John Lennon's 70th birthday celebrated in style at Rock Hall of Fame

John Lennon's 70th birthday is being celebrated at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend beginning with the sealing of a Lennon Time Capsule containing Lennon's recordings as well as fan videos and letters from his wife Yoko Ono.

The ceremony was attended by many devoted fans, some (of us) who traveled long distances to pay tribute to their favorite rock icon.(See video at left, done by the Cleveland Leader who taped part of the ceremony and interviewed me and other fans.) Jon Polk presented the dedication this morning. Polk is the creator of the Lennon Box of Vision, who also came up with the idea of the time capsules. (read our prior articles here); and our interview with Jon.

"Three will be sealed and kept in different parts of the world," he said, "and they will be opened on John's birthday in 2040, when John would have turned 100 years old." One will be sealed here at the Rock Hall of Fame, one in John's birthplace of Liverpool, and one in Reykjavik,Iceland where Yoko has dedicated a peace tower to John's memory. 

Yoko is spending his birthday in Iceland and is lighting the peace tower. On her twitter page she is urging fans to send messages of love to John and trying to get to a million tweeted wishes today. Let's see if we can make that wish come true.

Polk grinned and said he "hoped to be there when the time capsules are opened in 2040."He explained that the time capsules contain the entire Signature Box of Lennon remasters, (read our review here), the Double Fantasy Stripped Down release as well as booklet and art piece. It also includes Polk's Lennon Box of Vision. He mused that they remembered to add a DVD player and CD player, so that the recordings will be able to be played.  Also included is Chris Carter's "Breakfast With the Beatles" show the prior weekend that was dedicated to John Lennon. 

"Yoko has sent us six sealed letters, two for each capsule, that will be included and also opened at that time."

"Over 100 fan videos were received and also included in the time capsule." He described his amazement at the heartfelt sentiments that were sent for the capsule--he said "some people sang and danced, others talked, some were very creative, and the one I loved the best was a piece that a Russian group of fans sent in, which you will see today." He played the short video which was a summary of many of the pieces that were sent in. The time capsule was then opened and the items placed inside.

The Rock Hall of Fame is doing tours of their Lennon artifacts throughout the weekend. The Lennon items include his black upright piano that he wrote Double Fantasy on. The tour guide pointed out that the wax drippings on the top of the piano are from John's candles while he was writing. They also have his black leather jacket from Hamburg days, his collarless jacket and Sgt. Pepper jacket, several lyric sheets and items from his school days--his report cards and a Daily Howl. Definitely worth seeing if you haven't had a chance to see these up close before. Also there were postcards he had sent to his son Julian.

John's fantastic birthday cake: Polk and several fans were invited to our small get together which we hosted at a suite in the Renaissance Hotel, to celebrate John's birthday, with a cake for John designed by Nadine's Cakes. Among the fans present were the singing duo Luv Me Deux, Pattie Noah and Sharon Richards. Even though most of our readers could not be present to enjoy this cake, we will share it here for you to see.

Our thanks to the staff at the Renaissance for the beautiful set up, to the Rock Hall of Fame, and a big thanks to Jon Polk for all his work and efforts to make this birthday very special for John. We know that John would be very pleased.