There are places I remember..... all my life
though some have changed.

Here's Your Chance to Submit Your Stories....

Gary Ng

Do you have a memory you'd like to share? Then send it to me by clicking on Comments or sending me an Email if you have a longer story. I'll pick the best stories and post them here. Make sure you give me your name, age, and the city where you live. Come back often for updates!

Lennon Fans Remember

4/26/98

I live in New York City, so we got the first report at 10:50 that "a man who looked like John Lennon was shot in front of the Dakota." I figured that one of the kids who hung around outside and wore dark granny glasses might've gotten mugged. Then, it was confirmed that it was, in fact John, but no details. I thought he proably got shot in the arm or something, and that he would be real pissed and leave the U.S. Then, I got a call from an hysterical May Pang, with whom I'd been friends with since 1974, which is when I finally thought something's not right. We were on the phone together when we heard the confirmation on the news. By 4:00 a.m. on December 9th, a bunch of us were at HOME, one of John's favorite haunts on the upper east side, in, as Linda McCartney put it, "a daze for the rest of our lives."

Dblfantasy

I remember that morning so clearly... I was making breakfast and getting ready for work. My husband, at the time, (he has passed away) came in the door after working all night and asked "Did you hear the news"? I was scared - I thought something had happened to a family member. Then he said "John Lennon was blown away last night!" I cried...

Susan

I remember December 8 1980 very well. I had been married barely a year and we had just had our first child barely three weeks earlier. My daughter when she was first born would only sleep if she was rocked so we had a little table rocker that we would rock her in until she fell asleep. I remember it was a Monday night. Being a huge football fan I was watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell broke the news. I was so caught up in what was happening that I proceeded to rock my daughter off of the coffee table onto the floor.

I remember the next two weeks buying every newspaper that I could find and assembling a scrapbook of all of the John Lennon articles which I still have to this day. It was a night of true loss for any real Beatle fan.

Les Hamlett

I am only 16, and I bet most adults would think I am too young to appreciate the Beatles, their music, or even John. But I do. Honestly, I really didn't like The Beatles very much until last year, when a friend taped a bunch of great songs for me. I taped over it late last year because by then I had them all, but I didn't even know John was dead until I was about 14, you know? When "Free As A Bird" came out I honestly thought that it was John, Paul, George and Ringo in the same studio at the same time in the flesh. Well, imagine my surprise when my dad gave me a funny look when I tried to send John a fan letter.

I still have it, although it is worthless now. It really saddens me to know that a man that told us peace could last forever had his words crammed down his throat. Right now I try to imagine what John would think of us right now, with all the drugs, violence and hate in our world. Sometimes I even find myself wondering if it would be any different if Mark David Chapman hadn't pulled that trigger. I still like to think it would.

Josh McCracken

I was only 12 when it happened, but a big enough Beatle fan that my mother came in & woke me up before school started. She sat on the edge of my bed and said she had some bad news to tell me and she thought I should hear it from her. My first thought was that my eldest sister (the one who got me hooked on the Fab 4 & was away at college at the time) had died. When she told me John had been shot, I just sat there. I remember feeling that it was just like a member of my family had died. When I got to school that morning, none of the other kids were talking about it. When I told my friends about it, very few of them even knew who I was talking about. It was really frustrating to try to work through my grief when no one my age could identify with it, and my folks didn't really understand it. December 8 is a Roman Catholic Holy Day, requiring church members to attend mass to commemorate the Immaculate Conception of Mary. It never ceases to amaze me though, that I find I spend most of my time in church remembering that cold, snowy day in 1980, and praying for John and those who loved him. Annonymous

I was a 20 year old student at Rutgers University in Newark NJ. I remember waking up in the morning putting on the radio and hearing a Beatles song. I wanted to get the weather so I switched to another station where, once again, another Beatle song was playing. There was nothing unusual about this since the Beatles are played so frequently. Upon my third attempt to get the weather report, yet another Beatle song was being played. An uneasy feeling came over me as I realized that something must have happened. Just then the DJ came in and in a broken voice repeated the awful news.

Annonymous

I was in a band at the time and called some fellow band members (who were also Rutgers students) and suggested we go to school dressed in black. They agreed. We all met that dreary morning in the campus center to share our thoughts. Unfortunately, we were met by the repeated playing of Lennon's "Happiness is a Warm Gun" over the campus radio station. Immediately we ran upstairs to the station, ignored the "On Air" sign and relieved the DJ of his morning duties. Why someone would think that was funny to this day still baffles me.

That night we all jumped on the PATH train (which connects NY and NJ) and hung out at the Dakota all night.

Annonymous

Unfortunatly, I was only two when John passed away. However, I do remember my father crying. Since then I have grown, and the older I get, the more I enjoy John's music. Few people can touch the hearts of so many, and John was one of them. A true musical and lyrical genius, one cannot help but wonder how different the world would be if he were still with us. And I can honestly say, that if John would have passed away today, I too would be crying along with my father.

Christopher (CJ) Jollon
muzikmas@nassau.cv.net

I was 12 years old when John was killed. I remember that I was looking out the window. My sister and I were home alone. She called me down to the den and told me that John had been shot. We hadn't heard yet that he was dead, just that he was shot. I stayed in front of the TV until it was official. I was awake half the night. It was one of the worst things that I ever went through. And I still remember the exact time when I knew he was dead. Monday, December 8, 1980 at approximately 9:45 p.m. (PST).

Nancy

It has been almost 18 years and I still remember that awful night as if it were yesterday. I had just come home from auxiliary police and as I came in the back door, I turned on the radio. The first thing I heard was that a man tentatively identified as John Lennnon had been shot in front of the Dakota apartments. I was in shock and could not believe what I was hearing. I went upstairs to my bedroom and turned on the stereo. The DJ was saying that John Lennon had just been pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital. This was inconceivable !!! I did not sleep that night. I just watched and listened to all the coverage.

The next day when I went to school, everyone had a radio and no matter what the station it was playing Beatles/Solo Beatles music. I do not think many people went to class that day. To this day, whenever I sit down and think of that night, I literally burst into tears, especially considering the "Beatles" did eventually reunite for the anthology. I hear "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" and cannot help thinking what might have been.

Michael W. Dougherty II

My wife Liz and I had just moved in to our new house in Southampton England. We had both grown through our teens with Beatles songs. Years before in the early sixties, I had caught the bus to the local cinema to see John Lennon's Rickenbacker guitar catch and reflect the blue white spotlight, showing up the fingerprints on the glossy body. Then every situation we were in through those years had a Beatle lyric that somehow seemed to sum everything up. The day John was shot we were both numb. We loved this man and the music he made was part of us and our generation. We travelled to Manhattan only this year to see the place where he died. It seemed a very long way from Liverpool somehow and very very sad. Paul Hampson England

I actually got to bed early on Dec. 8th, I thought that was a good sign. When I woke up on Dec. 9th, I heard on the morning news that John had been shot. I had just turned 20 about 3 weeks before, and I thought "Man, that was a GREAT birthday present from John.....A new album!"

I often pray to God that if by some miracle I can go back in time, whether I go back now or when I die, that the date I go back would be prior to 1980. He was my hero, my role model. I miss him.

Tony Amorelli

This past October, '97, just a few days before John's birthday, I finally made the pilgrimage to Strawberry Fields. Several co-workers and I, members of the unofficial "Ashland Beatles Club ", wrote poems and signed birthday cards for John. When I hit New York, I headed for Central Park West. There, beneath the huge gnarled tree in the center, I placed the cards and with tears in my eyes, imagined what John could have been, would have been, if that December day in 1980 had gone differently.

John will always be remembered for his music, his Bealtleness, his irreverency, his sardonic smile, and yes, for his efforts towards peace. There has not been a time since his death, that I have listened to "In My Life" without bittersweet memories. Nor will there ever be. Shine on, John.

I will never forget the moment I heard of Mr Lennon being shot. What a waste. Of all people, I thought! He was to me, trying to bring people together to love one another that's what he was about. Some would argue about his meaning, but how can you write such beautiful music without a true value for love. I have enclosed this poem I wrote, share it if you wish. Regards,
Gunda.

On Dec. 8, 1980 my wife and I flew from Colorado to New York to be with my father who was in Hempstead General Hospital, dying. He died around 6 pm that evening, before we could see him. Later that evening in my mothers apartment I heard about John Lennon being shot. Pretty crappy day. I was fortunate to have seen all of the Beatles, although not together. I saw Paul, Ringo, and George at the Concert for Bangladesh, and John at a concert called One-to-One, put on by Geraldo Rivera for the children in the Willowbrook School in Staten Island.

I miss John, but I miss my dad more.

Tom Billone
Centreville, VA

On 8 Dec 80, I was in San Antonio, TX, towards the end of my Air Force basic training. I hadn't even HEARD "Double Fantasy" yet. The TV in our dorm didn't work, so we weren't watching Cosell. On 9 Dec 80, while standing in formation waiting to enter the dining hall, another Beatle fan trainee heard from someone about John. There was a vending machine nearby, and he took a chance and left the formation to check out the front page. After a brief glance, he came back and said "some guy shot John because he wouldn't give him an autograph." He was obviously confused by Goresh's photo. When our daily duties were done for the day, I had the chance to buy the paper. I still have it.

I never had a chance to really mourn until 1993. While listening to a tape my brother had made that awful night (he just scanned the radio dial for news), I finally broke down and cried for the hero I would miss for the rest of my days. I've been lucky in my life, not losing many family members to the grim reaper, keeping my health and my kids.... so the greatest tragedy in my life has been John's death. I never knew him, and I know he wasn't a saint. No one is. But all the things he never got to do.... Wouldn't you give just about anything for him to be around to do a crappy album like "Gone Troppo" or maybe even a great one like "Time Takes Time?" I certainly would.

Jon Jepson

I still have in the back of my mind, not forgiven myself. I was on watch in the Navy out here in California when I got the word. I was in the Navy and One of the greatest people ever was murdered when I was on duty. I miss him and his music too. 17 years and I still cry for our loss.

Andrew Preston Carpenter

I was a grand total of 5 years old in December 1980. I remember my parents watching TV in disbelief when they heard the news. I remember looking at the TV and seeing a lot of people crying. At the time I didn't know who John Lennon was, but that image of hundreds of people crying and holding hands and singing made a lasting impression on me that I have not forgotten. It wasn't until years later that I could understand the grief on those people's faces. Wherever you are John, be well. We're doing our best to fight the good fight you started. Dawn A.

I was always considered one of the greatest Beatles fans among all of my family and friends. Still am. I used to win all the Beatles triva contests at college. I first saw them, like most everyone else, on the Ed Sullivan show. I bought a guitar, joined many bands, made some records, like lots of other kids of that era. Our last band even used to do a 60-minute Beatles medley that the college and high school kids of the early 70's went crazy over. In December of 1980, I was teaching 4th grade in Foxboro, MA. The night of December 8, I was watching Monday night football and heard Howard Cosell announce that John had been murdered. I shuddered and cried. I actually took the next day off from teaching because I just couldn't face the day. A part of all of us died that day. I just wanted to share this with others.

Chuck

I get chills all over and tears come to my eyes when I read these entries. I am only 18 years old, so I can't claim to remember the good old days of Beatlemania. I am a pretty crazy fan...I even went so far as to visit Liverpool a few years ago...so I have some idea...I just wish I could've known them, especially John, like so many before me. I wish I could've shared in the real emotion instead of having to look back. I find comfort knowing that John is still here in many ways, although I can't pass by his exhibit at the rock hall without crying. Finally, I think this just shows how special John, and the Beatles really were--there are no time or age boundaries. Thank you for this tribute. It's beautiful...it makes me sad, it makes me happy, it gives me chills. I just want to make sure that the memories and all the beauty of John Lennon and the Beatles really shine on future generations. It has the capability to make a lot of people very very happy. Thanks again for this opportunity.

Gina Roaldi

My life changed on Dec 8, 1980. I had lived my first 18 years as a naive happy boy, who cherished the music of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The four brought joy to the lives of both me and my older brother, Tony. But when my mother phoned me with the news of the shooting, I could only feel anger and disbelief. I knew the Beatles were never to be again, and that I had to grow up and face the facts. John was gone, and no matter how hard it was to face, without him, they would never be together.

The Anthology was bittersweet without John's humor and humanity. It was almost too painful to remember. To this day on Dec 8, I still observe ten minutes of silence in John's memory. I will always remember that date as the night I stopped being a boy, and was forced to become an adult.

Mike
Sacramento, CA

I was reading, and got a call from my drummer about 11PM or so. I thought he was making a cruel joke (which he was prone to do), but he was serious. I turned on WNEW FM and started taping, then kept the tape rolling as I turned to other stations periodically, to hear any more news. I still have the whole tape with the original coverage! I listened to it again about a year ago and it was once again horrible. I went to Central Park on Sunday for the 2PM remembrance and it was an almost surreal experience. Later when the IMAGINE film came out, I was quite surprised to see myself in the crowd scene at the end. Jan Stevens

Anonymous

On the morning of Dec. 9,1980, I was driving home on the NJ Parkway. I pulled into a gas station to fill up, and my wife went inside to get a newspaper to read on the way home. As we were getting ready to leave the station, she unfolded the paper and immediately refolded it.

I was puzzeled, and said "why did you do that?" She didn't know what to say, and just handed me the paper. "BEATLE JOHN LENNON SHOT DEAD." I will never forget the feeling of reading this sad news. I had grown up in the '60's, and loved the Beatles. And now, the dream was really over.

Dave Wink

We were on the Williamsburg Bridge leaving Manhattan when we heard the news over the radio. The bridge is very close to the Dakota neighborhood where John and Yoko lived, but we hadn't noticed anything from the highway.

We had spent the evening in town for the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center, which is always a festive affair. We headed back to Long Island in shock, tears were shed...we had all grown up in the late 60's - early 70's and the news hit very hard. Not trying to be disrespectful to President Kennedy, I think this was just as big a heartbreak for those of us in that generation.

I never went to the Christmas Tree Lighting again after that....bad memories.... and have always wondered what John and the Beatles would have done as time went on....

Bob Matthews
Marshfield MA

I love your web site. I think that it is a true tribute to John's life and work. I am 18 and have listened to Beatles since before I can remember. I was nearly 2 years old when John Lennon died and the news never affected me until I got really into the Beatles' music, movies, and books. I wish now that I could have lived during the 1960's so that I could have been there through it all. I have to enjoy the Beatles vicariously. I miss John even though I never knew him. I know them all through their music.

Carrie Cunningham

The first thing we did was phone my aunt in England, who was hysterical. None of us could believe someone would do such a thing. Who would kill John Lennon? I spent the next few months collecting every clipping I could, from the first clippings in New York papers to the Toronto Sun and the special January issue of the Rolling Stone. Every December I take the papers and articles out and sit back to remeber the day the real music died and the great John Lennon.

Adam Rayfield

We had just moved to our new home in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. I had been studying for 4 years to be a Churches of Christ minister. When church people arrived at our house, my small children [6, 4, 2 and new born] didn't like them taking over their lounge room, and stopping them from watching TV or whatever they were doing. So we moved the TV into the children's bedroom.

On 9th December [Australian time] one of my kids told me that John Lennon was dead. I thought he must have been mistaken. But, most times my kids have said something which I have dismissed, it has turned out to be correct!

Although I appreciated the radio stations playing tracks from "Starting Over" and old Lennon songs, I couldn't bring myself to play any Beatles songs for over a year. I hated the commercialism in the shops, cashing in on a tragedy.

The same thing annoys me about Princess Diana's death. I hate going into shops and seeing them flogging Diana videos and books and recordings. It's the pits, I reckon.

David McKay
music@fl.net.au

Dec 8, 1980, St. Anthony, Newfoundland, Canada. I turned in around midnight, Newfoundland time, which would make it 10:30 in New York. I read for a while and then turned out the light; I noted that it was 12:30 AM. I laid there in the dark listening to the radio. I don't remember what song was playing, but the DJ broke into it with the news that a man believed to be John Lennon had been shot in New York city and had been taken to hospital with gunshot wounds to the back.

I couldn't believe it, of course. John Lennon...shot?!? Before the next report was broadcast I laid there listening to the radio playing "Starting Over" and wondering if it was John Lennon would his voice be affected by the back wounds and other such odd things one might think at such a time! It never occurred to me that he could be dead. Then the DJ came back on and said that he had some bad news for fans of the Beatles and John Lennon...John Lennon was dead at age forty.

In June of 1981, I was visiting a small fishing village 30 miles north of St. Anthony, and a man of 75 years turned to me and said, "They killed the Beatle." So very sad....

Regards,
JL

I am 15 year old and I am a fan of the Beatles since 1994. Me and my brother had to do an oral about a group. My brother loved the Beatles and me Led Zeppelin and now he loves rap music and me I am a big fan of the beatles.

I like reeding about them and listen to there music at the same time. The best boock is "YESTERDAY THE BEATLES".

Now I am douing a french Beatles enternet page in my info class. Oups I ave to go the teacher is screeming again after me. And yeur page is super cool.

Mathieu berthiaume

Editor's Note: I just had to print this letter (unedited)! It reminded me of when I was in 5th grade with Tom Faulkner and I use to sneak in The White Album on little reel to reel tapes and put it on in the multimedia lab. All of us Beatle fans would be rocking out to The Beatles and the librarian thought we were listening to educational tapes! I guess today kids surf the internet looking for Beatle sites instead of doing school work. Good for them!

I had worked all night, had come home and had a few hours sleep. I had been getting my things together for a weekend trip out of town, turned on the radio and could not believe my ears. Wait a minute - this could not be true! Was this another Orsen Wells joke to scare the heck out of you?

The announcer just said that John Lennon had been shot - WHAT?? That was it, he had been shot, but they did not say what condition he was in. Within the hour the terrible news was reality, John Lennon was dead at 40 years of age. It had to be the worst day of my life. I sat on my bed and cried like a baby! I am now 40 myself, kind of hard to believe that it has been so long ago. Great man, died too young, but his music will live on.

Glenn Floyd
Lynchburg, Va.

I'm a 30 year old Beatle fan who plays guitar and lives in Staten Island, New York and collects original pressing Beatle records. Ironicaly my parents hated The Beatles when they were around but like them now, even though they were engaged & 20 years old when they first saw them on Ed Sullivan.

I was born 12/2/66, during the week John started recording Strawberry Fields Forever (something that always makes that song feel special to me). When I was 3 or 4 and lived in Brooklyn, I remember watching the network premiere of Yellow Submarine. I loved it! The movie gave me vision of what I thought the 60's were about but I still didn't know who the Beatles were. Growing up in the 70's I heard tons of solo stuff on the radio, not conecting it to the FAB 4.

I loved Paul's "With A Little Luck" on Wings Greatest, which I got for my 12th B-day. I played it constantly. I already knew he was a Beatle and was curious to hear some more of their stuff. I also remember hearing the 1976 capital release of the "Got To Get You Into My Life / Helter Skelter" single and liking it. So in the spring of '79, I got the Red and Blue greatest hits collections on 8-track for Easter. Every Easter my parents would drive me and my younger brothers and sisters to Florida to visit my Grandpa in West Palm Beach. During the 24 hour drive we'd listen to all four 8-tracks. Afterward I made it an annual tradition to play those 8-tracks while driving to Florida.

A few months later, right after when I turned 14, I had a dream about a man wearing a straw hat walking with me through Central Park, Manhattan. He was a father-figure that played catch with me and gave me advice. In the dream I somehow was told by a narrated voice he was somebody who was once really famous but stopped making records so he can be with his son. The narrater said he was one of the Beatles but was just a regular guy now. The dream seemed to last forever. He pointed to the trees and told me about all sorts of things that I always wanted to know about. He told me that I was a great son and that I was gonna turn out alright. Then the voice said, "I just can't believe that John Lennon is Dead ".

I immediatly woke up an yelled "WHAT"? I realized I was dreaming with the radio alarm clock on and the "voice" I was hearing in the dream was DJ Jim Kerr of the then FM-Rock station WPLJ explaining the last 5 years in the life of John Lennon. It was the morning of Dec. 9, 1980, the morning after John was killed. The night before I remembered looking at the clock at 10:50 PM while brushing my teeth. I went to bed right after, not knowing a tragic point in history was accuring.

While walking to school I started thinking that it was rumour purposely put on by John and Yoko. Like the "Paul is Dead" rumours 10 years earlier, I thought it was all a hoax. I was in denial. When I came home from school I had my Guitar lesson (every Tuesday). When my Guitar teacher walked into my home I noticed he had bags under his eyes. He said he was up all night mourning the loss of John. He taught me "Starting Over". It was John's beautiful swan-song.

It was on the 1st anniversary of the murder, a full year, when I really faced the truth. I felt robbed. I still fantasied about all sorts of stuff like going back in time and stopping the man whose name must never be mentioned from killing my hero. Throughout my teens I became more brave and rebeled against my father and fought with him about everything. But we never argued when we all drove down to Florida while listening to those 8-tracks.

Joe
Staten Island, NY

I was eating bacon and eggs for breakfast in the communal dining room in my first year at teacher training college at Walsall in England. My friend Paul came over and said "Your'e a fan of John Lennon arn't you ?" - I don't think he was sure who he was ! - "Oh Yeah!", I said - "Well he's been shot", Paul says as he walked away to collect his breakfast.

Well it was Lennon records playing all day on the radio, but I was not in the mood to listen - just disbelief - I had been enjoying the Double Fantasy album for months and had been a Beatle fan since I was 6 years old. When I was 6 I sang "We all live in the Yellow Submarine" to my neighbour. I much later found out that many of these brilliant songs I liked were sung by the same group - The Beatles - and so I recognised I was a Beatle fan. Much later at college I enjoyed the later Beatle material more and had my own psychadelic period way after it was fashionable.

Vincent Bell

On December 8, 1980 I was exactly three months old and my parent's first child. I was the center of their lives. The next morning, my father's mother called crying. John Lennon had been killed. My father hung up the phone and put the Imagine record on the turntable. He held me in his arms and said, "You'll remember him, Briana. You won't let him die."

Seventeen years later, John Lennon is still alive in my heart.

Briana Eades

I'm sixteen. I was introduced to The Beatles in 1994 when the Anthologys came out on TV. The night the first Anthology was aired I was in a car accident. A deer had run out in front of my dad's car. I was unable to stay awake that night. The next day i was so sick I could hardly get up so my mom called me in sick from school.

I tried to watch the first Anthology but was too tired, so I went to sleep. I eventually got around to watching it.... it was like I had somehow knew them from another time.....but I knew I had never heard them much before. When I heard their music it was like I heard it a million times before.

I liked them instantly. My dad hates The Beatles so much I wonder why I like them so. Even though I wasn't born when John Lennon died, I still cry when I see or hear about it. Mayby it's a connection between us, somehow.

I didn't grow up in The Beatle era, or in the 60's or 70's, but about 8 months after john died. But he's gone, and generations from now people will still feel the pain that I feel even though I never really knew him.

gillianyoko of decatur

I'm almost 15 and I've been a fan of The Beatles & John Lennon ever since I can remember. People usually think I'm weird because John is my favorite Beatle instead of Paul. But I don't let it bother me. I try not to cry when I'm watching something on John. But sometimes its hard not to cry.

Jessica

I became a big fan of the Beatles after I did an oral report about them in high school. I also happened to be a big fan of Johnny Carson. I was watching the Tonight show and Johnny was coincidentally discussing that there are individuals who enjoy attending funerals of people they never knew, and NBC suddenly interrupted with a special report that John Lennon was shot dead.

I was a senior in high school in San Antonio, TX at the time of John's death. However, before the homicide I had a tongue-in-cheek fantasy to invite all the ex-Beatles to my high school graduation, thus reuniting them. I did invite remaining Fabs, Yoko, and a variety of other "heroes," sort of in the spirit of the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Other invitees included Johnny Carson, the Pope, the President and surviving Ex- Presidents, then-San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, my state senator and congressman.

I never heard from the Beatles, but Johnny was the first person to respond. (Ironically, the Pope was shot after the invitation was sent, but before my graduation.)

Rod F.
Meadville, PA

I'll never forget when I heard that John Lennon was assasinated. I was in 11th grade and missed two days of school. I was so sick with grief I couldn't focus on anything. John was my favorite Beatle.

My mom didn't make up a fake excuse. The note said my absence was because of John Lennon's death. Fortunately the disciplinarian was in his thirties and hip. He completely understood.

Kat McKee
Collegeville, PA

I'm a thirteen year old girl who has a love of the Beatles as if I was there in the 60's. I was introduced to their marvolus work about one year ago. My father was going and buying a bunch of Beatle CD's. At first I really didn't like the Beatles (my father teases me to this day about that!) Well, the truth is that I did like them - I was just nervous about what my friends would think of me. But then I decided WHO CARES what people think of me as long as I'm enjoying myself. And so that is the story of how I became a Beatles fan.

Even though I was in heaven looking down on Dec.8 1980, I still can't understand why ANYONE would want to rid the world of a wonderful person. All John ever wanted was peace and love for everyone, and I ask you, is that a goal in which you should die for? I share all his views on religion/peace/love. And I think the world of John for trying to show people that you can have love and peace.

When "Free as a Bird " came out, I was estatic with joy. Finally, in some small way, John and his wonderful voice were reunited with Paul, George & Ringo after some 16 years. Thanks to my father, I have meet all three of the remaining Beatles and have become very good friends with each. I was even one of a privileged few to go into the studio in which "Free as a Bird" & "Real Love" were made while they were being made. (I live in England) Thank you for this web page!!!!

Your friend on a Hill,

The Fool

I am a musician because of the Beatles. I have only played in two bands in my life, both of which did original music. On December 8, 1980, the guitarist/songwriter in my band, the Magnets, was watching Monday Night Football with me at my house. It had never happened before or since. He left at halftime, when the news was brought to us by Frank Gifford. I was devestated, and immediately called my friend who had just left.

We both cried and talked for hours. I don't remember who was playing, but I can't watch Frank Gifford withouth thinking of that night. The Magnets did a John Lennon set for several years after that night. The band stayed together until March 27, 1996, when that guitarist, Eric Madison, passed away, a victim of AIDS. Now I believe he's together with Lennon, writing some new indescribable music.

Roger G.

I'm only 13, but I've got to be one of the biggest fans ever. I've talked to my dad about the reaction when John was killed. He said they announced it on the radio and suddenly the streets were clear. Nobody was out, just sitting inside with disbelief that someone this great had been murdered.

Unfortunatly for me, my favorite Beatle is John....and he's the only one who's gone. I can go places and still hear people talking about the day he was killed. It is kind of like when Kennedy was shot....everybody knew where they were when they first heard about his murder and a lot of people know where they were when John Lennon was killed. John changed the music world and that's a fact, and even though I was never around when he was alive I still feel a great loss.

Neil A., age 13

I was a freshman at Boston U. in 1980. I was watching TV in my dorm room when the news came down. My roomate, a huge Beatles fan (unlike me) who had Beatles posters all over the walls, wasn't in. When he came in, I was the one who had to tell him.

Poor Stuart! Poor world! A sad and memorable day, to be sure.

Paul M. B.
Belmont, MA

I was living in a student dormitory in Paris. When I heard the news, I was stunned almost to the point of nausea. None of the French people in the vicinity expressed any kind of sympathy, outrage, or appreciation at the loss. And this was a group of supposedly "cultured" University students.

I think that in an American dormitory, one would have detected at least some emotion even from non-Beatlefans. I would appreciate any testimony to contradict this sad experience.

Writer Unknown

I was married for just over 2 years when I heard the news --- it was an "OHMYGAWD" night on the evening trash ... "everything that happened in the world in 30 mins" sort of show. They had the 'perp' in custody -- but didn't have a clue as to why. My first thought was you, Gary, and that -- back in high school when we were making what passed for music -- we seemed to connect more on all things musical. How sad -- and as if this horrific act weren't painful enough, it was commited by a little nothing jerk who did it just to do it.

Tom F.
Oakland, CA

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