12/9/80

STALKER ARRESTED IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK (AP) - A deranged man arrested last night outside the Dakota Apartments was found with a gun in his possession. When questioned by police, he admitted his target was to have been former Beatle John Lennon.

Police identified the man as Mark David Chapman, who was picked up by police at 10:40 PM in front of the building after passers-by noted the man was "behaving in an erratic manner," according to police reports.

Neither the exclusive building's staff nor anyone for Mr. Lennon, who lives in the Dakota with his wife Yoko Ono and son Sean, would comment on the arrest.

4/5/82

from "Twenty Years Gone: John Lennon Doesn't Miss Those Days", ROLLING STONE:

"No, I'm not that concerned," says Lennon as he stares out over the park. "To be perfectly honest, if I never have another hit record, I can live with that. Really, no. I have everything I need here, I don't feel that drive to come in to the studio and pour my soul out on a record like that."

It's this attitude that many claim was behind the stunning announcement that Geffen Records would not release the latest album "Peace and Quiet", but when asked about whether there were the screaming matches that were reported between David Geffen and Lennon, he shrugs those off. "David and I are on good terms. He sends me other music, shows me what's out there, I send him my music, and he blows a fit."

The sardonic smile comes again, the smile all thought he'd lost when he came back to the studio two years ago. "I admit, I can tell you where we differ: David expected me to be this angry young man still, singing me heart out for those causes I filled the 70's with. But it's the 80's, and I'm not the same man. I made my peace, got my head together now. I write songs about growing up, keeping the home fire burning. No one buys those records, which is what David's worried about, and I can see that. But that's what he got with me."

7/19/82

MAN SHOOTS AT EX-BEATLE

NEW YORK (AP) - John Lennon, former Beatle and after the break-up of the legendary band solo artist, was attacked in Central Park by a deranged fan, whom police reported later had once tried to kill him before.

At 4:14 PM Eastern time, Mark David Chapman, who had been arrested for weapons possession in front of Lennon's home earlier, approached the singer in New York's Central Park in broad daylight and attempted to kill him with a .38. The man shot at Lennon from forty-five feet away, striking him in the abdomen and leg, before a nearby police officer approached and returned fire.

Chapman was reported dead on arrival at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.

Lennon was also rushed to the hospital, where his condition was announced as "serious but stable." Doctors expect the singer will undergo a long hospital stay.

Fans on hearing of the attack started to flood the hospital, forcing New York City Police to post officers in the ward where Mr. Lennon is recuperating and keep visitors into the building at a minimum.

At a later press conference, police officials revealed that Chapman "had waited outside of [Lennon's] front door before," and that after the unsuccessful attempt was committed to a mental hospital after serving six months for weapon possession. "The extent of this man's sickness only came out in therapy. Had we known about it when we arrested him, he'd still be locked up," admitted police.

Still unanswered is why Creedmoor Hospital, where Chapman had been committed, discharged him. At this hour, calls to Creedmoor have not been returned.

9/6/82

from Cindy Adams’ page in the NEW YORK POST:

This reporter spoke recently with John and Yoko right after his release from the hospital, asking him what the future holds now.

"It's still too bloody early to say," said John, looking hollow after his long stay at St. Luke's. "I mean, it was a horrific experience for me. All that misery about, and the guards roaming the halls. I'd no idea what it was like out there."

"John complains about nightmares," said Yoko earlier. "He would call me after three in the morning, panicked."

May 1983

from "Twenty Questions: John Lennon," PLAYBOY:

Q. What was it like in the hospital after you'd been shot, and how did it change your life?

A. I guess I'd say it was meeting with the real world then. Ten years ago, I tried to break out of the cocoon, going abroad and doing things for myself, but that's not the same thing, really.

Every day I was there, I'd hear from other patients and orderlies about their lives, and there's some real pain out there. You'd read about it and all, and I did a lot of reading the paper out of sheer boredom, but you never really feel pain until you put a human face to it. And there was plenty of that around me. There was even one family that tried to visit their boy there for some nasty tummy trouble, but the cops were so thick about the ward for me they kept getting locked out. His dad tried sneaking in past them, and they beat him pretty bad for it. The hospital and the police wanted to keep quiet about it, I guess because it was two white cops and the father was black, but you'd be amazed it could still happen today.

Q. Do you listen much to the radio these days, to follow what's popular out there?

A. I heard some "Top 40" the other day. Someone was telling me about how popular it is now. Just fucking crap, the lot of it. I worry sometimes about music if this is what they want people to go out and buy.

4/23/83

MAYOR DENIES LENNON STORY

NEW YORK (AP) - Calling an anecdote cited in this month's "Playboy" by John Lennon in an interview "utter nonsense," Mayor Ed Koch of New York refuted accusations that two white New York police officers beat a black man trying to visit his son at the hospital.

"That's patently untrue," Mayor Koch told reporters at a press briefing. "If it were, you'd have heard about it, so why ask about something that didn't happen?"

Despite substantiation by reports in the New York Daily News of the Lennon story, naming Carl Jones of Harlem as the man beaten, Mayor Koch was adamant that the event never happened.

"Considering the favor we did him," Koch went on to say, "you'd think he'd be a little more grateful for saving his life and letting him rest in the hospital like that," referring to the role New York police played in Lennon's rescue and convalescence.

10/7/83

EX-BEATLE TESTIFIES IN COURT ABOUT HOSPITAL BEATING

NEW YORK (AP) - Former Beatle John Lennon testified in a New York courtroom today against the two police officers in their civil trial for beating Carl Jones when he tried to visit his son in the hospital.

Mr. Lennon's testimony consisted of repeating the story he had heard from other orderlies who had testified earlier in the trial as to what supposedly happened when Officers Thomas D'Argento and Willard Byrd beat Jones for trying to get past them to see his son in a ward where Mr. Lennon was recuperating from the attack on him in 1982.

The officers' lawyer, Donald O'Sullivan, accused Jones' attorney C. Vernon Mason, after testimony was given by Mr. Lennon, of using "the power of celebrity" against his clients.

The officers were not charged for criminal acts by a grand jury, leading to a civil case seeking $20 million in damages.

10/19/83

JONES RECEIVES SOME DAMAGES THANKS TO EX-BEATLE

NEW YORK (AP) - Carl Jones has been awarded five million dollars by a jury in New York today for injuries and traumas suffered at the hands of two police officers.

Both sides were proclaiming victory, noting that while the full amount sought was not granted, the officers sued were found liable.

Some members of the jury questioned afterward cited John Lennon's testimony as being responsible for assigning guilt to the officers, which may serve as the basis for an appeal of the verdict.

Lennon's response to the verdict was mixed. "At least they were found guilty," said Lennon of Officers Thomas D'Argento and Willard Byrd, "though if it had been me they'd beaten, I'd have settled for an apology."

April 1984

from SPIN Magazine:

Reports of JOHN LENNON making numerous trips to Los Angeles and the Bahamas have served to support stories that Geffen Records has been putting the screws on the ex-Beatle to live up to his contractual obligations and produce yet one more record. No one is returning calls at the Dakota, but a source at Geffen says the pressure is building.

5/14/85

from Cindy Adams’ page in the NEW YORK POST:

The good news is, that yes, John Lennon is working on another album.

The bad news is that we may never hear it.

My sources tell me that yes, John was looking for musicians to help him put together a new album, but had to stop when a Geffen Records executive who was harassing the ex-Beatle reported back to his boss that, when asked how the project was coming along, John screamed in aggravation, "Tell that bloody fag he'll get it when I'm ready!"

Supposedly, Geffen did not like the insinuation, and is furious that Lennon even suggested this was the case.

5/21/84

from VARIETY:

GEFFEN COMES CLEAN

Unable to counter the stories sparked by one of his artists’ frank outburst, David Geffen has publicly stated that he is indeed gay.

"It seems John's gone and made things a bit more public than I would have liked," said Geffen at a press conference in Palm Springs, referring to John Lennon's outburst in the Bahamas when a Geffen executive pushed him for a release date to relay to his superiors. "Nonetheless, it was probably going to happen sooner or later, and on reflection more denials would not serve anyone any good."

"Yes, I am gay, and as of now, I'm proud to say so publicly," Geffen continued. "And as a gay man in the public eye, it's time to come clean, so that issues that impact the gay community could be better addressed."

Present at the news conference was a written statement from Lennon, who apologized to Geffen for "lashing out in anger while I was tired, saying something hurtful." The written statement went on to state that Lennon "has nothing whatsoever against gay people, having known quite a few over the years and found them all charming human beings."

When asked questions after his statement, Geffen stated that Lennon's forthcoming album, which was the source of the contention, was still an active project.

11/12/84

from ROLLING STONE:

OPEN EYES by John Lennon and Friends

Reviewed by Dave Marsh

This album by an ex-Beatle has gotten more publicity for who's on it, who's not, and how it came to be, than for any music on it at all.

You've probably already sick of the whole "making of" story, how Lennon exposed Geffen, Geffen took the hit, others came out of the closet and Geffen made the disease AIDS an issue that has fought for attention with Bob Geldof's Ethiopian crusade, so I won't bore you with that.

What is big is who made the final cut. Lennon and Ono stated too many times that after he made the open call for a little help from his friends that there was far too much material for even this double album, and that bits and pieces will be coming out for years in one form or another. (Unless you can't wait, then the bootlegs out there now will keep you happy for a while.) Of course, those of you sore that Paul, George and Ringo weren’t even asked to contribute won't care who did finally make the finished product.

For those who do care, on the record are Peter Gabriel, Sting, Elvis Costello, Stan Ridgeway, Bono, Keith Richards, Elton John, David Gilmore, Jimmy Page, and the Irish group the Chieftains. For those who were expecting something from the sessions with Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Joe Strummer, Brian Eno, Jackson Browne, Steven Stills, Steve Howe, Run-DMC, Eric Idle (?!?), and Reggae Sunsplash, you'll have to wait (or buy a bootleg).

What's been lost out there in all the speculation and celeb counting is the music itself. When last we heard from him, John was all sweetness and light, happy to be a male homemaker while his wife dealt with the outside world. This, of course, was all before getting shot, pissing off the boss and realizing how miserable the world can be.

And when the going got tough, John got tougher: This is the rawest songwriting passion that's been delivered by him since WALLS AND BRIDGES many years ago. No more Mr. Nice Recluse, Lennon is again looking at the newspaper, finding something that pisses him off, including himself, and smashing it into the ground.

His statement sort-of apologizing to Geffen, and some of the slack the gay community gave him for the whole thing, he answers well in "Stupid Fool." Rawer than "How Do You Sleep?" and more self-recriminating than "Jealous Guy," "Stupid Fool" is raw self-recrimination at its best.

Other targets are El Salvador ("No Hombres"), the Republicans ("To the Poorhouse!"), Margaret Thatcher ("Iron Walls"), and the war on drugs ("Makes Me Need More," which sounds like a new version of "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," with Elton supported by Ridgeway and Richards).

The biggest gripe of all, however, is greed and ego, which in a large number of songs make fine targets. "Till We Hit Bottom," "Hard at Work," and an all-star rearranged version of "Nowhere Man" with samplings from different news reports about the economy, place John Lennon squarely against Yuppie greed and egomania. The fact that Lennon's stated most of the proceeds will go to Geffen's anti-AIDS crusade with some going to support Live Aid, gives him a lot of credibility in speaking out against what the decade's become. (Not that Lennon really needs the money, but it does make him seem more legitimate.)

7/14/85

BEATLES REUNION FOR ONE SONG STEALS LIVE AID

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Technically, it was the reunion fans have waited fifteen years for.

Paul McCartney was on stage in London with his wife Linda and supported by the other musicians there. Here, the other three Beatles were together with everyone on the American stage.

Via satellite, all four Beatles, with every musician in Live Aid, gathered to play "Hey Jude" to close out the largest rock event in history.

It almost didn't happen. John Lennon had not been invited initially to play Live Aid, some feeling that his current tour in support of AIDS research would somehow diminish the concert. But supposedly, George Harrison gave a call that day to Baltimore, where Lennon was to have appeared the next night, to convince him to do something on stage.

Lennon appeared last on stage, to his own standing ovation, and briefly said to the screen McCartney was on, "Fancy that, eh?"

In a night with plenty of memorable events, including a saucy duet between Mick Jagger and Tina Turner and an ocean-spanning stand by Duran Duran, the makeshift tele-reunion stood out as the biggest event of the concert, and the one most associated with the show.

After the extended version of "Hey Jude," however, it became apparent that this would not lead to a full reunion any time soon. McCartney claims he didn't know John was on stage in the United States, which every fan in Wembley Stadium could see on the monitor, until after the song. Lennon, for his part, called it "a fancy bit of luck," and suggested that people wanting a reunion "were trying to have a second childhood."

For the song, McCartney sang and played piano while Lennon strummed with Harrison. Drums were played by Phil Collins in London, leaving Ringo to be part of the choir with everyone else on the Veterans Stadium stage.

10/9/85

KOCH LASHES OUT AT LENNON

NEW YORK (AP) - Mayor Ed Koch, in a tough re-election campaign, cited John Lennon as "a sorry case" and called him "ungrateful and a user" during a televised debate.

In a debate on local television and radio stations between Koch and his challenger, David Dinkins, Koch lambasted Lennon for his support of Carl Jones in his suit against two former New York City police officers, calling both men "divisive influences on this city."

When Dinkins came to their support in rebuttal, Koch started on a tirade against Lennon, and further added that "anyone who still listens to his music is a bit meshuga," a Yiddish term meaning crazy.

Afterwards, Koch refused to elaborate on his remarks. Dinkins called the mayor's comments "a sad disrespect for one of this city's finer men."

When asked to comment, Lennon laughed at the whole thing, saying that remarks like these "were more likely to get me not to vote for him."

11/6/85

KOCH LOSES ELECTION

NEW YORK (AP) - In a stunning upset, Mayor Edward Koch of New York lost re-election last night by a narrow margin, in some part due to his remarks about John Lennon.

By a margin of only five percent of the vote, Koch was forced to concede defeat to his Democratic rival, David Dinkins, around 3:30 AM local time.

Exit polling of voters showed that Koch had been voted out because of his "brash, uncaring attitude." When asked about his widely-noted remarks about John Lennon, 64% cited that remark as an example of Koch's character. However, only three percent voted solely on the basis of that remark.

3/10/86

from a full-page ad taken out by John Lennon in THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, and other newspapers that morning:

There's been far too much talk out there about me running for something, or worse me selling anything to the masses. I've been inundated with calls and letters, asking me to pitch this and say vote for that, and to be blunt I'm not anyone's damned spokesman.

Yes, I have tried to make people aware of other issues, but contrary to what some have said I didn't get "coerced" into supporting AIDS research. My friend Elton John introduced me to a young man named Ryan White early on in this, and when I heard his story that prompted me to speak about the issue. AIDS is a nasty little germ, and you can't watch what it does to someone and not feel sorry at least, let alone try and do something about it.

As for everyone saying I stole the election from Ed Koch of New York, I didn't pay him to drag me name through the mud. He did it himself, to himself, and if people want to give me credit for that, I tell them to find a better issue to vote for or against someone on. I'm not the fellow you want to base your philosophy on, anyway.

What I'm saying is, give me some space. I've got a new album I'm trying to do, and with all the reporters, political hacks, and just plain wiggy ones out there not giving me a moment's peace, all I'm asking is for a little room for me and my family.

The young kids, who are the real beacons of what's to come, have a saying: Get a life. I'm tempted to scream it out meself.

10/6/86

from ROLLING STONE:

OUTBURST by John Lennon

Reviewed by Gerald Oliver

Like Moses coming down the mountain, Lennon's self-imposed exile is at an end, with a new album and an announced world tour.

Contrary to expectations, the outtakes from OPEN EYES are nowhere on this album. Instead, he's come from an extended vacation inside the Dakota, where he had nothing except a few extra musicians he snuck in, a multi-track tape machine, and a good producer at the studio to remix things. He's still bitter, however, still self-effacing and ready to take everyone down a peg, including himself.

After the ridicule for his "Garbo ad" back in March, which even prompted Paul to satirize it in the single "Tantrum," John has the last word with the title track of the album. He admits to the strain leading to it, then compares it with his days as a boy in Liverpool when he'd beat the shit out of folks. The synth strings added to the heavy back-beat gives the piece an eerie feeling of a man who's had a bat fit but is getting better all the time.

Some of the old targets are still there, with some new bullseyes painted on computers ("Digital Dan") and fear of the Japanese ("Nei-sama," obviously with help from Yoko). It's not quite the power of OPEN EYES, more of a rough sketch than anything else, but when you don't leave home for a few months you tend to feel run-down.

2/5/87

LENNON BARRED FROM ENGLAND

LONDON (AP) - John Lennon has been denied an entry visa to the United Kingdom for his world tour.

Citing "brash, riotous statements," and "risk of inducement of riot," the Home Secretary's office denied a visa for Lennon that would have allowed him into the country to perform in London and his native Liverpool. Word that his itinerary included a one-night stand in Belfast may have prompted British authorities to deny the visa, although observers have noted that Lennon's songs critical of the government of Margaret Thatcher may have played a role in his being barred from the country.

3/18/87

CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT FALLS; THATCHER OUT

LONDON (AP) - The government of Margaret Thatcher failed to survive a "no confidence" vote yesterday, forcing a new general election.

Within hours of the vote, Conservative Party leaders announced that Margaret Thatcher would no longer stand for them as representative of the party.

Analysts cite many reasons for the vote, noting that privatization and the dismantling of the welfare state were never achieved with any success or without great dislocation and pain.

The catalyst for this seems to have been what has been dubbed "the Lennon Affair," where repeated calls by Parliament for a satisfactory, detailed explanation as to why singer John Lennon was denied entry into his former homeland have never been answered. Terse responses by the Home Secretary and attempts to ignore the inquiry helped to fracture the Thatcher government and made it vulnerable to a "no confidence" vote.

4/10/87

NORTH WANTED LENNON ON "ENEMIES LIST"

WASHINGTON (AP) - Documents released by Iran-Contra Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's office quote Lt. Colonel Oliver North as wishing that he "could put that [singer John] Lennon on a list, like Nixon had."

According to notes from a White House meeting attended by North, Admiral John Poindexter and Vice President Bush, at one point the topic of Mr. Lennon's music came up with regards to the action in Nicaragua.

Said North, "It's too bad it's not the old days, when we could put that Lennon on a list, like Nixon had."

Bush is quoted as having replied, "Someone is supposed to have shot him, and he walked away from that. He could be an operation all by himself to take care of. Ask Ed Koch."

The Vice President's office was quick to respond, calling the leak "a compromising of due process and an effort to sway public opinion. Furthermore, the Vice President neither follows nor cares to follow the career of Mr. Lennon and his music."

10/23/87

LENNON GIVES CONCERT FOR POOR

NEW YORK (AP) - John Lennon gave an impromptu concert at New York's Beacon Theatre last night, which was filled to capacity on only eight hours notice.

Billed as "A Benefit for the Poor," Lennon provided three hours of old and new material, interspersed with observations about the recent Stock Market crash on Monday. He called on his audience to "show compassion for the poor, especially the blokes who made millions this time last week," and called on his audience to "do what you can for those less fortunate. I see some of you have red ties on tonight, so those of you I can see probably have plenty of time to lend a hand out there."

While some observers called Lennon's event "guerilla theatre" and "a crass bad joke," the audience was enthralled and clearly supported the singer, who performed alone on either a piano or guitar. The set included acoustic versions of such Beatles hits as "Come Together," "Eight Days a Week," and "A Day in the Life."

At the performance, Lennon made his first direct response to the Bush candidacy for President, when a fan screamed an insult directed at the Vice President.

Looking a little shocked, Lennon replied to cheers, "Oh, you don't think he has a chance now, do you?"

Proceeds from the concert, which went at forty and one hundred dollars per seat, were slated to go to City Harvest, a local charity that brings food to the homeless.

3/24/88

BUSH FACES HECKLERS IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK (AP) - Vice President George Bush was forced to scream and growl at the New York Hilton when a crowd of hecklers tried to drown his speech with John Lennon songs.

Bush, whose campaign has had rough going between Senator Bob Dole's challenges and a vocal element outside the Republican Party trying to shut his campaign down, was reduced to calls of "Shut up!" and "Button It!" when hecklers at the event broke into a chorus of the Lennon songs "No Hombres" and "Working Class Hero." As security guards cleared them from the hall, some hecklers shouted "The whole world is watching!," drawing parallels to the 1968 Democratic Convention.

Hecklers arrested at the event called themselves "thinking Americans," and claimed they had been their on their own without outside encouragement.

10/11/88

REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN IN UPROAR

WASHINGTON (AP) - Documents suggesting that hecklers who helped derail Vice President George Bush's campaign to become the party's nominee for President were in the pay of his main rival, Senator Bob Dole, have upset central Republican planning for the fall campaign.

Senator Dole, the Republican nominee for President, angrily denied reports that hecklers who harassed Vice President Bush with John Lennon songs had any connection to his campaign.

Papers linking supporters of Vice Presidential candidate Senator Alfonse D'Amato have circulated in New York and Washington, weakening support in the party for the candidates the convention chose among Reagan supporters and moderates. Right-wing conservatives were especially harsh in their denouncements, calling "the use of Lennon in politics as bad as the use of Satan."

"The whole thing is a fabrication," said Dole aides. "We would never stoop to such tactics."

10/21/88

LENNON SHAKES HIS HEAD

NEW YORK (AP) - John Lennon has nothing to offer the whole "Lennongate" argument but "a shake of my head over it all."

When asked to comment on the bitter infighting among Republicans, based on supposed provocateurs from Senator Bob Dole's supporters derailing Vice President Bush's bid for office, Lennon just shook his head repeatedly as he replied, "I just give a shake of my head over it all."

"It's all kind of silly, really," he continued. "I mean, so they used my songs, and they want to treat me like I gave them guns to shoot the man. Things are bad enough without all this mess."

When asked directly if he had anything to do with "Lennongate," Lennon replied, "If I really wanted to do one of them in, I'd have publicly endorsed the other one, right?"

Lennon, who is currently promoting the album UNEASY LIES THE HEAD, has not made any statements about the election since last October.

May 1989

From an Interview of John Lennon in PLAYBOY:

PLAYBOY: A lot of people want to give you credit for last year-

LENNON: Oh Christ, not you too. (Laugh)

PLAYBOY: Still, do you feel you deserve any credit for Mike Dukakis' election?

LENNON: None, no. He ran his own campaign well enough, although the way Dole and Bush were going he didn't have to run far.

PLAYBOY: And yet, your albums in the 80s have all been anti-Republican and anti-everything they stood for.

LENNON: My opinions only. If someone wanted to say, "I did it because John told me to," that'd be a load of crap. I just said what I wanted to say, and if someone else thought different from it, well, who's to say.

PLAYBOY: What about the discovery of the AIDS vaccine?

LENNON: That I did more with, but only a small part. David [Geffen], now he was the main man in it all. If it weren't for him, no one would have pushed for this. And he had a lot of help from others who came forward and said they cared too. A lot of them, they had to admit to family and friends that they were gay, which is hard enough to begin with, but to add to that by saying they wanted to stop a disease no one gave a bit for, as well. That's the real movers there, for you.

PLAYBOY: You're not going to take credit for any of that?

LENNON: Not a thing of it.

PLAYBOY: How about Thatcher, or Koch?

LENNON: Look, I do that and I'd have to take the blame for the stock market not breaking 1100 since the Crash. (Smile)

ONO: John has a much different view of himself then most people have of him.

LENNON: Oh, I bet some fool out there might tie me in with all that, but really, who's to say it wouldn't have happened anyway, with or without me?

PLAYBOY: Which is the theme of your novel.

LENNON: Now, that I'll take credit for. (Laugh) Seriously, it's the point of the book, THE HAUNTED. It's about a man who lives a full life but doesn't realize he's dead.

PLAYBOY: How did you come up with that idea?

LENNON: I was on the road promoting OPEN EYES, and every so often late at night I'd get this sense of disconnection with everything around me. Maybe it was touring again, a real tour like back in '66, not a stand here and there. And as I was on the road, and getting all that press, I had this sense that I was in this twilight zone, in that I was here but not, like I should be present, but not here.

ONO: You still have nightmares about the hospital?

LENNON: Not that many now. Every once in a while, though, I'd find myself doing even simple things, and saying, "Maybe I shouldn't be here now." And this sense just had me wowed, so I tried writing it out.

PLAYBOY: But why a novel? Why not a song, or an album?

LENNON: It didn't loan itself well to music, and it'd been twenty-five years since the last book. Besides, the dead don't sing. (Laugh)

James Ryan has been on the verge of actually being recognized as a writer in the past; who knows, someday it may happen.... His work has appeared in such places as Dragon magazine, Lacunae, the Urbanite, the New York Times, and some of the better men's room walls across the state of New York. Until he gets the chance to follow the program for disenfranchised neurotic writers, he's doing the regular job and grad school schtick. His wife Susan and son Jamie just nod and smile when he starts to rant, which, all said, makes things that much easier.