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Boston Globe
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Find a new side of John Lennon (and his ‘lost weekend') at this Cambridge pop-up
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But at Pang's pop-up, a much more personal role comes into focus: her time as Lennon's girlfriend during his 'lost weekend,' a not-so-brief period of separation from Ono that brought Lennon and Pang to Los Angeles. For 18 months between 1973 and 1975, Pang said that their relationship offered the former Beatle some semblance of normalcy. They lived together, signed Christmas cards as a couple, and, according to the 2023 documentary Advertisement Like any smitten partner, Pang frequently took photos of Lennon with her Nikon Nikkormat, documenting the simple beauty of their daily life. 'It was just for us,' she says, looking back at casual snaps that range from Lennon and his son Julian, with whom he had recently reconnected, to Lennon leaning against a motorcycle, wearing a sly grin and Pang's jeans. Advertisement Friday through Sunday, nearly 40 of those photos will be on display at The pop-up exhibition comes to Cambridge after recent visits to cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Toronto, and heads to Southwest Harbor, Maine, later this month. 'People [are] standing there, tears in their eyes, and they see a John they've never seen,' Pang says about guests' reactions to the photos. 'It makes me feel good that they finally see a John that has a smile on his face. They said he looks relaxed. That was our home life.' A source of joy for Lennon at the time was creating 'Walls and Bridges' in a mere eight weeks, Pang says. 'He enjoyed every minute of it,' she recalls, noting how the satisfaction shines in Lennon's face through her photos. Also among Pang's collection is one of the last known photos of Lennon and Paul McCartney together, taken in March 1974, and the only photo of Lennon signing the contract that officially dissolved the Beatles. Only two photos fall outside of the 'lost weekend' era: individual snaps of George Harrison and Lennon, both from 1970. Pang will be on site at the gallery to chat with visitors on Saturday and Sunday, and guests will be able to purchase copies of the photographs all weekend. Sometimes, she'll even re-tell the events that led up to certain photos if visitors decide to take one home. Advertisement Pang launched the pop-up in 2023 in tandem with the release of the documentary 'The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,' which Pang narrates and features many of her photos. Pang said that releasing the documentary was her way of correcting myths about her relationship with Lennon — including a belief that it was Ono who sent the couple to Los Angeles. ('She didn't even know we went out there; we had to tell her later,' Pang says.) That's why Pang is happy to tell guests her version of the 'lost weekend' — both in person and through her photos — even though the fabled period is more than half a century in the rearview. 'He was one of the most famous men of the 20th century and the 21st century, and it just happened that I was with him,' she says. 'Why am I shunning that? I shouldn't.' GIG GUIDE The Xfinity Center serves up an eccentric playlist this week, starting with a A clash of arena rock and metal resounds in TD Garden — courtesy of mellow melange of genres fills the arena on Advertisement Massachusetts's major rock acts seem to perform locally in batches, and this week is no exception; while Pixies plug away at their first night in town, For fresh air fare, catch country singer Advertisement NOW SPINNING Sly and the Family Stone , The earliest live recording of Sly and The Family Stone captures their jaunty soul-rock goodness from 1967. Big Hassle Yola , 'Amazing.' On the heels of her excellent January EP, 'My Way,' Yola returns with the energizing single 'Amazing.' Yola's twisting, soul-pop fireworks carry a subtle undercurrent of electronica without overcrowding the tune — a marvelous balancing act, and another formidable display of stamina from the British singer-songwriter. The Dogmatics , 'Nowheresville.' It's been 39 years since the Dogmatics added a new LP to the archive of Boston rock history, but the group doesn't sound any less gritty for the break. The Boston band's garage rock prowess is a given, but it's their ability to bridge the past (the schoolboy daydream 'Library Girl') with current moment (the social-media-skewering 'No Likes No Comments') that really revs the engine of 'Nowheresville.' Boston garage rock band the Dogmatics release their first LP in 39 years this Friday. Nicole Tammaro BONUS TRACK Rhode Island: where fans of 'The Simpsons' meet fans of The Boss. Hank Azaria — best known as a Swiss-Army-knife voice actor on 'The Simpsons' — brings his Bruce Springsteen cover act to the Greenwich Odeum on Advertisement Victoria Wasylak can be reached at . Follow her on Bluesky @
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade review – reverential reminiscence takes its time
We have recently seen a slew of intriguing movies about John Lennon's post-Beatles existence: The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, about Lennon's brief relationship with his assistant May Pang, and Kevin Macdonald's excellent archive-clip-collage study One to One: John & Yoko. Now here is a lengthy and self-consciously reverential film, which is sadly the weakest of the group. It doesn't quite get to grips with the implications of its own title (was Lennon on 'borrowed time', exactly, in the 1970s?) and there's an awful lot of hot air from an awful lot of talking heads in its lengthy running time, some of whom are regaling us with less-than-premium-quality anecdotes – often just beamingly recalling the pinch-me moment they actually met John Lennon and, wow, he said hi and they couldn't believe it. The film covers the whole period from Lennon's arrival in New York right through the decade, the solo albums, quarrels with Paul, protests, interviews, joint ventures with Yoko, the struggle to get a green card, the 'lost weekend' with Pang, and finally his murder at the time he was planning an ambitious new global tour. Beatles-expert veterans like Ray Connolly and Philip Norman offer their reminiscences, along with broadcasters like Andy Peebles, Bob Harris and Tony Palmer – but, frankly, there are no alpha-level surviving intimates of Lennon. Obviously, there's food for thought here, a fair bit of wheat among the chaff: I didn't know that John Lennon did a special concert in New York with Tom Jones and Peter Sellers called A Salute to Sir Lew Grade, which is the kind of detail that would appeal to Beatles obsessive Craig Brown. One interviewee had an overhead view of Lennon's dead body on the sidewalk from his apartment window and, believing that a photo would be in bad taste, he instead did an eerie on-the-spot painting of the grim scene – which the film shows. And it's still a strange moment to see the TV news interview with Paul McCartney reacting at the time, clearly in shock, nervously chewing, appearing to be casual and even callous. I think Lennon himself might have been impatient with some of the piety here, but it's always interesting and sincere. Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade is in UK cinemas from 2 May.
