John Lennon - Life Is What Happens

Baton Rouge, LA, December 8, 1980.

I was lying on the couch in my apartment after a hard day's work. My family was still in North Louisiana as we transitioned to a new job in the Capitol City. My youngest son had been born a month before on the same day that Ronald Reagan had been elected -- November 6. I was tired and it was colder than normal so I had hit the couch still in my work clothes and tuned the television to Monday Night Football.

Not sound asleep, just dozing when I heard Howard Cosell's announcement. I had been a Beatles fan since the British Invasion began back in the 60's. In the midst of starting a family and my job, "top forty" music had faded into the background -- so had John Lennon. The news was shocking.

John M. Borack and I have several things in common, one of which is our interest in the Beatles and John Lennon. Another is that we were both watching Monday Night Football that night. He talks about his experience in Decmber 1980 in the introduction to his new book.