, by the way) I would just have been rooted to the spot and tongue-tied (and probably would still be now !!). I'd have had trouble remembering my name, never mind asking about peace etc!!Respect to the boy!!

[He is now an actor who has appeared in films and produced one episode of West Wing].

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by johnnythemonkey on 10 October 2010 4:31pm

I'm an old cynic. Has that interview been authenticated ?
If so, thank you for posting it and it's a good bit of history. It's just strange that I've never heard it mentioned in any docus about Lennon.

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by Loretto on 11 October 2010 1:43pm

That's a good question John and the truthful answer is I don't know, and I don't know how you would find that out either.

Anne how did you find out that the kid is now an actor???

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by Spursfan on 11 October 2010 5:33pm

I just googled his name!! And it cross-referenced too because the site I looked at also mentioned the interview!

:D

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0506155/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Levitan

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... by johnnythemonkey on 11 October 2010 5:51pm

As I said Anne, I know I was being cynical. It was therefore a great interview for a John Lennon 'fan' like me.

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