Remembering Lennon
Imagine: 25 years after Lennon's death, the memories endure for one generation and the impressions grab another
by Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer

Sarah Knuckles wasn't born until four years after John Lennon died.

Yet the legendary musician and peace activist played a specific role in the life of the 21-year-old Ohio University senior, a German major and devoted Lennon fan.

"The Beatles have two songs they did in German - 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' and 'She Loves You,' " she said. "In eighth grade, you get to choose a language (class), and I chose German because I wanted to know what they were saying in those songs."

The West Chester Township native called Lennon her "intuitive favorite" among the Beatles, "because he was funny, a little bit naughty, he was rebellious ... a little bit sad, vulnerable but tough."

If he were alive today, she said, "He would have loved the Internet."

Twenty-five years after he was gunned down outside his apartment home in New York's Dakota building, John Lennon still moves fans across generations with his music, writings and political courage.

Linda Andriot of Westwood recalls her horror at learning about Lennon's death on the morning of Dec. 9. (He had been shot the night before by Mark David Chapman.) "I went to work in tears," she said. "It's still hard for me to deal with his death."

The next day, local fans gathered at Fountain Square for a candlelight vigil.

Andriot, 53, heads up the Beatles Booster Club, formed in 1997 by area fans, many of whom had attended one or both of the Beatles' Cincinnati concerts and joined the original Beatles Boosters club created by WSAI radio disc jockey Dusty Rhodes, now Hamilton County auditor.

Andriot and some friends will fly to Cleveland on Dec. 10 to attend "The Concert for John," an all-day fund-raiser featuring tribute performers such as Tim Piper and Working Class Hero, British Export, Instant Karma, Hal Bruce, All You Need Is Love and Mark Staycer. Then they'll go on to the U2 concert in Cleveland that night. "Bono is a huge fan of Lennon," Andriot said. "He always talks about him on stage. They have so much in common."

For musician Rhonda Everett of Mason, Lennon stands for "peace and love and good will toward men" as well as great music, so she named her now 8-year-old son Zane (a Welsh form of John) Lennon Everett.

"We were looking for a cool name, plus I'm musical, and when he grows up, he will probably be musical too, she said."

Diana Curtis of Covington, 53,is a member of the first generation to embrace the Beatles. A high school teacher for 25 years, she has taken note of Lennon's enduring appeal to teens.

"They identify with his rebelliousness and with his feeling like an outsider, of not being accepted. He had a lot of angst after being abandoned by his father and his mother."

Curtis believes a lack of parental attention contributes to teen loneliness and celebrity culture also undermines teen self-worth.

"If you don't look a certain way and dress a certain way, you're worthless," she said, noting that many have a sense of being an outsider. "He always spoke his mind, and that's another admirable thing, especially with the plastic pop stars we have today."

"To incorporate (politics) into your music is very difficult to do, and to do well," said Shawn Scott, 30, of Norwood, a member of local band Chaselounge.

"That's evident in light of the Sept. 11 tribute songs that came out of that. They're so here-today-gone-tomorrow. ... Then you have Lennon, who did it well, even in something as simple as 'Give Peace a Chance,' which is basically a chant. It's still a great song in its essence. . . . And 'Working Class Hero,' you can't get any more blunt than that."

Chaselounge will perform some Lennon songs at Southgate House Friday, said bandmate Aaron Scott (no relation to Shawn), who grew up with his parents' Beatles records.

"I personally really liked how Lennon put himself into his music. He really put things that were happening in his life into words."

The 23-year-old Covington resident cited Rooney and Fountains of Wayne as new bands that reflect Lennon's continuing influence. "No. 1, he had the ability to write really good original music," he said, "And No. 2, the lyrics that can be quite controversial, just the edginess of it, that type of rebellion, ... when I was younger that struck a really important note with me."

West Chester Township native Emily Strand, 29, was named a 2004 winner of the annual John Lennon Songwriting Contest, which bears the official imprimatur of his widow, Yoko Ono.

Strand, who won in the folk category for her song "Lou," said she conferred with 2005 pop-category winner Jayne Sachs of Dayton, about what the winning songs might have in common.

"We concluded that maybe they were looking for people with the art of songwriting first in their minds. I think that is certainly what Lennon tried to do. The song leads - which is different than when it's led by a story, as in country music, or by the hook as in rock, or the lyrical verse, as in pop. Lennon's songs run like that, and I like to think that I try to do that in my songs."

Local band Paper Airplane will play an acoustic set of seven Lennon songs before their Dec. 17 show at Northside Tavern. They will also play at the Sixth Annual Lennon Fest at the Union Bar & Grill in Athens, Ohio, Saturday, said band member Ryan Horns of Marysville, Ohio.

Horns, 31, said, he admired his Lennon's emphasis on personal transformation.

"What I always took to heart was, if you can change it in our head you can make it a reality outside of you, as opposed to associating yourself with a program or a religion."

Musically, said Horns, Lennon stood apart from the other Beatles.

"John was more raw, more rock 'n' roll. Whenever he wrote something, you just knew he meant every single word of it."

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