I read the headline that john lennon was shot the morning after

[Roon]

when I busted open my bundle of newspapers getting them ready to deliver. I never heard of john lennon at the time, I was 13-years-old.

ON EDIT: What were YOU doing when you heard lennon was shot?

[Moondog]

1. Driving from Wash DC to FL to visit my father and grandmother.

Heard it on the radio somewhere in the Carolinas. Thought I didn't hear it correctly the first time.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

2. If I remember correctly.......

I was watching MNF with my dad.

[Joe Fields]

3. I was driving across town in the rain, when I heard the news bulletin.

One of those indelible memories.

I pulled over to the side of the road and cried for the longest time.

[IcyPeas]

4. In NYC listening to WNEW - Vin Scelsa's Show

I was 23. it shocked the world.

[KatyaR]

5. Decorating a Christmas tree at my best friend's house with her and her boyfriend.

I immediately called my other best friend, who was a Beatles fanatic--he was absolutely devastated and couldn't even talk to me. Horrible night, just kicked the legs out from all the fun we were having that evening. I think about that every Christmas....

[rug]

6. Drinking whiskey at a bar in Brooklyn.

[susanr516]

7. Watching Monday Night Football nt

[elocs]

8. I was watching Monday Night Football as well, staying at my grandfather's house in FL.

I was from Wisconsin and otherwise by myself so I didn't have anyone to talk with about it. I was coming of age when the Beatles hit in '64 and I was struck by Beatlemania. When I was in college I was often told I looked like John probably mostly because of my hair and round, wire rim glasses.

[KamaAina]

11. Watching Monday Night Football *in New England*

where the Pats were in the process of blowing a playoff spot when the news broke. To this day, perhaps the low point in Pats history, rivaled only by the 46-10 drubbing in the Super Bowl.

[rurallib]

14. me too. I got up for work at 4AM back then so I was just getting ready

to nod off. needless to say I had a hard time sleeping that night.

[Capn Sunshine]

16. Me Too. Heard it from Cosell "John Lennon, Dead on Arrival"

I'll never forgive Cosell for that.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. Watching "Little House On The Prairie."

There was a knock at the door right after they announced it. It was my brother-in-law, who was already on the way over with a surprise pizza before he heard the news. I opened the door. We just looked at each other and didn't say anything and sat down at my dining room table and pretty much ate the pizza in silence.

[Arugula Latte]

18. Me too.

I'll never forget it. I was lying on my family room floor watching Laura and Mary and Ma and Pa and then they broke into the program. I had become a huge Beatles fan just months before that (I was 14 in '80) and I took it very hard.

[bikebloke]

10. Driving to work.

They had just played one of his songs from Double Fantasy, then the DJ said "...in mourning John Lennon". I thought it was criticism. At work, a guy came in and said John Lennon was shot.

[cordelia]

12. Having a drink

with friends at the Blue Parrot in Salt Lake City. The waitress told us about it.

[deutsey]

13. Woke up before sunrise (which was something I never did...I was in high school)

and turned on the radio for some reason.

Found "A Day in the Life" playing and laid there in the dark listening to it (it's one of my favorite songs). Then there was the crashing finale with the endless piano chord fading out and the deejay somberly said, "John Lennon, dead at age 40."

I was shocked. Still feel the shock of it after all these years. I didn't idolize the man (even he said he had to be real bastard to get the level of fame he and Beatles attained), but I was deeply influenced by his music, his love of words, and his activism.

[cherokeeprogressive]

15. Sitting in my '67 Mustang with friends at the park, getting stoned. Jim Ladd announced his death at

the beginning of his show, which was on KMET at the time. He came on at 10 p.m.

We were shocked, dismayed, and completely heartbroken. We went home a few minutes after the announcement, unable to find a good reason to stay where we were.

[Tikki]

17. On Sunday nights, I'd stay up super late...

while Mr. Tikki and the boys were asleep and I would listen
to the Rodney on the ROQ radio show on KROQ..
Late that night before Rodney signed off he announced that
Darby Crash of the Germs had just died. I was kinda shell shocked.
I was a fan of the Germs music and of Darby's lyrics...

The next day, Monday, December 8th 1980, I took
our 6 month old doggie, Thelma Lou, for a walk and when I got
home from the walk, Mr. Tikki was sitting in his chair with a look on
his face I knew meant something sad and bad had happened.
"He's dead, the music's dead", he said. "I know, I know..don't you remember I told you
already?" I said.

But it was John Lennon who we lost that day, the John Lennon who wrote all those amazing
songs and led so many of us out of the darkness into a better thought who had died..
and I thought "Oh shit, this December will just suck in my mind forever."

Tikki

[marzipanni]

19. I was 13 when I first heard of John Lennon

My best friend and I had penpals in Wales and all 4 of us girls were stricken with Beatlemania. My friends gave me mostly fan magazines and other Beatles related stuff at my 14th birthday party in December, 1964. Years went by and The Beatles' music was always in our lives, for sixteen years....

I was in my cousin's car on their little lane waiting for her husband to finish cleaning up after work and come out to the car. We had the radio on in the car, and when we heard that John Lennon had been killed we went in and my cousin's husband was on his way out telling us that he had just heard the same bad news. To me, about to go out to dinner with some friends to celebrate my 30th birthday, it felt like a really bad omen. Goodbye sweet, idealistic world of being young/ hello depressing, cruel adult world.

on edit, I just read some other DUers' posts who were younger at the time, and had a feeling, like deja vu, that I can easily empathize with how they must have felt. I was 12 when John Kennedy was killed.

[SwampG8r]

20. i remember howard cosell reporting it live on tv

cant remember what he was doing other than that