May Pang tells her story in the documentary “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story” Now showing at Cinema Paradiso, Hollywood FL with special showings! 

Join Beatle Brunch in Special Showings of May Pang’s new Film, a Love Story

May Pang is telling her story about the 18-month relationship she had with John Lennon her way: in a new 90-minute documentary called “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,” which has opened with a limited theatrical engagement. The film it tells the story: “John Lennon and May Pang shared a weekend that lasted 18 months, and a love story that took 50 years to tell.”

Sure, May has told her story in book form previously, but she says, she was ready to change the narrative and tell her account in a visual way so she could reach today’s audiences.

“People think that they know my story,” said May speaking with Beatle Brunch’s Margot Winick. “After seeing this, they go, ‘I thought I knew your story; I didn’t. I didn’t know all of this.” Over the years, “a lot of little myths” have been inserted in, she says.After all, May has been a witness to rock’n’roll history, including while in an intimate relationship with John, which began three years into working in Allen Klein’s ABKO office, as U.S. representative to Apple Records. Famously, it’s that assignment which led her to work with the Lennons.

It was Yoko Ono who approached May, then 23 years old, in 1973. “When she said to me, ‘John and I are not getting along,’ that was understandable because everybody who worked around them could feel that anxiety that was running around, and that tension. But when she said, ‘Well, he’s going to start seeing other people,’ I’m thinking, ‘Oh, a new person added to the mix.’ And then, the next line was, ‘But you don’t have a boyfriend.”

In response, May says that her reply was polite, but firm: she insisted that she was not interested in getting involved. But eventually, the separation between Yoko and John was becoming more apparent, and John pursued May while making the record “Mind Games.”

As the saying goes, “the rest is history”, involving John’s most artistically and commercially productive period after The Beatles, collaborating with Elton John, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, Phil Spector, among others.

Yes there was the infamous drinking and drugging on John’s part during that period of the 1970s, but it was not a “lost” period, but rather, quite productive, May insists.

The film cements the fact that May was a positive influence at a time when John was discovering his voice after The Beatles. And on a personal level, it depicts that May helped John reunite with his son Julian after three years. It was a creative time for May too. John encouraged May’s photography and work on music publishing.

You can attend special showings of “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story” hosted by Beatle Brunch’s Joe Johnson, Tuesday and Wednesday evening May 9th and 10th at 7:00 pm at Cinema Paradiso in downtown Hollywood, at 2008 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, FL 33020. Joe will be hosting a Q&A following the film and give away some Beatles prizes from The Beatle Brunch vault, so don’t miss these special showings, there is even a possibility that we’ll do a zoom interview with May!

See a preview of the film here. Meanwhile, May is currently showing her photography in a traveling exhibition that is visiting major cities.

In addition to some of May’s photography that has never been seen, filmmakers Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman and Stuart Samuels deploy animation and archival material to illustrate May’s role in this period of John’s post-Beatles life, including that she was asked by John to snap a photo of him signing the document that officially dissolved The Beatles at their Polynesian Village Resort hotel room at Disney World on December 29, 1974.

The film, which had a virtual premiere at Tribeca Film Festival and is now showing for a limited engagement at Cinema Paradiso in Hollywood FL, home of The Ft Lauderdale International Film Festival. See a preview here, then join Beatle Brunch at Cinema Paradiso and join your fellow Beatles and Lennon fans where it will be shown May 9th and 10th, 2023 hosted by Joe Johnson.  Get tickets in advance HERE. 

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BEATLE BRUNCH HOST JOE JOHNSON INTERVIEWS SIR PAUL IN 2005 IN TAMPA FL 

Beatle Brunch Host Joe Johnson interviewing Paul McCartney made for an exciting edition of the show that week.  In addition to writing and producing a new episode of Beatle Brunch every week, fans of The Beatles can hear EVERY WEEK’S SHOW on-demand, plus hundreds more shows and specials, EPs, bonus tracks and interviews by joining the BBC (Beatle Brunch Club) 

READ ABOUT JOE JOHNSON’S BEATLE BRUNCH RADIO SHOW, NOW IN IT’S 31ST YEAR!

Beatle Brunch: “A splendid time is guaranteed for All”

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Joe Johnson’s Beatle Brunch is hosted by award-winning broadcaster Joe Johnson, who is also Music Host on the Flower Power Cruise and The 70’s Rock and Romance Cruise, and The Ultimate Disco Cruise. Joe created, hosts and produces Joe Johnson’s Beatle Brunch, a nationally-syndicated radio program on The Beatles, now in its 31st year. For exclusive access to more news and historic audio including weekly Beatle Brunch programs, Old Brown Shows, Brunch Bytes , personal interviews, EPs and bonus songs, plus classic radio shows, join The Beatle Brunch Club . Use promo code BRUNCHDEAL1 or BRUNCHDEAL2 for a discount on your one or two year membership or join monthly for just $4 a month, quit anytime.