World remembers Lennon on 70th birthday

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Musicians, filmmakers and artists across the globe celebrated the life of musical legend John Lennon Saturday, the day he would have turned 70.

"It's hard to believe he would be 70," Lennon's friend Elton John told the Los Angeles Times this month. "It's hard to believe he missed out on the computer, on Twitter. I wonder what he would have made of it all? I have a feeling he would have grabbed and run with it. John Lennon, who gave so much; he would still be at the forefront."

A series of remastered recordings, new films and special commemorations and performances have appeared to honor Lennon, who was gunned down Dec. 8, 1980, by a crazed fan at the entrance to his New York apartment building.

EMI and Capitol Records Tuesday released digitally remastered copies of his albums in an 11-CD collection called the "John Lennon Signature Box," while PBS has produced a 2-hour documentary titled "LennoNYC" that explores his post-Beatles years in New York with wife Yoko Ono.

"He, more than so many artists, truly just bared his soul," Robert Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, told the Times. "He shared his demons, his weaknesses, his joys. … As a songwriter, he looked into the mirror and what he saw, he put in his songs. That takes courage." The museum is currently running an exhibit called "John Lennon, Songwriter."

Ono reflected on Lennon's legacy recently, telling the Times, "Just like people in old days: The white guys had to marry white women, that kind of thing. In music too, in the old days, rock was rock, jazz was jazz, avant garde was avant garde, classical was classical. Now everybody uses everything, and they don't mind it. … It's all mixed now. It's beautiful."