John Lennon Living On In The Hearts, Minds ... and Computers of Millions Through The Digital Eternity of Cyberspace:

A December 8, 1980, painting tribute on YouTube.

(PRWEB) January 22, 2007 -- On December 8, 1980, a man was gunned down in front of his home. After a hard day's night, recording his comeback album and starting over. A peacemaker, shot down and by a 'fan' asking for an autograph.

Few of us that were around on that fateful night can forget what we were doing the moment we heard the horrible news. John Lennon was gone. Millions of fans worldwide were stunned to silence, held candlelight vigils, played his music, sat together, weeped and mourned. His message of peace, his words reminding us that all we need is love, ring as true this day as they ever did.

On that same day, there was another Lennon fan, also an immigrant to the United States, also an artist and also starting his life over, who had been frozen with depression for months and unable to paint. On December 8, 1980, with tears in his eyes, hearing the radio play "Imagine" over and over, he felt renewed inspiration to paint.

The portrait he created shows John in the clouds giving us the peace sign, John walking on thin ice and going Home. It shows John in the early days and the reflections from his solo rock and roll album. Looking closer, you'll see John in white on his wedding day, the days when he let it be and the kiss with his wife, Yoko Ono from their "Double Fantasy" album "Just Like Starting Over" on his lips, closest to his heart.

In 2006, this portrait has found homes online in the form of a video interpretation. The "12 Faces and Phases of John in Spirit" as painted on that day 26 years ago by Dutch-born American artist Peter Teekamp, is a moment frozen in time, adorned on canvas, the passing of a legend that inspired the will of another to continue.

The video interpretation of "12 Faces and Phases of John in Spirit" is a technological example of everlasting life promoting peace through the digital eternity of cyberspace. It is being shared, emailed, copied, downloaded, replicated, cloned and otherwise multiplied. Though the original recording of "Imagine" has been substituted for a beautiful version by singer Jordis Unga performing with INXS, there is no more classic ballad for peace, no song more appropriate for this tribute and no words more fitting for our time.

When one surfs the thousands of tributes and posts to John's memory, he is as popular as ... ever. Fans that were born long after his death attest to his growing popularity. It would be amazing to see what John Lennon's 'Peace-in' would have looked like with the technology at sites like YouTube, MetaCafe, MySpace, MotionBox, Google and Yahoo at his fingertips.

One can only imagine...

For a look at Teekamp's portrait of John, go to YouTube and search "Teekamp".

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