CLEVELAND At Rock Hall, fans discuss loss of Lennon

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Questions about John Lennon kept the curators and education staff busy at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum on Thursday, the 25th anniversary of the rock icon's death.
The hall didn't plan any special events to mark the occasion and officials said attendance was normal. But visitors were aware of the anniversary and wanted to learn more about Lennon, said James Henke, the museum's chief curator and also author of the book, "Lennon Legacy."
His work with The Beatles made Lennon one of the great musicians of the last century, Henke said, and then, in his solo years, "he really tried to take his music and change the world, with songs like 'Imagine' or 'Give Peace a Chance."'
At the hall Thursday, there also was interest in the Lennon artifacts in the museum's collection, including handwritten lyrics, Lennon's passport from The Beatles' early years and a journal he had kept as a schoolboy.
Lennon was shot and killed Dec. 8, 1980, by Mark David Chapman, a fan who had gotten the former Beatle's autograph earlier in the day.
Fans visiting the rock hall on the anniversary talked about where they were when it happened and about what might have been, Henke said.
"We lost 25 years of great music," he said.
Henke never met Lennon but worked with his widow, Yoko Ono, on a Lennon exhibit presented at the Rock Hall in 2000.