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."

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE FABULOUS BILL HICKS! or VALE HOWARD ZINN.

A day in the life of Abbey Road

The iconic photo of the Beatles on the crossing outside Abbey Road Studios was taken 40 years ago on Saturday 8th August 1969. The photograph, taken by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, features John Lennon in a white suit and a barefoot Paul McCartney. Ever since the image appeared on the front of their Abbey Road album, the crossing has become a place of pilgrimage. Scores of Beatles fans visit every day to recreate the famous pose.


Abbey Road

Now there is talk that the iconic St John’s Wood zebra crossing made famous by The Beatles could be moved – because it is becoming an accident hotspot. Every year, fans head down to Abbey Road to take pictures on the crossing – immortalised on the Fab Four's 1969 Abbey Road cover. And this weekend, hundreds of fans flocked to the site to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the photo and to recreate the steps taken by John, Paul, Ringo and George. But an increase in the number of music lovers making the trip to the north-west London crossing has coincided with a rise in the number of accidents, according to figures from Westminster Council.



Since 2000, there have been 22 accidents, but residents believe many more have gone unreported, so officials are considering whether to dig up the crossing and move its black-and-white stripes and flashing beacons further down the road. Lindsey Hall, a councillor in the Abbey Road ward, said: "Maybe it’s time to end this once and for all and move this zebra crossing.”It may end up coming to that."However, a spokesman for Westminster Council said the crossing could be allowed to stay at its location and that the problem may be with the road junction, not the crossing. "The issue with that crossing is the busy junction. We have looked into a redesign."


Fans at the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing for the 40th anniversary of the Beatles album cover

A Day in the Life is a song by the British rock band The Beatles written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, based on an original idea by Lennon. It is the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the 26th greatest song of all time. As you know the Beatles were from Liverpool, sometimes known as Dublin East, for its strong Irish population and connections and there is an Irish connection to the “A Day in the Life.”


Luggala House


The Honourable Garech Browne (An t’Onoarch Garech de Brún)

The first verse was written about the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune and close friend of Lennon and McCartney, who had crashed his Lotus Élan on 18 December 1966 when he apparently went through a red light at high speed (possibly drunk or using drugs) and hit a truck in his path in Redcliffe Gardens, Earls Court. Tara was the younger brother of Garech Browne (An t’Onoarch Garech de Brún) who has done much for Irish Music with his Claddagh Records label which he founded. Garech was instantly recognisable around Dublin by his famous pony-tail, wispy beard, tweed suit and dapper appearance and his wonderful old Bentley parked on the pavement outside Peter’s Pub in South William Street.


Lough Tay, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

He would disappear every winter and in the spring invaribly arrive “in town” with a new eastern beauty on his arm. He was married in 1981 to the Princess Purna of Morvi, daughter of His Highness Sri Mahendra Sinhji (of the Jadeja dynasty and the last Maharaja of Morvi) in India, where he spends part of each year.


Tara Browne's obit in The Times

His former house, Woodtown Manor, near Dublin was for many years a welcoming place for Irish poets, writers and musicians and which was associated with the folk-pop group Clannad, where they made many recordings of their music. When in Ireland, he lives at Luggala set deep in the Wicklow Mountains. The house has been variously described as a castle or hunting lodge of large proportions which he inherited from his mother. It is a wonderful gingerbread gothic building and has a wonderful private setting on its own lake, Lough Tay. Garech has put white sand around his black lake so that it resembles a glass of Guinness! Tara Browne is buried in the grounds.

A day in the life of Abbey Road

The iconic photo of the Beatles on the crossing outside Abbey Road Studios was taken 40 years ago on Saturday 8th August 1969. The photograph, taken by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, features John Lennon in a white suit and a barefoot Paul McCartney. Ever since the image appeared on the front of their Abbey Road album, the crossing has become a place of pilgrimage. Scores of Beatles fans visit every day to recreate the famous pose.


Abbey Road

Now there is talk that the iconic St John’s Wood zebra crossing made famous by The Beatles could be moved – because it is becoming an accident hotspot. Every year, fans head down to Abbey Road to take pictures on the crossing – immortalised on the Fab Four's 1969 Abbey Road cover. And this weekend, hundreds of fans flocked to the site to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the photo and to recreate the steps taken by John, Paul, Ringo and George. But an increase in the number of music lovers making the trip to the north-west London crossing has coincided with a rise in the number of accidents, according to figures from Westminster Council.



Since 2000, there have been 22 accidents, but residents believe many more have gone unreported, so officials are considering whether to dig up the crossing and move its black-and-white stripes and flashing beacons further down the road. Lindsey Hall, a councillor in the Abbey Road ward, said: "Maybe it’s time to end this once and for all and move this zebra crossing.”It may end up coming to that."However, a spokesman for Westminster Council said the crossing could be allowed to stay at its location and that the problem may be with the road junction, not the crossing. "The issue with that crossing is the busy junction. We have looked into a redesign."


Fans at the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing for the 40th anniversary of the Beatles album cover

A Day in the Life is a song by the British rock band The Beatles written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, based on an original idea by Lennon. It is the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the 26th greatest song of all time. As you know the Beatles were from Liverpool, sometimes known as Dublin East, for its strong Irish population and connections and there is an Irish connection to the “A Day in the Life.”


Luggala House


The Honourable Garech Browne (An t’Onoarch Garech de Brún)

The first verse was written about the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune and close friend of Lennon and McCartney, who had crashed his Lotus Élan on 18 December 1966 when he apparently went through a red light at high speed (possibly drunk or using drugs) and hit a truck in his path in Redcliffe Gardens, Earls Court. Tara was the younger brother of Garech Browne (An t’Onoarch Garech de Brún) who has done much for Irish Music with his Claddagh Records label which he founded. Garech was instantly recognisable around Dublin by his famous pony-tail, wispy beard, tweed suit and dapper appearance and his wonderful old Bentley parked on the pavement outside Peter’s Pub in South William Street.


Lough Tay, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

He would disappear every winter and in the spring invaribly arrive “in town” with a new eastern beauty on his arm. He was married in 1981 to the Princess Purna of Morvi, daughter of His Highness Sri Mahendra Sinhji (of the Jadeja dynasty and the last Maharaja of Morvi) in India, where he spends part of each year.


Tara Browne's obit in The Times

His former house, Woodtown Manor, near Dublin was for many years a welcoming place for Irish poets, writers and musicians and which was associated with the folk-pop group Clannad, where they made many recordings of their music. When in Ireland, he lives at Luggala set deep in the Wicklow Mountains. The house has been variously described as a castle or hunting lodge of large proportions which he inherited from his mother. It is a wonderful gingerbread gothic building and has a wonderful private setting on its own lake, Lough Tay. Garech has put white sand around his black lake so that it resembles a glass of Guinness! Tara Browne is buried in the grounds.