3) I'm With The Band

Book Read: I'm With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie

Author: Pamela Des Barres

Pages: 319.

Favorite quote: When Pamela goes to see The Exorcist with Woody Allen:
"When Linda Blair peed on the floor, Woody said: 'You can't take kids anywhere' real loud and sunk down in his seat, pulling his fishing hat across his face."

Distraction level: High. Shit. There was drinking, hours of "jamming" with my Rock Band "band" The Potent Potables and a portable karaoke machine. And The Wire. Luckily, you can get though I'm With The Band in less than a day.

We're Here for the Music. Really. Pamela Des Barres is the grand Poo-Bah of groupiedom---Kate Hudson based her Penny Lane character in Almost Famous on her, while her mom Goldie Hawn has tipped her hat in gratitude to Des Barres for providing a template for her aging-groupie role in The Banger Sisters. It's important however to understand the distinction between "superfans" like Des Barres and the ladies like the ones who hung out with Led Zeppelin and subjected themselves to various perverse and fish-related misadventures. Des Barres herself wants you to understand that she really dug the music, man. In the book, the music came first and the men came later.

The nice thing about Des Barres is that she really doesn't give a shit what you think about her and she's not ashamed of the fact that she came of age in the booze cans and boudoirs of the Sunset Strip. As much as I sometimes rolled my eyes at some of the ridiculous, flowery passages from Des Barres journal entries (sprinkled throughout the book, they are a testament to Des Barres' belief that she was living in a Very Important Era, leading to rigorous documentation of every last detail) I had to keep reminding myself that this was a very young girl trying to figure her shit out in a scene that she was far too young to be involved in. Through a series of shit jobs, a failed acting career and a musical group that never really took off, Des Barres attempts to find herself in a way that is instantly relatable. It's not just about Creem crushes and fucking. I'm With the Band continally chronicles Des Barres' struggle to be a person of substance. Of course, this desire is constantly at odds with what I imagine are the rather typical concerns for a beautiful young thing; namely, getting famous and falling in love. It just so happens that Des Barres wanted to fall in love with a rock star and did, several times.

Ok. The sex. There's lots of it, although Des Barres manages to balance the most salacious details with nice little tidbits---on one page, she's gaily sauntering down a street in Camden on Mick Jagger's arm, trying on hats, while on the next she drunkenly runs into him at a club, falls on top of him and jams her hand down his pants. Despite possessing a preternatural ability to make everyone from Dennis Hopper to Don Johnson salivate, Des Barres was also REALLY awkward and she doesn't hide it from us. She was also naiive---most of her sexual conquests are quickly followed by scrawled declarations of love and heartbreak in the diary (with a few notable exceptions. Her front-row tease and subsequent one-night-stand with the "strapping" Waylon Jennings is as fevered, sloppy and sexy as you might expect.) There's also nice platonic encounters: her attempts to mack on Ray Davies (squeal!!!) are gracefully dismissed and they become "dear friends" while a series of dates with Woody Allen reveal the director's intense shyness and love of elaborate disguises. Basically, all of Des Barres anecdotes about her celebrity pals are fantastic, especially when she either sees through the bullshitters or gets romanced by them.

Ill-advised penis reference: Despite the dishy passages, there's not a lot of revelations. (Jimmy Page was a pervert and into the occult! Gram Parsons was sensitive and loved heroin! Keith Moon was wacky crazy! Frank Zappa had a very stable family life! No shit, son!) But still---sitting on Jimmy Page's amp while Led Zeppelin regaled audiences in Wembley? Listening to records and shooting the shit with Ringo Starr? For those of us whose greatest musical encounter is mastering "Living on a Prayer" on medium in Rock Band: be warned. This entire book will give you a raging boner.

Consensus: Silly little girl she may have been. But Des Barres also lived through an extraordinary youth that gave her glimpses into the lives of some of the most brilliant and fucked-up minds of the '60s. This book won't change anyone's life, but whether you read it for the trash, the rock-star juice or the coming-of-age angst, it's a fucking great and lightning-fast read.