John Lennon

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. Articles  • Imagine no possessions : Report says John Lennon was a closet Republican. ( Toronto Sun )  • Pot, meet kettle: Obama scolds Congress for taking too many vacations. ( ABC )  • Somebody get Ban Ki-moon a straitjacket : United Nations appoints North Korea head of conference on disarmament.

Editor: There are people we know who really are part of the fabric of our lives. A son or daughter, a close relative, or a friend who you just can't live without…they all touch us in ways to complete our time on this earth. Yet, every now and then it's a real shocker to read the obituaries and see a name of someone you've known for a long time…not so much as a friend, even though most of them are, but someone who you have crossed paths with and casually known. Maybe it was someone in a retail business you may have frequented through the years.

Two artists known primarily for their work as musicians are on view at Reality Room Art Gallery in Washington, in a show that includes 24 pen and ink drawings by former Beatles member John Lennon and 10 oil paintings by the late jazz great Miles Davis.The exhibition, titled "The Art of Democracy," runs through July 31 and commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Chinese student demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.Reality Room Art Gallery is at 1010 Wisconsin Ave. N.W., in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood.

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. Articles  • Imagine no possessions : Report says John Lennon was a closet Republican. ( Toronto Sun )  • Pot, meet kettle: Obama scolds Congress for taking too many vacations. ( ABC )  • Somebody get Ban Ki-moon a straitjacket : United Nations appoints North Korea head of conference on disarmament.

An exhibit of more than 50 copper etchings, lithographs and silk screens by the late John Lennon go on display today through Sunday at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore at the Inner Harbor.On Saturday, the 10th anniversary of Mr. Lennon's death, a short memorial service will be held at the hotel at 6 p.m."Imagine Exhibition of the Art of John Lennon" includes images done by Lennon between 1968, when he was with the Beatles, and 1979, the year before his death. The art ranges from music-oriented works such as "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" to impressions of domestic scenes like "Morning Coffee."

An exhibit of 70 works by the late John Lennon -- including copper etchings, lithographs, silk screens and pen and ink drawings -- go on display today through Sunday at the HarborView Marina and Yacht Club on Key Highway near Federal Hill."

WASHINGTON -- "Look, John," said the older cousin, "when you collect stamps, it will help you with your geography at school." Stanley Parkes then handed his hardcover Mercury stamp album to 7-year-old John Lennon, who proceeded to rub out the previous owner's name and draw beards and mustaches on the stamped likenesses of Queen Victoria and King George VI. "Typical John," Parkes said last week. Parkes, a retired agricultural salesman living in Scotland, recently found himself in America for the first time.

Since partners such as Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono sparked John Lennon's creative breakthroughs, it's fitting that two people - veteran documentary-makers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld - wrote, produced and directed The U.S. vs. John Lennon. This alternately engaging and incendiary film, now playing at the Charles, gives equal weight to both its subjects: what was happening in the U.S. and in the life and work of John Lennon between 1966 and 1976. Leaf and Scheinfeld have come up with the fullest screen portrait yet of Lennon as a maturing pop thinker who drew on ruthless self-analysis as well as sharp perception when he created anthems like "Give Peace a Chance."

The U.S. vs. John Lennon details the tumult of American society and the changes in Beatle John Lennon from 1966 to 1976, when he roamed beyond his current and then former bandmates and settled in New York City with his second wife, performance artist Yoko Ono. As Lennon and Ono channeled their artistic energies into social protest, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI began monitoring them. At the behest of the Nixon administration and conservatives like Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the government served them deportation orders in 1972, on the grounds that four years before Lennon had pleaded guilty to a British drug charge of possessing marijuana.

* Albert Goldman, 66, the author of biographies of Lenny Bruce, Elvis Presley and John Lennon, died of a heart attack Monday while traveling from Miami to London.

"I'm interested in expressing myself in a way that will mean something to people in any country, in any language, and at any time in history. " From "Lennon Remembers" John Lennon would have been 70 tomorrow. The movie "Imagine" will be aired as the tiresome, hagiographic view of Lennon persists. Cynics will dismiss the birthday as another pathetic occasion for baby-boomer nostalgia about the 1960s. Some enthusiasts will remind us that Lennon was a rebel with a cause — to be in a great rock band.

This year's Oscar-nominated animated shorts from four different countries spotlight an eclectic bunch of characters that includes a priest as snake-oil salesman and John Lennon. The shorts, ranging from seven to nearly 40 minutes, are being shown in a program opening today at the Landmark Theatres Harbor East. Distributed by Magnolia Pictures, the program offers a rare chance for movie fans to develop a rooting interest in one of Oscar's more obscure categories. My Love (Moya Lyubov): The most beautiful and most visually challenging of this year's nominees is from Russian animator Alexander Petrov.

>>>Can't Buy Me Love The Beatles, Britain and America By Jonathan Gould Harmony Books / 661 pages / $27.50 "The Beatles are famous because they are good," Brian Epstein, their manager, insisted in 1963. And Beatlemania "is simply a kind of mass pathology; they have an extraordinary ability to satisfy a certain hunger in the country." Almost 40 years after the Beatles disbanded, they remain phenomenally popular, with over a billion recordings sold.

Sean Lennon Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, performs tomorrow night at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place. Lennon released his latest solo album, Friendly Fire, earlier this year. The Jarflys are also slated to perform. The show starts at 9 p.m. (doors open at 8 p.m.) and tickets are $20-$25. Call 410-244-1131 or go to ramsheadlive.com.

Since partners such as Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono sparked John Lennon's creative breakthroughs, it's fitting that two people - veteran documentary-makers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld - wrote, produced and directed The U.S. vs. John Lennon. This alternately engaging and incendiary film, now playing at the Charles, gives equal weight to both its subjects: what was happening in the U.S. and in the life and work of John Lennon between 1966 and 1976. Leaf and Scheinfeld have come up with the fullest screen portrait yet of Lennon as a maturing pop thinker who drew on ruthless self-analysis as well as sharp perception when he created anthems like "Give Peace a Chance."

The U.S. vs. John Lennon details the tumult of American society and the changes in Beatle John Lennon from 1966 to 1976, when he roamed beyond his current and then former bandmates and settled in New York City with his second wife, performance artist Yoko Ono. As Lennon and Ono channeled their artistic energies into social protest, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI began monitoring them. At the behest of the Nixon administration and conservatives like Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the government served them deportation orders in 1972, on the grounds that four years before Lennon had pleaded guilty to a British drug charge of possessing marijuana.

Twenty-five years after his death, Dateline NBC (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) looks at the life and murder of John Lennon (above).

The time of a memorial ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of John Lennon in connection with the "Imagine Exhibition" of Lennon's art at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore has been changed. The new time is 2 p.m. Saturday.@

More than just one of the most popular musicians and songwriters of the 20th century, John Lennon was a talented and respected artist. The former Beatle, who attended the Liverpool Art Institute for three years, loved art and continued to draw throughout his lifetime. Fans of Lennon can take a glimpse into his artistic soul at the exhibit The Artwork of John Lennon: In My Life, on display Friday, Saturday and June 25 at a warehouse in Alexandria, Va. Lennon's widow Yoko Ono presents the touring exhibit, which features more than 100 original drawings, hand-signed pieces and limited-edition prints of works created between 1968 and 1980.

Twenty-five years after his death, Dateline NBC (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) looks at the life and murder of John Lennon (above).