OT: john lennon fans, I need some help

Hi there
i'm researching for a project and I was wondering if a very detailed timeline of december 8th 1980 exists. I need as many details about everything he did that day including times etc etc. If anyone could help, I would really appreciate it.

alex

 

I have never seen such a timeline. But here is what I know: at around 5 p.m., John and Yoko left the Dakota on Central Park West and 72nd street to go to their recording studio to supervise the transfer of some of the "Double Fantasy" album numbers to singles. John and Yoko spent about 5 hours at the studio on West 44th Street, returning to the Dakota at about 10:50 p.m. They both exited their limousine on the curb, and as John and Yoko walked by, Mark David Chapman called out, "Mr. Lennon" then fired four shots. According to police, Lennon staggered up six steps to the room at the end of the entrance used by the concierge. Two sets of cops arrived. The first to arrive at the scene were in a patrol car at 72nd Street and Broadway when they heard a report of shots fired at the Dakota. A second police team at the Dakota took John to Roosevelt Hospital. The Doctor at Roosevelt Hospital said John was dead when the policemen arrived. He was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.

 

Keith Badman's excellent book 'The Beatles After the Breakup' has a pretty detailed account of what happened on December 8th, 1980.

 

Many don't want to go (back) there.

 

The afternoon was spent with Annie Liebovitz who took many photographs of John just hours before he died. These included the famous naked photo used on the cover of Rolling Stone and the photograph that was eventually used on the front cover of the old "John Lennon Collection" LP.

 

I believe he also taped a radio interview that day (was it for the RKO Radio Network? I don't remember!)

 

Well said...I hang at Lennon & Beatle boards, and refuse to discuss it, just too painful any day of the year....

ED

 

Yeah, I forgot about that. I don't think it was a terribly long interview, but RKO managed to pad it out to about three hours later in December when it was aired.

John & Yoko did do a very long interview on December 6 with the BBC. A wonderful interview, but it does feature John's standard made up stories about his time as a househusband and his "lost weekend."

 

...your leaving out a key part of history...Paul Goresh, who earlier, was hanging out with Chapman waiting for John, that afternoon he introduced Chapman to John...Remember that famous picture of John signing the album cover for Chapman?, well it was Goresh who took that photo and the LAST photo's of John alive as he was leaving for the studio...Goresh was hanging out with Chapman waiting for John to return...Goresh decided to leave, Chapman stayed and the rest is history.

 

I think I read that they were doing mixes of "Walking On Thin Ice" that night. John had been up most of the previous night listening to early mixes of the song over and over again. He had a cassette of the song in his pocket when he was shot.

 

I remember that interview - it was with Andy Peebles of the BBC. I remember taping the broadcast off of the radio in 1981 but I've since lost the tapes. I remember John sounded completely at ease with life. Too sad to think about

 

That interview was actually released commercially in the UK on cd by the BBC!

 

Paraphrased from 'After the Breakup':

Shortly before 7.30am: breakfast at La Fortuna.

9am: Visit to his local Barber. Gets hair cut into a Fifties style, complete with quiff.
9.45am: Returns home.

Shortly before 10 am: RKO Radio interview (with Yoko) by Dave Sholin, Laurie kaye, Ron Hummel, & Bert Keane. Approximatly 90 mins.

Just after midday: Photographer Annie Liebovitz arrives for photo shoot.

2-3.30pm: photo shoot.

4pm: Leaves Dakota with the RKO team in route to the Hit Factory to record Yoko's 'Walking on Thin Ice'. Out side the Dakota he is photographed by Paul Goresh autographing a copy of 'Double Fantasy' for the Unperson.

Evening Session: During the session John phones Aunt Mimi in England. Later David Geffen arrives with the news the Double Fantasy has gone Gold.
10.30pm: After four hours the Session ends. John takes a rough mix of the song with him. They plan to stop on the way home to eat at the Stage Deli but change their minds.

10.52: John is shot 5 times by the Unperson.
Deciding that they cannot wait for the ambulance, NYPD Officers Bill Gamble and James Moran rush John to St.Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, approximately a half mile away, in three minutes. Officer Anthony Palmer follows with Yoko.

11pm: Events reach the US news media.

11.07: John is pronounced dead.

11.15: Yoko is told.

 

A few years ago, there was some show about John Lennon's Last Days, a True Hollywood Story I think, and there was an interview with Jack Douglas. He said something like, John had been acting a little strange while in the studio (and everything he said was being recorded). Anyway, when Jack heard about John's murder, he went back and wiped the tapes, and has never since talked about what happened in the studio that night. Anyone else heard about this, or is it not even true (it's been a few years since I saw the show)?

 

This is the actual album autographed for Chapman.

The additional writing was part of the evidence catalog numbering. Notice the "dusting" for fingerprints on the inner-sleeve.

 

Yes, Unfortunately, I know all about it.

 

This from a Goldmine interview with Jack Douglas:

Jack Douglas: There's audio of everything, every breath that existed from day one to the last day.

Goldmine: Ono has it?
JD: No, the [tape of the] last day got tossed. I tossed the last day. Doesn't exist.

GM: What happened during the "Walking On Thin Ice" session, the night Lennon was killed?
JD: It was the end of "Walking On Thin Ice." It was the last day of mixing, but there were things, there were some strange things said in the control room.

GM: Like what?
JD: I don't want to talk about it. I erased the tape.

GM: Things said by Lennon?
JD: Yeah. So I erased that tape because it was a real painful tape.

 

This is way to depressing....do you really need to do this????

 

My copy of this interview is my most treasured musical possession....

 

I have a copy of the interview too - if I remember correctly, a friend of mine transferred it for me from a vinyl bootleg. It's the interview, with a lot of his songs interspersed throughout, right? I haven't listened to it in awhile, but I think it had the live Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds with Elton John, which I had never heard before. I really need to pull that out soon...

 

IIRC, the Andy Peebles JL Interview was available on a double compact disc set?

 

It is, but the radio show recording is better since it has all the songs in it...nice flow to it....

 

Hey Guys,
Listen, I really didn't mean to upset anyone. I'm a huge fan myself and it is upsetting. Thank you though very much for the info.

Alex

 

Don't take it personally....it's just that this wound does not seem to be any less sensitive 24 years later...but the info is interesting...

It's still just a very sad and dark topic...

 

Any more info on the Andy Peebles BBC interview in cd? I'd love to track it down...my 24 + year old cassette is getting mighty fragile...