Was is really a "lost weekend"?

May Pang. Who is she? For those of you who aren't familiar with Beatle lore (Oh, I can hear some of you start to snooze but stay with me-this will get interesting!). Sometime in 1973, Yoko kicked John Lennon out and said he needed to have an affair and find himself (I kid you not! John and Yoko have always been a bit eccentric). Yoko intended for him to be gone for only a couple of weeks but it turned out to be close to 2 years, famously known now as John's "lost weekend". Well, John found himself with May Pang and partied hard with the likes of Keith Moon, Harry Nielson and Elton John. I was at Barnes and Noble a couple weeks ago and I noticed an advertisement that said that May Pang would be there on March 13 for a talk and signing, and I thought to myself, "oh, fun"!

Tonight I decided to skip my weekly political meeting to see May Pang. I really didn't know anything about her book only that it was photographs taken by May with narration about her relationship with John. For those of you who like trivia-May is the one saying/whispering "John" in #9 Dream from the Walls and Bridges album (thanks sis!).



When I got to Barnes and Noble I, of course, had to use the porcelain facilities, as a certain someone I know would say, and all of them were closed except one. I'm waiting in this cramped bathroom and in walks these two English women and I looked at one of them and she looked just like Cynthia Lennon, John's first wife and mother of Julian. (I know, most of you are probably thinking, "who cares about Cynthia Lennon" but this is my blog so just bugger off, to quote the Brits, and I'm saying this in a very cheeky way so don't take offense. Believe me, if you love the Beatles like I do then Cynthia Lennon is a big deal!). So I'm thinking that it can't be Cyn-is she here to see May speak? But why would the ex-wife of John Lennon be friends with one of his lovers? Well, it did turn out to be Cynthia and evidently her and May are the best of friends. I kind of regretted not saying anything to her in the bathroom but what would I have said..."I thought John was a real jerk the way he left you for Yoko". Yeah, I'm sure she would have really appreciated that. Besides, bathroom time is private time!

May Pang was very entertaining

Some interesting tidbits from May...

-Phil Spector shot a gun off in the studio during one of John's recording sessions (a foreshadow of what was to come for Phil Spector and sadly, for John too)
-John was going to meet with Paul in 1975 in New Orleans to write songs but he ended up going back to Yoko instead. What could have been? We'll never know...
-John was supposed to play a show with George while he was on tour (was it the "Concert for Bangladesh"not sure-my Beatle trivia is rusty these days) but for some legal reason John could not play with George because the Beatles had not yet been officially dissolved-the offical papers had not been signed at that time. This might have been the last time John and George saw each other. When May told this story it brought tears to my eyes-the idea of the Beatles being "officially" dissolved struck me as so sad.

When I took a picture of May and Cynthia, I actually did tell Cynthia one thing. She wrote a little paperback book many years ago called, A Twist of Lennon. I told her it was the first book about the Beatles that I read (not really true but it was close) and she said something like "that was a looong time ago".

I saw 50 year-olds with Beatle jackets, I overheard people talking about Beatlefest...I also saw this kind of geeky couple-the girl had a Beatle hat on (believe me, it takes one to know one. I used to have a Beatle hat too-Yikes). I saw this couple I had seen at the Idina Menzel signing a couple weeks before. They had a ton of stuff for Cyn and May to sign (just like with Idina) and May seemed to know them (and Idina seemed to know them too-what the hell!). Between the two of them, they had bought about 12 of May's books and at $25 a pop, that's more than $300 and they didn't look like they had money.

I was obsessed with the Beatles in my youth but I rarely go to any kind of Beatle "event". To be honest, the whole talk was kind of sad especially seeing the photos. John just died way to young...

Where would you like to go?

A couple weeks ago I went to the NY Times Travel Show at the Javits Center in NYC. I don't intend to travel anytime soon but it sounded like an interesting event. The show consisted of hundreds of travel vendors representing every part of the world you could imagine (except for maybe Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. I don't think I saw Israel represented either). They were giving away luscious brochures (some quite large-I have one of Africa called Simply Safari which is about 100 pages) filled with beautiful pictures. I would just saunter up to each vendor and quickly take information otherwise, the person at the booth would try sell you a nice little travel package (little did they know that I was the wrong person to sell to!).

There were also talks, demonstrations and dancing (for instance, Puerto Rico had dancers throughout the day). I sat and listened to a woman talk about her cheese travels-OMG talk about boring! but she did give everyone cheese samples (very smelly and rich-i had to throw mine away but the pears were good!). I also listened to Rick Steves talk for a bit. From what I could gather since I arrived after he started talking, his presentation was about terrorism and traveling abroad. A lot of his political views came out and at one point I thought it was more of a political talk than anything else (please Rick, tell us how you really feel!!!). I couldn't help but wonder if some people in the audience were just hoping that he would talk about how to get all their crap in one suitcase!

One funny part was when I was walking through the United States section and this guy forced a big catalogue of New Jersey on me but as soon as I was out of eye shot of him, I left the catalogue on an empty chair. Why the hell would anyone want to go to frigging New Jersey for their vacation!? I picked up catalogues/brochures of Korea, Greece, Lithuania, Zambia, Indonesia, China, Macau, Italy, Alberta, Hudson River Valley, Asia, Russia, India, Grenada and many more. There are some great photos to practice my drawing on too!

I couldn't help but wonder, walking around the Javits Center, that if I had all the money in the world, where would I go? They had a film playing on a big screen TV at the Alberta/Canada area. I never even thought of going to Canada but this film had me literally drooling-it looks like an absolutely gorgeous place.

If I could just take off today for any place in the world it would probably be London because I've been wanting to go there for so long. And now that I'm in NYC, London is closer and cheaper. However, if I could pick someplace farther away or more exotic or adventurous I would have to say Africa. I would love to someday see the gorillas and chimpanzees and also go on a safari. Zambia looks nice. Well, maybe someday!! Maybe I could get a job where I travel around the world buying beautiful fabric for famous designers!

I know you didn't have the privilege of going to a travel show but where would you like to go and why? And try to think of someplace you've never been to. What do you think you would learn by going to this place?

Let it Snow!

One reason I wanted to live on the East Coast was to experience the four seasons. I was a little nervous about the winters in NYC. Being from California, I'm not used to cold weather. However, this winter has been very very good to me-not too cold. Snow came several times in February and it was absolutely beautiful. But ask any New Yorker how they feel about the snow and you most likely will get a negative response-they don't like it! And it's because of the aftermath and clean-up that comes with it. I don't care what they say-I love the snow even if it turns to grey mush 24 hours later. Here are some pictures taken from my apartment and Central Park.

Idina and the $100 ticket

Many years ago I read a great book called Wicked-The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Times-Witch-Harper-Fiction/dp/0061350966/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204853943&sr=1-2The story follows the friendship between Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west or the green one) and Glinda, the good witch, through college up until Dorothy appears. It's really a hoot of a read especially if you like a different take on a favorite childhood fairy tale. Sometime later, I found out that they were making a Broadway musical based on the book and I remember thinking how great it would be to see it.

My top priority the second time I visited NYC in 2003 was to see Wicked and I did! I went the night after opening night and it was the best $100 I spent in one pop (which I don't do very often). I was in the 4th/5th row right in the middle and there were no basketball players sitting in front of me!


I didn't know much about the cast going into the theater only that Kristin Chenowith was playing Glinda and some girl named Idina Menzel, from the original Broadway run of "Rent", was playing Elphaba. Well, Elphaba/Idina stole the show because she was the underdog. The audience was rooting for Elphaba because Glinda and all the Munchkins were so damn mean to her! I remember the end of Act I when Elphaba was singing Defying Gravity...

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately -
Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me -

Tell them how I
Am defying gravity!
I'm flying high
Defying gravity!
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!



and right when she flew up to the top of the stage I knew then that she was singing specifically to me (and to the hundreds of others in the audience!). It was a great night and another example of how a little creativity-seeing something creative or doing something creative can never hurt. And I personally think it makes us better people. Yes, art is very very important to life!


I got a chance to see Idina a week ago at Borders Columbus Circle at the Time Warner Building where she was signing her new CD. She seemed very nice and much prettier in person.

Oh, she also has very good taste-she's married to Taye Diggs!