Lennon Say What? (Bum's hundo) Traditional Geocache
Lennon Say What? (Bum's hundo)
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From the original CO: zomarkaan: This cache was placed in honor of my long time friend (and the one who started me on caching) HJSquirrel, who recently found her 100th cache. Congrats and happy future caching! Seeing as how the squirrel is a big John Lennon fan, I figured that a historic Lennon location would be well received.
So here we go. Feel free to share some of your favorite Beatles lyrics with your online log. If for some ghastly reason you don't have any favorite lyrics, go listen to the music and FIND SOME. :) Cache contains a log only. Bring your own scribbler. The grab is simple enough, but be advised that the location is in plain view of the front desk of the building. I hope you are all acquainted with the touch of a velvet hand like a lizard on a window pane. ;)
On March 4th 1966, John Lennon was interviewed for the London Evening Standard by Maureen Cleave. During the interview, he responded to the exponential growth of the Beatles' popularity with "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I do not know what will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. We're more popular than Jesus now." In July of that year, the US Magazine Datebook published an excerpt of the quote, out of context, as a cover story. This caused a bitter backlash in the United States and resulted in cancelled performances, stations banning the Beatles' music and public burnings of Beatles memorabilia.
In August of 1966, the Beatles held two press conferences in Chicago to respond to the controversy. The second conference took place at the Astor Towers Hotel on 1300 N Astor in Chicago. Yup, that's the building in front of you. The 28 story hotel opened in 1962 and functioned as such until it was converted to condos in 1979. I've attached some of the transcript below, but it (and many others) can be found in its entirety with a little searching.
Q: "Mr. Lennon, we've been hearing a great deal of interpretations of your comment regarding the Beatles and Jesus. Could you tell us what you really meant by that statement?"
JOHN: "Uhh. I'll try and tell ya. I was sort of deploring the attitude that... I wasn't saying whatever they were saying I was saying, anyway. That's the main thing about it. And uhh, I was just talking to a reporter-- but she also happens to be a friend of mine and the rest of us-- at home. It was a sort of in-depth series she was doing. And so, I wasn't really thinking in terms of P.R. or translating what I was saying. It was going on for a couple of hours, and I just said it as-- just to cover the subject, you know. And it really meant what... you know, I didn't mean it the way they said it. It's amazing. It's just so complicated. It's got out of hand, you know. But I just meant it as that-- I wasn't saying the Beatles are better than Jesus or God or christianity. I was using the name Beatles because I can use them easier, 'cuz I can talk about Beatles as a separate thing and use them as an example, especially to a close friend. But I could have said TV, or cinema, or anything else that's popular... or motorcars are bigger than Jesus. But I just said Beatles because, you know, that's the easiest one for me. I just never thought of repercussions. I never really thought of it... I wasn't even thinking, even though I knew she was interviewing me, you know, that it meant anything."
Q: "What's your reaction to the repercussions?"
JOHN: "Well when I first heard it, I thought 'It can't be true.' It's just like one of those things like 'Bad Eggs In Adelaide' and things. And then when I realized it was serious I was worried stiff, you know, because I knew sort of how it'd go on. And the more things that'd get said about it, and all those miserable looking pictures of me looking like a cynic, and that. And they'd go on and on and it'd get out of hand, and I couldn't control it, you know. I can't answer for it when it gets that big 'cuz it's nothing to do with me then."
Q: "A disc jockey in Birmingham Alabama, who really started most of the repercussions, has demanded an apology from you."
JOHN: "He can have it, you know. I apologize to him if he's upset and he really means it, you know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I said it for the mess it's made. But I never meant it as a lousy or anti-religious thing, or anything. You know, and I can't say anymore than that. There's nothing else to say really, you know-- no more words. But if an apology-- if he wants one, you know, he can have it. I apologize to him."
Q: "Was there as much repercussion and reaction to your statements throughout Europe and other countries of the world as there was here in America?"
GEORGE: "No."
JOHN: "I don't think Europe heard about it. They will now." (laughter)
JOHN: "But it was just England. And I sort of got away with it there inasmuch as nobody took offense and saw through me. And over here it just, you know... what I said. It just went the other way."
Q: "Why is it that the American journalists did not treat it in the same light?"
JOHN: "I don't know. I think it's because, when it came out in England it was a bit of a blab-mouthed saying anyway, but they could sort of... A few people wrote into the papers, and a few wrote back saying, 'So what, he said that. Who is he anyway,' or they said, 'So, he can have his own opinion.' And then it just vanished. It was very small. But by the time it got... you know, when it gets over here and then it's put into a kid's magazine, and just parts of it or whatever was put in, it just loses its meaning or its context immediately, and even moreso. And it's miles away and everbody starts making their own versions of it. You know, I think that's how it... whatever you said."
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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