Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Ultimate Dreamer


Time is a funny mistress.

I remember laying in my bed and it was cold and I was 14. My bed was underneath the window and in the winter it was always chilly near the windows. What can I say, it was base housing - don't expect much. Here is a picture of Matt and 'the window'. I am sure this picture was taken way after the events of this post but there is my little bedroom window nonetheless. Notice Raggedy Andy (which I made) and my beaded dolls on the window sill. There is my spider plant too - the beginnings of my future gardening habits.



Any how.

I remember it was really late and I was listening to the radio as I always did before bed. Kids, this was a prehistoric time. Back before every bedroom had a television in it, home computers didn't exist and the computers that did exist were the size of refrigerators. I was listening to 56 WEBC out of Duluth. Don't try listening to them now. I did when we were in Minnesota this summer - sports talk radio now. Yeah, I know: ugh. 56 where I won my one and only contest of a pair of tickets to see Grease and a Hash Jeans t-shirt. *sigh*

And that is where I was when I heard the news.

John Lennon had been shot and killed outside the Dakota in New York.

29 years ago tonight. He was just 40. 3 years younger than I am today.

The fact that most of my children can't name a single Beatle is sad. I can guarantee you that if I asked one of them to name a Beetle I would get a response of "cockroach". But then they also weren't big fans of Journey until they came out with a few songs on Guitar Hero and now they all have some Journey on their MP3 players. Maybe Rock Band will successfully introduce this generation to the Beatles. Who knows.

What I do know is this. To me at least, there is no one more prolific in the music arena than John Lennon. I can't say I agree with everything he said or did in his lifetime but his music transcends the politics of the time and is still relevant today. I suppose I should be happy to have not witnessed what John could have become. A knighthood from the Queen? A few more divorces? Caught in a prostitute sting in Hollywood? Who knows. I just wish I could have witnessed the music he may have produced. And I wish this old world of ours could have lived up to the expectations he had in "Imagine". Couple a little Imagine and some of Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World and I think we might get on the right track.

~ame

3 comments:

Wow..................I was really really really really thin then.

What happened?!?!?!?!

I also remember 'Touch me Max'...

I remember when Lennon was shot. I was in the basement watching TV when the news broke.

-Matt

What the heck were you doing up so late on a school night!

I would just like to say that I, for one, I can name every Beatle and knew Journey songs long before any music video game came out.

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