Results tagged “johnlennon”

Street naming became a point of controversy a couple of years ago; however, earlier this year Run-DMC got an intersection named after them in Queens, this week Where the Wild Things Are got a temporary street name... so now should the northeast corner of Central Park West and West 72nd Street be named for John Lennon?

Today would have marked John Lennon's 69th birthday, and surely the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park is seeing a lot of action for the occasion. However, one reader says that while the mosaic "is typically covered in flowers, adorned with trinkets and messages, and surrounded by people gathering to sing songs and pay tribute to the late Beatle. Early this morning, I found a lone salutation and a small army of the NYPD preparing for the onslaught of fans and tourists alike."

              

This morning we got to check out the new exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex, called John Lennon: The New York City Years. Opening to the public tomorrow, the exhibit presents exclusive artifacts from the life and work of the former Beatle, as well as never-before-seen items that uniquely commemorate Lennon’s life in New York City.

        

Today the tourists have been taking a break from Times Square and mingling with local John Lennon fans to pay tribute to the musician. 28 years ago today he was killed in front of his home at The Dakota (where his wife Yoko Ono still lives), and now the spot has become one of the New York City landmarks in which to remember the former Beatle.

       

This coming week, throngs of John Lennon fans will come together once again to celebrate his life and remember the day that he was murdered outside of his home at the Dakota. The Beatle was shot on the night of December 8th (28 years ago this Monday) by Mark David Chapman (who was just denied parole again). Shortly after, he was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital, and was later cremated in Hartsdale, New York. Today, those who loved and admired him continue to commemorate his life.

December 8th is just around the corner, and soon Strawberry Fields will be flickering with candles in memory of John Lennon, who was killed 28 years ago. On that day, decades ago, Joe Raiola was driving a cab when he heard sportscaster Howard Cosell announce Lennon's death on the radio, he told The NY Times: “I was on Queens Boulevard. I almost smashed into a telephone pole.” Raiola's long-running annual remembrance, one of the many for the Beatle, is called the Lennon Tribute. The now senior editor of Mad Magazine, pitting a fundraiser against the current economic climate, has been faced with suggestions to cancel the "shoe-string variety show" this year. Ultimately, the show will go on, with Railoa reminding that “Everything about this event is secondary to getting together to celebrate and remember John Lennon." In attendance next Sunday at the Ailey Citigroup Theater will be Rosanne Cash and many others presenting "a bill of entertainment heavy with Lennon and Beatles songs." Proceeds will go to the non-profit World Hunger Year.

This week reports have been coming in that the Vatican has forgiven John Lennon, which, you know, may have been more appropriate before he died 28 years ago. Lennon’s 1966 remark that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” was regarded by certain religious folks as "the ultimate blasphemy." Beatles records burned! Sensational headlines ran in the papers! Everyone overreacted! However, "with semi-official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano using the 40th anniversary of The White Album to expunge Lennon of his sins," it seems all has been forgiven. Well, goddammit, that took long enough didn't it! Their reasoning? “[This was] showing off, bragging by a young English working-class musician who had grown up in the age of Elvis Presley and rock and roll and had enjoyed unexpected success”.

     

Last night (on what would have been his 68th birthday), the Openhouse Gallery in SoHo opened their exhibit "Imagine Peace," displaying over 100 of John Lennon's drawings.

Mark David Chapman was just denied parole for a fifth time, and although nothing really stands out, CityRoom notes that with this hearing "some details that were not publicly discussed during Mr. Chapman’s previous attempts at obtaining parole" surfaced. In the interview he discussed his crime with the parole board, and noted of his shooting John Lennon: "I don't recall saying: Mr. Lennon. I think that was something that the press elaborated on; that did not happen, he didn't turn I shot him in the back." He continued on, saying he's changed, apologizing to Lennon's family and noting that if released he would go work on a farm upstate, where a man had offered him a job. The board decided to keep him locked up, of course--and as Yoko Ono said herself, he's "safer" in jail.

Following yesterday's news of Mark David Chapman's latest chance for parole coming up this week, The Daily News chimes in with some more from Yoko Ono. She has, naturally, long been against her husband's killer being released, for her family's safety, but has also stated that: "It's dangerous for him to come out. Not only for us, but for himself. There are so many people out there who dislike him. It's safer for him to stay in jail." He's been behind bars since he shot John Lennon four times in the back in 1980, and chances are that's where he'll stay. Meanwhile, Ono has been in the Hamptons keeping her late husband's name alive and promoting "Come Together, a show that will look at John's life through his artwork." Hundreds of pieces will be on sale, most of of which were "published after he died, and the majority are signed by Ono." Proceeds will go towards the Human Resources of the Hamptons. UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, Chapman was denied parole (he'll be up for it again in around two years), the board stated his release "would not be in the best interest of the community."

The Daily News takes a look at Mark David Chapman's time behind bars at New York's Attica Correctional Facility; the man who killed John Lennon is up for parole for a fifth time this week. In 2000, Yoko Ono wrote a letter to the parole board, referring to Chapman only as "the subject" and asking that he not be released because "With his one act of violence in those few seconds, [he] managed to change my whole life, devastate his sons, and bring deep sorrow and fear to the world." She recently reiterated those sentiments, and fears that his release would leave her family unsafe--the board has also received around 50 letters from Lennon fans this time around.

Posthumously joining an elite circle that includes Jerry Garcia, Stephen Colbert and Phish, ex-Beatle John Lennon has now been honored with his own Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor: Imagine Whirled Peace. Guest of a Guest recites the ingredients: a caramel and sweet cream whirl with toffee and chocolate-covered peace signs.

"Give Peace a Chance" is apparently no longer the tune surrounding Central Park's Strawberry Fields, after a stroller mishap led to a man getting slashed. Yesterday evening, a man accidentally bumped into a stroller being pushed by a man and a woman near the park at 72nd St. and Central Park West.

Put it this way: Jared Leto should stay focused on his music career. It would be a shame if his acting aspirations distracted him from his totally boss band, 30 Seconds to Mars. Though one can see how he’d have a hard time turning down the role of Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s murderer. After all, he’s a perfect fit for the role: both Leto and Chapman are unstable, grandiose footnotes whose insecurities drive them to violent acts that horrify millions of peaceful music lovers.

Yoko Ono is not going to be too pleased with this: it turns out John Lennon was quite happy during his infamous "Lost Weekend" period. The "weekend," which lasted 18 months (during 1973-75), was a separation from Ono, where he spent nearly two years with the couple's one-time employee May Pang (in both LA and NYC).

After news spread that Upper West Side institution Cafe La Fortuna would close today, many people came by to bid farewell.

It would a bit too simplistic to blame the impending closure of La Fortuna, the Upper West Side café that first opened in 1976, entirely on the skyrocketing rents of a turbo-gentrifying neighborhood. While the ever rising rental tide was certainly a factor – the building was taken over by a real-estate group after the previous landlord died – three years still remained on the lease. According to amNY, the closure has more to do with the death of the original owner’s wife last month:

Vincent "Uncle Vinny" Urwand called the cafe a dream come true for him and wife Alice, who was the "heart and soul" of the place. Alice died in January, and it was hard, Urwand said Thursday, to think of the place without her.

Yoko Ono isn't showing an ounce of compassion for heavy metal musician (and Suicide Girl) Lennon Murphy, who was named after the late Beatle by her mother. Ono is now suing the musician for "tarnishment" of John Lennon's name, "fraudulently" registering the name as a trademark and intentionally exploiting it. Lennon has been using her first name professionally since 1997, and in 2000 (when signed with Arista Records) she cleared the use of the name with Ono. Seems Ono has changed her tune over the years.

Last year two biopics about John Lennon's assassination made the festival rounds, and are now poised to hit theaters in 2008. One, titled Chapter 27, stars Jared Leto as Mark David Chapman and an actor named Mark Lindsay Chapman portraying John Lennon. While it may be an accurate casting to have Leto playing someone who kills music, his involvement in the film will likely have us choosing the second biopic, The Killing of John Lennon (trailer below).

Christie's is finally getting on the overpriced vintage concert t-shirt bandwagon. Today they bring 30 rock tees to the block as part of their Rock and Pop Memorabilia auction, and all are expected to sell for up to $4,500 each. Remember when Stella McCartney was creating overpriced rock tees for Chloe? We sort of blame her for this."The fact that these T-shirts exist in such pristine condition is remarkable because most people didn't keep these...

The set for director Ivo van Hove’s sensational but frustrating production of Molière's The Misanthrope tingles with exquisite cleanliness – though not for long. As the play beings, we gaze into a sleek shiny box that’s nondescript but not devoid of style: it seems just a few minimalist furnishings away from a feature in the Times’s Home & Garden section. The VIPs who chatter, prevaricate and flatter their way through the room are the curdled cream of contemporary cosmopolitan society; dressed in requisite black with blithely bare feet, they keep one eye and ear perpetually trained on their laptops, Blackberrys, iMacs and cellphones. It’s refreshing to see these pervasive mannerisms of the elite wired world so lucidly skewered onstage, where one can’t really be important unless one is seen chatting with somebody somewhere else.

In June of 1972 (just months after his divorce) Elvis Presley performed a 3-day run at Madison Square Garden. These shows were the first full concerts he put on in NYC, and the first since he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. Excitement was in the air, and Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Art Garfunkel, all of Led Zepplin and half of The Beatles (John Lennon and George Harrison) were in the audience. Another notable name: some report Liberace was there and after seeing him in concert suggested adding flashy costumes into his act.

Tom Snyder died today, at age 71, after losing a long battle with leukemia. There are many videos with footage of his long career, because just about everyone wanted to talk to him (especially on "The Tomorrow Show" which aired after Johnny Carson in the '70s and '80s).

Recently Rolling Stone took a 60-second tour of The Beatles' New York, with a little help from Google’s Street Maps feature.

Blender has a list of 100 Days That Changed Music, and not surprisingly a good amount of them took place in New York. Here are a few, see any missing?

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Sands St. in Brooklyn, a water rescue off City Island in the Bronx, and a stabbing at 146th St. in Queens.
• The national press is focusing on possible candidates Hillary, Rudy, and Bloomy, and catches on to the obvious fact that has been evident for the last century in politics: the rest of the U.S. hates New Yorkers and especially hates New York City politicians.
• If you haven't heard of Florsheim Shoes, you're not really a New Yorker. The company and the family are back.
• A NJ schools superintendent calls "Yuck!" at two gay boys kissing in a high school yearbook. That is so totally gay.
• John Lennon's sons, Sean and Julian, hug and make up.
• Before we get all worked up about the U.N. and its diplomats, City Comptroller Bill Thompson would like to remind us that there are a lot of companies and organizations that owe the city millions in unpaid taxes, like the Cyclones baseball team, the Mets, Hyatt Hotels, and the National Tennis Center. Pay up deadbeats.
• An FDNY rescue worker swam to a man crying for help as he clung to a the underside of a pier at East 38th St. this morning. #1 request after the near-drowning man was rescued from the chilly East River: "I need water."
• Mike Bloomberg: Populist Mayor or Plutocrat Kingmaker?

It isn't very often a Beatle takes a small stage for an intimate show in New York. Last night, this very thing happened...and lucky for those in attendance, that Beatle wasn't Ringo.

"Some Time in New York City" was released in 1972 as John Lennon's third post-Beatles album (and his fifth with Yoko Ono). Critically and commercially the album didn't do well, especially compared to Lennon's previous albums. "Imagine" had just come out in the 1971, and comparatively this one was brash, loud and more reflective of his political and new geographical surroundings at the time, in Greenwich Village.

Rolling Stone has officially turned 40! We can't honestly say it's aged very well, but it sure is partying like it's 1967. Last year, at 39 and issue number 1000, Jann Wenner wrote, "The fact that we had John Lennon on the very first cover [pictured] was serendipity. We had a publicity photo from his role in the anti-war film How I Won the War. That photo, we now realize, speaks so clearly to the paths of culture and politics that came to define Rolling Stone."