This Day, Back In The Day

I spent more than 20 years in the newspaper business. But there was a time before that when I imagined that my life's journey would be spent along a very different road.

Thirty years ago tonight, I was watching Monday Night Football on TV when the world stopped, though the game (Patriots-Dolphins) went on, as Howard Cosell told me that John Lennon had been shot and killed.

I know that there are a lot of folks who have little or no use for The Beatles. But I come from a different time and place. The Beatles changed my world and, in at least several respects, my life --- including the fueling of a desire to play music, too.

Today, I remember that 30 years ago, I was attending St. John's University as an evening student. I was home on that Monday night, but when I went to my next class, one on media history, I found that the professor viewed John Lennon's death as some kind of opportunity for a discussion on news coverage.

Well, there were only eight of us or something like that in the class and I was the oldest student. When The Beatles had made their first appearance on Ed Sullivan's TV show, I was a high school freshman. Following the shock of Lennon's death, I moved around, feeling as though I had blown a tire.

In my first class after that night, I found it necessary to ask the professor, as politely as possible, if she intended to continue the discussion as a classroom exercise, because I'd like to excuse myself

"Why, do you feel that strongly?" the professor asked.

And I remember my response: "I think this is as close as it gets to a death in my family without actually being one."

All these years later, that hasn't changed.

Peace, John.