Hangin' Out In 100b

Pamela Des Barres is now very well-known for having been a prominent groupie to some of music history’s most famous (or infamous) rock stars during the cultural explosion of 1960s California, but her book I’m With The Band is a far more innocent affair than that reputation implies. Unlike some of her groupie contemporaries, Des Barres makes no claims to having been the inspiration behind classic songs and does not hold museum exhibits of related, ahem, works. It may sound funny to say this about someone who has had her memoir published, but I never get the impression that Des Barres is trying to draw attention to herself or inflate her own importance in the story she has to tell.

If you’re looking for a book full of juicy (read: dirty) tidbits about famous stars, I’m With The Band will be a disappointment. Though it is interesting to hear another side to the outrageous stories about bands like Led Zeppelin, Des Barres isn’t looking to just spill the dirt. Her story is of a young, impressionable – you might even say naive – young girl who got swept away by the music and excitement of a new culture and found herself right in the middle of it. Involved (not all romantically) with musicians as diverse as Frank Zappa, Gram Parsons, The Byrds, and Jimmy Page, Des Barres gives a unique peek into the world of the 1960s cultural revolution.

I have no real proof of this but I kind of suspect that there’s a lot of people out there who have dismissed I’m With The Band as not a ‘real’ music book. Fair enough really, because it’s not. Although, like Almost Famous‘ Miss Penny Lane, the music is the center of Des Barres’ story – what pulled her into, and kept her part of, the world she describes – this book is about people, not music. No other book has given me such a clear picture of a time and place, about the people who took part in something now legendary, what their lives were like at the time, and how they all fit together to create a movement important enough for us to read about today.