[tcb] John Lennon and me. No bus content
- From: "Denis Dodson" <coocoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 18:47:50 -0600
Several times today I heard on the news that this is the 25th anniversary of
the death of John Lennon.
In December of 1980 I was living in New York City and was as poor as I ever
have been in my life. I had arrived in The City only 2 months earlier after 8
years living in the woods of Oregon. I was, basically, an exile as a result of
extremely poor decisions and a monster drug habit. I had been sent to The City
to learn to live or die.
Surprisingly, I found work almost right away, not enough work to survive, but
enough to keep me alive until I figured out how to.
That day I had worked on a blue jeans commercial, a crewperson, nobody wants to
see a close-up of my ass, not then and not now. Afterwards I had gone with
people who invited me to have drinks, knowing that they would have to buy. We
went to a bar on Columbus at 72nd Street.
It was fun and loud and then everything got quiet and the TVs all had still
pictures of John Lennon. John Lennon was a Westside NY institution. He was
commonly seen. He was a New Yorker. No big deal.
You know when you see a still picture on the TV, something, probably bad has
happened. Every person in that bar walked outside, to the corner and looked two
blocks up 72nd where there was a massive crowd and flashing lights and TV
trucks with huge flood lamps.
John Lennon had been killed signing an autograph. The killer didn't have to
fight his way through security or use a high powered rifle or a machine gun.
All he had to do was wait until John came home.
Of course, we were all stunned. The evening was over. I got on the subway to go
home to 56th Street. I got off at Columbus Circle and when I walked up to the
street level, I was surprised to see the same thing, big floods and cop car
lights, and a woman came up to me and told me that John Lennon had been shot
and brought here. She thinks he's dead. He had been shot 2 blocks from where I
stood and declared dead 3 blocks for my house.
Manhattan Island is really a small town, it is only about 15 blocks wide. I
never thought about it that way until the night that John Lennon died. Now when
people ask me when did I live in New York, I think of John Lennon.
P.S. I know it has nothing to do with VWs, but I like all you guys and felt
like venting.
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