AS JOHN LENNON'S 70TH BIRTHDAY NEARS, LOCALS 'IMAGINE' THE POSSIBILITIES

The world will come together on Oct. 9 to celebrate what would have
been John Lennon's 70th birthday.

The man who led the Beatles to greater success than any other rock or
pop group in history was more than a singer-songwriter and musician.
He was a political animal who used his songs as a campaign tool.

"John Sinclair," from Lennon's 1972 double album "Some Time in New
York City," advocated the release of an activist imprisoned for
dealing marijuana.

"The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill," written with Beatles partner
Paul McCartney, mocked the practice of hunting animals for sport.
"Doctor Robert," from 1966's "Revolver," satirized pill-popping doctors.

Just before he was shot to death outside of his New York City
apartment on Dec. 8, 1980, Lennon experienced more personal changes.

He had reportedly cleaned up his hard-partying ways with a
macrobiotic diet and become a house husband, spending his days caring
for his young son, Sean.

Lennon sang about his transformation in songs like "Beautiful Boy,"
"(Just Like) Starting Over" and "Watching the Wheels," making one
wonder what might have been had he lived.

We posed that question to local luminaries in the various fields of
political activism, alternative health, philosophy, women's rights
and of course, music.

SUZANNE SOMERS

When I was younger, so much younger than today,

I never needed anybody's help in any way.

But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,

Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

From the song 'Help' Lenon-McCartney, 1965

Actress and health activist Suzanne Somers of Palm Springs
understands what it's like to publicly open up the doors after
growing up in a dysfunctional family.

She wrote her memoir, "Keeping Secrets," after finding herself "not
so self assured."

The Desert Sun: Would the world have been different if Lennon had survived?

Somers: John battled low self-esteem as a result of the abandonment
and was a drug addict. Makes sense. Drugs take away the pain. They
also can put you into an altered state where some people are able to
tap into a part of their brain so stunning that artistic expression oozes out.

Clarity of his demons in the form of song and lyrics would have and
could have changed the world. We'll never know. Like his mother, he
wasn't able to live long enough to get hit by the light of wisdom and
insight. What we got from John Lennon was a man in progress who was
still punching his way out of a bag. I think if he could have lived
long enough to have come to and allowed himself to feel his pain
without being in an altered state, the resultant insight could have
made him one of our greatest teachers.

I would have liked to have heard the song he might have written from
clarity about forgiveness and understanding and compassion.

PAUL KRASSNER

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,

Mmm, I get high with a little help from my friends,

Mmm, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.

From "With A Little Help From My Friends," Lennon-Mccartney, 1967

Satirist and political activist Paul Krassner of Desert Hot Springs
has fond memories of sharing a joint with Lennon in the 1970s.

"On a personal level," Krassner said, "his influence on me was simply
enjoying his company as an individual rather than as an icon, with
his irreverence, honesty, vulnerability and generosity. When I was
publishing The Realist, and the printer wanted $5,000 cash in advance
for a particularly controversial issue, Lennon provided it."

Would the world have been different if Lennon had survived?

KRASSNER: Sure, the world would have been different had he lived.
There would've been more songs and books to entertain and inspire,
more wit and empathy to appreciate, more stories and insights to
share, more social and political activism to lead.

What do you think his stance would have been on medical marijuana and
other drugs, such as LSD?

There's not the slightest doubt that he would have supported the
medical marijuana movement as well as the right to smoke pot on a
recreational basis, and to harness LSD as a vehicle for enhancing his
music and his soul-searching alike.

WILLIAM EDELEN

Imagine there's no heaven,

It's easy if you try,

No hell below us,

Above us only sky.

From "Imagine," 1971

Bill Edelen came to Palm Springs in 1990 under the sponsorship of the
late Walter Annenberg to speak and write about cultural literacy.

A combat pilot in both World War II and the Korean War, he leads a
philosophical symposium Sunday mornings at the Palm Springs Tennis
Club. He says he wasn't influenced but Lennon, but they shared some beliefs.

"I shared the belief with Lennon that heaven and hell and other
orthodox Christian doctrines and dogmas are pure mythology and not to
be taken literally in any sense," he said. "That would be absurd."

Would Lennon have been a force in today's conflicts between
fundamentalist religious groups had he lived?

Edelen: I think not, because the "true believer" mentality of the
fundamentalist is like a virus in the mind -- totally beyond logic
and reason and knowledge and discussion or intelligent debate.

As Emerson put it so bluntly, "Christian doctrines and dogmas are a
disease of the mind." So we could say that about the mentality of the
religious fanatic, whether Islamic or Judaic.

SHELBY LYNNE

Mother, you had me but I never had you,

I wanted you but you didn't want me,

So I got to tell you,

Goodbye, goodbye.

From "Mother," 1970

A song from Lennon's solo debut album about never getting to tell his
mother and father good-bye has special meaning for Rancho Mirage-
based singer Shelby Lynne, who covered it on her "Love, Shelby" CD.

She plans to sing it at the 30th annual John Lennon Tribute Concert
at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Oct. 9.

Lynne says she's not the kind of person who talks in "what ifs?" but
credits Lennon as an influence.

"John's biggest influence on me was his outright bullheaded
individuality," she said. "He wrote songs that represented his
feelings. He wasn't after a hit record. He was after honesty and
emotion. His songs were quite personal and I always look up to a
writer who bares all generously."

Since John and the Beatles exposed mass audiences to new types of
music, and you frequently cross musical genres, do you think crossing
over to different audiences and radio formats would have been easier
if John had lived?

Lynne: Without the Beatles I don't think there would be any thought
in music. The boundaries they crossed and limitless imagination they
portrayed in the music is spellbinding. To think that when they did
it they were just wet behind the ears and doing it because it was new
and fun! That's the beauty of hearing the Beatles. Knowing that it
was all happening for the first time.

As far as John and radio formats are concerned? He wouldn't give a
damn about such silly, time-wasting stuff.

ANITA RUFUS

We make her paint her face and dance,

If she won't be a slave, we say that she don't love us,

If she's real, we say she's trying to be a man,

While putting her down, we pretend that she's above us.

From "Woman Is The Nigger Of The World," 1972

Anita Rufus, who calls herself "the loveable liberal" on her K-News
AM and FM talk show at 6 p.m. Sundays, was defeated by the late Sonny
Bono in the 1996 race for Congress.

She's a feminist who is the same age Lennon would have been and she
believes he would have had an international impact on women's rights.

"Lennon would certainly have championed a woman's right to her own
individual choices about any personal matter, obviously including
reproductive freedom," she said. "And the greater issue of the
difference it makes in developing nations to focus on educating girls
and women who then have an enormous impact on raising economic
standards and in whether a nation pursues war or peace."

Would the world have been different if Lennon had survived?

Rufus: He would have been a powerful and influential voice for so
many who are voiceless and disenfranchised, not necessarily in
America, but all around the world. His willingness to bring attention
to issues would have kept some things on the front-burner of our
consciousness with a media presence to keep raising awareness of
things we would often rather ignore.