The Dakota
(Home of Lennons & set for Rosemary's Baby)
"I remember the day that George Harrison was shot," he noted sadly to his co-workers around the water cooler.
Boy, this guy's memory was shot to hell, I mumbled to myself.
Imagine that!
A Beatle fan mixing up his mop-headed Liverpudlians!
"John Lennon" I cried out frustrated across the busy hall, shaking my head in disbelief.
George passed away from cancer, I muttered to myself, half disgusted.
As to John's death, well, I vividly recall that fateful day in 1980 when John was shot down in cold blood and a pall fell over the country.
Three decades after John Lennon's death, Yoko notes that she still opposes the killer's parole because he remains a potential threat.
Of course, that dark day remains uppermost in my mind, because of eerie events that befell me a couple of days earlier on December 6th.
I was deep in slumber, wrestling with a kaleidescope of images in a disturbing symbolic dream, when I suddenly felt myself lose balance - then slowly slip backward and down - against the rough surface of a cold brick wall.
When I glanced up, I spied a shadowy figure step out of the darkness, and point a gun at me.
No! No! No!
Suddenly, the stranger fired a couple of shots in my direction.
As I started to fall into what seemed like a bottomless pit, I was jolted awake, and found myself sweating upright in bed muttering to myself.
"Someone's going to be shot. A famous person is going to be shot."
But, who?
That was the frustrating part.
I didn't have a clue!
A couple of days later, the awful news streaked at lightning speed on airwaves around the globe, amidst a lot of hysteria.
"John Lennon has been shot!"
That was thirty years ago.
Today, the drama continues to unfold, albeit in a practical way.
Next month, Mark David Chapman - who is currently in jail for senselessly murdering John in 1980, is up for parole.
At a press junket to promote a PBS special, Ono noted to reporters, that she is still vigilante in her efforts to ensure that the parole request by Chapman is denied.
Not out of vengeance, but for practical reasons, she explained calmly.
At his last hearing, Chapman (who claimed to be a devoted fan of Lennon when he was originally apprehended so many moons ago) insisted that he was ashamed and sorry for gunning down the popular Beatle.
He told the parole board he understood the gravity of his actions and was a changed man.
But, is he?
Yoko worries that Chapman might be a danger to her, other family members, and perhaps even himself.
Ms. Ono expressed these concerns at a Television Critics Association event this past week where she was originally invited to discuss an upcoming PBS Special on Lennon slated for broadcast in the fall.
The documentary takes a foray into the artistic life of Lennon in New York in the 1970s.
"LennonNYC" is scheduled to be air on Nov. 22nd as part of the "American Masters" public TV series and includes rare studio recordings, concert film out-takes and home movies.
According to producer Susan Lacy, Yoko generously provided access to archive material, and was also interviewed for the special.
For Yoko Ono, the ambitious project amounted to a golden opportunity to unmask the mystique of John - and thus - reveal warts-and-all what a three-dimensional person he actually was in the flesh.
The irony of the NYC connection did not escape her.
For years, John fought U.S. Immigration Officials and the Department of Justice (who tried to barr his legal status in the U.S. because they deemed him an undesirable based on a much-publicized marijuana conviction) to remain in the U.S. and and set up a nest with Yoko in New York City.
Tragically, becoming a resident of the U.S., ended up cutting his life short unexpectedly.
It causes me to wonder now-and-then if it would behoove a sentient being to "let go" on occasion and allow the Lord's plan to unfold as it should.
It may save us from an early departure or impending disaster!
It may save us from an early departure or impending disaster!
*I pine to take up residence in the Dakota!
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