In the summer of 1973, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s marriage was in trouble. Living up to her reputation as a provocateur, Ono tried to save her marriage by suggesting that her husband start an affair with their assistant, May Pang. The result was John Lennon’s “Lost Weekend”; 18 months of almost constant partying from New York to Los Angeles. That year-and-a-half may have been a step back in time for Lennon’s libido but it was a giant leap forward for the ex-Beatle’s creativity — even if it does tarnish his halo a little bit.
Lennon’s lost weekend produced three albums for himself: “Mind Games,” “Walls and Bridges” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll.” He produced two LPs for his friends Ringo Starr and Harry Nilsson and recorded with David Bowie, Elton John and Mick Jagger. But mostly, Lennon’s lost weekend produced outrageous behavior while drunk or stoned. The best remembered lost weekend episode produced a gigantic slice of humble pie for a drunken Lennon at The Troubadour in LA.
The Troubadour in West Hollywood, not far from Beverly Hills, is a legendary music club that has seen its share of history. Opened in 1957 as a coffee house, it began life as a major center for folk music in the 1960s. The Troubadour played an important role in the careers of Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, the Eagles, The Byrds, Carole King, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Buffalo Springfield, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, Carly Simon, George Carlin, Bette Midler, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, the Pointer Sisters, and Sheryl Crow, among others.
It was The Troubadour in 1962 where comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested on obscenity charges. On August 25, 1970, Neil Diamond (who had just recorded his first live album at the Troubadour) introduced Elton John, who performed his first show in the U.S. Randy Newman started out there and Cheech & Chong were discovered on its stage. John Lennon never performed there, but on March 12, 1974 he was the main attraction nonetheless.
That evening musician Harry Nilsson introduced John Lennon to the Brandy Alexander cocktail — an introduction that wouldn’t end well. The Brooklyn-born Nilsson was perhaps the closest American friend of the Fab Four, having first met the band in 1968. All the Beatles were great fans of the singer-songwriter and referred to their friend Harry as “the Beatle across the water.” They’d collaborated on songs and films together and when Lennon arrived in LA in 1973, the first call he made was to Harry Nilsson.
That Tuesday night, Harry and John were going to the Troubadour to catch the Smothers Brothers stage show. And to get drunk. “I got drunk and shouted,” Lennon later recalled. “It was my first night on Brandy Alexanders- that’s brandy and milk, folks. I was with Harry Nilsson, who didn’t get as much coverage as me, the bum. He encouraged me. I usually have someone there who says ‘Okay, Lennon. Shut up.’”
As might be expected, Harry and John sat near the stage near such notables as Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Helen Reddy, Cliff Robertson, and Lily Tomlin. John’s mistake was trying to keep up with Nilsson, a prodigious drinker who also did cocaine, by matching him drink-for-drink. The two rock stars heckled the Smothers Brothers by trading barbs with the popular TV comedy duo. On an empty stomach, smoking like a steam engine and egged on by Nilsson, John kept up his relentless, profanity-laced diatribe. Actor Peter Lawford, accompanied by a young lady, was seated nearby. He repeatedly yelled at John to stop the tirade.
As things escalated, club security attempted to remove the inebriated duo from their front row perch. The enraged Lennon lashed out, losing his trademark round glasses in the fracas. Tommy Smothers reported that during the melee, Lennon kicked the valet. “My wife ended up with Lennon’s glasses because of the punches that were thrown,” Smothers said. “Foxy Brown” Blaxploitation film star Pam Grier, who was nearby when the incident happened, got ejected from the club. John also sent letters of apology to the comedians, their manager, and the management at the club.
The Smothers Brothers came to Lennon’s defense, explaining that they’d incited Lennon by engaging with him while on stage. They also charged the media with blowing the incident out of proportion. “The heckling got so bad that our show was going downhill rapidly,” Smothers added. “No one cared, because it was just a happening anyway, but there was a scuffle going on and we stopped the show.”
Although the episode was rude and inexcusable, it should be remembered that Lennon and Smothers were friends. On May 26, 1969 when newlyweds John and Yoko staged their week-long “bed-in for peace” and recorded their song “Give Peace a Chance,” it was Tommy Smothers playing guitar. Lennon and Nilsson reportedly had flowers delivered to the Smothers Brothers the next day. Lennon also sent an apology note to Grier reading, “Dear Pam- I apologize for being so rude and thank you for not hitting me. John Lennon P.S. Harry Nilsson feels the same way.”
The next day the press reported: “Customers in the jammed nightclub complained Lennon made sarcastic comments and shouted obscenities during the show.” The rock stars would ultimately be escorted out of the nightclub, noisily knocking over a few tables and trashing several patrons’ dinners in the process. Officially, they were ejected for relentlessly heckling the Smothers Brothers and assaulting a waitress. Lennon insisted the alleged assault never happened, while Tommy Smothers added that without his glasses, Lennon couldn’t tell that the figure he threw a punch at was a woman. The waitress would later drop the charges.
John later said, “There was some girl who claimed that I hit her, but I didn’t hit her at all, you know. She just wanted some money and I had to pay her off, because I thought it would harm my immigration. So I was drunk. When it’s Errol Flynn, the showbiz writers say: ‘Those were the days, when men were men.’ When I do it, I’m a bum. So it was a mistake, but hell, I’m human.”
However, a 50-year-old freelance photographer would not. While Brenda Mary Perkins snapped images of the famous rockers being thrown out of the club, an enraged Lennon took a swing and allegedly hit her right eye. The Nixon administration had recently tried to have Lennon returned to Britain because of an ancient drug charge and John didn’t need the attention, although his actions might say otherwise. When the photographer filed charges at the sheriff’s office, Nilsson turned on the charm and quelled the investigation. Ms. Perkins filed a complaint with the Los Angeles Police Department. After a two-week investigation, the district attorney dropped the charges for lack of evidence.
However, John saw a darker side to the photographer’s intentions, when he stated, “Well, I was not in the best frame of mind. I was wildly drunk. But I was nowhere near this chick, she’s got no photographs of me near her. It was my first night on Brandy Alexanders, and they tasted like milkshakes. The first thing I knew I was out of me gourd. Of course, Harry Nilsson was no help feeding them to me, saying ‘Go ahead, John.’ It is true I was wildly obnoxious, but I definitely didn’t hit this woman who just wanted to get her name in the papers and a few dollars.”
Next Week: Part II of John Lennon’s Lost Weekend.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
