May Pang – An Xperience Interview with Dick Beach

May Pang – An Xperience Interview with Dick Beach.

May Pang is bringing her exhibit ‘The Lost Weekend: The Photography of May Pang’ to Artforms Gallery in Guilderland, NY Tuesday June 25 and Wednesday June 26, 2024. These candid photos of John Lennon are from the 18 month “Lost Weekend” she spent with John as his companion and lover. The companion film documentary, “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,” can be streamed on most of your favorite streaming services. May will be at the gallery telling stories and meeting with the public – you can also get your own piece of history with a limited edition photo, available for sale during the exhibit.
This is an edited-for-space version of the interview. You can hear the entire interview at 6 p.m., Tuesday, June 4th on RadioRadioX.com – to be repeated throughout the month.

RRX: We’re speaking with May Pang. She has an exhibit coming up of photography of her time during the ’73 to ’75 period with John Lennon. And we thank you so very, very much for speaking with us and bringing your exhibit up here to Guilderland.

MP: I am excited to come back into the New York area. We’re also doing it not only in Albany. As I’m coming through, I’m also going to Hudson.

RRX: Oh, good!

MP: Yeah. So, it’s that whole area that I’m coming through, and I’m excited.

RRX: The Lost Weekend of John Lennon, when he and Yoko, I guess were having some issues, as many of us do. And you were already in that family. How do you remember things evolving to the point where you were with John, and not only working with him as a co-producer on albums and making sure things got done but also as his companion?
MP: You know, he needed another pair of ears and I would be there for him. And we worked together on that level. But I worked for them – I worked for both of them. And I worked for them for, like, three years. And then, one day, when you’re working in that environment, you know everything that’s going on but you don’t say anything. They’re my bosses, you know?
And then, she’s talking about how she and John are not getting along. And I’m sitting there thinking, “Yeah, we all know.” You don’t say anything because they’re your bosses.
And so, I’m sitting there and she says, “Oh, John’s gonna start seeing other people.” And I’m thinking, “Oh my god, we have another person in the mix?” That’s in my head, right? As she’s talking to me, I’m going onto another thing. And the next thing you know, she’s looking at me. She goes, “You know, you don’t have a boyfriend.” And I looked at her and I went, “I’m not interested.” She said, “Oh, I know you’re not interested in John, but maybe you should go out with him.”
And I’m looking at her like, you’ve just lost your marbles. I’ve been here three years. I know what you two are about as people. I don’t want to be in that situation. And she was so insistent. I’m looking at her, I said, “No.” I said, “I’m not interested.” She goes, “Oh, I know you’re not.”
And she goes, “I think you should.” And she gets up and walks out the door.
So, this is the reason why I also made a movie, a documentary. I don’t know if you’ve seen it or how many out there have seen it. And this could be streamed now. That’s the other thing.

RRX: Where can it be streamed?

MP: It’s a film-on-demand, you know, movie-on-demand type of thing. They can go on Amazon Prime, on Apple, on Roku, on almost all the different cable services, internet services, you know? You could find it there.

RRX: Okay. I have a feeling that when this gets published, people are gonna be interested. So, you may see that spike up a little bit.

MP: Oh, I think so too because at my gallery shows, I sit here and I go – because I sell a poster from the movie at the gallery show. And it’s only at the galleries, this poster. And they say, “What is this?” And I also show the trailer, and they come in and they want to know more.
I had to do it because everybody’s now written about my time with John during that period. And it’s very funny when they all come to me and they all say, “I know everything about you.” And then, they go and watch the movie. And they come back the next day and they say, “I had to come back and tell you.” I say, “What’s that?” They go, “I thought I knew your story.” I said, “Right.” Because that’s the whole thing. Everybody else was telling my story, and I had to take that narrative back.

RRX: So, you’re now in a situation which it sounds to me as though, at least initially, was rather untenable and very uncomfortable. Every photograph I’ve seen of you, you have the most infectious smile. And I see John in these photographs with expressions on his face I haven’t seen much elsewhere. When did that all change and how did that come about?

MP: Well, it started – I definitely did not want to go out with him. I kept saying “Stay away”, that type of thing. And he said, “You know what? I’m gonna go.” And he started to pursue me. And I’m looking at him like, “Stop, I’m not interested.” And he just sort of said, “Okay.”
But you know what? It wasn’t okay because he kept wanting to see – he kept trying to pursue me, like a suitor. I’ve never had this happen before, that the guy that’s pursuing me is John Lennon. And I’m looking at him like, stop! And I know people said, “But he’s John Lennon!” I said, “I don’t care.”

RRX: So, the impression that I’ve gotten, is that John had some serious substance issues. Would you consider that perhaps you were someone who helped ground him?

MP: Well, you know, it could be. All I could tell you is that when we were together – and this here is one of the myths, because there’s plenty. That’s why, when you watch the movie, you’ll see that. But he was not doing drugs. I’m not saying he didn’t partake if somebody came along and said, “Hey, you want a hit of whatever?”
But we didn’t have drugs – because I didn’t drink or take drugs. So, it was the influence of – he was as clean as can be. So, that’s why it annoyed me more when people said, “Oh, he was so drugged out.” No, he wasn’t.

RRX: So, you have obviously – you’ve always been artistic, and a camera was always around. It sounds as though these photos were – kind of like when my wife Maureen and I go on vacation. You weren’t trying to be Annie Leibovitz.

MP: No. Let me tell you that my taking of John’s photos was basically more for us. I was as amateur as anybody else. I just had a passion for photography. I bought my first camera when I was 17 or 18. And I carried it with me because I loved the idea of taking pictures of people, and my friends, and landscapes, and whatever else that I thought was beautiful in my eyes.
And John noticed it one day and said, “Let me take a look at your photographs.” Because even though he let me, it was like, “Let me see. You may not be able to show some of these,” you know, that type of thing. And he looked at them and he went, “Huh.” And I said, “Well? What do you think?” And he said, “I like what I see.” He goes, “I like the way you take photos of me.”
He never liked photo shoots. He just never liked it. And he said, “They make me look fat. I just don’t like these things.” So, all the photos are candid photos that I took for us. That was it.

RRX: One of the photographs, I understand, is on – is it the latest album that Julian has put out? The one your photo is on?

MP: Oh yeah. Yes.

RRX: How was your relationship with Julian? In my mind, that’s a – because he has become a really wonderful singer/songwriter in his own right.

MP: Absolutely.

RRX: And John Lennon being your dad can be a little intimidating if you’re trying to do that. I’m gathering by the fact that the photo is on the album, you and he still speak periodically, etc., or is that kind of –

MP: Absolutely.

RRX: Yeah?

MP: Yeah. No, no, no. Definitely. We have been in contact all this time.

RRX: That’s fantastic.

MP: I mean, you’re right. I’m not talking to him every day, but if I need to reach out to him, or he reaches out to me. I mean, it was just kind of interesting one day. He just sent me a note and he said, “Hey, you got any photos of me when I was a kid?” And I’m like, “All right, let me take a look.”
So, we just have that relationship. And yeah, his mother and I were just very, very close.

RRX: That has to be—for you and I think the rest of the world—I won’t say satisfying, but it has to be a lovely thing that a period where so many people have heard so many rumors about so many things and have had stories told incorrectly, that all this time later that you two not only get along, but are in communication and have a very friendly relationship.

MP: What’s great was, I was just happy that I could give Cynthia, especially, and John, closure to their relationship, which they never got. They were able to finally talk about things. Because they hadn’t seen each other since the time of the divorce. So, they had a lot of leftover open wounds, as I would say. And I thought this was a great time to have that closure for Julian’s sake. He was only 10 years old, 11 years old. And I thought he needed that.
So, when he would call him, he now didn’t have that angst about, “Oh, what if Cynthia picks up the phone? Oh my god,” all that. So now, it’s like, “Oh, hi Cyn. Great.” It was easy now.

RRX: One of the things I’m sure that most people don’t know that I came across is that it’s your voice on “#9 Dream.”
MP: Yes.

RRX: When I saw that, I went, “That’s really interesting.” I don’t know why it’s so interesting to me, but it is. Was that planned, or was that just you’re in the middle of a recording and it seems like a good idea?

MP: That’s it exactly. I had no idea I was gonna be doing it. I’m in the other room. We were at the recording studio. And the assistant comes running in and says, “John needs you.” I said, “Why? Did something happen?” Because I’m trying to finish up my work because I always did all the production, you know, all the stuff, trying to get it all together.
And he goes, “No, no. John needs you.” I said, “Do you know what it is?” “I don’t know.” So, I go in. I open the door, and I’m looking at him and the engineer who was with him. Roy Cicala, that was his engineer. And I’m looking at the two of them and they’ve got this, like, Cheshire Cat smile on their faces. And I’m going, “Okay, what’s going on? What do you need me for?”
And so, I get out there. He goes, “Whisper my name.” And I said, “What?” It’s not as simple as everybody would think, to get that feel. And so, they were like, “Come on, come on, get up there.” And so, that’s what I did. It was John’s idea; I had no idea I was gonna be the one doing it. But, yes.

RRX: So, I have chewed up the half-hour we have. I do have a way I like to end interviews and that is to say, I always ask my guests, if there’s a single thing that you would like to say to the world. It can be silly, it can be serious. But if there’s one thing, one message you’d like the world to hear and for people to pay attention to, what would that be?

MP: Wow. I’m looking at the way the world is right now, and I think John would be the same, because we used to have these discussions out there. I want people to go out and vote because that’s what he would say. If we get the wrong person in there, it’ll be our fault if you didn’t go and vote, because we’re the ones choosing. And it’s important.
And it’s important to read and take a look at everything and everybody out there. Read about it. Not just one side. You got to read them both. What can I say, we got to make the world a better place.

RRX: We do. Thank you so very much for your time.

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