Rating: 
Summary: All about a groupie!!! Wild, wacky, fun!!!
Review: I still have my dog-eared copy from ages ago. It's sorta like a bible. Every once in a while I'll pull it out and skim through it. This is all about the life of a groupie chasing rock stars from her late teens to mid-twenties!!! From the late 1960's to mid '70's, the ultimate Rock'n'Roll peak!!! If you want to hear all about Pamela ending up in club closets with all the members of Iron Butterfly (not all at once), then read this book! She takes you there, Sunset Strip in the late '60s. This book is also about Pamela invading Jim Morrison's home to do a stoned-out backbend in his face (to the annoyance of his long-time girlfriend, also named Pamela!), losing her virginity to a member of Steppenwolf, hanging out with Frank Zappa and Cynthia Plaster Caster (famous groupie who "plastered" rock stars like Jimi Hendrix), and playing "hard to get" with Jimmy Page (it took the Led Zep guitarist two days to get her). She also lived with Don Johnson for a year. Keith Moon wore her panties. What a fun life! Pamela has a self-deprecating wit and a great way with words. I hope they re-print this book before my old copy disintegrates!
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Summary: She will make you laugh...
Review: If you're a judgemental type of person...you probably won't approve of this book. This is simply a girl who loves sleeping with famous people, preferably rock musicians, preferably FAMOUS rock musicians. When she hears someone is in town performing a concert, she ALWAYS manages to make her way backstage and NEVER has to purchase a ticket. She gets her heart broken but usually makes lasting friendships with these guys. It's an easy read and if you were a child of the 70's, you'll love reading about some of these rock stars. Fun book!
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Summary: I adore this book!
Review: OK, I admit it. I secretly dream of being a groupie. But, alas, long gone are the days when you could sleep with anyone you please, easily talk your way backstage at any concert, fly to London and just hang out for 6 months - meeting peace loving people like yourself, smoking pot, burning incense, dancing with flowers in your hair, and sleeping in parks under the stars. That's one of the things I love about this book. She got to do all of that in the last real time period that you safely could.
Not only are the tales of the musicians amazing (I mean, how many of us would love to hang with the likes of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Rod Stewart, Jim Morrison, et al.?), but the freedom of this book really transports you. I'm a major music fan, and Pamela has now written my bible! If only I had a time machine...
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Summary: Groovy, gossipy fun!
Review: Pamela Des Barre is an airhead, but she really was at the center of the rock world at one of the most exciting times for the industry. She knew everyone and saw everything, and if you have to listen to her gush a little about herself to get to the good stuff, it's bearable because she has some serious dirt to dish! Remember, this was before we knew about AIDS, and the Pill was still fairly new, so women were excited by the idea of sexual freedom and some of them took that freedom to extremes. Recommended for anyone who likes to peek behind the scenes of rock and roll!
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Summary: AN XCELLENT ROCK MEMOIR
Review: Pamela was there...this is a great book, a cool read and no BS...highly recommended for all classic rock fans. The book is fascinating and is one of the best accounts I've found that describe the Doors and Led Zeppelin from a close up point of view. If you enjoyed "Almost Famous" - you'll appreciate Pamela's book. I was pretty mad when my friend lost my copy, but I'm gonna get another one!
Rating:
Summary: AN XCELLENT ROCK MEMOIR
Review: Pamela was there...this is a great book, a cool read and no BS...highly recommended for all classic rock fans. The book is fascinating and is one of the best accounts I've found that describe the Doors and Led Zeppelin from a close up point of view. If you enjoyed "Almost Famous" - you'll appreciate Pamela's book. I was pretty mad when my friend lost my copy, but I'm gonna get another one!
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Summary: A window into a forgotten time
Review: Pamela's Book is with out a doubt one of the most beautifully written and poetically told stories of all time. She in turn with making you fall in love with each every one mentioned in the book, takes you on a fantastic ride of emotion and decadence. Written in such a breathtaking era, Confessions of a groupie outlines her relationships with rock's elite, the simplicity of the time can be so intoxicating, giving a much needed glance into a window of a forgotten time. The beauty of every action of her and the rest of the non-fiction characters adds such a depth, you won't know how you lived before you read this masterpiece. Hats off to Pamela for being the storyteller of a magical voyage.
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Summary: The Queen Of All Our Dreams...
Review: Superb. This is still my favourite of all Pamela's books and a true Rock Culture classic. Anybody who was Frank Zappa's nanny and Jimmy Page's girlfriend in the same lifetime has to be worth reading - and this gal can write. Unlike some books, this is in no way a name-dropping cash-in. Pamela actually did all these things, was all these things. She WAS Don Johnson's girlfriend, and buds with a young Vince Furnier (Alice Cooper), Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, Keith Moon etc. with an awesome collection of photos to prove it. Written with the wisdom and humility that only comes with the approach of middle age, (when, in my opinion, women are just beginning to enter their prime), IWTB is a very human look under the hood of the Rock Machine. There are so many delicious insights into the whole Led Zeppelin era, that by the time you have devoured the book, you feel like you had actually been there. Unfortunately IWTB is presently out of print, but her ElectricGypsy website may have some information about future availability. If not, keep surfing Amazon. It will be worth the wait.
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Summary: An Intensely Personal Piece of History
Review: The biography served two purposes for me personally: it helped me to understand an era I am too young to have lived through, and it helped me to understand women better. Pamela Des Barres, the author, was a post-feminism woman in a pre-feminism world. Do not be intimidated by the title and the concept -- this is not an endless parade of sizzling, raunchy sex scenes. If anything, you'll be whipped by Pam's emotions and handcuffed to her heart. It gives a rare look at a person who simply bares her soul, and that is what is compelling to anyone, even if they do not know who The Who is. It is quite possible that this book will stand the test of time for its glossy look at gritty humanity. It could very well be retained in the collective consciousness as a book that is sufficiently well-written to trick future generations of readers into accidentally reading about this moment in history, much in the same way The Great Gatsby still unwittingly educates its readers about the 1920's (only, of course, this is non-fiction). My main complaint about the book is that it was written in a linear but sporadic group of stream-of-consciousness scenes, and often left me wondering if I as a reader was seeing the whole forest through the trees. The characters were adequately bizarre, but many of them in roughly the same way, and without much depth. For instance, after reading the book, I could not tell you very much about each individual person in the GTO's, the girl group around whom much of this book is loosely centered. Such are the perils of writing accurate but concise non-fiction autobiographies, however, and to her credit, Pamela does not hold back her own thoughts and feelings to any noticeable extent, and that is the glue that ultimately holds this book together. As the ancient Greeks noted, it is almost a sin to imprison something as sacred and free as speech (or song) into something as cold and confining as the written word. That thought echoed through my mind over and over again as I read this book. For one thing, sex and emotions seem so sadly trite when simply written on a page. On a second, much more frustrating level, there was no sound track to go with this rock and roll story. Some of the very many songs that Pam quotes in the book, I simply did not know the tunes for, so while it was almost as good to just accept that they meant something to her and to just let it go at that, it was not quite as good. In order to fully appreciate this book, I think it was important to understand how these rock stars were able to drive people to do such compelling things, and sadly that cannot be grasped without the use of sound, although this is certainly no fault of Pamela's. It was nice, for instance, to read in the couple of interludes that this book devotes to George Harrison that he was more than just a keeper of gaudy, overpriced eBay auction material, but without hearing him live, the reader can never know for sure how much more (although listening to his records is of course helpful). Her impressive accomplishment here is that even with the use of nothing more than the written word, Pamela keeps a small but genuine piece of his essence alive, along with a host of other music figures and friends from that era. In short, I thought this would be a book about sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. Instead, I got history, humanity, and Pamela. Thank you, Pamela!
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Summary: PAMELA ROCKS!!!
Review: This is one of the best rock n' roll books I have ever read. I'm a huge fan of 60's 70's music and have read ton's of books. Pamela really captures the times. She was a free sprit who grew up in LA in the late 60's. She went to the local clubs and saw alot of shows, met and dated guys in bands, she had a blast!! I really enjoyed the stories about, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Noel Redding, Mick Jagger, Gram Parrsons, etc.. She writes straight from the heart, and has a great sense of humor. Most of the book was taken from her dairy. It has a intimate feeling as if she is sharing her life with a close friend. She lived her dreams and wasn't afriad to do what she wanted. Rock on Pamela!
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