40 years after John Lennon’s tragic death, former Vancouver DJ describes aftershock
Posted December 8, 2020 11:42 am.
Last Updated December 8, 2020 12:11 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Forty years ago today, the world lost a legendary singer, songwriter, and peace activist when a gunman cut his life short outside his New York home. John Lennon’s death shook the world, and it was no different in Vancouver, where a former local DJ, and legend in his own right, recalls the following days.
Like all the other fans trying to absorb the news, long-time, and now former Vancouver radio DJ Red Robinson says he was shocked about Lennon’s sudden, violent death.
“It was just like the day [John F.] Kennedy was shot. It was bad. Of course, it’s bad when anybody is shot, but a very famous celebrity like John, you feel it inside no question.”
The days following, he recalls playing tributes to Lennon. “What else are you going to do? You can’t bring him back. I wish we could in many ways.”
Decades later, Robinson says Lennon’s legacy lives on as someone who tried to change the world long before that was a popular thing to do.
“That kind of music lasts for a long, long time. He was one of the purveyors of putting out messages,” Robinson says.
1964 brings the Beatles to Vancouver
He remembers Lennon as always going against the mainstream, which Robinson admired him for. He even met the Beatle when the band came to Vancouver in August 1964.
Robinson was in his late 20s and the MC when the performance got a little out of hand, not unlike many of their other stints overpowered by non-stop screaming of young teenagers.
“Vancouver’s noted for its noisy, rambunctious crowd and it’s tough on entertainers when they start to go,” Robinson says. “I tried to stop them.”
It was also the night Lennon told Robinson to “Get the f*** off the stage,” while he was trying to calm the crowd. The DJ chalks that up to his poor vision, though, saying nobody ever gets that story right.
Several attempts to quiet the fans failed, and Robinson says he has a recording of Paul McCartney, at one point, saying at John, “Let’s do this number and get the hell out of here.”
He says they skipped their reservation at the Georgia Hotel after the show and went straight to the airport instead.
While McCartney and Ringo Starr have been in Vancouver since, the Beatles as a whole never returned to Vancouver.
