Lennon himself used the words "lost weekend" to describe his time of drinking and drugging while apart from his wife. Lennon stopped drinking and concentrated on recording. [19] Lennon previously had cats while he lived at his Aunt Mimi's house in Liverpool; he and Pang adopted two cats that they named Major and Minor. With May's help, Lennon reunited with his son Julian and had his most artistically and commercially productive period post . At one point, he even asked Pang: "what do you think if I write with Paul again? Her mother sent her to Catholic school at nearby St. Francis, where James Cagney once served as an altar boy. "I always say, 'Music saved my life,'" said Pang, who dropped out of college after her freshman year. Yoko wasnt even aware we had gone until after we left.. It was all a lark; Pang was just going with the flow. In 1975, Lennon and Pang moved back to New York but lived in their own apartment away from the Dakota. But Yoko had already re-entered the picture, showing up backstage to see John at the premiere of an Off Broadway show based on Sgt. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" was released in 1974. American former music executive May Pang 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. Lennon told her the view reminded him of The Mersey River in his native Liverpool. Today, Pang is the mother of two adult children and she just wants to set the record straight. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story" explores the 18-month relationship (1973-1975) that John Lennon spent with May Pang, his Chinese American assistant turned lover (on Yoko Ono's insistence). I figured, if there was going to be a film about my life, I should be involved. Yoko Ono [1], ne le 18 fvrier 1933 Tokyo au Japon, est une artiste plasticienne, pote, performeuse, musicienne, chanteuse, compositrice, crivain, comdienne et cinaste japonaise.. Membre de l'avant-garde new-yorkaise dans les annes 1960, qui gravite autour de John Cage, Yoko Ono dveloppe des formes artistiques entre posie, performance, cinma et musique exprimentale. [40][41], Pang married record producer Tony Visconti in 1989; the couple divorced in 2000. The alcohol-fueled recording sessions became legendary. Theyre all in a safety deposit box and very valuable to me, says Pang. 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. She was fun but circumspect (she didnt drink or do drugs). [citation needed] She volunteers with an animal shelter called Animal Haven in New York and owned a dog that was rescued after Hurricane Katrina. 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. She was asking me that but, at the same time, she said: You will! Pang said. She was a schmoozer, and when she began to work for John and Yoko, doing every makeshift task available avant-garde film production assistant, costume designer she had an ebullient smile and an easy-to-be-with vivacity. [9] Ono later confirmed this conversation in an interview.[10]. In NYC, Lennon could be himself, even riding an MTA bus at the urging of Pang, who'd grown up in Spanish Harlem. The last time she said she saw him was during the winter of 1978-79. And I said, 'What?' "It's like, 'Wow, what happened?". [46], "May Pang is a legend in the Rock n' Roll world", "Gary James' Interview With John Lennon's Girlfriend, May Pang", "Memorabilia: The Julian Lennon Collection", "Julian Lennon gives family peace a chance", "Julian Lennon on Covering "Imagine" for the First Time in Support of Ukraine: It Was "The Right Occasion", "There's UFOs Over New York and John Lennon Wasn't Too Surprised", "Pang reveals her side of affair with John Lennon", "Beatles: Lennon planned to meet McCartney in 1974", "The ballad of John and Yoko's secretary", "When John Lennon's Signature Officially Dissolved the Beatles", "Last Known Photos of John Lennon and Paul McCartney Together in 1974", "The Lost Weekend: A Love Story | 2022 Tribeca Festival", "John Lennon's Ex May Pang Recalls Yoko Ono Asking Her to Date the Beatle in 'The Lost Weekend' Trailer", "Life with John Lennon: Pomona's May Pang tells all", "May Pang Reflects on Her Lasting "Weekend" With John Lennon", "Lennon Planned to Visit McCartney In 1974", "Getting Fifi to pay for abandoned mutts' care", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=May_Pang&oldid=1148631996, Professional and personal relationship with, This page was last edited on 7 April 2023, at 10:56. An archival photo of John Lennon and May Pang in "The Lost Weekend: A Love Story" (Photo courtesy of May Pang Collection/Iconic Events) . May Pang and Julian you're wonderful! All rights reserved. What doesnt seem convincing, at least as the film presents it, is the final twist in this extraordinary rock n roll soap opera. - IMDb Mini Biography By: paulabb Family Spouses Yoko Ono (March 20, 1969 - December 8, 1980) (his death, 1 child) Though Ono and Lennon married in 1969, they went through something of a rough patch in the early 1970s, prompting Ono to see if Pang would be willing to keep her husband company. He didnt want to, and I didnt.. The lyrics moved me. Pang recalls he went to meet with her, promising to come back to their E. 52nd Street apartment and take her to dinner. The first time she saw Lennon and Ono at the office, she was a bit taken aback. [24][25] In the same month, Lennon and Pang were also planning on visiting Paul and Linda McCartney in New Orleans, where Wings were recording the Venus and Mars album, but Lennon reconciled with Ono the day before the planned visit, after Ono said she had a new cure for Lennon's smoking habit. Lennon and Ono were having marital problems and Ono suggested to Pang that she become Lennon's companion. But talking to her by Zoom from her home in Queens and understanding her background complicates that view. [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. She wasnt used to that, she said. I decided it was time to reclaim my own history. He was getting to hang out with his friends and have a lot of fun, she said. Their togetherness did not last in part because Yoko Ono was a constant presence in their life and called them daily. After nearly two years, though, Lennon and Ono reunited, and his time with Pang came to an end in February 1975. He and Ono had not divorced, only temporarily. John loved movie stars. Little did I know, she was cheating on him at the same time. 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He came from a lower middle class background, says Pang, "so he appreciated people. 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. 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. 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". [1] In 1970, she began work in New York as a receptionist at ABKCO Records, Allen Klein's management office, which at that time represented Apple Records and three former Beatles: Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. She also said that she continued to see him, and be intimate with him, until his death. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story: Directed by Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman, Stuart Samuels. 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. No one experienced it like I did. Lennon later referred to this time as his "Lost Weekend". Pang subsequently produced two books about their relationshipa memoir called Loving John (Warner, 1983) and a book of photographs, Instamatic Karma (St. Martin's Press, 2008). That doesnt square with what the film has implied that Lennon had drifted away from Yoko. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) In February 1975, Pang and Lennon were together in Long Island when Ono called her husband and asked him to come and see "a therapist who could break his nicotine habit through hypnosis. "At first I said, 'No, I'm not interested,'" Pang said. [1] They had two children. [4][7] 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. By what name was The Lost Weekend: A Love Story (2022) officially released in Canada in English? He understood what to do to make it work in the media, she said. 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. Its my version. When it came to the political scene, Pang said she was motivated by what she called the deterioration of the East Ramapo school district, where her two adult children had attended high school, and other village issues. But I liked Rockland. 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. 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. "George and him had to mend fences. Kenyon ended their conversation by asking May if she'd ever found a man whose qualities added up to John Lennon's. So what would he be doing right now? And it worked. Pang said that the last time she spoke with Ono was a call she made to her after Lennon had returned to her. "But he kept trying.". Pang replied that she could never start a relationship with Lennon, as he was her employer and married. Pang was present during a jam session on March 28, 1974, that would be the last time Lennon would record with McCartney. Pang stayed close to Cynthia Lennon, who died on April 1 of cancer, but doesn't talk to Ono, she said. Mainly, Pang said, it was Ono who gave the orders and there were a lot of them. Cynthia Lennon, who died of cancer in 2015, at the age of 75. The former assistant was a part of rock history, but she also was very kind to John Lennon and helped him re-connect with his son. His comment suggests that their separation was always contingent on an understanding between them. Why should I let somebody else talk about my time with John? It just so happened I was working with a famous rock star. 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). The romance between the two started just shortly before they left for Los Angeles in 1972. He always had a pad and his pencil or Flair pen, and he writes it down," Pang said. Ono suggested to Pang that she become Lennon's companion. He hadnt seen his father in such a long time, she said. He wouldve been very vocal about what he was going on in the world. I told them: I did!!. 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. It was not something that I wanted. 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. The Pang family left when the tenements where they lived were scheduled to be razed, and moved to an apartment near 97th Street and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. The event is free. There was so much he was missing., She believes that Lennons guilt over the estrangement made him awkward with Julian at first. 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. I would have to coax him through it, Pang said. The music took me to the next level.. They looked like they hadnt taken a bath in months, she said. May Pang The album Walls And Bridges was recorded in July and August 1974. On August 23, Lennon and Pang claimed to have seen a UFO from their terrace, which had a panoramic view of Queens. Ono had told Lennon she knew a way to get him to stop smoking through hypnosis. May Pang . Lennon later referred to this time as his Lost Weekend. 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. Ono ignored Pang's protests and said that she would arrange everything. 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. [6], In mid-1973, Pang was working on the recording of Lennon's Mind Games album. May Fung Yee Pang (born October 24, 1950) is an American former music executive. After working for John Lennon and Yoko Ono as their. 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". [20] Lennon called Bob GruenLennon's "official" photographerand told him what had happened. 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I just wanted to treat him as a regular person. Our thanks to Viv Goldberg for her help in arranging the interview. In March, she ran unsuccessfully for a Pomona village trustee seat, receiving 190 votes. He was such a magnificent writer. May Pang tells her version of what happened in "The Lost Weekend," which is billed as a love story with John Lennon. 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. John Lennon and girlfriend May Pang at the Beacon Theatre for 'SGT. She does pretty well with that on the merits of how she presents herself., Still, the image she suggests of Ono dovetails with the character many Beatle fans believed decades ago. ", The film even explains how Lennon's only number one single as a solo artist came to be written in the small apartment. Whenever I would tell people about it, they would say: You should write a book, Pang said. (modern). [14], Julian began to see his father more regularly. Then Lennon moved back into The Dakota with Ono. A documentary about their relationship, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, was produced in 2022. 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. His blue eyes, she laughs. 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. 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. To say that she was in over her head would be an understatement. According to her, the couple were considering buying a home in the Hamptons. "It was nice, believe me. So that's where I started out.". These vintage photos captured beautiful moments of May Pang and John Lennon during their dating days. 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. Free from both the demands of Beatlemania and his tensions with Ono, Pang said that Lennon got to do normal things. He asked me if I thought it was a good idea for him to write with Paul again. It was something I loved. 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. [37] Cynthia Lennon also provided a back cover endorsement, acknowledging Pang's role in reuniting Lennon with his estranged first son, Julian. Born in 1950, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Pang was raised in Spanish Harlem. [15][16] "Dad and I got on a great deal better then," recalls Julian. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. [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. Theres amazing archival material throughout, and it gives you an unusually rich sense of what Lennon was like away from the limelight. "[Ono] did not realize it was going to turn into such a big love affair," Pang says in the trailer. He and Paul McCartney mended fences and played together for the first and only time after the breakup of the Beatles (see A Toot and a Snore in '74). Lennon drank to excess, though Pang said, he didnt do heavy drugs, as has often been reported. [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. That Pang helped to bring John and Julian back together, despite Yokos machinations, seems more convincing than not. 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. In this photo, he's wearing her bell bottoms. Daughter Lara is a design director for Nest fragrance and candles, while son Sebastian is a consultant. But it's not the whole story. Tips for dealing with flood-related losses after the storm, Manhunt enters 3rd day for alleged Texas mass killer. We see Pangs photograph of Bob Gruen snapping his famous photograph of Lennon in a New York City T-shirt. Ive been told by men that Ive gone out with that Im stronger than most women. I would answer the phones for him. It is perhaps one of the most unusual love affairs of all-time, still perplexing Lennon fans around the world after almost 30 years. Pangs defiant character made her a natural fan of rocknroll. [3][4], Pang was asked to help Lennon and Ono with their avant-garde film projects, Up Your Legs Forever and Fly, in December 1970. I found myself shaking my head at times, laughing out loud and wiping tearsI really enjoyed the film. But thats something wed have to guess at, since the life of John Lennon remains, for all the ways its been chronicled, not quite knowable. Pang was married to producer Tony Visconti from 1989 to 2000 and has two children. I wonder if he beat her as well? [29], Lennon would lament this period publicly but not in private. Yet, according to May Pang, who was Lennon's 22-year-old live-in lover during that time, that was anything but the case. Pang was Lennon's lover during the infamous "Lost Weekend" which lasted 18 months during late 1973 through 1975. 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. [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 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. Born and raised in Spanish Harlem, Pang has the accent, wit and confidence of a classic New Yorker. In 1971, Lennon and Yoko Ono hired Pang as their personal assistant. 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.".
