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== Rock music groupie ==
== Rock music groupie ==
A high school acquaintance, [[The Mascara Snake|Victor Hayden]], introduced Des Barres to his cousin Don Van Vliet, better known as [[Captain Beefheart]], a musician and friend of [[Frank Zappa]]. Van Vliet in turn introduced her to [[Charlie Watts]] and [[Bill Wyman]] of the [[Rolling Stones]], which drew her to the rock music scene on the [[Sunset Strip]] in Los Angeles. She started to spend her time with [[the Byrds]] and other bands, and when she graduated from high school in 1966, she took various jobs that would allow her to live near the Sunset Strip and pursue relationships with rock musicians. One high school art class assignment was to visualize an object that showed both texture and color. Having fantasized about [[Mick Jagger]]'s genitals, she made them the subject of her painting, which earned her an "A" grade.<ref name="I'm w/t band"/> After securing a position as the babysitter for Zappa's children, she at last found herself a few years later finding multiple opportunities to compare the drawing with the actual object.<ref name="I'm w/t band"/> She famously paired up as a friend to a lot of old school rockers, as well as with future sexual partners Mick Jagger, [[Jimmy Page]], [[Keith Moon]],<ref name="I'm w/t band"/><ref name="ind">Harris, Sarah (2007) "[http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/features/article2985964.ece Pamela Des Barres: Her latest book celebrates the outrageous, unsung exploits of her fellow 'band-aids']", [[The Independent]], 23 September 2007</ref> [[Nick St. Nicholas]], [[Noel Redding]], [[Jim Morrison]], [[Chris Hillman]], [[Gram Parsons]], [[Waylon Jennings]], and actors [[Brandon deWilde]], [[Michael Richards]], [[Woody Allen]] and [[Don Johnson]].<ref name="bbc" />
A high school acquaintance, [[The Mascara Snake|Victor Hayden]], introduced Des Barres to his cousin Don Van Vliet, better known as [[Captain Beefheart]], a musician and friend of [[Frank Zappa]]. Van Vliet in turn introduced her to [[Charlie Watts]] and [[Bill Wyman]] of the [[Rolling Stones]], which drew her to the rock music scene on the [[Sunset Strip]] in Los Angeles. She started to spend her time with [[the Byrds]] and other bands, and when she graduated from high school in 1966, she took various jobs that would allow her to live near the Sunset Strip and pursue relationships with rock musicians. One high school art class assignment was to visualize an object that showed both texture and color. Having fantasized about [[Mick Jagger]]'s genitals, she made them the subject of her painting, which earned her an "A" grade.<ref name="I'm w/t band"/> After securing a position as the babysitter for Zappa's children, she at last found herself a few years later finding multiple opportunities to compare the drawing with the actual object.<ref name="I'm w/t band"/> She famously paired up as a friend to a lot of old school rockers, as well as with future sexual partners Mick Jagger, [[Jimmy Page]], [[Keith Moon]],<ref name="I'm w/t band"/><ref name="ind">Harris, Sarah (2007) "[http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/features/article2985964.ece Pamela Des Barres: Her latest book celebrates the outrageous, unsung exploits of her fellow 'band-aids'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023065920/http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/features/article2985964.ece |date=2007-10-23 }}", [[The Independent]], 23 September 2007</ref> [[Nick St. Nicholas]], [[Noel Redding]], [[Jim Morrison]], [[Chris Hillman]], [[Gram Parsons]], [[Waylon Jennings]], and actors [[Brandon deWilde]], [[Michael Richards]], [[Woody Allen]] and [[Don Johnson]].<ref name="bbc" />


== Music career ==
== Music career ==
Line 40: Line 40:


== Memoirs and other endeavors ==
== Memoirs and other endeavors ==
Des Barres wrote two memoirs about her experience as a groupie, ''[[I'm with the Band]]'' (1987) and ''[[Take Another Little Piece of My Heart|Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up]]'' (1993). Conjecture has been published saying that [[Cameron Crowe]] drew from these memoirs to create the groupie character Penny Lane for his film ''[[Almost Famous]]''; however, Crowe has written that the character was a fictionalization of events he witnessed as a young music journalist, a composite of a handful of girls calling themselves the "Flying Garter Girls," primarily one named Pennie Trumbull who went by Pennie Lane.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/09/07/will-the-real-penny-lane-please-stand-up/ |title=Will the real Penny Lane please stand up? |date=September 7, 2012 |last=Ammann |first=Ana |work=Oregon Music News }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Almost Famous Block Party – San Diego Film Festival |url=http://www.theuncool.com/2012/09/26/almost-famous-block-party-san-diego-film-festival/ |last=Crowe |first=Cameron |authorlink=Cameron Crowe |date=September 26, 2012 |work=The Uncool |accessdate=January 4, 2015}}</ref> The memoirs by Des Barres still have a connection to the film: actress [[Kate Hudson]] read them for inspiration as she portrayed Penny Lane.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2010/12/15/zooey-deschanel-to-play-original-60s-groupie-pamela-im-with-the-band-des-barres-in-hbo-series-nsfw |title=Zooey Deschanel to Play Original '60s Groupie Pamela "I'm With the Band" Des Barres in HBO Series (NSFW) |last=Lecaro |first=Lina |date=December 15, 2010 |work=LA Weekly}}</ref>
Des Barres wrote two memoirs about her experience as a groupie, ''[[I'm with the Band]]'' (1987) and ''[[Take Another Little Piece of My Heart|Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up]]'' (1993). Conjecture has been published saying that [[Cameron Crowe]] drew from these memoirs to create the groupie character Penny Lane for his film ''[[Almost Famous]]''; however, Crowe has written that the character was a fictionalization of events he witnessed as a young music journalist, a composite of a handful of girls calling themselves the "Flying Garter Girls," primarily one named Pennie Trumbull who went by Pennie Lane.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/09/07/will-the-real-penny-lane-please-stand-up/ |title=Will the real Penny Lane please stand up? |date=September 7, 2012 |last=Ammann |first=Ana |work=Oregon Music News |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907213033/http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/09/07/will-the-real-penny-lane-please-stand-up/ |archivedate=September 7, 2015 |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Almost Famous Block Party – San Diego Film Festival |url=http://www.theuncool.com/2012/09/26/almost-famous-block-party-san-diego-film-festival/ |last=Crowe |first=Cameron |authorlink=Cameron Crowe |date=September 26, 2012 |work=The Uncool |accessdate=January 4, 2015}}</ref> The memoirs by Des Barres still have a connection to the film: actress [[Kate Hudson]] read them for inspiration as she portrayed Penny Lane.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2010/12/15/zooey-deschanel-to-play-original-60s-groupie-pamela-im-with-the-band-des-barres-in-hbo-series-nsfw |title=Zooey Deschanel to Play Original '60s Groupie Pamela "I'm With the Band" Des Barres in HBO Series (NSFW) |last=Lecaro |first=Lina |date=December 15, 2010 |work=LA Weekly}}</ref>


The March 1989 issue of ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine featured Des Barres in a nude layout, published together with an excerpt from ''I'm with the Band.'' In the captions, she was quoted as saying, "I wanted to be in ''Playboy'' when I was younger, but my breasts did not precede me. But now I have semicelebrity tits, so they don't have to be as big."{{CN|date=May 2017}}
The March 1989 issue of ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine featured Des Barres in a nude layout, published together with an excerpt from ''I'm with the Band.'' In the captions, she was quoted as saying, "I wanted to be in ''Playboy'' when I was younger, but my breasts did not precede me. But now I have semicelebrity tits, so they don't have to be as big."{{CN|date=May 2017}}

Revision as of 00:15, 21 December 2017

Pamela Des Barres
Born
Pamela Ann Miller

(1948-09-09) September 9, 1948 (age 75)
Reseda, California, United States
CitizenshipAmerican
Occupation(s)Rock and roll groupie, author
SpouseMichael Des Barres (m. 1977–91)
Children1

Pamela Des Barres (born Pamela Ann Miller on September 9, 1948 in Reseda, California) is a former rock and roll groupie, musician, actor, author and magazine writer.

Early life

Des Barres' parents were from Kentucky. Just before she was born, her father moved the family to southern California.[1] Her mother was a homemaker and her father worked for Anheuser-Busch and occasionally as a gold miner. Des Barres idolized the Beatles and Elvis Presley as a child, and fantasized about meeting and dating her favorite Beatle, Paul McCartney.[2] Later, upon discovering the Rolling Stones, she daydreamed of Mick Jagger, while growing up in Los Angeles in the early 1960s.[3]

Rock music groupie

A high school acquaintance, Victor Hayden, introduced Des Barres to his cousin Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, a musician and friend of Frank Zappa. Van Vliet in turn introduced her to Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, which drew her to the rock music scene on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. She started to spend her time with the Byrds and other bands, and when she graduated from high school in 1966, she took various jobs that would allow her to live near the Sunset Strip and pursue relationships with rock musicians. One high school art class assignment was to visualize an object that showed both texture and color. Having fantasized about Mick Jagger's genitals, she made them the subject of her painting, which earned her an "A" grade.[3] After securing a position as the babysitter for Zappa's children, she at last found herself a few years later finding multiple opportunities to compare the drawing with the actual object.[3] She famously paired up as a friend to a lot of old school rockers, as well as with future sexual partners Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon,[3][4] Nick St. Nicholas, Noel Redding, Jim Morrison, Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Waylon Jennings, and actors Brandon deWilde, Michael Richards, Woody Allen and Don Johnson.[2]

Music career

Main article: The GTOs

Des Barres was also a member of the GTOs, which was an all-girl groupie "musical" group sponsored by Frank Zappa.[5] The GTOs had only one performance under that name along with the Mothers of Invention and Captain Beefheart at the Shrine Auditorium in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles during the summer of 1969. The entire concert lasted for six hours. The group dissolved just a month after the Permanent Damage album release due to some of its members being arrested and detained for drug possession.

Acting career

In the 1970s Des Barres decided to pursue a career as an actress, and acted in a few movies, including Zappa's 200 Motels, commercials, and a year acting on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow in 1974. She continued to work as a nanny/babysitter for Zappa, who urged her to continue to keep writing the diary she had begun in high school, in which she had faithfully recorded the important details of her life. When her acting career stalled, she continued to work for the Zappa family as a nanny for Zappa's children, Dweezil and Moon Unit.[4]

Family life

On October 29, 1977, she married Michael Des Barres who had been lead singer for Detective (signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records label) and Silverhead, and who, in 1985, was tour vocalist for Power Station. They have a son, Nicholas Dean Des Barres (GameFan magazine's Nick Rox). The couple divorced in the summer of 1991.

Memoirs and other endeavors

Des Barres wrote two memoirs about her experience as a groupie, I'm with the Band (1987) and Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up (1993). Conjecture has been published saying that Cameron Crowe drew from these memoirs to create the groupie character Penny Lane for his film Almost Famous; however, Crowe has written that the character was a fictionalization of events he witnessed as a young music journalist, a composite of a handful of girls calling themselves the "Flying Garter Girls," primarily one named Pennie Trumbull who went by Pennie Lane.[6][7] The memoirs by Des Barres still have a connection to the film: actress Kate Hudson read them for inspiration as she portrayed Penny Lane.[8]

The March 1989 issue of Playboy magazine featured Des Barres in a nude layout, published together with an excerpt from I'm with the Band. In the captions, she was quoted as saying, "I wanted to be in Playboy when I was younger, but my breasts did not precede me. But now I have semicelebrity tits, so they don't have to be as big."[citation needed]

Des Barres has written two non-fiction books other than her memoirs, Rock Bottom: Dark Moments in Music Babylon and Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies (Chicago Review Press, 2007). An updated edition of I'm With the Band was released in 2005.

In 2013, Pamela launched her clothing line, "Groupie Couture;" she also writes articles for online and print publications. She has been teaching writing classes for several years, both in Los Angeles and in cities across the United States, and affectionately refers to her writers as her "Dolls."

Discography

Bibliography

Filmography

Television

References

  1. ^ "I'm With the Band", Pamela DesBarres
  2. ^ a b Nobody did it better...", BBC
  3. ^ a b c d Des Barres, Pamela (1987). Chicago Review Press (ed.). I'm With the Band. Vol. 1 (5th ed.). Chicago Review Press. p. 320. ISBN 1556525893. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
  4. ^ a b Harris, Sarah (2007) "Pamela Des Barres: Her latest book celebrates the outrageous, unsung exploits of her fellow 'band-aids' Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine", The Independent, 23 September 2007
  5. ^ Templeton, David (2002) "Groupie Hug: The World's Most Famous Rock 'n' Roll Muse Sizes Up 'The Banger Sisters'", Oakland's Urbanview
  6. ^ Ammann, Ana (September 7, 2012). "Will the real Penny Lane please stand up?". Oregon Music News. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Crowe, Cameron (September 26, 2012). "Almost Famous Block Party – San Diego Film Festival". The Uncool. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  8. ^ Lecaro, Lina (December 15, 2010). "Zooey Deschanel to Play Original '60s Groupie Pamela "I'm With the Band" Des Barres in HBO Series (NSFW)". LA Weekly.

Post Malone’s “Rockstar” (2017)

External links

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