STARTING OVER WITH JOHN AND YOKO Book Release to Come to Boston's Boch Center

The Boch Center will host the official Boston book release celebration for Starting Over With John and Yoko: The Photographs (Rutgers University Press) by Roger Farrington and Kenneth Womack on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at 7 pm ET in the Wang Theatre. The event is free to attend but with a suggested donation of $20 to benefit the Boch Center's Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame. People can RSVP here.

Starting Over With John and Yoko recounts the remarkable story behind John Lennon's return to music - as told by the Boston photographer who was there to document it. On August 7, 1980, John Lennon and Yoko Ono made their triumphant return to the recording studio after a self-imposed five-year absence. Roger Farrington, an up-and-coming photographer from Boston, was hired to get 'the shot' that would announce their comeback. It would be Lennon's most intense press scrutiny since the heady days of the Beatles' maiden voyage to America in 1964, and for Farrington, it would be the assignment of a lifetime. Just four months later, Lennon's assassination would plunge the world into mourning.

Reproducing, for the first time, the entire run of Farrington's iconic photographs from that day, the book transports readers back to 1980 and into Manhattan's Hit Factory, where Lennon and Ono recorded their acclaimed LP Double Fantasy. With supporting photos and other ephemeras, Farrington and renowned Beatles historian Kenneth Womack capture a poignant moment in music history and provide an insider's look at celebrity photography in the pre-digital age

Farrington and Womack will join host and Boston radio legend ChaChi Loprete (New England's Breakfast with the Beatles) for a fascinating live conversation, along with David Bieber of The David Bieber Archives, and an audience Q&A exploring Lennon's remarkable return, the making of Double Fantasy, and the story behind Farrington's unforgettable photographs. Books will be available for purchase, with Farrington and Womack available for book signing. The evening will also include special performances by musician Sal Baglio and magician John Logan.