The trip to Las Vegas that nearly ended John Lennon's career
Nearly 43 years ago today, John Lennon's life was ended by a crazed fan in one of the silliest murders of the 20th century. But even most Beatles fans don't know that his career nearly ended 16 years ago at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas.
On August 21, 1964, two underage girls were discovered in John Lennon's room between 2 and 3 a.m. after two 30-minute concerts at the Convention Center the night before.
The discovery was made after a call from the front desk informed the group's staff that a woman in the lobby had claimed that the Beatles had kidnapped her twin daughters.
Miami radio reporter Larry Kane, who was covering the trip and sleeping in the next room, was asked to meet with the woman. (He was the only one traveling in a suit.)
Before taking the elevator, Kane opened Lennon's door to investigate himself. He found Lennon sleeping and the girls watching TV by the bed.
help!
No one can say for sure what happened before, and Kane expressed his belief that nothing happened, but the problem is one of "perception."
According to Kane, the woman filed suit after returning to Los Angeles, but Beatles manager Brian Epstein closed the case secretly.
If the news had gotten around, the Beatles' winding road might not have been so long.
Sometime in the 1980s, the two-bedroom suite where the Beatles lived was cut in half. Lennon's bedroom was in room 2344 and the remaining bedrooms were in room 2342. Unfortunately, the entire resort was completely gutted in 2014 during its conversion to SLS, an ill-fated boutique hotel experiment that only lasted five years.
He will be back
Lennon returned to Las Vegas twice more during his separation from his wife, Yoko Ono, in the mid-1970s.
"He was fascinated by the Rat Pack and the old world of Las Vegas," May Pang, a former personal assistant to Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, told this reporter in 2010. Pang accompanied Lennon to Las Vegas twice as his mistress.
"With the Beatles, he never saw anything but the inside of the room," Pang said."This time he returned as a civilian and began to accept it all."
Lennon and Pang shared a suite at Caesars Palace for four days in October 1973, where he attempted to learn how to play roulette, sparking a near-riot among autograph-seekers.
The first tour also included Lennon's reunion with '50s rock pioneers Fats Domino, who headlined the Flamingo Lounge with Frankie Valli main character. Lennon first met Domino in New Orleans on September 16, 1964, before The Beatles performed at City Park Stadium in New Orleans.
"The fat guys came and sat down at our table before the show," Pang said, and Lennon reportedly gushed, "I love you! I can't believe you're in the green room!" "
Two years later, Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" appeared on Lennon's rock album, the first song Lennon's mother Julia (who died when she was a teenager) taught him. She taught him banjo chords, which he then transferred to the guitar.
Elvis Presley was never in town when Lennon was around, but they met in 1965 at Presley's home in Beverly Hills, California .
He should know better
Lennon's final visit to Las Vegas, in March 1974, was not nearly as bad as his first visit. However, this is not good either.
He spent most of his time on the Riviera, where he and Pang lived, but also visited the relatively new MGM Grand (now the Horseshoe Las Vegas).
It was an even more stressful four days, Pang recalled, because they had troubled singer Harry Nilsson with them, and Lennon was about to start working on an album for him. ("Kittens" will be released later that year.)
Days later, Lennon and Nelson were kicked out of the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles for shouting insults at the audience during a Smothers Brothers headline set.
"I had to be the one on guard when John accompanied Harry on his escapades," Pang said. "John would drink too, but he would stop. After a while John said, 'I've had enough, I don't want to be in the paper.'"
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Source: www.casino.org
