-
Featured News
Don’t Forget Me – Eddie Cochran documentary set for 2026
By Harvey Kubernik
Eddie Cochran, guitarist, singer, and songwriter was a pioneering rock and roll icon who left an indelible mark on countless musicians. Dying and just age 21 in 1960, h -
Featured Articles
Donovan's Sunshine Superman at 60
By Harvey Kubernik
Sunshine Superman is the third studio LP by singer-songwriter Donovan. On August 26, 1966, it was released in the United States on Epic Records.
Donovan and his recor -
On the anniversary of John Lennon’s death
By Mike Stax
(The article below appeared in the SAN DIEGO READER in 2010 as part of a larger story marking the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death.)
On December 8, 1980 I had been living in America for just over four weeks. I had flown to San Diego from England with a suitcase, a bass guitar and about $250 to join a band called the Crawdaddys. I was 18 years old. The Crawdaddys were one of the first fiercely retro ‘60s bands. We lived and breathed 1964-65: vintage clothes, vintage guitars, vintage amps, vintage songs. Musically we were fixated more on the Stones and Them than the Beatles, but the early Beatles were a big part of the daily soundtrack of our lives. John Lennon in A Hard Day’s Night was the epitome of cool to us: his quick wit, that hard-faced sarcasm in the face of authority.
At the time I was living with Ron Silva, the Crawdaddys leader, and his girlfriend Mindy in a small apartment on Fifth Avenue, close to downtown. Ron and I arrived home early that evening after another day of walking around the city. We’d walked as far as 30th and Meade where Ron had dropped a jacket off at a tailor he used there. Later we figured out that’s where we must have been when Lennon had actually been shot. I can’t drive by that block now without thinking of John Lennon. When we got home Mindy blurted out between sobs that John Lennon had been shot. We were stunned, speechless. She and Ron disappeared into the bedroom and I was left alone, reeling in disbelief. It wasn’t until a few minutes later when Ron reemerged that I learned that Lennon had not only been shot, he was dead. Mindy was inconsolable, fixated on a line Lennon sung years before: “The way things are going, they’re gonna crucify me.”
Later that night and over the next few days, we, like the rest of the world, watched as the rest of the story unfurled on television. None of it made any sense: the killer, the motive, the media canonization. I was gutted but felt completely detached from the public displays of grief, the constant soundtrack of “Imagine” on every TV set or radio. These people seemed to be mourning a different John Lennon than we were. Did they even know him? I remember one grieving ‘fan’ on TV sobbing to a reporter that she loved John so much because he’d written two of her favorite songs: “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude.” You had to laugh to keep from puking.
A few months later Reagan was shot, not by a political revolutionary but by another delusional loner with an unhealthy celebrity fixation.
So this was America, I thought, a land where any disaffected loser can simply grab a weapon, select his target and blast himself a small perch in history. I seemed to have arrived in a very strange place, a long way from home. Maybe John had a similar revelation as he lay dying on the cold pavement in front of the Dakota. Maybe we all did.
Mike Stax, writer, Ugly Things magazine publisher, lead singer of The Loons.
It’s really a great and useful piece of info. I am satisfied that you shared this useful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
I do enjoy the way you have framed this problem and it does present me a lot of fodder for thought. Nonetheless, coming from everything that I have observed, I just hope when other feedback pack on that folks remain on point and in no way get started upon a soap box involving some other news of the day. Yet, thank you for this fantastic piece and whilst I do not really agree with this in totality, I respect the viewpoint.
Appreciate you sharing, great blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Want more.
I am only writing to make you know what a really good encounter my friend’s daughter gained reading through your web site. She came to understand too many pieces, not to mention how it is like to possess an ideal helping style to make many people without difficulty have an understanding of a number of multifaceted issues. You undoubtedly exceeded people’s expected results. Many thanks for supplying such necessary, trusted, revealing and as well as easy tips on your topic to Kate.
Hi my loved one! I want to say that this post is amazing, nice written and include almost all significant infos. I would like to peer extra posts like this .
I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this site. I’m hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming also. Actually your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own blog now. Actually the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.
F*ckin’ awesome things here. I am very satisfied to look your post. Thanks so much and i’m taking a look ahead to contact you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
i have a blogger and my videos only appear half method? Like the video is cut in half?. what can i do to fix it?. i mean that the actual picture is cut in half.
thank you.Ubersuggest girl.
I’ve read a few good stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put to create such a excellent informative web site.