BOOK 215: I'M WITH THE BAND: PAMELA DES BARRES

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The stylish, exuberant, and remarkably sweet confession of one of the most famous groupies of the 1960s and 70s is back in print in this new edition that includes an afterword on the author's last 15 years of adventures. As soon as she graduated from high school, Pamela Des Barres headed for the Sunset Strip, where she knocked on rock stars' backstage doors and immersed herself in the drugs, danger, and ecstasy of the freewheeling 1960s. Over the next 10 years she had affairs with Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Waylon Jennings, Chris Hillman, Noel Redding, and Jim Morrison, among others. She travelled with Led Zeppelin; lived in sin with Don Johnson; turned down a date with Elvis Presley; and was close friends with Robert Plant, Gram Parsons, Ray Davies, and Frank Zappa. As a member of the GTO's, a girl group masterminded by Frank Zappa, she was in the thick of the most revolutionary renaissance in the history of modern popular music. Warm, witty, and sexy, this kiss-and-tell–all stands out as the perfect chronicle of one of rock 'n' roll's most thrilling eras.

(from here…)

MY VERDICT: I’d been meaning to read this book for the longest time, and I have to say I was a little disappointed. Partly this was my fault because I didn’t know a lot of the stars of the time and so hearing about someone going to see a certain rock star or band that I had never heard of didn’t mean a lot to me. Also the fact that this memoir is compiled from a lot of diary excerpts from a teenagers diary along with all the narcissism and childishness that goes with that can be a little grating and so it took me a while to read as I had to read in short bursts. It was exciting to read some of the parts about huge rock stars I did know like Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, and Jim Morrison. Don’t be fooled though this reads to me like an opposite if a feminist text – she spends a lot of her time climbing the walls and crying while waiting for some guy to call her – why didn’t she put that time to good use and write some songs and become a rock star in her own right instead of waiting for some guy – then by the time the guy calls she’s on tour with her own groupies and she’s forgotten all about his sorry ass.