"LENNONYC" aired Monday night on PBS stations around the country. What did you think about it?
In the latest Fab Fourum podcast, available at www.fabfourum.com/audio-gallery.html or www.podarama.com/fab_fourum and also on iTunes (you know, the place where those Beatles guys are) Fab Fourum co-hosts Tony Traguardo, Mitch Axelrod, Ken Michaels and Rob Leonard review and discuss the documentary. They previewed the film during their recent visit to the Paley Center for Media in New York.
Now you know our opinion and also the Fab Fourum's. Now it's your turn.
Comments
I thought it was pretty good. There were some footage faux pas (for example Jealous Guy in the studio while discussing Mind Games and Walls and Bridges). Fairly good portrayal of the NYC scene (I lived in the area and lived through the era). Still I could not watch the last half hour.
I thought it was well done, and very interesting to hear the musicians talk about their experiences working with John over the years, esp on Double Fantasy. Bob Gruen always has interesting things to say as well. The footage and photos of John were terrific. I'd say thumbs up overall.
It was OK. Not much new but still nice to hear the stories as a refresher. The only surprise to me was that May Pang got a real interview in...which I assume had to be approved by Yoko.
In our interview with writer-director Michael Epstein, he said Yoko had no editorial control over the film. That interview is linked above.
I thought this was really well done.. I have seen and have collected many many videos through the years and it was nice to see video that I have never seen before... and it was great that Yoko was involved.. I thought it was very good....
I thought it was great, not sure all of the facts were correct, such as May Pang etc.. But I did throughly enjoyed it and have pre-ordered the DVD.
yes, I agree the May Pang history was sanitized.
Nicely done.; the entire show. The final segment RE: his murder was done without dramatizing it.
If there was any downside to this documentary...I think May Pang got shortchanged. She had a much more significant role in John's life after Yoko put him out but the documentary glided right over that.
Yeah, that was something I noticed, too, though the interviews put a different spin on their relationship. Interesting, though, that Cynthia and Julian are close friends with her. If the relationship was as unimportant as the film seems to suggest, you wouldn't think that would be the case.
May Pang's story is already well known. This movie was about John and his time in NY. I enjoyed it and thought it was well made. The Double Fantasy sessions were cool and showed new things.
Cynthia and May became close friends because they share one major thing in common- being dumped by John Lennon.
I thought it was okay. I thought it really picked up when it turned to the LA years, though strangely reported. I mean didn't May Pang issue a book of photos showing a very different side to the "lost years?" No matter what no matter how many times I listen to John's story, it always ends wrong. I found myself screaming at the TV, "Don't die!" God goofed on this one folks. You do not kill John Lennon. At least John died at the peak of his emotional life and did enjoy the fruit of all that Janoff screaming. He was finally no longer a refugee wherever he went. He belonged and was adored but most off all he adored his own existence. He will always remain a light...no, a fire, in my soul.
May's book of photos was not arranged in chronological order. She arranged the photos to try and downplay what Lennon himself said over and over that he was unhappy. Putting a book of photos together in such a way as to say he was happy does not change the fact and testimony of all who were there and witnessed first hand how unhappy Lennon was.
I thought it was pretty good overall, there was a few audio clips, pictures, and videos that were new to me and I always like hearing people's stories about John even if they say the same things over again. There usually is some new information given out. I was pretty surprised when Yoko talked about the election night of '72 and talked about John cheating on her. Again, this documentary glided right over May Pang's relationship with John but knowing this was made with the help of Yoko I'm just surprised we got to see May talk about it even it was just a little bit. I'd suggest it for people who are Lennon fans but not huge fans who know a good amount about his life.
I think that one's feelings about LennonNYC are in direct proportion to one's expectations. The overall experience is reminiscent of the difference between an authorized biography and an unauthorized one. This documentary is definitely the authorized biography. This doesn't mean that it's not true but merely that this is just one side or two of the truth and the man. I enjoyed the interviews with John's fellow musicians like Elton John and Earl Slick and I thought the coverage of John's legal battles with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Nixon administration in general was fascinating. Yoko's insights are worth hearing as well. On the other hand, I had the feeling that there was a lot left out and it's certainly curious to see which individuals were not interviewed. For example, where are Ringo and Paul? Where is Lennon's neglected first son Julian? We get lots of Yoko but we don't hear Sean's take on his famous dad. The strong points of LennonNYC are the interviews and the video footage of Lennon and Ono and there is a strikingly beautiful photo of Yoko Ono that really gives you a sense of the Yoko that John loved so much. I was surprised that we didn't see more video footage of Lennon's truly happy moments in NYC. Last year, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in NYC (while it still existed) I saw video footage of him having fun and interacting with various people in Central Park. There are hard-hitting documentaries (for example, Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke) and then there are loving tributes. I think LennonNYC is an example of the latter.
In our interview with writer-director Michael Epstein, he said both Julian and Ringo were contacted, but didn't want to participate for personal reasons. The interview, I think, answers a lot of your questions. It's here: http://www.examiner.com/beatles-in-national/exclusive-writer-director-sa...
Since we are all so familiar with the stories, it comes down to the telling for me. And that left me cold. The structure of the documentary was very pedestrian, the editing uninspired- talking heads, clips, talking heads, more clips. I recently saw the Harry Nilsson doc and it was so emotional and effective. The filmmakers just never captured John's spirit with this. I couldn't quite get the point of it- Ok, John's an immigrant, thus an "American Master". Other than that, the point of the show seemed muddled.
I thought it was pretty interesting although it left me incredibly sad. John (Yoko too!) was such an incredibly powerful, positive, optimistic voice. The world so badly needs his vision now. I grew up in the New York area and was at two of the events shown - the anti-war rally where John & Yoko appeared and the One to One concert. May Pang doesn't have a lot of credibility with me. If you pay any attention to what she actually says she often significantly contradicts herself, sometimes during the same interview! I once her heard talk about how professional John was in the studio - never letting drink and drugs interfere with his work - and later in the same interview she discussed a druken fight he had with Paul Simon in the studio. And to state the obvious: John left May to go back to Yoko.
Well put Frank.
Light years better than Lennon Naked--will PBS ever show that debacle again? Pretty close historically apparently, as I live with a 'Lennon historian,' a very touching piece overall.
Not a lot of new info but well put together, if you can get over the lack of some very important people, ie, Paul, Ringo, Julian, Sean, etc... It showed John as a very flawed and during one period, miserable and searching for himself - but even so his musical mastery always shone through. Very interesting footage about his immigration battle, there was so much dirty tricks going on with Nixon it is neat to see some of this actually in print. Still feel grief at seeing the Dakota scenes, I grew up in NYC but was in London in 1980 the loss of this icon of our lives still hurts. God Bless Lennon.
I was out and about last night so I DVRed it and watched both shows this morning, the day after it's live broadcast.
The Lennon Naked was absolutely terrible and I wish I could get that hour of my life back..anybody know how I can go about doing this :)
But on the other hand LennoNYC was great. Who would have thought with all the press last week with the Fab's on iTunes that it would be Yoko Ono who would bring me the best holiday gift. I really enjoyed this show.
Like most of you I've pretty much seen most of this with the exception of the new interviews but what was the glue here is that these new interviews gave the viewers an inside look of what was really going on in John's life at that time.
I was working at Tower Records on the Sunset Strip when "Sometime in NYC" was released and I remember playing the LP all the time in the store, the other employees would say "take that crap off" but I was coming out of my own radical period and I understood just what John was doing. Well maybe the LP had no love songs on it and that why it was paned, but John, and just like all of my draft age friends hated with a passion the likes of Richard M. Nixon.
John had good reason to hate Nixon too, he was trying to get rid of him and this radical LP gave me more reason to aline myself with him.
All of you are right, it's hard to watch the last half hour you would hope that there would be a happy ending for a person that had such a tragic youth but as John wrote "life is what happen to you while your making other plans".
Thanks to American Masters and PBS a show and channel I always watch for giving us the program.
I thought it was extraordinary. I had tears in my eyes for most of it. John's death left a black hole in my heart that has never and will never heal. Yes, David, God certainly did goof on this one...Thanks to PBS, Yoko, and all involved in this project for giving us something truly special.
I loved it! Thought it was beautifully and lovingly done. The film really succeeded in getting you into John's mindset at each new turn his life would take. And it reminds you how articulate, funny, and honest he was, and just how effen cool!
To your point about Elton John misremembering the facts about John getting back together with Yoko after the Madison Square Garden concert, Elton has *always* claimed that his show was responsible for the reunion. He's not just buying a "revisionist" version of the facts... in fact, he may actually be the one responsible for the myth in the first place!
It brought up a lot of bad memories about all the crap those of us of a certain age went through in the Nixon era; we all knew it was happening and Jon Wiener has chronicled it, but to see it all again and the footage of 70s era NYC brought it all up again...Hoover, Nixon...ugh, I need a shower!
It also brought up a funny memory when Bob Gruen talked about taking photos of John and Elton John at the MSG concert. The late Joe Pope told me that Bob was sitting in his lap taking those photos!
May Pang is way overrated. She is lucky she got 2 minutes in this documentary. She has already told her story many times over, each time changing her story. She has issued 3 books on the subject - Loving John,, The Lost weekend, and Instamatic Karma. Everyone already KNOWS her story inside and out. Perhaps that is why they decided to shorten it, so there would be more room in the film for stuff people did NOT know.
Excellent documentary on John's decade after The Beatles, but I agree with many of the above comments; Where was Julian? He never really had a relationship with his father until the 70's, so his imput is most important in understanding this period in John's life. And John had a lot to say about repairing that relationship as well. Where was Sean? Aside from a few taped excerpts of him as a five year old singing some Beatle songs his dad had exposed him to, there are no recollections by him of his dad and the brief 5 years he had his father in his life. Where was Paul? Their post-Beatle relationship went thru multiple transitions in the 70's and it would have been nice to hear Paul directly comment on that aspect as well as John's remarks on his former singing partner. These relationships are/were just as critical to John's 70's period as his music, politics, immigration battles, and his relationship with Yoko.
Speaking of Yoko, she aquits herself quite admirably in this documentary, commenting on her views of her relationship with John in a much more mature, sensible, vulnerable, and honest way not seen in many previous documentaries, or films on John's
post-Beatle period. I think many Beatlfans who have always found it difficult to warm up to her may find her here more of the person John saw her as and maybe understand why he loved her so much.
John's demons kept him from having many close friends in his life, and this documentary is excellent in examining how John's NYC period took him through some tumultuous times and ended with a man who had finally seemed to make peace with himself and his world around him before he was tragically taken from us. The most emotional moment in the film comes at the end as Yoko pleads off camera "He was an artist, why did you have to kill him?"
Why indeed......
Lots of GREAT comments and reviews here, so I'll keep it short: HATED "Lennon Naked" and LOVED "LENNONYC!"
And did anyone else get a lump in their throat when young Sean started singing "With a Little Help from My Friends?"
Mantz,
Not only was that so sad to hear,but seeing the home movies of John playing with and holding Sean as an infant and the still pictures of him feeding him with a bottle,which are included in rock photographer Bob Gruen's great book,John Lennon The New York Years.
But what was even the most painfully sad,was towards the end of the show,they showed still pictures from the Double Fantasy sessions with the recorded audio and Yoko tells John that she's on the phone with Sean,and John says what time is it,and then someone tells him and he says he should be in bed by now.Then he yells Sean I love you and says something like see you tomorrow for breakfast,and he said he wanted to put the phone up near the speakers,and Yoko says to John that Sean loves him too,and John says I hope so I'm the only Dad he's got!And then soon afterwards Sean lost him for good and now had no Dad!
OMT To You Steve..please note the way that the films director handled the murder of John, note that they showed no pictures of the murder or did they even take the time to mention his name .... why should they....he's a murderer/killer and deserves no notoriety from the press.
RS
RS: Yeah, noted that in my review.
Very well said, Kevin. John and Paul's relationship continued to be an important force in both of their lives in the '70s, and it deserves to have been included. Also, I must say that this is the first time I felt deep compassion for Yoko. I gained insight into her relationship with John and appreciation for how much he loved her. When I heard the siren in the last minutes of the program, I couldn't bear it. Even 30 years on, John's loss tears at the heart.
Nicely done just wish they had used some footage of the recording of Double Fantasy, since bootlegs exist of the film (including the Hilburn interview) Someone Somewhere must have the original footage. Hmmmm. Will we ever see it in decent quality?
I think this great show,showed the real John and I feel this great documetary showed what I always understod,and what award winning music journalist and former editor of THe Melody Maker for 20 years,and close friend of John's for 18 years from 1962-1980,Ray Coleman so empathetically wrote about John in his great thorough John biography,Lennon.John was emotionally scarred and messed up for most of his life and in a lot of pain because of the traumas he had in his childhood and teens,but I'm sure he was not a bad person for the most part,I think he was really a sensitive good person underneath all along,just mentally sick for most of his life,but he was definitely much more emotionally together and sweet at the end sadly.And that is who the *real* john really always was under all of the emotional pain and anger.
I love John *more* as a person(and artist) after seeing this show and it made me even more sad that he was taken away and so horribly. I knew for years already about how he cheated on Yoko when she was right there,and yes that was terrible and it's not an excuse but this is an explaination which even Yoko herslef said she uncerstood,he was in a bad emotional state and very drunk,and as Jack Douglas said(and Eliot Mintz says this in Lennon by Ray Coleman) that John and alcohol were a very bad combination he never could handle it well and it had a really bad effect on him,thank God he eventually cleaned up and got off of it during the last 5 years of his life.And he had a good conscious,he felt very guilty about the things he did including this which was made very clear in this program.At least he did have a concious and regretted and felt sorry for the wrong things he did and actually worked on himself and changed for the better,that is a lot more than a lot of men(and some women do),many wife beaters and rapists never feel any remorse and never try to work on themseles and change!
Paul McCartney for the most part isn't a bastard,but a sweet person,but after he and beautiful British red haired actress Jane Asher were lovers for five years from April 1963 when she was only 17 and a virgin,and Paul was 21( and far from a virgin since he lost his virginity at only age 15 in 1957 which was not common then with a girl who was bigger and older than him) and she and Paul lived together in their own house from 1966-Spring 1968 when after they were engaged to be married for 7 months,Jane came home unexpectedly early from touring with her theatre company,she found Paul in their bed with another woman and she left Paul for good!
George cheated on Pattie including with Ringo's first wife Maureen,and John,George, and Ringo all also cheated on their first wives with tons of young women groupies,many who were teenage girls,when they were touring from 1963-1966 and this was a very common part of the rock and roll life style especially in the 1960's.
John said in his last interviews that he regretted being violent getting into fights with men and hitting women,and said that is why he felt so strongly about being peaceful and promoting peace.Yoko changed him for the better,because of their love,and great relationship and her feminism,John went into scream therapy with psychologist Dr.Arthur Janov and dealt with his traumas for the first time,and he made a brilliant album out of it,his first solo album,John Lennon Plastic Ono Band and he became a feminist,and a nurturing caring husband and father to Yoko and his son Sean.If you listen to the radio interviews he did hours before it happened,he sounded much more together,and happy and not angry and bitter any more.He talked about how he regretted not spending enough time with his first son Julian and that he was in his 20's like most men too involed with their careers to be a real involed father.He said that he regretted this and that he and Julian would have a relationship in the future.
And it was also very brave and great of John to co-write and sing on The Dick Cavet Show and in the Madison Square Garden concerts both in 1972 the powerful and sadly still true,feminist song,Woman Is The Ni***r of The World,and it was banned off of the radio,and on The Dick Cavet show,shown in LENNONYC he sweetly and clearly explained what this song was really about and why he and Yoko wrote it and performed it.And John and Yoko performed at the August 1972 Madison Square Garden concert to raise money to help retarded children and adults.
As a poster on Paul McCartney.com said in discussing this great show,that Tom Hayden pointed out how John and Yoko worked hard on behalf of many different social injustices.And John's great performance of his song,John Sinclair with very good guitar playing and singing by John, helped get him out of jail 48 hours later!
And as many problems John had,he(and Paul McCartney) gave millions of people happiness with their musical brilliance,and John never would have shot and killed anyone!
I enjoyed the film for the most part, although I concur with everyone else who said that it was incredibly sad. And I also concur with the displeasure and disappointment of May Pang, Julian and the other 3 Beatles getting so little attention. They were a big part of John's life too. And I was also disappointed that, once again, the "story" that John and Yoko reunited on the night of his concert with Elton John. May Pang has pictures to prove otherwise. She and John were together for a month or so after that concert. If Yoko is so secure in her and John's relationship, then why is May airbrushed out of John's life time and time again? Including having her voice removed from Number Nine Dream, replaced by Yoko's? That's not true history, only a history that Yoko wishes, just like the artwork that she's colorized.
With all that said, I did enjoy the show, even with all of its shortcomings.
The "Story" that John and Yoko reunited backstage was told by Elton John NOT Yoko. He is saying what HE witnessed first hand.
Yes everyone knows he went back two months later, but the seed of reconciliation started in Nov 74. Even May put this in her first book. Now she wants to change it?
Absurd.
People get your facts straight. Yoko did NOT replace May's vocals on the record!!!! She made a video of the record and used the imagine movie sequence that showed John and Yoko calling each others names.
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