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Time to Cull the Herd
Perhaps the quintessential groupie of the 1960s and 1970s, Pamela Des Barres made her place in rock history known to millions because she’s based her accomplished professional life upon her recollections of making friends, creating music, and getting intimate with some of the 20th century’s musical luminaries. Hanging out on Los Angeles’s rock club-heavy Sunset Strip, Des Barres cozied up to many rock stars. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, whom you wouldn’t want to meet in real life, and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger competed for her affections, and she enjoyed a close relationship with the Who’s Keith Moon. By 1969, she’d moved into music herself, and Miss Pamela, as she was known, became the central figure in the GTOS, a one-album-wonder of a rock group assembled by Frank Zappa and populated entirely by L.A. groupies.
From 1978 to 1991, Des Barres was married to Michael Des Barres of the glam rock bands Silverhead and Detective, and she reinvented herself as a storyteller and chronicler of rock history with an emphasis on the groupie experience. She’s since published four books, including “I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie” and “Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up.” She also hosts the “Pajama Party!” podcast, where she interviews veteran musicians and fellow former scene-sters, runs workshops for women writers, and conducts tours of Los Angeles’s rock history hotspots.
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