John Lennon!

 It was a Monday night in December. I was watching Monday Night Football and the Patriots were sending a kicker onto the field when Howard Cosell said it out loud. John Lennon had been shot in the back in New York City ..D.....O....A...I'd like to say I burst into tears but it was so utterly shocking I don't think I did . It was stunning. So stunning I couldn't even get a grip on what I felt. This is impossible. Legendary musicians who changed the fucking world don't get murdered by some random stranger on the streets of America. Of course they do, it's America.

In the future trust me the assassination of John has made me burst into tears. I don't do that often but when I do it's full blown bawling. The death of my parents, the LA Rodney King riots, the death of George Harrison, the break ups, the frustration of various things, the death of a 25 year old kid I barely knew. These events made me spontaneously burst in tears.

Recalling events can also make me weep. The RFK assassination bedlam in the hotel kitchen video bothers me to no end, the JFK funeral tape when John John salutes brings tears to my eyes, Holocaust video often makes me tear up, but really nothing like remembering John Lennon makes me cry like a baby. I once heard Imagine come on the radio just randomly one night and I cried in my car. In the movie Yesterday when the young man who is one of the few who remembers Beatles music and is told to go see a man by others who also remember and when the door opens its an aged John Lennon I turned to Max's Mom and informed her I couldn't stop crying because I couldn't. He meant that much to me. 

Years ago Max's Uncle was kind enough to get myself and Max free plane tickets to New York. Both of us were NYC newbies. Max was about 12 or so, I was 50 something. Along the way we visited the Dakota Building where John has been killed. We stood on the spot, I was fighting back the emotions. I kind of wanted to go across the street into Central Park and see the memorials but I knew that had that occurred my bro and my 12 year old would have seen a rather large man in his 50s begin weeping uncontrollably. Nowadays I don't give a damn who sees me cry. Back then I did. In fact I'm tearing up now. RIP John Lennon and rot in jail unnamed murderer.