Pamela des Barres
Published 35 months ago
Pamela des Barres new book tells 24 mostly-uplifting tales of extreme fandom and groupies.
- Text by Dino Gollnick
"Real groupies are just fabulous girls who want
to spend time with groups. They're uplifted by the music and inspired
by it and want to in turn uplift and inspire the musicians they hang
out with" explains Pamela Des Barres, author of cult book I'm With The
Band, an honest expose of her lives and loves which, amongst others,
included Jimmy Page, Keith Moon and Frank Zappa, and Godmother of the
original groupie movement of the 60s.
Des
Barres' unexpurgated new book about the groupie phenomenon Let's Spend
The Night Together, tells 24 mostly uplifting tales of extreme fandom
starting with Elvis' one time lover Tura Satana: "I met her at a party.
I was really hoping to find someone who'd been with Elvis to start the
book out with. She taught Elvis how to kiss and give head and dance".
Covering recollections of groupies and muses from the 50's onwards,
says Des Barres: "What I learned is that the desire is exactly the same
now as it was then. They want to meet the guy of their dreams and the
music means everything".
Although for the most part a fun
read, Des Barres makes sure not to rose tint her characters'
recollections. She asserts that Cassandra Peterson, better known as
Elvira, "…had some pretty rough experiences with Eric Burdon and Tom
Jones but she had great experiences too. She just wanted to be where
the action is".
These days Pamela is still in touch with
ex-lovers and friends, including Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin, who
she saw not long ago for tea, and hasn't entirely left the lifestyle
behind, now muse to the country musician Mike Stinson. And, as well as
holding writing workshops, being a journalist and author, Des Barres
has also been ordained as minister and married, amongst others, Gram
Parsons' daughter Polly. "I'm very spiritually inclined so it made
sense for me to do that. I've always loved Jesus; he always said the
right things". And, as she points out in her latest book, Mary
Magdalene was the first real groupie.
Let's Spend The Night Together is out now.
