Memories...

One of the less common questions out there for "historical" events is, "Where were you when John Lennon was shot?" It's heard less often than JFK's assassination, the moon landing, or even the Challenger accident.

Personally, I was about 3 months shy of my 10th birthday, and I recall the TV being on, but I wasn't watching it. A news report came on to the New York station we were watching, perhaps WABC, channel 7 out of New York, saying that Lennon had been shot, and was being brought to one of the hospitals in the city.

While I wasn't terribly into music as a 9 year old, I was aware of who Lennon was, through the listening habits of my parents, and just a general knowledge of the world at that time, or however much knowledge a 9 year old could realistically have. I remember my mom being upset by it, and my brother was around, although I don't remember his reaction. I don't really remember having much of a reaction myself, other than I felt bad for him being shot. I'd have to think about the timeline, but I think my parents were separated at the time, so my dad wasn't around for me to see his reaction. Although, he could have been out working...

I didn't get into really listening to music until I was in about 8th grade, when I got into Yes. I kept away from buying any Beatles for awhile, probably until late high school or early college. And while I was familiar with Lennon's solo work from what was played on the radio, I actually didn't buy any of his music until I was in grad school in the 1997 time frame. Looking back on it, I think I was annoyed about such talent being cut off, and also about the cult of personality that surrounds artists when they die "before their time." By the time I got to the later 1990's, I was personally able to get past a lot of that, and just listen to the music, which was tremendous.

It's one of his later songs, but I have always enjoyed "Nobody Told Me," one of the outtakes later released after Lennon's death. Perhaps I'll go listen to it later...

NP: ProjeKct Three, ProjeKction