May Pang offers candid view of John Lennon during Tucson photo exhbit

Local Beatles fans will get an intimate look at John Lennon from someone who knew him personally, when May Pang brings her collection of candid photos to Tucson.

Pang and Lennon were lovers in the early 1970s, after the Beatles broke up and he and Yoko Ono were separated.

Lennon would later describe the affair as his “lost weekend,” though it lasted 18 months.

Pang will present her photos and talk about her time with Lennon from 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7, and 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, at Arizona Picture and Frame Gallery, 4523 E. Speedway, west of Swan Road.

All of the photos on display will be available for purchase.

According to a press release on the exhibit, “The Lost Weekend: The Photography of May Pang” features one-of-a-kind snapshots from Lennon’s “most artistically and commercially productive period post-Beatles.”

The collection includes two historic photos never available to the public until now: the last known picture of Lennon and Paul McCartney together on March 29, 1974, and the only picture of Lennon signing the contract to officially dissolve the Beatles on Dec. 29, 1974, when he and Pang were vacationing at Disney World in Florida.

During his time with Pang, Lennon recorded the albums “Mind Games,” “Walls and Bridges” and “Rock and Roll,” scored his only solo No. 1 single in the U.S. with “Whatever Gets You Through the Night,” and collaborated with such legends as Elton John, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, Mick Jagger and Ringo Starr.

Pang is featured prominently on “Walls and Bridges.” Lennon wrote the song “Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)” about her, and she can be heard whispering his name on the album’s second single “#9 Dream.”

Lennon’s “lost weekend” also saw him reunite with McCartney and with his young son, Julian, who still speaks fondly of his childhood days with Pang and his father.

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After Lennon reconciled with Ono in 1975, Pang went on to publish three books about her time with him: “Loving John,” “John Lennon: The Lost Weekend” and “Instamatic Karma,” featuring photos from her private archives.

This marks the second Beatle-centric photo exhibition to land in Tucson this year. “The Linda McCartney Retrospective” wrapped up on Aug. 5 after a five-month run at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography.

Pang will be joined at her exhibit by her long-time friend Chris O’Dell, a Tucson woman who worked for the Beatles and a host of other rock legends during her almost two decades in the music business.

O’Dell also shows up for Pang in “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,” a documentary that debuted earlier this year. The film was released on DVD and streaming platforms last week.

O’Dell said she first met Pang in California, early in her relationship with Lennon, and later visited the couple in the New York apartment they shared.

She said the two of them had “a very caring relationship,” and Lennon seemed relaxed and at ease when they were together.

O’Dell will soon be the subject of a documentary of her own, based on her 2009 memoir “Miss O’Dell: Hard Days and Long Nights with the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton.”

The Palo Verde High School graduate said the film is on track for release before the end of the year.

For more information about the free exhibit, visit rockartshow.com/pages/tour-dates.