Today, the NY Times website posted images of the World Trade Towers as they collapsed during the 9/11 attacks. These images are beyond haunting and show the size of the dust cloud that shrouded the city as the towers fell. The images were taken by the NYPD aviation unit, the only group allowed to fly within the city’s airspace after the attacks. ABC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (who investigated the collapse) filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain copies of the photos. The curator of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum hopes to obtain more of the photos taken by the police as he believes they are “absolutely core to understanding the visual phenomena of what was happening.”
View the article that accompanied the photos here.
In just a few hours, we’ll all be getting ready to make and probably break New Year's resolutions (will this be the year I give up Diet Coke?), drink some champagne and watch the ball drop. Ever since New Year's Eve in New York City’s Time Square has been televised, people in the streets and those of us at home traditionally hear “Auld Lang Syne” play at midnight. As we attempt to sing along (does anyone really know all the lyrics to this song?), it might be interesting to think about how the song became a part of New Year’s Eve celebrations everywhere, and especially those in New York.
The song was first published by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1796 in a book entitled Scots Musical Museum. Scott reportedly copied the song down after he heard it sung by an older Scottish man. The term “Auld Lang Syne” translates to “old long since” or “times gone by”. I always think of this song as one of the most popular standards that no one really knows the lyrics to. Check out different versions of the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne here. The song became a central part of New Year’s celebrations in New York City due to the efforts of a Canadian bandleader named Guy Lombardo.
Guy Lombardo grew up in Canada where he heard “Auld Lang Syne” sung by Scottish immigrants. When he formed his dance band, His Royal Canadians, the song became one of their standards. Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians played the song at midnight at a New Year’s eve party at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City in 1929. “Auld Lang Syne” has been a part of New Year's eve in New York City ever since.
Here is a 1945 recording of Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians performing “Auld Lang Syne.” Happy New Year to all my readers!
On December 8, 1980, the fantasy of John Lennon’s life came to an abrupt end at the hands of Mark David Chapman. Earlier in the day, Chapman waited outside of Lennon’s apartment building, the Dakota, to get an autograph. That evening, he returned and shot Lennon in cold blood with a .38 caliber revolver. After shooting Lennon, he waited for police to arrive as John Lennon lay dying nearby. He was sentenced to twenty years to life. In 2000, he was denied parole. At his hearing, the New York State prison officials explained their decision saying, his “vicious and violent act was apparently fueled by your need to be acknowledged.” He continues to live behind bars at Attica Prison in New York State.
After his death, John Lennon was honored around the world, and people gathered outside the Dakota to listen to his music in a candlelight vigil. Here is a clip of a crowd singing some of his songs during a candlelight vigil.
Here is John Lennon performing “Imagine” at Madison Square Garden in 1972.
Read an interesting article about John Lennon in the December 1980 issue of New York magazine.
Here is a very candid 1970 interview with Rolling Stone founder and editor Jann Wenner. The interview took place soon after the Beatle’s break-up, and John Lennon sounds bitter in his comments about his fellow Beatles. He would reconcile with Paul McCartney before his death.
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