I once told Dick Clark that American Bandstand helped me get through my childhood as a girl in a Chinese family, which was not particularly welcomed. The central figure in the new documentary The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is May Pang, who has told her tale many times (in her memoir, and on talk shows like Geraldo in the film, we see a lot of clips of those appearances). I thought: Oh God, theres going to be more people involved now? Pang recalled. She worked for John Lennon and Yoko Ono as a personal assistant and production coordinator, and when Lennon and Ono separated in 1973, Pang and Lennon began a relationship that lasted more than 18 months. She became his short-term companion and lover at Yoko's scheming behest . "I'm going, 'What? The event is free. John Lennon's lover May Pang has revealed the incredibly uncomfortable and 'bizarre' interaction she had with his widow, Yoko Ono, 30 years after the couple's former assistant enjoyed an 18-month . Pang published her memoir, Loving John, in 1983. It fills in a famous episode in rock mythology, enriching the story. Pang pulled out her Nikkormat and captured the moment. Quite the arrangement,I dont know what to think? Theres amazing archival material throughout, and it gives you an unusually rich sense of what Lennon was like away from the limelight. The relationship began while Pang was working for the couple in their apartment at the Dakota. That appearance shook the rafters and became famous, but what's less well known is how the former Beatle had re-connected with his bandmates, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. In 1970, she used her chutzpah to bluff her way into a job at the office of Allen Klein, whose management office represented Apple Records and all the Beatles but Paul. It just flowed out of him on that level. Pang, 64, gained fame in the early 1970s as John Lennon's girlfriend. Its no coincidence that he reconciled with Paul during this period. So what would he be doing right now? May (Fung-Yee) Pang (born October 24, 1950) was a personal assistant to former Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono.She later became Lennon's companion and lover, when he separated from Ono in the mid-1970s. The words had no meaning, but summed up the ethereal atmosphere Lennon conjured up in the lyrics and production. Little did I know, she was cheating on him at the same time. The new film makes clear that their time together lasted a lot longer than simply a weekend, and it was by no means totally lost, but their relationship was most definitely a love story, and it is interesting to speculate about what might have been had they stayed together. That he became a fixture at the Rainbow Bar & Grill on Sunset Boulevard along with Harry Nilsson, Alice Cooper, Bernie Taupin, Mickey Dolenz, and others who became known as the Hollywood Vampires. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Lennon and Ono were having marital problems and Ono suggested to Pang that she become Lennon's companion. [20] Lennon called Bob GruenLennon's "official" photographerand told him what had happened. But the only way for that to happen was John not being there., The new couples time in LA resurrected Lennons lighter side, she said, both personally and creatively. "I always say, 'Music saved my life,'" said Pang, who dropped out of college after her freshman year. At the time, she was married to producer Tony Visconti, who worked with artists including David Bowie. Cynthia Lennon, who died of cancer in 2015, at the age of 75. [6], In mid-1973, Pang was working on the recording of Lennon's Mind Games album. I dont see a reason to, she said. I wonder if he beat her as well? Even so, she believes that many people remain unaware of the extent of her involvement. Yet, according to May Pang, who was Lennons 22-year-old live-in lover during that time, that was anything but the case. But talking to her by Zoom from her home in Queens and understanding her background complicates that view. "I went to Westchester like everybody else," Pang said. He always had a pad and his pencil or Flair pen, and he writes it down," Pang said. He couldnt stop. Just be aware that people are going to be talking about you. John Lennon's Ex May Pang Recalls Yoko Ono Asking Her to Date the Beatle in 'The Lost Weekend' Trailer. She pointed out that Lennon had said he found Pang sexually attractive. All rights reserved. After John, seemingly out of nowhere, goes back to Yoko, and Pang confronts him about it, he says, quite simply: Shes letting me come back. The movies story is told, in part, through animation and a period soundtrack put together by veteran music supervisor Howard Paar with the images created to resemble Lennons own artful squiggles, seen on any number of handwritten notes from him to May that also appear in the film. [43][44], Although having had no contact for 30 years, on October 9, 2006, Pang accidentally met Ono in Iceland, on what would have been Lennon's 66th birthday. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story: Directed by Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman, Stuart Samuels. The two were watching Reverend Ike on TV one night when the famous preacher suddenly yelled, "whatever gets you through the night! Pang also worked on albums by Nilsson, Starr, Elton John and David Bowie. John Lennon: May Pang was friends with the. To gain access to the deck, Lennon and Pang had to climb out of their kitchen window. The Guardian reached out to Onos representative for her reaction to Pangs version of events. According to her, the couple were considering buying a home in the Hamptons. [22] On the night in question, a naked Lennon excitedly called Pang to join him on the deck outside and they both watched a circular object silently floating less than 100 feet away. And we have to take that on faith, since its all very subjective and not necessarily borne out by what happened. Given that description, people naturally viewed that weekend which actually lasted 18 months and which coincided with Lennons separation from Yoko Ono as a period of great excess and deep regret. Born in 1950, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Pang was raised in Spanish Harlem. After graduating high school in the early seventies, May decided against college, wanting instead to get in on the ground floor of the music industry, and make the business end of music her career. [29], Lennon would lament this period publicly but not in private. [2], While visiting Mick Jagger at Andy Warhol's compound in Montauk, New York, Lennon and Pang saw a Scottish-style cottage for sale close to the Montauk Point Lighthouse. But John spontaneously decided to go to L.A. on his own and asked me to go with him. May Fung Yee Pang (born October 24, 1950) is an American former music executive. Ive been told by men that Ive gone out with that Im stronger than most women. Lennon himself used the words "lost weekend" to describe his time of drinking and drugging while apart from his wife. Lennon later referred to this time as his "Lost Weekend". Lennon later referred to their time together as his "Lost Weekend." "There's always going to be a tie there.". Now theyll see it as it was., The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is out in US cinemas on 13 April with a UK date to be announced. You speak English. I told her I wasnt interested at all. I can't do that, he's my employer, he's my boss. People have been taking my narrative and talking about my life as if they knew everything about me, and they didnt, she explains. He was getting to hang out with his friends and have a lot of fun, she said. No one experienced it like I did. Its my version. At 7 p.m. Monday, Pang is scheduled to talk about her life with Lennon and the Beatles at the Haverstraw King's Daughters Public Library in Garnerville. We didnt know that at the time, Pang said. Pepper. There are moments in the film when Yoko, to say the least, does not come off well notably in Pangs description of how Yoko attempted to cut off Lennons relationship with his son, Julian. For another Ono film, Pang had to ask both everyday people and celebrities to show their legs for the camera for peace. Pang tells her version of what happened in "The Lost Weekend," which is billed as a love story. On Sunday, April 23, Kenyon will be with May Pang for a conversation following the 6:50 p.m. showing of "The Lost Weekend" at the Angelika Cinema, and she will be answering questions from those in . The original 500-page Loving John book focused mainly on Pang's role on Lennon's albums and sessions. Jun 9, 2022 4:35pm PT May Pang Aims to Set Record Straight About John Lennon Affair in 'The Lost Weekend,' Premiering at Tribeca "John was drinking, but that was overblown in retrospect,". We saw UFOs together., Looking back on Lennons death 42 years ago, May believes that if hed lived, Lennon, who would now be 81, would still at this age continue writing songs. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream, Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts. During that time, Lennon recorded three LPs "Mind Games," "Walls and Bridges," and "Rock 'n' Roll" and numerous singles, including "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," Lennon's biggest hit as a solo artist. Copyright 2023 OnTheRedCarpet.com. In the photos that we saw at the time of her and John, she always had a waifish beauty, and a certain mystery behind those tinted hexagon glasses. Pang stayed close to Cynthia Lennon, who died on April 1 of cancer, but doesn't talk to Ono, she said. My mother used to tell me, You have a mouth. I aligned myself with her.. Pang replied that she could never start a relationship with Lennon, as he was her employer and married. For the record, she said, her favorite Beatle was Ringo. Pang was born to an industrious mother who opened her own business, OK Laundry, at the corner of 124th Street and Amsterdam, not far from where they lived before being forced to leave their tenement housing for the newly built George Washington projects at 97th Street and Third Ave. Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty, Julian Lennon Says He 'Always Hoped' He'd Get to Place of Peace After Forgiving Dad John Years Ago, Daily Herald/Daily Herald/Mirrorpix via Getty Images, The Rolling Stones Recording Music with The Beatles' Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Shelley Duvall on Why She Disappeared from Hollywood for 20 Years and Why She's Making a Return, Paul McCartney Was Nearly Run Over by Car Recreating Beatles' Iconic Crosswalk Image, Says Daughter Mary, Sean Lennon Recalls Growing Up Next Door to 'Aunt' Roberta Flack: 'Coolest Neighbor in the World', Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell's Relationship Timeline, The Magic Circle: Why The Beatles' 'Revolver' Is a Monument to the Collaborative Spirit, Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon, Denied Parole for a 12th Time, Julian Lennon Talks 'Love-Hate Relationship' with 'Hey Jude': 'Dark Reminder' of Parents' Divorce, Mary McCartney Says Dad Paul Gave 'Little Tips' for Abbey Road Documentary: He's 'Passionate', Read John Lennon's Angry Letter to Paul McCartney That's Up for Auction, with Bidding at $33K, Julian Lennon Almost Skipped 'Get Back' Screening, But Went 'as a Team' with 'Best Mate' Sean Lennon, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's 2 Kids: Everything to Know, Pattie Boyd Legendary Muse for George Harrison and Eric Clapton Reframes Her Life in Rock and Roll. A fond look at Lennon's 'Lost Weekend'. [15][16] "Dad and I got on a great deal better then," recalls Julian. Afterwards, Id say to him, Where is this going? And hed say, I dont know. [32] It was edited down to 300 pages, concentrating mostly on the sensational aspects of their relationship. John Lennon: The Beatles star's former lover May Pang spoke out about reunion plans (Image: GETTY) It was in 1973 that Lennon embarked on an 18-month affair with his and Ono's assistant,. Pang was also there to witness when the Beatles broke up, legally speaking. The last time she said she saw him was during the winter of 1978-79. The music took me to the next level.. People will find out: May Pang on her time with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. documentaries to Albert Goldmans The Lives of John Lennon. Like many Lennon observers, Ive always felt like I knew the basic bones of it. Interviewing John Lennon's Lost Weekend Girlfriend. Born and raised in Spanish Harlem, Pang has the accent, wit and confidence of a classic New Yorker. He came from a lower middle class background, says Pang, "so he appreciated people. Also, she said Ono grew jealous as time went on and began to call a million times a day, Pang said. She was fun but circumspect (she didnt drink or do drugs). She also told her not to tell Lennon about the calls. Lennon told Pang he had reconciled with Ono and their relationship was over. Pang subsequently produced two books about their relationshipa memoir called Loving John (Warner, 1983) and a book of photographs, Instamatic Karma (St. Martins Press, 2008). I was there when he jammed with Paul for the last time I played tambourines with Mal Evans. Mainly, Pang said, it was Ono who gave the orders and there were a lot of them. Moving into a penthouse apartment, both May and John claimed later to have seen a UFO, hovering around their block. Pang, who was plucked from that Apple job by Ono herself to serve as her and Lennons personal assistant before Mays fling with Lennon, insists the phrase Lost Weekend doesnt do justice to the pairs year-and-a-half affair. Her father, a traditional Chinese man of that era, had no interest in a daughter but her mother provided an assertive role model. In 1973, she moved into The Dakota in New York City, where the couple lived. It was all a lark; Pang was just going with the flow. But it's not the whole story. Even so, Pang seems eager to give her account at this time in her life, as the proud, 72-year-old mother of two grown children by her ex-husband, the producer Tony Visconti. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. In March, she ran unsuccessfully for a Pomona village trustee seat, receiving 190 votes. I'm not interested in him.'". But with the encouragement of her mother, who basically supported the family with her cleaning business, Pang got herself a job working for the Beatles company. Pang, 72, was just 19 years old when she landed a job at Apple Records, and before long, she was working as the personal assistant to Lennon and Ono, 90. "Well are you kidding? She also designs a line of stainless-steel feng shui jewelry. (In the early 70s, hed become a real political scold; after the drubbing received by 1972s Some Time in New York City, that was part of what he was letting go of.). "I don't think she even thought for a minute that we were gonna fall in love," Pang said an interview with Sandy Kenyon. They were probably funny but rebellious. May Fung Lee Pang will be 72 in October, but was barely out of her teens when she boldly entered Apples New York offices, lied about being able to type, and secured a job at the Beatles multimedia company. "[Ono] did not realize it was going to turn into such a big love affair," Pang says in the trailer. And they are going to lie about it.. He wasnt jumping for joy, she said. "He loved the city," she said. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. Within minutes after being shot, John Lennon was dead at age 40. What doesnt seem convincing, at least as the film presents it, is the final twist in this extraordinary rock n roll soap opera. I used to study the liner notes to learn about the songwriters and producers. The period became notorious due to a few incidents in LA of very public drunkenness while the star was out in public. "I think he'd be all over the internet," Pang said. And, because I was 10 years younger, we were getting to do all the things young couples do., Pang insists that the ex-Beatle only used the term lost weekend to refer to that time because he was tired of the press constantly asking him about two high-profile incidents in 1974 in which he was tossed from an Los Angeles club for being inebriated and verbally abusive. When May Pang's name appeared on a village election ballot last month, some of her neighbors may not have realized how interwoven her life has been with rock and roll history. Why AI Has Some Viewers Asking Which Film Actors Are Real. Lennon bought Julian a Gibson Les Paul copy guitar and a drum machine for Christmas in 1973, and encouraged Julian's interest in music by showing him some chords. Gruen suggested Lennon should call the police, but Lennon laughed it off, saying, "Im not going to call up the newspaper and say, 'This is John Lennon and I saw a flying saucer last night.'" ", The film even explains how Lennon's only number one single as a solo artist came to be written in the small apartment. My memories of that time with Dad and May are very clearthey were the happiest time I can remember with them. But the film makes clear that she did fall in love, and so did he. The multiple meanings in the title mirror the sparring narratives that have long clouded this era in the ex-Beatles life. In 1970 you joined Allen Klein's ABKCO Records as a receptionist. She was 10 years younger than Lennon (and 17 years younger than Yoko), who was her boss and a Beatle. "And still making music.". Every musician in L.A. wanted to participate, but soon Lennon's drinking and Spector's erratic behavior (which included his firing a gun in the studio control room) caused the sessions to break down. I knew, at that moment, if John and I had gone to meet Paul and Linda, there would have been new music. Yes, Yoko did approach me, and I thought it was insane, she says about being Lennons lover. Pang, 64, gained fame in the early 1970s as John Lennon's girlfriend. "John hadn't seen them in years," Pang said. He wouldve been very vocal about what he was going on in the world. Journalist Larry Kane, who befriended Lennon in 1964, wrote a comprehensive biography of Lennon which detailed the "Lost Weekend" period. May Pang was drawn into a romantic relationship with John Lennon in 1973, at the insistance of his wife, Yoko Ono. John was drinking, but that was overblown in retrospect, says Pang. People dont understand that the phrase wasnt about our relationship., Regardless, the term became so resonant that a new documentary centered on that period The Lost Weekend: A Love Story devotes half its title to it. Two days later, Lennon reappeared at a joint dental appointment; he was stupefied and confused to such an extent that Pang believed he had been brainwashed. Like the rest of her boomer generation, Pang fell in love with the Beatles from seeing them on The Ed Sullivan Show, but her fave Fab at first wasnt John, but Ringo. He appreciated everyone who's on the street: the cops, the sanitation men.". He reconnected with Julian Lennon, his son by his first wife, Cynthia, and his fellow ex-Beatles, at one point living with Ringo Starr in a Santa Monica beach house. The documentary chronicles how after about a year there, they returned, just as impulsively, to New York, moving into a small apartment on E. 52nd St., where they lived through the first months of 1975. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The Preston & Steve Show had the opportunity to speak with May via Zoom before the debut of her movie, The Lost Weekend: A The pair was forced to return to New York in February 1974 for Lennon to meet with lawyers about his immigration status in the U.S. Yoko told John she wanted a divorce and ordered him to her attorneys office to sign the papers. Not that everything was bliss in this stretch of time. I would have to coax him through it, Pang said. In 2011 music enthusiast Liz Hajek and I traveled to New York to spend a day with May Pang, Lennon's girlfriend for almost two years in the early 1970s. Its your life. Im just going for it. He wasnt happy in his marriage, and it made life miserable for everyone working around them.. He had his first No. In the years since, however, Onos image has greatly improved, an evolution that could actually wind up making some people less, rather than more, sympathetic to Pangs story today. "We had a balcony, and we faced the East River, and he loved sitting out there especially on a summer night," Pang said. We see Pangs photograph of Bob Gruen snapping his famous photograph of Lennon in a New York City T-shirt. She designs stainless-steel feng shui jewelry. People will find out the missing piece of the story, she said. The pair headed to Los Angeles for what has become known as The Lost Weekend for the former Beatles drunken escapades with his pals Alice Cooper, Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Micky Dolenz, collectively known as the Hollywood Vampires, their hangout upstairs at the Rainbow Bar & Grill on Sunset Blvd. She pointed out that Lennon had said he found Pang sexually attractive. They looked like they hadnt taken a bath in months, she said. A love story that took 50 years to tell, "The Lost Weekend: A Love Story" explores the 18-month romantic relationship between John Lennon and his Chinese-American assistant May Pang,A love story that took 50 years to tell, "The Lost Weekend: A Love Story" explores the 18-month romantic relationship between John Lennon and his Chinese-American assistant May Pang,A love story that took 50 years to tell, "The Lost Weekend: A Love Story" explores the 18-month romantic relationship between John Lennon and his Chinese-American assistant May Pang, Acclaimed Film Archivist Erik Taros, who also worked on Ron Howard's Eight Days A Week, contributed to thus film. That Yoko, trying to save the marriage, made the decision to set up John with May Pang, basically instructing the two of them to have a romantic affair. ALSO READ | Eyewitness to the Death of John Lennon, * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts. Why should I let somebody else talk about my time with John? John loved movie stars. Ono, 33, was in her second marriage, to producer Anthony Cox. The first time she saw Lennon and Ono at the office, she was a bit taken aback. In the trailer, Pang says the romance which was later dubbed Lennon's "lost weekend" "wasn't so lost; people saw more of John than they had in previous years," and rattles off a list of stars with whom they hung out, including Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Elton John and David Bowie. Tips for dealing with flood-related losses after the storm, Manhunt enters 3rd day for alleged Texas mass killer. She is proud of reuniting John with his son Julian who speaks glowingly of May in his on-camera interviews and ex-wife Cynthia, who died in 2015. [26][27] After the meeting, he failed to return home or call Pang. It just so happened I was working with a famous rock star. The idea that one of the greatest artists of all time was highly depressed and suffering from alcaholism at the height of his youth and fame fascinates me to no end, as it proves that some truly gifted people's struggle to find happiness can span throughout their lifetimes, however long or short. [35], The Tribeca Film Festival announced the 2022 premiere of The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, a 97-minute documentary about Pang's life and relationship with Lennon, on June 10th via virtual home viewing. She remains friends with Julian Lennon to this day. I lived it. In NYC, Lennon could be himself, even riding an MTA bus at the urging of Pang, who'd grown up in Spanish Harlem. John Lennon is pictured above with May Pang in 1974. I was also surprised at some of the footage that was found of me. Pang remains in touch with some of the people from her time with Lennon, and Paul McCartney invited her to Linda McCartney's memorial service. "It hits you in the gut because this has been my home for a while," she said. marco antonio solis concert mexico,