Honoring John Lennon 30 Years Later.....

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A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality."~ John Lennon


Tonight is the 30th Anniversary of one of our greatest geniuses being slain, a Voice of the Ages.

**(This post is being reposted from last December 2005. Please see the Song that is posted tonight as well. I am sitting doing exactly what I was doing a year ago, watching CSPAN as the House has late night Vote, and I am blogging, praying for a better Future.I am eating cookie dough and drinking eggnog, and of course seeking inspiration over on YouTube, and of course I found some Lennon there....Good night Bloggers.)**

For me there are certain times of the year when I am filled with Loss, this is one of them. ( The Deathes of MLK, RFK and JFK are the other hallowed dark days). I can not help but remember these Brave Souls and ponder what might have been. I remember the night that Lennon was shot like it was yesterday. I came home from working late as a waitress, my outfit stained with lobster and butter. ( I held a number of jobs through nursing school- but lifeguarding and waitressing would pay most bills).

It was bitter cold, and I was rushing up the stairs to my walkup on the third floor. I was singing White Christmas too loud and off key. I was carrying a bag of Christmas supplies for a little Midnight get together I had planned to have with neighbors, Creme De Menthe, Baileys' Irish Creme, And Egg Nog, and cookie dough. I came up the stairs and I could hear muffled crying. I turned the landing to my apartment and found my neighbor Micheal sitting on the stairs crying, his head down buried in his fisherman knit sweater.
I stopped dead, I stopped too fast and dropped my bag. Only the Baileys broke. I had known Micheal for many years, and I had never seen him cry, even when his stepdad died.
What? I asked. He just said 'Lennon". WTF???? I thought I heard wrong. He explained it had just happened.
We both sat for quite a bit staring at the puddle helplessly seeping out of the bag.
We went inside and watched TV, and it didn't change a thing.
It didn't take away the reality and it didn't provide any comfort.
We stayed up the rest of the night, and sat on my fire escape with as many would fit. People showed up who I didn't know neighbors and strangers, it didn't matter. The Grief bound us in the moonlit night.

We lit candles and sang Beatles songs until 4am. And played Double Fantasy relentlessly on my record player. The Cops that came to tell us to be quiet ended up sitting on the Fire Escape and doing shots of Creme De Menthe. ( They weren't bad singers). There was no Kleenex , only a role of Charmin passed around.
For the rest of my days on a Cold night when I smell candles burning and Creme de Menthe I think of Lennon and hear IMAGINE being sung off key.

Maybe tonight we need to remember Lennon for a little while and oh, I can't help but think of the Music he would have written about This Mess of A War and the Bush Administration and religousity wrapped crap, from the Patriot Act to Gitmo. He would have kept us humming and singing , Thinking too much and Protesting more. And it's 25 years and we are back we started. Tonight again there will be candles lit at the Enigma Cafe.

Imagine All The People......



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Since I can't sing....some Quotes from Lennon.

[1] The More I see , the Less I Know.

[2] Reality leaves alot to the Imagination.

[3] Possession isn't nine-tenths of the law, it's nine-tenths of the Problem.

[4] My role in society , or any artists or poets role is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a Preacher, not as a leader, but as reflection of us all.

[5] Our Society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're all being run by maniacs for manical ends and I think I am liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's whats insane about it.

[6]Love is a Promise, Love is a souvenir once given, never forgtten. Never let it dissappear.
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