JOHN LENNON -- IMAGINE

I was never a big fan of the Beatles -- which is almost blasphemy to many folks, I know.

I mean, I can actually remember them right back when they wore matching suits. I guess I had a bit of a Beatles phase, but I was more of a Stones man.

So I never totally got into the music of John Lennon either. Which is not the same as saying I couldn't appreciate it. He was a marvelously talented individual.

And he had a kind heart.

As you may know, we just passed what would have been his 70th birthday (October 9), and, sadly, are approaching the 30th anniversary of his death at the hands of a madman (December 8). For some reason, I felt compelled to write about him today.

From what I know of Lennon, he wasn't an angel and didn't try to be: He was a rebel in his own right and he was more fallible than the deification since his death would have you believe. But he struck me as the kind of guy who would be the first to admit that. He wasn't too wrapped up in himself.

John Lennon sang about love, peace and imagining a better world. He didn't need costumes, a computer beat and gossip mags to make his fame. He had something better: That heart of his. And it was, make no mistake, a rock and roll heart.

True artists, the great ones -- singers, writers, poets, painters -- do not calculate their next success like the lesser lights who fuel "the idiot culture." The real creative geniuses deliver directly from the soul to the page (or the microphone etc.). They disgorge. That is what defines them: You get truth, not artifice.

It's like the difference between, say, Aretha Franklin or Janis Joplin and the pitch-perfect but almost indistinguishable singers on "American Idol."

Bill Hicks, the great social-commentary comedian whom I love to quote, used to scream out during his rant about rock and roll: "PLAY FROM YOUR F****N' HEART!"

John Lennon played from his heart. And he hoped that it would impact people in a positive way. Unquestionably it did and still does.

So, as we remember these anniversaries of his birth and passing, let's leave the last word to John -- with these excerpted lyrics from "Imagine" -- and see if they might seep deeply into us:

"Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one "

Peace,
Adrian Zupp

BREAKING NEWS: I just read this news story a couple of hours after writing this blog post:
"Three decades after his death, Beatles singer John Lennon's legacy continues to live with a commemorative British coin honouring him going on sale in the UK, weeks after what would have been the legend's 70th birthday. The Imagine hit-maker was announced winner of an online vote to determine which
British luminary would be honoured with a commemorative coin struck by the Royal Mint.

Lennon’s coin, which depicts him with long hair and sideburns and his trademark round glasses, will have a face value of $8 but will be sold for $71.63.

Only 5,000 coins will be sold."

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