May Fung Yee Pang (born October 24, 1950) is an American former music executive. "She thought it would be two weeks, gone, goodbye. The romance between the two started just shortly before they left for Los Angeles in 1972. Pang insists the celebrated Troubadour incidents where John was thrown out of the iconic Hollywood club for heckling the Smothers Brothers and then for putting a sanitary napkin on his head were anomalies in Lennons stay in Los Angeles, where he was relentlessly egged on by sidekick Harry Nilsson in particular. The movie, directed by Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman, and Stuart Samuels, is told entirely from her point of view. People have been taking my narrative and talking about my life as if they knew everything about me, and they didnt, she explains. [20][21] In the early summer, Lennon was working on his Walls and Bridges album when the couple moved into a penthouse apartment at 434 East 52nd Street. John Lennon and May Pang enjoyed swapping clothes. The Beatles almost reunited in Syracuse, and it started on John Lennon Im just tired of being pushed around. Lennon later referred to this time as his "Lost Weekend". Yet, according to May Pang, who was Lennons 22-year-old live-in lover during that time, that was anything but the case. She never imagined that she would be the other person until, she says, Ono asked her: You dont have a boyfriend, right? I said: Yes, but please go to someone else with this. Then she said: Youre nice and you dont want him to go out with somebody thats not going to be nice to him, right? I said: Of course not. So, she said: Youre perfect. I said no and she kept saying yes. And what is she doing with all those mementos Lennon left behind, the doodles, drawings and photographs? All rights reserved. RIP John. With May Pang, John Lennon, Julian Lennon, David Bowie. ", "I'm not even gonna say what happened, some of it was ridiculous," he says. He asked me if I thought it was a good idea for him to write with Paul again. The film shows her and Lennon decades later attending an AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony in Los Angeles in Cagneys honor, where the one-time Beatle and Mick Jagger mingled amid the likes of Hollywood icons John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Mae West, Cary Grant, Kirk Douglas, then-governor Ronald Reagan and George Burns. May Pang - Wikipedia Perhaps Ill pass them on to my kids, but I cherish all of it. I felt awful, and I told John that, she says. 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. 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. [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. Once they were together, Yoko would phone her incessantly, wanting to know what was happening. Our thanks to Viv Goldberg for her help in arranging the interview. [11] While there, Lennon was inspired to embark on two recording projects: to make an album of the old rock 'n' roll songs that inspired him to become a musician, and to produce another artist. [1], After graduating from Saint Michael Academy, Pang attended New York City Community College. May Pang had a whirlwind, 18-month romance with John Lennon in the 1970s during a break in . Stevie Wonder was there. Asked if he was a good lover, she smiles a Cheshire cat grin. The music was what got me to where I was. Yoko was calling 10-15 times a day wanting to know what was going on. The music took me to the next level.. John Lennon and Yoko Ono's relationship: how they met, their - Nine But she hasn't ruled out a future run for local office. But it's not the whole story. Pang was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York. I wanted it to be just me and him.. After the split from Lennon, Pang was married to David Bowie producer Tony Visconti from 1989 to 2000, with two children now in their early 30s. I thought the animation was brilliant, just so clever, says Pang. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story (2022) - IMDb Pang received an RIAA gold record award for her work on Walls and Bridges and continued her work as production coordinator of Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album, where she was credited as "Mother Superior". According to her, the couple were considering buying a home in the Hamptons. Pang pulled out her Nikkormat and captured the moment. "One way of putting it.". ABOUT JOHN AND MAY PANG. "I'm going, 'What? 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). Ono told Pang he would start seeing someone new and suggested the two get together, she said. She was vibrant and a bright light. People will find out: May Pang on her time with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Quickly the pair began what the singer would call his "Lost Weekend," an 18-month-long whirlwind romance that took the two to the center of the madness of L.A.'s music scene, reunited a newly sober Lennon with his long-estranged son Julian, and reconnect the former Beatle to his love for rock & roll, and all as the new couple fell ever . All Rights Reserved. 2023 www.lohud.com. I thought: Oh God, theres going to be more people involved now? Pang recalled. Yoko had observed Johns infidelity, so she figured that she would let him stray with a woman she could control. 35 Vintage Photos of May Pang and John Lennon During Their Dating Days She was credited with facilitating his relationship with his young son, Julian. "There's always going to be a tie there.". She pointed out that Lennon had said he found Pang sexually attractive. a line of stainless-steel feng shui jewelry, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. May Pang was set up with ex-Beatle John Lennon by Yoko Ono - New York Post It was not something that I wanted. She ended up in music publishing, and worked in the office of music executive Allen Klein. "He grabs his pad. Pang also worked on albums by Nilsson, Starr, Elton John and David Bowie. 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. Her particular experience with it could be seen as an HR departments worst nightmare. John Lennon, who was shot and killed Dec. 8, 1980, would have turned 75 this year. It was over nothing. One morning, Pang said, Ono came into her office and told her that she and Lennon were "not getting along." [6] Ono's show coincided with Lennon's 31st birthday, and a party was held at the Hotel Syracuse, which was attended by Ringo Starr, Phil Spector, and Elliot Mintz, among others. The Guardian reached out to Onos representative for her reaction to Pangs version of events. These vintage photos captured beautiful moments of May Pang and John Lennon during their dating days. [20] Lennon called Bob GruenLennon's "official" photographerand told him what had happened. Another factor that made her sanction the new documentary is the cultural moment were in right now. In this photo, he's wearing her bell bottoms. [39], Pang started her own jewelry business. With May's help, Lennon reunited with his son Julian and had his most artistically and commercially productive period post . 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. May Pang said John Lennon liked when his partner controlled him Over the course of their relationship, Pang got to know Lennon well. 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,". Its a portrait of the May Pang who grew up in Spanish Harlem as a second-generation Chinese-American (a minority among minorities, she says), and how she fell in love with rock n roll and fell into fame with a kind of karmic destiny. John Lennon and Yoko Ono pictured in 1968. 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. Lennon had an 18-month "long weekend" starting in 1973, separating from Ono and engaging in an affair with May Pang, the couple's assistant (via Biography). Before she became an important part of John Lennon's later years, May Pang was born to a Chinese family and spent much of her early childhood in New York City's Spanish Harlem, as stated in Salon. 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, I needed a rest." "It hits you in the gut because this has been my home for a while," she said. May Pang The album Walls And Bridges was recorded in July and August 1974. "[Ono] did not realize it was going to turn into such a big love affair," Pang says in the trailer. 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. Its been covered by everything from E! Through him, she declined to comment. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. When Ono was creating her avant-garde film Fly which consists entirely of the title insect crawling over the body of a naked woman it fell to Pang to find and catch the buzzing creatures in the depths of a freezing New York winter. at the age of 40, John was murdered by obsessed fan Mark Chapman . No one experienced it like I did. She pointed out that Lennon had said he found Pang sexually attractive. That Pang helped to bring John and Julian back together, despite Yokos machinations, seems more convincing than not. In June 1974, Lennon and Pang returned to live in Manhattan. For another Ono film, Pang had to ask both everyday people and celebrities to show their legs for the camera for peace. It just flowed out of him on that level. Just be aware that people are going to be talking about you. It was all a lark; Pang was just going with the flow. John was drinking, but that was overblown in retrospect, says Pang, who'd like to remind the world that the ex-Beatle had a major career renaissance during their time together in the mid-'70s. I can't do that, he's my employer, he's my boss. [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. It was Dec. 29, 1974, when Lennon picked up his pen and signed a stack of documents brought down by one of Apple's lawyers to Disney World, where Pang, John and Julian were vacationing. Letting him? Quite the arrangement,I dont know what to think? His comment suggests that their separation was always contingent on an understanding between them. I just wanted to treat him as a regular person. I aligned myself with her.. And they are going to lie about it.. It fills in a famous episode in rock mythology, enriching the story. Parts of Pangs story dovetail perfectly with todays sensitivity to the consequences of workplace sexual harassment. He was getting to hang out with his friends and have a lot of fun, she said. It just so happened I was working with a famous rock star. The alcohol-fueled recording sessions became legendary. [10] Julian played drums on the album's last track, "Ya Ya". Her tale begins in NYC, continues in LA, and then ends more than 18 months later in Manhattan. Go for it.. Life with John Lennon: Pomona's May Pang tells all - The Journal News 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. ", Before long, Pang and Lennon moved in together in New York City, with Pang saying in a voiceover that she "was 23 and my first boyfriend was John Lennon.". My father was more afraid of her than the other way around. As someone who grew up a fan of the Philadelphia sound she cites singers like Bobby Rydell and Fabian as well as the Beach Boys, she says the shock of seeing these British moptops gave way to pure affection. [2] Pang was then asked to be Lennon and Ono's secretary and factotum/gofer in New York and Britain, which led to a permanent position as their personal assistant when the Lennons moved from London to New York in 1971. He had his first No. Although May has written a pair of books about her relationship with Lennon including 1983s Loving John: The Untold Story and 2008s Instamatic Karma: Photographs by John Lennon she has hesitated until now to participate in a documentary, finally agreeing to work with a trio of producer-directors in Eve Brandstein (best known as the casting director for This Is Spinal Tap), Richard Kaufman (Real Life: The Musical) and Stuart Samuels (docs on Bob Marley and Midnight Movies). Yes, Yoko did approach me, and I thought it was insane, she says about being Lennons lover. (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.). She told me, 'I'm thinking of taking John back.' And I said, 'What?' Eventually, Lennon found out about Onos alleged affair and, Pang said, instead of being jealous, he said: Oh, good!. Pang also arranged for Julian Lennon to visit his father for the first time in almost four years. 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. Even when John Lennon and Pang were thousands of miles away from Ono, Pang says that Ono was a constant presence in their lives, because Ono . Her mother sent her to Catholic school at nearby St. Francis, where James Cagney once served as an altar boy. May is also a successful photographer, author and . May Pang He cut the RocknRoll album, which featured cover versions of rock songs that had influenced him, in the process bringing him a nostalgic joy and relieving the pressure of having to write new material. [23] While recording Walls and Bridges, Al Coury, vice president of promotion for Capitol Records, got possession of the chaotic Spector session tapes and brought them to New York. May Pang had a whirlwind, 18-month romance with John Lennon in the 1970s during a break in his marriage to Yoko Ono, May Pang's whirlwind romance with John Lennon is the stuff of rock 'n' roll lore and in a new documentary, she's ready to peel back the curtain on their so-called "lost weekend.". [5] Pang coordinated an art exhibition in Syracuse, New York, on October 9, 1971, for Ono's This Is Not Here art show at the Everson Museum. The so-called Lost Weekend, when John Lennon, from late 1973 through 74, separated from Yoko Ono and relocated to Los Angeles, where he became a hard-drinking rock-club night owl while carrying on an affair with the 22-year-old May Pang (who had been John and Yokos assistant), has long been part of rock mythology. In NYC, Lennon could be himself, even riding an MTA bus at the urging of Pang, who'd grown up in Spanish Harlem. I was also surprised at some of the footage that was found of me. Inside John Lennon's 'Lost Weekend' Period - Biography Ive been told by men that Ive gone out with that Im stronger than most women. Ono ignored Pang's protests and said that she would arrange everything. 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. Later, John told me that she went to him after and said: I fixed it for you., Pang asserts that Lennon wasnt initially on board. She was reluctant at first, but Pang and Lennon were soon together. Pang's Asian background made her a veritable outsider both where she lived and where she went to school. "George and him had to mend fences. The movie is also a portrait of Pangs romantic passion, which as she portrays it was both innocent and deeply serious. Lennon told Pang he had reconciled with Ono and their relationship was over. [14], Julian began to see his father more regularly. In the documentary, Julian arises as Pangs greatest ally and witness. Kenyon ended their conversation by asking May if she'd ever found a man whose qualities added up to John Lennon's. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. And there are startling photographs that document the recording of Rock n Roll, the album of early rock chestnuts that Lennon made with Phil Spector, who was entering his full mad-dog phase. He used to say to me, May, its your opinion. On October 28, 2002, I had a candid conversation with May, in which she . Pang's is the voice whispering Lennon's name on "#9 Dream". An archival photo of John Lennon and May Pang in "The Lost Weekend: A Love Story" (Photo courtesy of May Pang Collection/Iconic Events) . The daughter of Chinese immigrants (her Chinese name, Fung Yee, means "Phoenix bird"), May Pang grew up in New York, living with her parents and an adopted brother. The women who shaped, seduced and scarred John Lennon I decided it was time to reclaim my own history. She was asking me that but, at the same time, she said: You will! Pang said. Their trauma, our entertainment: what happens to documentary subjects when the cameras leave? She also designs a line of stainless-steel feng shui jewelry. [6], In mid-1973, Pang was working on the recording of Lennon's Mind Games album. John Lennon (1940 - 1980) with Yoko Ono, December 1968. And ya know what? Within minutes after being shot, John Lennon was dead at age 40. 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. I would have to coax him through it, Pang said. One night, she and John saw a UFO from the rooftop (Lennons description and sketch of it are haunting), and according to Pang they were talking about buying a house in Montauk. Though the ex-Beatle eventually returned to his life with Ono, for complex reasons described in the documentary, Pang contends that it was a total surprise to her. The two were watching Reverend Ike on TV one night when the famous preacher suddenly yelled, "whatever gets you through the night! May is best known for her 18 month relationship with John Lennon, often referred to as 'The Lost Weekend' and her subsequent marriage to music producer, Tony Visconti. Ono was in Iceland to unveil a sculpture in Reykjavk and was staying in the same hotel. I had no real abilities, she admits of getting her start at Apple, but answering the phone was easy enough. [4][8] Ono explained that she and Lennon were not getting along, had been arguing and were growing apart, and said that Lennon would start seeing other women. At one point, he even asked Pang: "what do you think if I write with Paul again? His violent death was a sudden and tragic end to the life of a talented singer and musician who wanted to make a difference in the world. If there's one thing that May Pang has been fighting for the last 28 years, it's the idea that John Lennon was depressed, isolated and out of control during . In an extraordinary move, Ono gave the affair her blessing, telling The Telegraph in 2012, "The affair was not something that was hurtful to me. He hadnt seen his father in such a long time, she said. Yoko Ono Wikipdia I had my own mindset., That was clear right from her childhood. John Lennon: May Pang was friends with the. Born in 1950, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Pang was raised in Spanish Harlem. But in The Lost Weekend, we see that May Pang was a tough ambitious city girl, who spoke with a slight but blunt New York accent, and that after dropping out of college she had the chutzpah to talk her way into a job at the Apple Records offices on Broadway. Julian is interviewed throughout the film, and he (like his mother, Cynthia) maintained a close bond with Pang. 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. Pang was Lennon's lover during the infamous "Lost Weekend" which lasted 18 months during late 1973 through 1975. [9], At the time Lennon had his 18-month relationship with Pang, he was in a period of his life that he would later refer to as his "Lost Weekend", in reference to the film and novel of the same title.[10]. The narrative that shapes The Lost Weekend is May Pangs gently building insistence that she and Lennon were truly in love. At this time, Pang encouraged Lennon to reach out to family and friends. In January 2011 May Pang agreed to be interviewed for The Beatles Bible. Pang, 64, gained fame in the early 1970s as John Lennon's girlfriend. Pang moved to Rockland County in 1991. [26][27] After the meeting, he failed to return home or call Pang. "Yoko walked into my office and said, 'John and I are not getting along. She became his short-term companion and lover at Yoko's scheming behest . This beautifully done documentary brought me TOTALLY in to the life of John, his breakup with Yoko, his relationship with Julian, and his life saving love story with May Pang. She and Lennon were planning to meet up with Paul and Linda McCartney in New Orleans, where the couple were recording a new album. Theres amazing archival material throughout, and it gives you an unusually rich sense of what Lennon was like away from the limelight. bwakawa pouss, pouss" - which he claimed had come to him in a dream. John Lennon's mistress May Pang lifts the lid on her last encounter his Little did I know, she was cheating on him at the same time. May and John returned to New York in the late summer of 1974, to begin work on John's album Walls And Bridges and "get away from the bottle". She had a difficult childhood, and sought refuge in music, and television shows like "American Bandstand" and "Where The Action Is.". Soon after, things heated to the point where, when Lennon relocated to LA for an extended period, Pang became his full-time lover. Journalist Larry Kane, who befriended Lennon in 1964, wrote a comprehensive biography of Lennon which detailed the "Lost Weekend" period. 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. 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. What doesnt seem convincing, at least as the film presents it, is the final twist in this extraordinary rock n roll soap opera. 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. It was later updated and renamed John Lennon: The Lost Weekend. 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. Who better to tell the story than me? Speaking recently to The Journal News at her Pomona home, Pang showed photos of Lennon, and a gold record for his 1974 album "Walls and Bridges," where Pang can be heard singing backup on "#9 Dream.". Pang went on to reveal how her path had unexpectedly crossed with Ono's many years after Lennon's death, calling it his "cosmic joke". After Lennon returned to Ono, Pang started working for United Artists Records and Island Records as a PR manager,[19] working on albums by Bob Marley and Robert Palmer. The young woman who won John Lennon's heart, to Yoko Ono's disgust - MEAWW She would say: I just wanted you to know that I took a walk around the block.. That in L.A., John, for the first time since the breakup of the Beatles (and maybe since the Beatles began), let his hair down and began to enjoy a more relaxed, fraternizing, at times carousing rat-pack existence. While he was married to Yoko. May Pang Aims to Set Record Straight About John Lennon Affair in 'The Ono ignored Pang's protests and said that she would arrange everything. Everything to him was barmy Whats wrong with everyone? I miss those conversations.. He couldnt stop. [9] Ono later confirmed this conversation in an interview.[10]. Yoko kept pushing, but I waited for John to make the first move, says May. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream, Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. He and Ono had not divorced, only temporarily. Then she walked out the door. For a person who is not supposed to be in his life, I was in his life, she said. "He loved the city," she said. The Lost Weekend is a compelling movie and a valuable puzzle piece, but its only pretending to be the whole puzzle. Its my version. The Preston & Steve Show had the opportunity to speak with May via Zoom before the debut of her movie, The Lost Weekend: A Its your life. Born and raised in Spanish Harlem, Pang has the accent, wit and confidence of a classic New Yorker. documentaries to Albert Goldmans The Lives of John Lennon. Like many Lennon observers, Ive always felt like I knew the basic bones of it. At one point, George turned to me and said, May, this is the third party weve been to this week People are going to start talking about us. He was such a lovely man. 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. I figured, if there was going to be a film about my life, I should be involved. 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, See production, box office & company info. Pangs parents, who had an arranged and unhappy marriage, were Chinese immigrants who, before coming to America, endured the Japanese invasion of their country that killed millions. Tips for dealing with flood-related losses after the storm, Manhunt enters 3rd day for alleged Texas mass killer. He grew up on American films.. 'The Lost Weekend: A Love Story' Review: May Pang Tells - Variety Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road' on November 17, 1974, in New York City Photo: Getty Images Lennon drank. "But he kept trying.". [15][16] "Dad and I got on a great deal better then," recalls Julian. John Lennon: #9 Dream - song facts, recording info and more! | The
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