John Lennon would have celebrated his birthday October 9th. His son Sean celebrates it the same day. The photo above is of a building where John lived with Yoko in NYC. This is also where he was killed. The widow's still living there, not far from Strawberry Fields, a little square of the ground among trees. Every year hundreds of people gather around the "Imagine" sign there to pay a tribute to their idol. They always bring guitars, drums and balloons with "happy birthday" signs on them. Just so happens that every year, magically, I find myself in or around Central Park on that date. Last year I was walking with my boyfriend in Central Park, when we heard a choir of voicer]s singing "Give peace a chance". I didn't put two and two together (I never do, the only birthdays I remember are my boyfriend's and mine), but we walked up to Strawberry Fields and sang a song with the crowd. This year I was observing the annual
Columbus Day Parade on the East side of the Park, when I walked into "Happy birthday" song again.
"Miss, you don't want to do that" - said the guard to me when I kneeled on a sidewalk to get a better view of Dakota. "Why? Is it forbidden?" I asked, ready to fight for my right to take photos where Lennon was shot. "No, it's just that there are a lot of dogs around here". I smiled and thought: so THAT's what I've been smelling the whole time...
If it wasn't for John, tourists and neighborhood people would probably not visit this place so often. Big names lived there: Lauren Baccal, Leonard Bernstein and Judy Garland amongst others. But for some reason when you say "Dakota", you envision the most famous glasses in the world. That's where he lived, and that's where he was shot. no wonder everybody wants to see it and experience it. I'm sure even dogs leave him little messages saying "Happy birthday John". Or maybe they want to erase the blood from a sidewalk forever?
I just saw a documentary on John Lennon and his "realtionship" with US. government in the early 70-ies. Apparently, Nixon's administration thought Lennon dangerous for the whole existence of their big empire, because of his preachings about peace and love and no war philosophy. He was followed by FBI agents wherever he went, they tapped a phone line in his apartment ("I'm not a moron, you know. I've noticed there is a lot of maintenance reparation going on in the cellar of my house, and when I pick up the phone I hear strange noises coming out which where never there before. I think they want me to know they are watching me" - said the artist in a movie). He was even issued a deportation order from INS, which he of course fought, but it took him good few years to get his green card.
There is a sentence that concludes the film, very true in my humble opinion: "John Lennon represented life. Mister Nixon and Mister Bush, they both represent death". That's why I think it's no coincidence that films like "US vs John Lennon", and "Good night and good luck" were made right now. When we have another stupid, cruel and unnecessary "war on terror" where innocent people die again. Happy Birthday, John. "All we are saying is Give peace a chance", and we're not being heard. Yet again.
