On Vox: although in 1971 I would have taken a slightly different route

[lauralh]

I first read the Led Zeppelin's roadie's memoir, which really got into the whole "bored by girls" thing. Anyone would be familiar with it, but it's initially surprising to hear that a different conquest or five every night also gets boring. This inspired me to rewatch Almost Famous, except I forgot how horrible it was. Seriously, especially after watching Vanilla Sky, I couldn't bear it. I mean I'm down with antiheroes but how unsympathetic do you want to get? I'm not sure whom I wanted to beat more, Russ or Penny.

I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie

Pamela Des Barres

Anyway so I did some research and found out about the real Penny Lane, and Pamela des Barres, who was a few years earlier. The book was interesting in a variety of ways, except that she kept making the same mistake of falling in love with the rock stars. Although it was interesting to see which rock stars did the same thing. I'm talking about Jimmy Page now - hey, see what I did there? Ahem. After reading about the whips and the red snapper incident, it was interesting to read about one of the few girls Page did happen to really fall for. And how that went down all so horribly, as one might have guessed. At least she didn't bother going on the road with him I guess.

What was slightly more interesting was the explanation of Mick Jagger. Miss Pamela assumes that everyone understands why she wanted to sleep with Mick Jagger - at least as much as she wanted to sleep with say, Paul McCartney - but I must admit that for anyone under the age of 35 it was a mystery. I mean I guess you could say that Ric Ocasek is uglier, but I've often repeated the truism that Mick Jagger is the ugliest man in the world. (I've seen Gimme Shelter, I'm not just talking about the upright Tyrannosaur of today.) And really it shouldn't have been so much of a shock for someone who's gone to as many shows as I have, but thanks to MTV lead singers tend to be much more attractive these days. Still, his gruesome face normally would have prevented hundreds of women from sleeping with him.

Clearly it did not, charisma and sexual magnetism go far, and led Miss Pamela to an obsession. But the hilarity ensues because she met Page before Jagger, and since they were "in love," she didn't sleep with Mick at first. I wonder how many times that ever happened to him. I mean, probably other women turned him down, but not many of the groupie-types. Then again, how many times does a guy get to hear, "No thanks, I'm dating Jimmy Page." Best reason/excuse to turn down someone ever.

Originally posted on herbaliser.vox.com

Comments

[suxdonut.livejournal.com]

ooh, 'the real Penny Lane'...ima look that up. sounds like a good story :)

[kaaaty.livejournal.com]

I thought the Don Johnson/Melanie Griffith part was hilarious.

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

yeah, and woody allen!!!!!!!!!!!

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Almost Famous is one of the only films that actually makes me cry. When his sister says "Some day you'll be cool" I swell up with man emotions.

I think the Jagger thing is that lots of women are turned on by super confident talented men.

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

emo fuckin' bastard! :)

she said it was the way he swayed his hips. and his lips, ew.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

I'm only emo about movies about young nerdy rock critics.

And only because at one point I was a young nerdy rock critic.

Where that film is spot on is in it's depictions on how hard it is to get a decent/sane quote out of mid level rock stars.

His interview of the bass dude reminds me a lot of the time I wasted an hour trying to get Tori Amos to say something meaningful/not crazy to me.

The best/worst moment:

Bart: So, how does it feel to be working with an actual band on your new album rather than studio musicians?
Tori: It's like nursing the nun kosher.

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

i'm utterly shocked that tori amos is crazy!

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

LOL.

Surprisingly Slash and Manson were like hanging out with normal dudes at a party.