Tuesday, December 8, 2009

'In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make..'

Today was the 29th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon.

So incredibly hard to believe it has been so long, but if there is such a thing as true immortality, it is in an unparalleled musical legacy like this.

My dad gave me copies of 'Abbey Road' and 'Let It Be' for - I think - my 12th birthday, just as I was seriously getting into 'real' music (I remember seeing the Sgt Pepper album cover in our house when it came out, but I was too young to get why it was important).

And I remember dad waking me up that morning in 1980 with the news of Lennon's death. Teary-eyed, he was just shaking his head with the senselessness of it all.

Perhaps the saddest thing about losing John when we did was that he seemed to be so re-energized about the music he was making, and may have been on the verge of a new phase in his creative and personal life. Who knows what was really taken from us.

What he left, though, in addition to the music of a generation, was a lesson in humanity and a reminder that, truly, all you need is love.






I was saddened to hear recently about the passing of Thom Manno, guitar player for The Meetles, Eric Paulin's Beatles tribute band. I had the pleasure of running into the band during my stint on the subway, and here's what I wrote about them at the time, including a couple of video clips of the band. My sympathies go out to Thom's family and friends.