Robert Rosen

 

Let’s take a day off from Beaver Street to talk about conspiracy theories. I bring it up now because in the course of my correspondence with “Alan” (click here and here), I mentioned that after publishing Nowhere Man, a conspiracy theorist who calls himself “Salvador Astucia” began posting articles suggesting that I’m the CIA spymaster who gave the order to whack John Lennon. (Or something like that. It’s hard to make sense of his insanity.) I also sent Alan a link to a satirical piece about the top three Lennon-murder conspiracy theories, which includes the spymaster theory. Alan’s astonished and expletive-filled reaction prompted me to try to explain what it’s like to have a conspiracy “nut” accuse you of murder, which, oddly enough, has its upside.

Alan,

This has been going on for years, and at first it was disturbing, especially when other writers picked up on it and reprinted his “theories.” You’d think that people who call themselves journalists would make an effort to get in contact with someone before they implicate him in a high-profile murder. But the only conspiracy theorist who’s asked to interview me is Astucia (means “clever” or “cunning” in Spanish), and that is the only interview I’ve ever refused to do. I don’t know if he really believes what he’s writing, or he knows it’s bullshit and he just says it to be provocative. But he’s also a Holocaust denier and tends to describe me as a “Jewish writer.” That’s why I call him My Personal Nazi. (Everybody should have one.) What I finally realized is that when Astucia gets active, and starts splattering stuff all over the Internet—it goes in cycles—it sells books. So, I don't totally hate him. And any time I find myself on a top-three list with Stephen King and J. D. Salinger, I only have My Personal Nazi to thank.

Bob Read More 

Here's the original English of La vida inconclusa de John Lennon, that ran in Proceso magazine.

So there we were 30 years later, onstage at Purchase College, just north of New York City, a panel of rock ’n’ roll experts and assorted journalists who’d all lived through the events of that ancient day: December 8, 1980. We’d been invited to share our wisdom with a group of journalism students who were exploring “The Myth vs. the Reality of John Lennon.” The students were full of questions. They wanted to know about Lennon’s heroin use, and about his sons, Julian and Sean. But mostly they wanted to hear our stories about what we were doing the night we heard the news that John Lennon was dead. Read More 

My story about the meaning of John Lennon 30 years after his death, La vida inconclusa de John Lennon, is now available online en español in Proceso. I'll post the original English here in a few days.

If you’ve ever googled me, you may have come across the website of a prolific conspiracy theorist and Holocaust denier who’s implicated me in John Lennon’s murder. This has been going on for years and I’ve ignored it because…it’s insane. (Though I do take some comfort in the fact that Stephen King, too, has his own personal conspiracy theorist who’s implicated him in Lennon’s murder.) But now I’d like to bring your attention to a piece I found yesterday that satirizes the top three Lennon murder conspiracy theories, including the one that implicates me. When your conspiracy theories are reduced to satirical grist, the game, at last, is over. Read More 

As always on days like this they let me speak my mind in Latin America. This interview is from the Chilean paper La Tercera.

Tonight, at midnight NY time (11 PM in Mexico) there's a special radio program about my Lennon bio Nowhere Man (en español). You can listen live by clicking here, or if you're in Mexico City you can listen on the radio on 96.1 FM. The program's called Radio Etiopia and it's free-form radio the way it used to be. Lot's of Lennon and Beatles music, which is the same in any language. Read More 

For those who've been asking how the John Lennon panel at Purchase College went the other day, I offer this Twitter post from Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue and The Dead Beat: Incredible stories of Lennon's assassination (Bob Christgau's word), but Robert Rosen gave chills describing how he heard the news. Read More 

I'm making a rare local appearance on this John Lennon panel. Hope to see some of you there.

For me, October 9 and December 8 are the high holy days of the secular calendar, the equivalent of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Here are a couple of links that commemorate John Lennon.

10 Mathew Street

Number 9

 Read More 

On the eve of John Lennon's 70th birthday, as my wife, Mary Lyn Maiscott (the Mistress of Syntax), and I continue to work on correcting the Beaver Street galley, I've taken a few minutes to talk about Lennon on The Louie Free Radio show. I've also accepted an invitation from the journalism department at SUNY Purchase to participate in a panel discussion on the myth of John Lennon on December 2. And here's a link to a piece by David Comfort, author of The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead, that discusses Nowhere Man and Lennon's fascination with number 9. Read More 

The Spanish Beatles site 10, Mathew Street just ran a little piece about "Transcriptions from the Universe," my article in Headpress Journal 2.2 that discusses my own diaries at the time I began writing Nowhere Man.

 Read More 

Headpress Journal 2.2

An excerpt from my new piece on John Lennon's diaries, "Transcriptions from the Universe," has just been published in the online edition of Headpress 2.2. You can read it here. The complete 28-page article will soon be available in the printed edition of the journal. Stay tuned for more details.

 Read More