Echoes and Glimpses of John Lennon, Circa the ’70s

One of the better recent music docs was One to One: John & Yoko, an illuminating and wisely focused chronicle of the early years of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s time in N.Y.C. in the early 1970s — the pre-Dakota days. During that period, Lennon was busy shaking off the shackles of mega-stardom with the Beatles and solidifying his relationship with Ono while exploring his not-so-secret life as a rock star turned street-level activist.

Fast-forward a few years, and the restless Lennon, struggling with his marriage and other issues, was exploring another side of his multifaceted being, heading west and out of Ono’s reach for a long so-called “lost weekend.” He took up romantically with assistant-turned-lover May Pang for an alleged 18 months. She was tight with Lennon during his fruitful collaborations and sometimes drunken hang time with David Bowie, Elton John, a fleeting Beatle reunion, and an especially rich connection with Harry Nilsson. 

In recent years, Pang has been reliving and revealing that fateful liaison, wanting to get the story straight, and no doubt also to cash in on the moment. She has published books and exhibited photos — including a two-day pop-up show at Tamsen Gallery, on September 22 and 23, with Pang in the house.

She is also a central subject and very much a storytelling voice in Lost Weekend: A Love Story (available via streaming), a 2022 music doc regaling the world with Lennon’s ’70s life. One of the glaring problems with the film is its conspicuous absence of Lennon’s actual music, ostensibly a fundamental subject of the doc. Ono, subjected to defamation in Pang’s account, understandably refused to grant rights to the music. A primary figure in the film is a living Lennon, Julian, who befriended Pang as a child during the ’70s and remains a friend and supporter.

The documentary is fascinating as a window into the “lost weekend” period of Lennon’s creative life, mostly in Los Angeles, but comes with a bit of questionable ethical baggage. We can have similar reservations about the 2019 doc Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, a story told entirely by Robertson, though Levon Helm openly questioned Robertson’s sovereignty and songwriter credit. With Lost Weekend, considering the mum and missing vantage points of Ono and the late Lennon himself, we get the unbalanced perspective of a she said/she didn’t say/he couldn’t say equation behind the flashy visual evidence. 

Pang’s fleeting appearance here continues the photographic focus on pop culture at the Tamsen Gallery of late, from Jeff Bridges’s Widelux photos to another insider Beatles connection with Before They Were Legends: Photographs of The Beatles and the Rolling Stones 1964-66, featuring snaps by a road manager for those bands. Her photos are less art photos or professional images than personal snapshots of the man at home and leisure, in relaxed settings and in the company of rock stars. 

In other words, humble documentation of the legend, the man and the myth … and the lover.

May Pang Photography, Tamsen Gallery (1309 State St.); September 22-23, 1-7 p.m.;tamsengallery.com.