December 8, 2023

Rock Show

The date is December 8, 1981, exactly one year after a lunatic pointed a gun at John Lennon on the streets of New York City and…the gun jammed.

And a homeless woman, Olive Sprite, jumped on the failed assassin and held him to the ground and bit his ear and Lennon wrestled the faulty gun from his hands and then police came and took him away and Lennon wiped the sweat from his face on the chilly winter day.

He and Olive hugged and became best friends and she moved in with Lennon and his family and they spent Christmas 1980 together and have been nearly inseparable ever since.

And now, a year after nearly dying, Lennon stands on stage at the Chicago Stadium on a frigid night and winks to Olive who is backstage and then he turns to the roaring audience of cold, drunk, happy Americans who scream the 41-year-old rock God’s name and he sings the Kinks, yes the Kinks’ “Father Christmas.”

The rock, the roll, the cold, the heat, the smoke.

The life, sugar. The life. --TK