Lennon "Lost Weekend" lover reveals Spector shooting

Imagine the shock of John Lennon and Yoko's assistant May Pang when the wife of the former Beatle asked her to date her husband. What came next was an 18-month adventure that has been made into a movie called "The Lost Weekend: A Love Story," which has a limited run in theatres across New Jersey.

While they were together, Lennon allowed Pang to photograph him. Those pictures will be on display and available for purchase the weekend of April 15-16 at City Winery in Philadelphia.

"These are my home photos," says Pang. "John would just say go ahead whatever photos because I liked the way you shoot those pictures and you know my eye for the subject here."

May Pang called me Wednesday night on New Jersey 101.5 we talked about her and John's life together in 1973-74. Among the topics, was the time they stayed in LA with Keith Moon, Harry Nillson, and Ringo Starr.

"It was insane. It was chaotic. I was the youngest one in this group. But I think it was like I was the oldest one in this group" says Pang "Anything that would go wrong, they would always talk to me. Anything that would go on, you know, they didn't know what to do. Oh, just ask me. You know, she'll take care of everything. It's like, yeah, it was Mother Mae. And I think I'm the Rock and Roll album. John called me Mother Superior."

"Pang was there when Phil Spector fired the shot heard around the studio."

"We're standing there listening to a playback, and the listening to the songs. And the sound goes off. Everybody ducks. I'm standing by the console. And I'm going, what the hell just happened here? What's that?"

"I'm running towards them, mind you. But the funny part was, Phil's mother was actually standing next to me. And I'm going, I'm running towards the sound, typical New Yorker, running towards the sound."

"I open the door in the lounge, there's John with his finger in his ear going, "Phil, Phil if you're going to shoot, shoot me, but don't mess with me ears man, I need them."

"And then I'm looking at film. He's got the gun in his hand pointed upwards. And there's Mal Evans, the original roadie for you know, for the Beatles. And he comes on and he goes to Phil Spector."

"Give me that gun. He goes, You shouldn't have this and Phils mumbles you can't tell me what I could do or not do. And then I looked at now and I said, What just happened? And he said we were just horsing around. And so he (Phil) kept hitting me in the nose. And I just told him, that hurts. Please don't do that. You know, Mel was a gentle giant. So I know that he would never be disrespectful or say anything. Just don't do that. You know, it hurts. And Phil just went, you can't tell me what to do and backed up. And as he's taking the gun out of the holster, it went off."

The gun was loaded.

"And so we all went back to work. John and I really thought it was just blanks. The next day, we're having dinner and Mal's looking for Phil and gave him the bullet from the night before. John and I are looking at each other thinking Bullet? what bullet? and he shows us the bullet. Wow. And we both couldn't believe what we were seeing Because we always thought it was blank. Yeah. And he could have really shot somebody that night. And as we will know now, he did shoot somebody. You know, years later."

What happened after John Lennon performed live with Elton John?

"After the Elton John concert, everybody thought that they (John and Yoko) got back together, which is not true. We went to Florida with Julian for Christmas. We went to see George's concert, the Dark Horse tour. And then we saw Paul and Linda at our place afterward in January and were talking about New Orleans. They left about a few days later and John turned around and says What would you think if I wrote with Paul again?"

John and Paul almost wrote together.

"They (Paul and Linda) were just constant visitors all the time. I didn't even know how they found out where we lived. They arrived the first night we moved in. And every time they were in town, they just show up at our door. There was no call, they would just ring the bell."

"And I just remember John saying, Can you handle it? I said we'll handle what? and he said well Paul and Linda are downstairs I said, What's there to handle? They're your friends, Let them up."

"So in the book, (Loving John) you see the picture of them they're coming to our apartment coming to the door, and the snapshot happens where they just come in. So so that's really what was happening and we're spending so much time with them."

"By this point. the dissolution papers had been signed so the Beatles were officially dissolved as a group and They were not tied to one another. So I said to John, when, he asked me a few days later, you know, he thought that it was a good idea. And I said, Absolutely. And he said, why? And I said, Well, you know, you guys solo are good. But when you two wrote together, that was another story."

A story that unfortunately would never come to fruition.

There will also be an exhibit of photographs that Pang took during their time together at the Philadelphia City Winery Saturday, April 15, from 1 to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, April 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. City Winery is located in the Fashion District at East Market, 990 Filbert St., Philadelphia, PA 19107. Their phone number is 267-479-7373. Admission is free, and works are available for purchase.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise only. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.

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