Pamela Des Barres - Rock Music Groupie

Rock Music Groupie

A high school acquaintance, Victor Hayden, introduced Des Barres to his cousin Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, a musician and friend of Frank Zappa. Van Vliet in turn introduced her to Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, which drew her to the rock music scene on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. She started to spend her time with The Byrds and other bands, and when she graduated from high school in 1966, she took various jobs that would allow her to live near the Sunset Strip and pursue relationships with rock musicians. One high school art class assignment was to visualize an object that showed both texture and color. Having fantasized about Mick Jagger's genitalia, she made them the subject of her painting, which earned her an "A" grade. After securing a position as the babysitter for Zappa's children, she at last found herself a few years later finally finding multiple opportunities to compare the drawing with the actual object. She famously paired up as a friend to a lot of old school rockers, as well as with future sexual targets Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Nick St. Nicholas, Noel Redding, Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Waylon Jennings, and actors Brandon deWilde, Michael Richards, and Don Johnson.