It's that time again. Less than 2 weeks left of my current assignment. Will this be one of the times I go straight into another assignment or will I have a gap? I have 2 prospective assignments that are perfect, but those are usually short-lived...fingers crossed. I don't stress too much, because there's always work for me. It's just a matter of location and...well mostly location. With summer coming, I have to plan ahead for days off 3 months at a time and it's not always easy to know when I want a vacation. :-)
I have too many new books to read. I started Patti Boyd's book, but have now started this one. I had forgotten how hard Barney Hoskyns is to read. It's a good history, but he writes in long sentences, inside of sentences, with big words. I have to re-read them sometimes to figure out where it started. I love, love, love reading about LA music history, so I'll disect sentences like I am back in English class to get through this one.
An iconic figure of the 1960s and ’70s, Pattie Boyd breaks a forty-year silence in Wonderful Tonight, and tells the story of how she found herself bound to two of the most addictive, promiscuous musical geniuses of the twentieth century and became the most famous muse in the history of rock and roll.
Back in January, 2010, I had the opportunity to go on this tour and they just happened to be filming VH1's Rock Doc "Let's Spend the Night Together: Confessions Of Rock's Greatest Groupies".
Pamela Des Barres was a member of the GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously) an all girl group of rock groupies, mentored and produced by Frank Zappa. Their album Permanent Damage is considered a classic and a very collectible hunk of vinyl. After several years as an actress in commercials, soaps and movie bit parts, she started writing about her madcap days as “the world’s most famous groupie,” chronicling her relationships with rockers such as Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Page and Keith Moon in I’m With the Band . She followed that 1987 New York Times Best Seller with the sequel, Take Another Little Piece of My Heart- A Groupie Grows Up, in 1992. Rock Bottom – Dark Moments in Music Babylon was published by St. Martin’s Press in 1997, and her most recent offering, Let’s Spend the Night Together –Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies came out in 2007, and has just been published in paperback, along with her second memoir. ~ From Pamela Des Barres' Website ~
The picture above was taken in front of what used to be The Hullabaloo Club, now Nickelodeon On Sunset. The taking of this picture was also a part of VH1's Rock Doc "Let's Spend the Night Together: Confessions Of Rock's Greatest Groupies", my 2 seconds of fame. haha You can watch the Supertrailer here...
We went to all of the '60s and '70s groupie "hot spots".
The Palladium...
The Troubadour...
Frank Zappa's house, now gone, sorry no picture.
The Canyon Country Store in Laurel Canyon...
Jim Morrison's house...
The apartment next door to Jim's (behind, showing above the cleaners), where Miss Pamela lived the first time she met him...
Chris Hillman's house (one of the original members of The Byrds and then the Flying Burrito Brothers). The house is gone, but stood on the foundation showing at the right side of this picture...
Breathtaking view of LA from there...
And of course, The Whisky...
We visited the house of a friend of Pamela's, across the street and behind the Whisky, called The Boogie House...
Pamela Des Barres and the VH1 camera crew girls...
The Whisky, from the balcony of The Boogie House...
Miss Pamela reading about good times at The Whisky...
Reading about Jim Morrison...
Trying to re-create the GTOs pose in front of The Whisky...
And of course, I took my books with me...
I had such a good time on this tour. I'm a total LA rock 'n' roll history freak and it was awesome to actually be at the places where the music started, that paved the way for today's rock music.
Wow, I can't believe it's been over a year since I've blogged. I always say I'm going to start blogging regularly, but I'm such a slacker and sometimes life just gets in the way. I'll try again and we'll see what happens...
My G'ma Gertrude (my Daddy's Momma) passed away early this morning. My heart is broken. Although I could probably count the times I actually got to see her, I loved her dearly. I cherish the memories of traveling to West Virginia to visit my Grandma...climbing the rock and brick steps up the side of the steep driveway to her house on the hill...the smell of food cooking in the kitchen...playing on the hill outside...going to the store across the road for candy and bottles of Nehi...listening to the stories about my family...deciding where and with whom we were all going to sleep in the big house on the hill.
Grandma was a courageous, spirited woman with a lot of love to give. She was also a stubborn woman, so don't mess with G'ma or her family. She was a determined woman who knew what she wanted and did what she wanted, so even if you were lucky enough to BE her family, you STILL don't mess with G'ma.
As I got older, the trips became less frequent and more cherished. Almost 3 years ago, the whole family (or most of us) got together to celebrate Grandma's 90th birthday. It was a bittersweet time, because I knew it could very well be the last time I would see her.
I was lucky enough to go back this last October for what would be my last visit to see my Grandma. She's no longer in the house on the hill. She's been in a nursing care facility for the last 3 to 4 years. I've seen many, many facilities like this and very few good ones, but I have to say I was happy with my Grandma's "home". Although, she was confused at times, she was alert and still eating solid food (which is a huge thing to me). She was happy for the most part, although she got PO'd a couple of times in her confusion. She was receiving excellent care, which is probably due to the fact that my cousin, Beth is in charge of her care...and just like Grandma, don't mess with Beth.
I agree with my sister, who said, "I pride myself on the fact that I generationally came from this woman and I will carry something on that only came from her."
RIP Grandma. I love you and as yours and Grandpa's stone says, "Someday We Shall Meet And Never Part."
I actually started this book before and got sidetracked by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. Now I'm back to it. I love reading about the 60s and 70s LA music scene!
It has to be some kind of music history sin that this lady is not better known. Most people know her as Roseanne's co-worker, Bonnie Watkins. She sang on the show a couple of times. Embedding is disable, but you can watch it HERE.
Bonnie Bramlett goes way back. At age 14, she sang in clubs in East St. Louis. She was even in the late '60s, early '70s LA music scene (which of course is one of favorite things)with her husband Delaney, who himself, it seems should have been more well known. She has sang with the likes of Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, George Harrison, Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge, Gram Parsons and John Lennon. She co-wrote the song "Give Peace A Chance" with Leon Russell. There is way more about her than I could even put here. Google her! You can read more about her HERE. She still sings and has a beautiful voice. I like the older stuff better myself. THIS is also a good one and below is my favorite with Eric Clapton, Bobbie Whitlock and Dave Mason. I'll be searching Amazon for Delaney & Bonnie CDs.
