John Lennon’s to-do list, and the ordinary lives of rappers

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When they’re not writing ingenious melodies or destroying Maybachs for art’s sake, rock stars and rappers do everyday things like greet the cable man, go fishing and decorate cookies. Or so the Internet has helpfully confirmed for us in the last few days.

First, the Guardian has a funny piece on John Lennon’s to-do list, set to go on auction tomorrow with a starting bid of $3,000. In what must be called out as horrible penmanship, the creator of such ageless classics as ‘All You Need Is Love’ and ‘Imagine’ writes that he needs to put Sean’s mattress back and ponders such questions as ‘Would it be a good idea to make sure BOTH CARS have full GAS TANKS? . . .’

Other concerns on Lennon’s list include fixing the hook on the bathroom door (do these things always fall off or what?) and getting herbs for the cat (sure . . . the cat). But the best part of the list has to be Lennon’s coaching to himself for when the HBO guy arrives. Apparently ‘the other guy didn’t know what was wrong,’ so he directs himself to ‘BE THERE . . . You let him in . . . You tell him what to do.’

The note, dated May 22 but not any specific year, is one of many pieces of Beatles-related paraphernalia available on the auction site Gotta Have Rock and Roll. There’s also some erotic drawings from Lennon and a poem and drawing from Paul McCartney titled ‘The Poet of Dumbwoman’s Lane.’

For the hip-hop set, there’s a website (we can’t print the name here) that captures the likes of Kanye West, Snoop, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne doing regular-people things, like brushing their teeth, talking on the phone while looking bored and sleeping on airplanes. The concept gets stretched a little thin sometimes but there’s some gems in there, like Tupac looking all hard, cuddling with a puppy. Thug life indeed.

--Margaret Wappler