Customer Reviews

Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Let's Spend the Night Together is your armchair backstage pass to some of the biggest names in rock n' roll, from Elvis to Jimi Hendrix to Kurt Cobain. The book consists of two dozen first-person confessions from the girls who romanced the stars. These aren't cheap women looking for a thrill; women like Gail Zappa (wife of Frank) and Tura Satana (one-time fiancée of Elvis Presley) reveal the man behind the stage persona. Satura gave Elvis dancing lessons early in his career, and Zappa loved Frank despite his repeated dalliances with groupies. More legendary groupies like Cynthia Plaster Caster and Sweet Connie (of "We're An American Band" fame) also contributed chapters on their long lists of personal conquests.

Pamela Des Barres is the natural choice for editing this collection--she wrote the groupie gold-standard tell-all I'm With the Band in 1987. The 24 confessions are scandalously entertaining, but the quality of the writers' perspective varies. Some women truly loved their paramours, others were out to carve notches in the belts, and still others manage to take an intellectual look at their experience. Des Barres appears to be riding the wave of groupie fame, but to cover that up, she waxes poetic about how groupies were muses and no longer suffer the negative connotations they used to. It's an up and down collection, and the reader can't help but notice that some women where just used by the bands (and not for artistic inspiration). Any rock fan will find some gems in the anthology, however.

I prefer Pam's autobiographical stuff and her own sweet experiences but I enjoy her writing period so I'll give this a thumbs up. Some of the characters profiled were of interest but I found clearly there was a standard- and the book is set up so the older ( original groupies) are towards the front of the book. As we take the trip downward the reader starts to see the decline of the groupie, there simply is no naiivete or sweetness or joy that was part of Pamela's world,just grotesque hi -jinx and girls acting as prostitutes for free.kind of sad.Makes me nostalgic for "the good old days" of groupie-dom

I love Pamela Des Barres and I hate to write a negative review of anything she does, but I found this book to be mostly a dull rehash of slutty one night stand chicks who had/have no goals in life except hooking up for an hour with the bass player.

I enjoyed the Q & A with Bebe Buell.

Classy, groovy ladies like Patti D'Arbanville and Gail Zappa notwithstanding, sick, sick women like Sweet Connie disgusted me--sounds as if she'd blow the guy a McDonald's if he gave her a free Happy Meal. I guess we know how she'll afford her nursing home, although she looks as if she's on her way to Slut Heaven due to anorexia. I think Pamela has pretty much exhausted this topic. Move on doll!!!

Trying to make promiscuity into feminism just doesn't work. Unfortunately, this book wants to claim that groupies are muses. However, with rare exception, all we see in this book is a collection of very sad women who use their sexual experiences with famous musicians to validate their own worth. Hardly muse-like or enpowered. I am a female, a musician, a feminist and a fan, so I'm not speaking out of derision. But reading this book validates my shunning of the word "groupie" when people ask me if I am one (just becasue I'm friends with the band). In the music scene, groupies are both wanted and looked down upon. I want people to like my music and think I'm hot, but people offering themselves to me for my talent (though I might take them up on it) doesn't inspire my respect, nor does it inspire me.

Despite feeling very sorry for these misguided women, I found the chapter about the guy groupie very interesting. He has a much different relationship with the female bands than the girls groupies have with the male bands. I wish this book were about male groupies, since it's a relatively unexplored topic.

Also, Ms. Des Barres is a good writer. I just wish she'd explore a less depressing and demeaning subject.

I agree with one of the previous reviewers in that this topic has been covered in previous books. Miss Pamela should have taken the high road and avoided the subject of "groupies". Somehow, she gives the impression she's trying to validate the groupie lifestyle by demostrating, through the stories of other self-proclaimed groupies, that they were the "muses" or inspiration for the music produced by the various musicians they serviced. If if allows you to feel better about yourself, darlin', then go right ahead with the delusion.

If these women were so compelling, why did the rock stars seek mostly sexual gratification from them? Could they not simply spend time discussing interesting topics? The groupies were used much as a person might use a kleenex to sneeze into, as a receptacle for a bodily spasm needing to be relieved at that particular moment.

Another annoying aspect of this book is that several of the subjects she interviewed are coming out with their own books in the near future and were not interested in being too detailed with their personal exploits. Obviously, they want to sell their own books and not give away the good parts to Miss Pamela to put into her book.

Pamela Des Barres has a fairly good writing style and she should consider exploring writing projects that don't make us relive the sad groupie days she seems to cling to.

As a writer, I am offended that groupies are compared to artists. I may be an amatuer writer but at least I do not hang on anyone's coattails to validate my self worth.

I was flipping through this book at Barnes n Noble the other day and I was reading some of the pages from the net. I think there are a few women who I would call artists in their own right and at least became something of themselves after their liaisons but most of the women in this book were just trashy, it was embarassing. I can respect Gail Zappa, I can appreciate Cynthiya Plaster Caster, hell, I will even give Yoko Ono props but that's it.

I found myself facepalming when I read about Gail/Gayle, the girl who claimed to have slept with Peter Criss but ended up having an abortion the day before Thanksgiving. Excuse me, but what got it into her head that he would leave his wife for someone he met on the road? As a twenty year old female and feminist, it's really embarassing feeling sorry for a woman who thought her magic vagina would bring on Prince Charming. I'm sorry but it was one endless adolescent fantasy after another. If the author's intentions was to protray the dark side of rock fandom or to see things as is, then I would be singing a different tune but no. The book's intention on portraying these 'women' as 'muses' (let me wash my mouth) and, my favorite, influences on the apples of their eye made me cringe.

There was a review I saw earlier where the author of the said review could not reconcile promiscuity/feminism. I disagree. I think you can freely experiment, I'm all for that, I'm all for exploring whatever it is you are interested in, but I would say feminism's definition is twisted when some of these 'women' use it to justify their adolescent obsession. If you like gossip, this might be your thing but I did not find anything remotely of interest nor did it make me rethink groupies, I'm sorry, muses. If chasing big names is your thing, that's fantastic, and I'm serious, but don't tell me that it is empowering or that it makes you a legitimate artist. It's a real insult to people like me who are creative and utilize our skills based on our own volition, not to impress the bass player.

If it's empowering to be treated like human kleenex by your favorite musician, then I weep for all womenhood. The only use that these groupies/muses really had was no different than a toilet on the road.

I previously had read "I'm With the Band" and enjoyed it as well as Bebe Bueller's book. This book seems to have been written to drink from the same "money producing" well. Pamela had an interesting story but this gets old. Now, having said that, there are some very interesting stories here, Cassandra particularly comes to mind. Some border on titillating. And some are just sad. Reading the Mother brag about the BJs her daughter has performed on band members is frankly WEIRD. Overall, I can't recommend the book. Did I enjoy some parts? Absolutely! And maybe that's enough for someone else.

This book is so godawful that I'm returning it, and I rarely, if ever, return books. I ordered it hoping for a salacious, guilty-pleasure read and instead have found Ms. Des Barres' writing to be hopelessly juvenile. The carnality that made her first book so compelling and charming appears highly gratuitous and forced in this volume. The characters she "interviews' are as transparent as gauze, and about as interesting; I have serious doubts about the credibility of 90% of them. Save yourself the money and if you still absolutely must read it, borrow it from the library.

I got this book last night and started reading it IMMEDIATELY and pretty much did not stop until this afternoon! It's simply great rock and roll storytelling from ladies (and one guy) who lived through grand groupiedom...but don't think it is just a book about groupies and their usual backstage antics. It is much more than that. There is a lot of info on the bands and times in general as well...and a lot of the people profiled came from tough and sometimes unbelievable childhoods which are discussed in a candid manner. There is also talk about whether the "G Word" still has the negative connotations it once had!

It seems like ages since Pamela Des Barres' last book ROCK BOTTOM came out (I think it's been at least 8 years), so I have been dying for something new from her--and nothing can beat "Miss Pamela" doing a book on groupies that were her peers as well as those who came before and after her heady days on The Strip! While her first book I'M WITH THE BAND will always be the ultimate groupie tell-all tome (and generally great rock 'n' roll historical document), this one has all the juice on those OTHER rock-addicted girls you wanted to know about but can't really read about other than a website here and there (and without much detail).

I love the 60s and 70s gals the best. My favorite chapters were on LORI MATTIX (aka Lori Lightning) who stole Jimmy Page away from Miss P when she was only 13, SWEET CONNIE from Little Rock, who was immortalized in Grand Funk's "We're An American Band", and on CHERRY VANILLA, groupie publicist to the early Bowie. The later groupies from the 80s and 90s are not as fascinating for some reason, although one who prefers to stay anonymous and simply refers to herself as MISS B goes into details about Kurt Cobain's crossdressing, depression and drug use.

This was such a juicy read--it is hard to find any criticisms but I would have liked to see chapters on the late CYRINDA FOXE and the legendary 70s LA groupie SABLE STARR. And although she had a short and tragic life, I would have liked to see NANCY SPUNGEN included as well. I also wish the photos were in color--but you can't have it all!

I hope I get to go to one of Miss P's appearances to promote this book (she will be doing appearances in NYC and LA in less than 2 weeks, so check out her website www.pameladesbarres.com)...I have had the pleasure of interviewing her twice and going to two of her appearances (at a midtown NYC bookstore and the Viper Room in LA)...and her readings and Q&A sessions are always intriguing! Last summer in NYC, Sandra Bernhard and Patti D'Arbanville (one of the former groupies/friends she profiles in LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER) showed up to do readings from the republished I'M WITH THE BAND. It was lots of fun! Hope the eternally youthful Pamela has another bestseller on her hands--she deserves it!

I think I would be less jaded if I bought this book used. It was not worth the full price. Some stories are interesting (like Cynthia Plaster Caster), but most are boring and seem self serving and self congratulatory. The author cannot help but insert herself, in all the stories (which I thought she already wrote a book about her own groupie days and ways, before?).
The book is ok, and some spots are interesting and entertaining - but overall - I would not recommend it to my friends. Not worth the price I paid. It made me wish I would have spent my money on better reading material for rock related subjects.