I’ve been waiting for weeks to make this posting, a tribute to John Lennon on December 8th, the 30th anniversary of his assassination, but I had a terribly busy Wednesday and Thursday this week. Pearl Harbor, JFK in Dallas, the Moon Landing, John Lennon being gunned down while entering his Manhattan apartment. All of these were iconic events. All of these had in common the singular reality that literally everyone in its respective generation remembers it like it was yesterday and knows exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the shocking news. And it was shocking, like losing a best friend or an idolized older brother who was so cool, so beyond cool, that you wished everyday you could be just like him.
I was in the 2nd year of the MBA program at USC, completely swamped in a consulting project over at Universal Studios. Lennon was shot late at night on the 8th so we actually didn’t hear the news until the morning of the 9th. Even at USC, the arch-citadel of American bourgeois capitalism, it was all anyone could talk about on campus all day long. Tim and I spoke on the phone that evening and I remember him relating the story of how Lennon had chosen Manhattan as his home specifically because it was the one city in the world where no one would bother him. New Yorkers respected his space, he was never mobbed by fans as he often was in London and other cities throughout the world. There was the occasional autograph-seeker who would politely approach him if they spotted him on the street or in the park and he would always happily oblige. But that was it. He had found happiness and peace in Manhattan, the city that everyone else in the world who does not live there fears and sees as a haven for crime. But when the time came for his violent demise, it was not a New Yorker who did it. Indeed, Tim told me that if there was anything positive at all about Lennon’s murder, it was that in this city that the world so feared for all its crime, the nutjob who killed him came all the way from Hawaii to do it.
Lennon had come to New York to finally have a normal life and New York happily obliged him. A few days later, I heard from John, who had just begun his journalism career at the ultra-conservative St. Joseph Herald-Palladium in western Michigan. His editor, a carmudgeonly fellow of our parent’s generation, knew who Lennon was, of course, which is to say he knew his name. He knew he was a famous rock musician. Did he have any idea that he was the most wildly acclaimed rock musician of his generation? Doubt it. But he was smart enough to know one thing – Lennon’s murder was news. Huge News! And none of the stalwarts on the Herald-Palladium staff had any idea how to write about him. It was after all a generation and a style of music that they did not understand.
So John told me that he had sat down at his desk on his lunch break and banged away at his typewriter, writing his own very unique tribute to Lennon and how the former Beatle had personally affected his life. He walked across the newsroom floor and laid it down in front of his boss. "Bert, this is just something that I felt I had to write. Do with it whatever you please." And Bert put it on the front page. It was really an editorial but he put it on the front page, maybe the only time in Herald-Palladium history that that happened. Bert knew that he had a lot of readers who were Lennon fans and the only thing worse than running no story at all would be to run a shallow one. He knew John had his pulse on the Lennon generation, something no one else there could claim.
On November 12th, I wrote about John Lennon’s famous white Steinway, so I couldn’t think of a better way to honor his memory than to attend a Steinway concert and, coincidentally, they had one last night at the Steinway Gallery right here. Not the same Steinway, of course. Much to my disappointment, when I went over there a few weeks ago to inquire about the reissue of the famous "Imagine" Steinway, an exact replica of the Steinway Lennon got Yoko for her 38th birthday in 1971, I discovered that they were making the "Imagine" piano strictly to order. There was no place to go to actually see one and play one. Since there aren’t that many Steinway showrooms in America (how fortunate that I live just 15 minutes from one), I was hoping that they might have one of them there to see. No deal. There isn’t even one at the national Steinway Gallery in New York. You can only see it by buying it. You can only play it by buying it. It’s a 5’7" Steinway M that retails for $60,000 but, because of its collector value, the "Imagine" Steinway is $90,000.
I went to the Steinway showroom to check it all out and was given a personal royal tour by the head of Steinway-Detroit that lasted over half an hour. The guy convinced me. Forget the Yamaha and all the other pianos. He had a beautiful used Steinway M in the showroom that very day for $20,000, roughly twice the price of a comparable used Yamaha, and a third of what this piano would usually go for. So I made my decision that day to hang on to my lovely Ritmuller until I could afford that Steinway. I’ll be able to claim that I’m playing the exact model piano that Lennon played, just a different color.
I had no idea it was possible to get into a Steinway for that low a price. It’s like saving to buy a Buick when you really want a Rolls, but won’t even think about it because you assume it’s way out of your league. Then you run into a Rolls salesman who shows you that there is a way to get into your dream car for the same price as a Cadillac. Changes your whole perspective. That’s what happened that day. Now that I know that getting my dream piano is achievable, I have a new goal. It’s going to take longer but it’ll be worth it. Instead of buying the Yamaha at the end of my first 2,000 hours, I’ll get the Steinway when I complete the Collegiate Diploma course. My assumption is that by then I’ll be doing very well either running my own film company in Los Angeles, or running my own mutual fund in New York. (Or both!)
The Steinway Gallery-Detroit (actually in Commerce Township, Maple @ M-5), has a beautiful concert hall and they have events there almost every week. On Tuesday, they had a jazz concert that I was unfortunately unaware of. (That’s not going to happen again; I know how to access their calendar now.) And last night they hosted the Chinese musical troupe Shen Yun as they gave us a preview of the show they’ll be doing at the Fox next month. And part of the evening was a beautiful 15 minute recital by this lovely young Chinese woman who had just completed her doctorate in piano at Wayne. She didn’t play on the Steinway M, it was the higher concert model, but I still felt a connection to Lennon as I listened to her play. I’m really hoping I can make the show at the Fox next month. And I’m really looking forward to many more wonderful piano events at Steinway. One may be as soon as tomorrow night. Steinway is sponsoring a Bach competition at Schoolcraft College (just a few miles down 275) and all the finalists will be doing their recitals tomorrow night. It’s just a matter of calling tomorrow to see if I can still get in.
So I am sending this on December 10th, the 95th anniversary of our father’s birth. Dad, you know we all miss you dearly. Sometimes I feel I’m being selfish when I’d rather have you here with me than enjoying eternal bliss. Still, I know that you are looking down on me and that you are pleased. You know that we are all taking very good care of your beloved Ruthie. You know that I am being especially diligent about looking out for her, making very sure that she doesn’t get lonely, and keeping a very watchful eye on how she’s treated. I am especially dedicated to making sure she gets out of that building every week or so. When I take her to lunch or dinner, I can see how her mood changes and she just glows. Did you ever think she’d be this hardy? Did you think you’d be waiting this long to be reunited? I will be staying with her for however long it takes.
And for those of you who are Beatles and Lennon fans and who have patiently read this tribute, I reward you with yet another video I’ve pulled from YouTube memorializing John Lennon’s life. It’s pretty good.
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