‘Rock’s Groupie Supreme’: Pamela Des Barres hosts conversation, workshop

Groupie” isn’t an insult to Pamela Des Barres. She’s made a living by telling her story through books, one-woman shows and writing workshops.

She’s been famously linked with Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Noel Redding, Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Brandon deWilde and Don Johnson.

Des Barres will share her experiences during “An Intimate Evening with Pamela Des Barres” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Midtown Mercantile Merchants, 3330 E. Speedway Boulevard, Tucson.

In her one-woman show, Des Barres brings her “signature wit, wisdom and insight to an exploration of rock ’n’ roll’s golden era through her lifelong documentation of the scene she helped create.”

The event features an on-stage interview and audience Q&A emceed by Chick Cashman, the alter ego of Tucson musician/filmmaker Clif Taylor. Standard tickets include wine tastings for those 21 and older, and seating, first-come, first-served.Upgrades are available.

“I started these shows at the Whisky A Go Go,” she said. “It was a dream of mine to get on that stage and tell my stories about what happened there. “I had the most amazing experiences there from 1967 onward. Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Who, all these unbelievable people played this tiny little club. I thought, ‘I’ll tell these stories here (the Whisky).’ But I quickly realized, the stories would work anywhere.”

Des Barres spent the 1960s in rock clubs, meeting, befriending and dating musicians — and becoming one herself with the GTOs. In 1974, the now-76-year-old Des Barres met glam rocker Michael Des Barres. The two married in 1978, had a son, and then divorced in 1991. They remain friends; Michael penned the foreword to her book “Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up.”

Des Barres said some see those days as mythology, stories dreamt up by rock writers and fans.

“They can’t imagine what it was really like during the free love, love and peace era, the rock renaissance, the spiritual renaissance — everything was going on at once.

“I was smack dab in the eye of that storm. So, people really are interested in stories from my first book, ‘I’m With the Band.’ I never know what I’m going to say. There is a Q&A and people can ask me just about anything. There is some sexual stuff I won’t talk about, though.”

A common question during her Q&As is, “Where were your parents?” she said with a laugh. At the time, her father worked nights and was unaware of her daughter’s activities.

“I was an only child,” she said. “My mom and I were very close. They couldn’t comprehend what was happening on the streets and in the club and everything.”

The day before her “Intimate Evening,” Des Barres will host a creative writing workshop, an initiative she started two decades ago. She said all women are invited to join her for “group-ie therapy” and “free their creative minds.”

“Women feel comfortable opening up to me—especially in the company of other like-minded, music-loving women,” she said. “That’s who I am. It’s a lot more than an actual writing workshop. Lifelong friendships are formed. I have girls in Los Angeles who have been coming for 16 years. It’s a memoir workshop. That’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I see it as a way of helping other women really understand themselves, come to all kinds of conclusions and realizations they would have never discovered.”

Des Barres has been learning about herself as well, as she kept diaries about her teen/early twenties years.

“I open them up and think, ‘Wow. That happened?’” she recalled. “It’s hard to believe some of these things happened. I was at Altamont with Mick. I got to be on stage with a lot of these bands, which just doesn’t happen anymore. I was on stage with the Stooges, the Doors, the Who, Zeppelin, the Byrds, Zappa. The list goes on.”

Women’s Writing Workshop
WHEN: 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 13
WHERE: More details sent upon registration
PRICE: Tickets start at $75
INFO: pameladesbarresofficial.com

“An Intimate Evening with Pamela Des Barres”
WHEN: 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14
WHERE: Midtown Mercantile Merchants, 3330 E. Speedway Boulevard, Tucson
PRICE: Tickets start at $50
INFO: pameladesbarresofficial.com