30TH ANNIVERSARY OF JOHN LENNON'S DEATH

The original BBC report on Lennon's murder.


Video montage over the Lennon-Ono song "Happy Xmas (War is Over)"

A few notes on the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death. Today lots of people are hearing stories of Lennon, or sharing their own.

John Lennon's Facebook page has tons of posts -- more than one every minute for the last few hours at least. The official John Lennon website has some nice videos, a biography, discography, and more.

A New York Times piece of readers recalling the stories of where they were when they heard that Lennon had been killed. Each person placing themselves in relation to the historical moment.

Another New York Times piece about killer Mark David Chapman's occasional parole hearings, and how he recounts the murder each time he goes before the parole board. I wonder if this sort of "rehearsal" of the event fixes the memory in his mind, or perhaps makes him truly more penitent, or is now just an empty ritual. That article also links to the transcript of Chapman's most recent hearing, this past September 7. The NYT write-up is pretty thorough; the one thing of note that it leaves out is that Chapman says "My life has changed because of Jesus Christ," and, "Without him I am nothing, I would have been an even bigger nobody."