John Lennon is getting the postal treatment—the U.S. Post Office has announced they'll be memorializing the late, great Beatle with his own stamp.
Lennon moved to New York in 1971 and lived here right up until he was fatally shot outside the Dakota building in December 1980. But he was born and raised in Liverpool in the U.K., and it's a rare honor for a non-U.S. born individual to get on a stamp. Not that New Yorkers are complaining: "John Lennon was a great New Yorker,” artist Craig Kalpakjian told the Daily News. “He got into a lot of trouble because of his opposition to the Vietnam War just like a lot of great Americans.”
In fact, Lennon got in so much trouble for his anti-war activities that the Nixon administration tried to deport him in the spring of 1973, though eventually the deportation order was overturned. The whole ordeal was depicted in the 2006 documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which was once conveniently available in full on YouTube, but no longer. Though there's always the trailer:
Lennon's not the only musician getting the stamp treatment, with Jim Morrison, Michael Jackson and Sam Cooke all slated to get their own stamps, in addition to a number of other musical talents from years past. The stamps are expected to be released within the next two years, assuming the postal service survives that long.
