‘Every day was an adventure’: Ex-lover of John Lennon brings photos from ‘lost weekend’ to Marmot Art Space

May Pang’s birthday parties usually go off in a typical fashion; laughs and chatter filling the air of her one-bedroom New York apartment as it overflows with friends. But at one of her coveted parties in the mid-1980s, she had an unexpected guest.

“All of a sudden, David Bowie made an appearance at my birthday party, and the room somehow parted like the Red Sea,” Pang said.

With a hundred bewildered gazes on him, Bowie strutted across Pang’s apartment to embrace his dear friend for over a decade.

Bowie was just one among a long list of music icons Pang became close to while in a relationship with the legendary musician John Lennon. During the 18 months of their relationship, Pang’s 35mm film camera constantly hung from her neck as she snapped photos of her lover in whatever vision struck her fancy that day. The thought never crossing her mind that the photos would one day be ingrained into Lennon’s legacy.

“It had become like almost another arm, you know, it was another appendage,” Pang said. “People knew I just carried this camera around. And so I started taking these pictures when John and I got together.”

Locals have a chance to see Lennon through Pang’s intimate lens and hear first-hand stories about the famed musician as she showcases her “The Lost Weekend: The Photography of May Pang” photo exhibit to the Marmot Art Space this weekend.

While growing up in New York City’s Spanish Harlem as a first-generation Chinese American, Pang’s homelife was less than glamorous. Due to the true Chinese tradition of wanting a son, Pang’s father made her feel undesired, she said.

“Anybody born outside of the homeland was almost like damaged goods,” Pang said.

Pang’s love for rock ‘n’ roll provided an escape, and much like the rest of the world she became infatuated with four musicians from Liverpool. Pang’s mother inspired her to get out of the neighborhood and follow her heart. At the age of 18, Pang dropped out of college and headed to Times Square to prove herself.

In 1970, Pang landed a job as a receptionist at ABKCO Records, the management office of Allen Klein, who at that time represented Apple Records and three former Beatles: Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

As Pang was finding her footing in the industry working under Klein, Lennon and Yoko Ono – who married in 1969 – Pang was appointed to be Lennon and Ono’s assistant during their visit to New York City to work on various avant-garde film projects.

“He was larger than life. You know, you go, ‘Oh my God, it’s John Lennon,’ ” Pang said.

Ono took an instant liking to Pang, and two weeks later hired her as the pair’s personal assistant. Pang accompanied Lennon and Ono during their projects throughout the UK.

During the three years Pang worked for them, Lennon and Ono’s relationship began to strain. Thinking that Pang would be a safe distraction for Lennon, Ono encouraged Lennon to make a move on Pang, and suggested that Pang to go with it.

The then 22-year-old was hesitant, due to both being her employers. But when she and Lennon shared a kiss for the first time, they became dazzled by one another, sparking the beginning of their 18-monthlong love affair.

Their spontaneous connection wasn’t the result of only physical attraction as Lennon was drawn to how straightforward she was, Pang said.

Lennon and Pang lived together in New York, but would frequent Los Angeles for months at a time for Lennon’s projects. Intoxicated by one another, in the months between the summer of 1973 to early 1975, the pair shared countless late-night chats in record producer Lou Adler’s Bel-Air mansion, an alleged UFO sighting from their terrace overlooking Queens and photo shoots of each other in their most vulnerable moments.

“Every day was an adventure,” Pang said.

It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the pair to party with fellow rock legends Harry Nilsson, Elton John and Bowie, with whom Pang formed everlasting friendships, she said.

“I wasn’t starstruck on that level, you know, because these were his friends … And in fact, John made a comment because I’m just so low key about everything,” Pang said.

During their relationship, Pang helped Lennon reach his most creative and commercially successful point in his post-Beatles career, she said. Pang was by his side during the release of Lennon’s albums “Mind Games” and “Walls and Bridges.” His song, “Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)” was written about her.

Pang also helped Lennon rekindle his relationship with his estranged son, Julian, she said.

“I saw how Julian was reaching out … when I was working for John, I wasn’t allowed to let John know that Julian had been calling. And that was tough for me to see,” Pang said, “I just think that it’s, you know, this poor kid is looking for his father, he hadn’t seen him in three years.”

Lennon admired how Pang’s photos were able to make him look the most flattering, Pang said, something professional photographers failed to do.

“He goes, ‘You don’t make me look fat.’ And I looked at him, I said, ‘What do you mean by that?’ And he goes, ‘I hate some photos in photo sessions when they took these photos, I always looked fat and I hate that.’ ”

Pang’s photos don’t focus on one moment more than the other, emphasizing that she wasn’t thinking about creating iconic shots. She was simply taking in every second with the man she loved, Pang said.

“I just have different ones all over the place, so it all brings back different memories of him,” she said. “I like when I like the ones where he’s relaxing and taking in the sun and swimming.”

The mundane nature of the photos only makes them more compelling, Pang said.

“All his guards are down. I’m just taking pictures of him.”

In early 1975, Lennon and Pang discussed buying a house together in New York. Lennon also floated the idea of going down to New Orleans with Paul McCartney and wife Linda to write music again with his former fellow Beatle, to which Pang voiced her resounding support.

“He’s sitting on the bed and he’s strumming the guitar, and I’m just doing some work. And he goes, ‘What would you think if I wrote with Paul again? And I swung my head around like the exorcist … I said, ‘I think it’d be great … solo, you guys are good writers, but when the two of you write together, it’s just a combination that can’t be beat,’ ” Pang said.

Neither of their plans came to fruition, as their time together came to a close weeks later when Lennon abruptly moved back in with Ono. Lennon would later describe his time with Pang as “the lost weekend.”

Pang and Lennon remained in contact and occasionally met to catch up and discuss music until Lennon’s murder in 1980. Pang went on to marry cult music producer, Tony Visconti until their divorce in 2000 and had two children together.

Pang and Lennon’s love story was all over the tabloids during their time together, and despite releasing her memoir “Loving John: The Untold Story” in 1983, Pang never considered sharing her intimate photos of Lennon with the world. Scott Segelbaum, owner of the Rock Art Show touring show, tried for nearly six years to convince Pang to exhibit her photos, Pang said.

She decided to give it go when the documentary exploring the relationship, “The Lost Weekend: A Lost Weekend,” was set to release in 2022. The documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and received critical acclaim.

Pang’s 38 photos at the exhibit aren’t exclusive to capturing Lennon; they also immortalized the Beatles legacy. Pang took the last photo of Lennon and McCartney together at a Santa Monica beach house in April 1974. Earlier that day, Pang watched in disbelief as Lennon and McCartney shared their last jam session together, she said.

In December of the same year, Pang, Lennon and Lennon’s oldest son, Julian were on holiday at Disney World in Orlando. It was there at the happiest place on earth, cooped up in an hotel room where Pang took the photo that marked the closing chapter of the Beatles with Lennon – being the last Beatle to do so – signing the band’s dissolution paperwork.

Nowadays, Pang’s film camera doesn’t get as much usage as it did four decades ago, but she still enjoys snapping pictures with her iPhone, especially while traveling with her exhibit. Pang revels in the opportunity to share her love story and show people an unfiltered side of Lennon.

“The travel to me has been amazing and meeting the people,” Pang said. “People have asked me, ‘Do you get tired?’ No, because I want people to see the John that was not what was in the newspaper … I’m just thrilled that people can relate when they see John. I’ve had a few criers.”

Pang and Lennon’s time together had its ups and downs, Pang said. But she never once regretted it, knowing well that the choices made during her adventures with the celebrated star shaped her into the person she is today.

“Everything that has happened to me, the universe had put that there,” Pang said. “Whatever the path I was going on, it was the way I was supposed to go, and it was my choice whether to choose it or not.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that May Pang is  close to Julian Lennon and his mother, Cynthia Powell, due to a source’s error. Powell died in 2015.