Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up [Paperback]

Pamela Des Barres (Author), Michael Des Barres (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

Pamela Des Barres, celebrated “queen of the groupies,” chronicled her adventures with rock stars in her bestseller I’m with the Band. This book picks up where that one left off, with Pamela embarking on marriage and motherhood, all the while sharing quarters and making friends with stars: Don Johnson, Steve Jones, Sylvester Stallone, Bob Dylan, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bernhard. But this is a survivor’s story—about the anguish of coping with loved ones’ addictions, about suffering divorce, about the joys and terrors of raising a gifted son. And Pamela comes through it all with her grace, charm, and generous sense of humor intact. Now updated to include the next sixteen years of Pamela’s adventures, this is a rollicking, piquant, and heartbreaking memoir.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In I'm with the Band, Southern California-based Des Barres chronicled her lustful liaisons with such rock legends as Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page and Keith Moon. This candid sequel, tracing her life since the 1970s, cannot surpass the first book's trashiness--few tales, true or fictional, do--but it is indisputably juicy, thanks to Des Barres's effervescence and no-holds-barred approa c h to celebrity gossip. She recalls a rough dozen years of marriage to singer-actor Michael Des Barres; tells of going into labor with their only child at the home of Frank Zappa; spends time with old cohorts Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith and admits she once fell for a woman, comedian Sandra Bernhard. Des Barres refuses to name names only in regard to a passionate one-year fling with a mega star referred to as "HIM." Some readers may skim over the "cosmic" insights, most will sympathize with the plight of her emotionally troubled son and many will welcome the return of this irrepressible, unflaggingly optimistic writer. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

 "Indisputably juicy." —Publishers Weekly

"It reads like a novel . . . a chatty, entertaining account . . . funny and fearless. . . . Certainly now, as a late bloomer chronicling the collapse of a rock-and-roll life style as vigorously as she described its heyday, Pamela Des Barres is having the last laugh.”  —Janet Maslin, The New York Times Book Review

“Bursting with candor and bittersweet warmth.”  —Rolling Stone

"Rock's groupie supreme . . . offers new insights into the particulars of the sexual engine that drives rock, this time from the wiser perspective of a mature Miss Pamela. Ms. Des Barres's decision to tell her story is an act of liberation in today’s post-feminist terms. . . . There's still much to learn from Ms. Des Barres about the rock world's hidden history and its groundings in desire."  —The New York Times

"She charms me every time she refuses to regret. And she regrets nothing."  —Los Angeles Times

Dishy and readable—[Des Barres'] writing style is always chatty, witty, and conversational."  —The Austin Chronicle blog Earache!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; Updated edition edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556528000
• ISBN-13: 978-1556528002
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #603,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pamela Des Barres is the author of Let's Spend the Night Together and Take Another Little Piece of My Heart. A spokesperson for her generation, she is an authority on classic rock and the freewheelin' rock 'n' roll lifestyle. She has written for the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, and many other magazines.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why is this book out of print?, December 28, 2000

By 

"jaya163" (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up (Hardcover)

I just read this book, having recently won a copy on eBay. What a shame it is no longer in print; much as I loved I'm With the Band, I enjoyed this well-written sequel even more for its incisive, introspective look at evolving as a person and learning to make peace with the past. To all the hypocrites who condemn Pamela Des Barres as an immoral bimbo, I say, we've all had incidents in our past, sexual and otherwise, that we are not necessarily proud of or would have done differently had we been older and wiser. Des Barres was extremely brave to chronicle her failing marriage, becoming a mother, death of her father, search for spirituality, and learning to see her own shortcomings-codependency and avoidance of confrontation at any cost-with brutal honesty as well as a sense of humor and optimism. Details of Des Barres' Hollywood lifestle, such as being friends with such celebrities as the Zappa family and many others, also makes this book a fascinating read. However, what really hit home for me were the universal experiences that every human being goes through: the journey of finding one's sense of self-worth and purpose, learning to work through life's pain and setbacks to be strong and change for the better (always easier said than done!),and learning to find joy in every moment of every day. Pamela Des Barres, with her hard-won inner strength, sweet nature and spirit of adventure, is truly an inspiration.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book!!, July 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up (Hardcover)

Miss Pamela shows that she has come of age in several different ways with this autobiographical sequel to I'm With The Band. Her marriage to Michael Des Barres, the birth of their son Nicholas, and her daily struggles with career, marriage, and friends make this a most intresting read. Illuminated with her constant quests for truth in her spirituality, this is much more than a "groupie tells all" sequel. She is at once eager and vulnerable, wise-cracking and humble. I'm waiting for part 3!!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars She's cute honest and insightful - this is an eye opener, April 10, 2006

By 

kooky Kid "Bookfiend1818" (east coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up (Hardcover)

C'mon- she's not a PHD candidate at some university- this is not critical literature- it's just her rock and roll story. I found it very telling that she lived for so many years as a codependant housewife in a dysfunctional high profile relationship. A very intriging follow up to her first book. I like her and I liked the book, (as well as I'm with the Band.)The two books are an eye opener to just how macho and swaggering the rockers of old really are. Why begrudge Pamela?