Found this. Copied and pasted.
The grainy images on the black-and-white videotapes are more than 30 years old. It's February 1970, and John Lennon, 29, will be a member of the Beatles for just two more months. He's in the middle of one of his most creative periods; he's recently released "Instant Karma," and soon he'll undergo the primal therapy that will help shape his seminal first solo album, "Plastic Ono Band."
Unseen and undisturbed for decades, the tapes capture three days in Lennon's life. Tomorrow, people can see some of the images for the first time, when a two-hour documentary of the footage, "3 Days in the Life," is released and shown for free at Berwick Academy in Maine.
The tapes might not have been seen at all if it wasn't for John Fallon . Fifteen years ago, the Cape Cod art collector was approached by an acquaintance of Tony Cox , Yoko Ono's former husband, who asked if he'd be interested in buying 13 charcoal drawings done by Lennon. Fallon said yes, and soon he was in touch with Cox, who was selling all of the Lennon-associated artwork and memorabilia he had collected during 1969 and 1970, when he spent time with the couple in Denmark and England. After Fallon bought the drawings, Cox pitched him his largest John and Yoko cache: 10 hours of raw footage from a documentary he had planned but never finished. The footage was shot by Cox on a video camera from Feb. 8 to 10, 1970, at Lennon's Tittenhurst Park estate in England. The film shows Lennon writing "Remember" and "Mind Games," and performing "Instant Karma."
Fallon spent eight years negotiating with Cox over the price of the film. During that time, he persuaded former Boston musician, sound engineer, and Beatles memorabilia collector Ray Thomas (who now lives in Rye, N.H.) and Providence businessman Bob Grenier to invest in the unfinished documentary. In 2000, the three paid $1 million for the 10 hours of tapes.
At first they thought they'd finish the documentary, but to do so, they needed Ono to sign off on the project. "She didn't remember making the movie," said Thomas. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to get her involved in the film. Without a written release from Ono, the tapes sat untouched for years.
With the documentary off the table, Fallon said, the group had no definitive plans to do anything with the tapes. Now, he said, he simply wants to share them with the public. "I'm hoping I can just add to a better feeling of how people can understand John's life," said Fallon.
Thomas came up with the idea of showing an edited version of the tapes to high school and college students for free, which he said he can do legally, for educational purposes. In addition to the Berwick Academy showing, the film's producers plan public viewings of the documentary at colleges throughout the country
Lennon fans may find it a challenge to follow the film, which is unscripted and not narrated. In it, we see Lennon and Ono playing with Julian Lennon and Kyoko Cox , children from previous marriages. Journalists come and go from the 100-acre estate during the three days; Lennon meets with Michael X , a black civil- rights advocate who was later convicted of murder and hanged in Trinidad ; Lennon appears on the BBC.
There are no quick cuts or high-end cinematic effects here. Though Cox had served as the director for Ono's film "Bottoms" in 1966, it appears he was a beginner with the camera. The film is shot cinema verité, and several segments are out of focus or poorly lighted. This was on purpose, said Thomas.
"Everything was intentionally done. They wanted it out of focus, they wanted it bouncing around. This is what John Lennon wanted," said Thomas.
Fallon said the idea behind the film was to show Lennon and Ono during their transformation from musician and artist to political activists. "Tony was going to show it to friends of Yoko's and to a beatnik crowd out of New York City," said Fallon.
While the unsteady shooting is often distracting, there are scenes that lend great insight into Lennon's persona, creative process, and relationship with Ono.
One thing we learn is that Lennon was seemingly oblivious to background noise. He holds interviews while Ono sits next to him talking on the phone. He also has the radio on wherever he goes, and the music from that era serves as a soundtrack to the film. As Lennon blow-dries Ono's hair, they listen to "Leaving on a Jet Plane"; Lennon rests on his bed, smiling as Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" plays; in his chauffeur-driven Mercedes, Lennon turns on the radio and we hear Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now."
Lennon doesn't allow distractions to get in the way of the creative process, either. When we see him composing "Remember," he's hunched over an upright piano banging out chords and singing near-complete lyrics. Cox hands the camera to Yoko and plays air piano next to Lennon, who isn't faze d . The Beatle vamps for the camera and finishes the song.
There are serious moments, too. At one point, Lennon talks openly about the couple's overcoming drug addiction. "We've resurrected hope in ourselves, and we're hoping to spread it around a bit -- to tell people you can get off speed, you can get off H [heroin], you can get off pot. You know, because whatever they say, you do get hooked on it," says Lennon.
Thomas, who managed the Psychedelic Supermarket and the Unicorn Coffee House rock clubs in Boston, said he hopes the footage will inspire a new generation to explore Lennon's work.
"I hope they'll get an education and learn firsthand, historically, who and what this guy was all about," said Thomas. "In the film he's a father, he's a songwriter, he's an artist, he's a husband, he's a lover, but he's also a very outspoken political activist, and he uses that celebrity to drive that activist vehicle."
For more information on the film, go to 3daysinthelife.com.
