When John Lennon Wrote...People Listened

Words typed on a computer screen or Smart Phone come a dime a dozen. Handwritten words are the new priceless. Seriously think about this... when was the last time a bunch of printing was put into play by your way of thinking? I'm talking...to physically sit down and ink out a collection of scribbles then immediately stuff it into a bright white envelope to be sent off to Never Never Land. I bet mine was somewhere between 1986 and 88. Radio stations hadn't hooked their Jock's up to the internet yet so carrying on a family like friendship with someone you officially declared your adopted Grandmother required handwritten letters. I can still hear Marie Hartline, "Honey... I haven't gotten that postcard you promised me. It doesn't have to be a picture of Charlotte. Take a recipe card, put one of your little paintings on the front and write me something on the flip side." Absolutely the most difficult thing in the world for this Rock Jock! Verbal communicators find tremendous amounts of enjoyment in sharing conversation. I assumed that's why Buffalo Wings were introduced! Nope! Marie was a 68 year old soon to be retiring stationary store manager from Salisbury, NC and to be her adopted Grandchild demanded a steady flow of handwritten thoughts. I'm talking a lot of jotting down which led to serious finger cramping! John Lennon loved writing letters! A mind overtaken by the constant demand of the music business with outrageously insane fans didn't stall the process of his love for keeping in touch with those he cherished. RollingStone Magazine reports a draft of a letter John Lennon penned to Eric Clapton 40 years ago in which the Beatle expressed his admiration for and desire to work with the guitarist will be up for auction in Los Angeles on December 18th, Reuters reports. "Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music," Lennon wrote in the draft, dated September 29th, 1971. "I hope to bring out the same kind of greatness in all of us, which I know will happen if/when we get together." The letter is likely to have special significance for Beatles fans, auctioneer Joe Maddalena said, given Clapton's close relationship with the group. Not only did Clapton play with Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band, he also showed up on the George Harrison-penned "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and even almost joined the Beatles at one point. "There was a point in time when George Harrison thought about leaving the band and his replacement was Clapton, so this letter is a link of what could have been," Maddalena said. Organizers of the Profiles in History auction expect the letter to fetch as much as $30,000 – slightly less than the amount fetched last year by another rare Lennon item: his tooth, which sold for about $31,200 at an auction in England.