John Lennon people attended the "John Sinclair Freedom Rally", a protest and benefit concert with contributions from Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party, and others. Lennon and Ono, backed by David Peel and Rubin, performed an acoustic set of four songs from their forthcoming "Some Time in New York City" album including "John Sinclair", whose lyrics called for his release. The day before the rally, the Michigan Senate passed a bill that significantly reduced the penalties for possession of marijuana and four days later Sinclair was released on an appeal bond. The performance was recorded and
John Lennon additional material was recorded for a planned follow-up album "Milk and Honey", which was released posthumously, in 1984. "Double Fantasy" was jointly released by Lennon and Ono very shortly before his death; the album was not well received and drew comments such as "Melody Maker"'s "indulgent sterility ... a godawful yawn". After an evening at the Record Plant on 8 December 1980, Lennon and Ono returned to their Manhattan apartment in a limousine at around 10:50p.m. (EST). They exited the vehicle and walked through the archway of The Dakota, when lone gunman Mark David Chapman shot Lennon four times in