New York Love Story Continues

Anyone have any great first-hand stories about John and Yoko? Now would be a great time to hear them...

That's because I could use the material. Not to tout my own horn, but I will be taking part in a panel discussion on the famous couple, and I've been asked to spread the word. The event will be held at 3 pm Saturday, April 5, at the Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street.

The main speaker will be photographer Allan Tannenbaum, who published John & Yoko: A New York Love Story (Insight Editions, $45), a remarkable collection of his pictures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. American Photo chose this book among last year's best in our Jan/Feb roundup, and we also ran a Web-exclusive interview between Tannenbaum and myself.

A veteran NYC photojournalist, Allan knew John & Yoko for several years but became especially close to them during the latter half of 1980, as they emerged from five years of seclusion to publicize their Double Fantasy album. Tannenbaum got rare access to their lives and made exceptionally intimate photos, among the last ones of Lennon before he was killed. He'll be showing and discussing these images in an illustrated lecture at the museum.

Also appearing will be Joe Crupi, who played lead guitarist in Lennon's band during the ex-Beatle's last public performance in 1975, which Tannenbaum photographed. I am apparently there to provide some journalistic perspective. I never met John or Yoko, but my impression is that, as photographic subjects, they must have been a perplexing pair.

On one hand, they were famously reclusive, unpredictable, and shut out the press for years at a time. In interviews, both could be caustic, egotistical, or blunt. But when they felt like it (and it served their needs), they could be remarkably friendly and open. "John was just great," Tannenbaum told me. "He was so easy to be around. It was like talking with your oldest best friend." (Other photographers such as Bob Gruen, Annie Leibovitz, and Ethan Russell have expressed similar feelings.)

One thing the couple shared, in their final days together, was a mutual commitment to each other. They insisted on being treated as an artistic partnership. "John said to me, 'You know what I like about your photos — you really capture Yoko's beauty,'" Tannenbaum recalls. "That always stays with me as a very vivid and heart-wrenching observation."

In her foreword to Tannenbaum's book, Yoko Ono recalls a sunny afternoon that she and Lennon spent with the photographer in Central Park, shortly before John was killed. "Looking at the images, I keep asking myself how a day so normal could be so close to tragedy?" she writes. "You might say we were extremely lucky to have such a day. I think so. We were lucky. But you are, too. Cherish all your days. You never know how precious they will be to you one day…when you look back." — Jack Crager

Photographs © Allan Tannenbaum

Comments

[stephen connor]

Um, not to be picky, but, no one "touts" their own horn unless they're interested in selling it. On the other hand, they might "toot" their own horn if they were interested in drawing attention to themselves.