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Current mood:  calm
Hi dolls,
Just did this little interview with an Italian mag (going to Rome & Milan in a couple of weeks to promote the new book!) and I liked some of his questions, so here it is!
On Oct 22, 2007, at 11:00 AM, Domenico Vitucci wrote:
Dear Mrs. Pamela,
I am very glad to hear from you again a year after our e-mail interview on occasion of the Italian publication of your "I'm with the Band". I'm happy that the book has received such a good press coverage… and in fact here we are so that we can talk about your more recent publication, 'Let's Spend the Night Together". This time around, by interviewing the most influential and well-known groupies of yesterday and of today you have expanded your investigation on this phenomenon which you represent best, and which you had already introduced in your biography. Anyway, let's begin with the questions which we will then publish on our website, 35mm.it and on my blog 'School of Rock' on 35mm.it Magazine. There will be many questions, and you are free not to answer any question you consider unsuitable…
In your interviews you always share your heart with your interviewees, and this can't always be simple for you considering that some are wilder and with very few inhibitions. In each one of them you have nevertheless found the same innocence, spirituality and dedication to art that we all see in you. You must have chosen your interviewees with a lot of care?
All groupies to me are sisters. There is an unspoken sisterhood/brotherhood between soulful music lovers. I di choose these girls/guy with care, several I knew already or were very good friends of mine, the 'classic' groupies-Patti D'Arbanville, Catherine James, MIchele Overman...I really enjoyed discovering we were all in it for the same thing: love of music.
Many groupies have changed over the years, some are celebrities by now, others have chilled out and left the big scene, some have even changed their sex preferences. You yourself have created a family, and yet you appear as the only one who has remained the same person as back then, who has remained faithful to who you were. How do you see yourself?
Most of the girls are still devoted music lovers like myself. How I see myself is a tough question. I like to think I am honest and loving and expectant. I believe I still have a lot of the naivete I had as a young girl, which keeps me wide eyed and open to new possibilities-which keeps one young! I never give up and I see things through. I think the greatest thing that will ever happen tome is right around the corner. People think I live in the past, but it's quite the opposite. I live for this very second, happily breathing in and out.
Thanks to your interviews you have taken a step to reconcile with that category of groupies which, years back, you used to consider unfair competitors to you, with no scruples and determined to get everything. Some groupies of your generation do not agree with you: is comprehension and forgivingness always the best way?
Of course, any rancorous feelings only harm the person feeling them! When I was younger I was hurt and dismayed by the younger girls' behavior toward me, lack of respect etc. but I have long since led that fade away. I'm not sure what you mean by 'comprehension.' Catherine James has long been one of my best friends, Lori Lightning and I have a laugh and I also get along fine with Bebe Buell. Getting older gives you the opportunity to put things in perspective and be more objective about what matters. I don't believe in hanging onto ancient pain, it only causes heart-wounds to fester.
Jimmy Page is often mentioned on the pages of your biography, as well as being present in the accounts of many of your friends a few of which are a lot younger than you. Can we indicate him, despite his bad reputation, as the primary object of desire of any groupie?
At that time, late 60s, early 70s, Jimmy was the epitome of rockgod glamour and the object of many lustful females (probably many males too). He looked exactly right, androgynous, elegant, sexy, mysterious, willing to explore, and the best guitar player on earth.
You've always held the idea of a groupie as a muse for rockers. However you also mention some great rockers who have done everything on their own, such as Yoko Ono or Patti Smith. They are always fewer that what we would like, today more than ever. What's your opinion?
There are a lot of awesome female rockers, Chrissie Hynde, Shirley Manson, Joan Jett, Kim Deal, loads of girl players in newer bands...but to be honest, (maybe I'm just an old fashioned girl) I've always seen rock and roll with a cock. Ever since a man set foot on a stage, there have been women swooning, desiring, encouraging, promoting, uplifting and aroused.
Cynthia Plaster Caster, notorious groupie-artist who used to make sculptures out of chalk of the penises of her rock n' roll conquest, today is sculpting parts of women's anatomy. This is great news. Is it a sign that the times are changing?
It's wonderful that she has branched out so beautifully! She is supposed to be casting me one of these days. She's very discerning about who she creates her art with..
In the States, your sexual adventures have become the subject matter for a university topic, which surprises you a bit. Yet many people can learn a lot form your vicissitudes. Do you think you have communicated something even to those who live in a very different way from your own?
Yes, it has been proven over andover by the fan mail I get. The books seem to wake up places in people that have been dormant. And that makes them want to go out and do things that have only been dreams. It seems they appreciate the candor and joy with which I tell the stories.
"Let's Spend the Night Together" come to us as a comprehensive and thorough 'compilation' on 50 years of r'n'r sound and experience, a kind of encyclopaedia, if we are to take into account the fact that genres, still remaining within the boundaries of energic rock, have significantly changed since then. I see that you are very well prepared: Do you also appreciate contemporary bands?
Of course, the beat goes on, the beat must go on. I lived through a time when giants were rocking the earth. Their genius still reverberates, and in some cases (Dylan, the Stones, Zeppelin, McCartney) their genius still rocks the house! I still see a lot of concerts, I go to clubs to see new bands. My boyfriend is a country singer, so I have gotten back into the music that Gram Parsons turned me on to so many years ago: George Jones, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, WIllie Nelson.
You also mention a number of bands from the 80s, a decade which saw rock music take a few knocks due to the advent of pop-dance. Do musicians who interpret this kind of music, and who are very aware of their immaculate image, still hang-out with groupies? Or are they a lot more discreet?
Not sure what you mean here...pop dance bands or 80s rockers? All musicians have groupies.
In those years even specialised press had become much more moralistic in its views and often used scandalistic tones in its representation of the parties and back-stage gatherings. What recollection do you have of these representations, and of the actual events?
I was at many legendary bashes...the most vivid was the night that Led Zep had the entire 6th floor at the Continental (Riot) Hyatt House, as usual, and the crates of Dom Perignon kept being wheeled in. I remember reading Stevie Wonder's palm...not much else because I didn't know champagne was lethal back then...I do remember all of Zeppelin getting dressed up as women and walking into the room arm in arm. And Alice Cooper had a deb 'coming out' party, where many of the guests thought Alice was a rich young debutante making her first appearance, and the real Alice blasted in and shook everybody up. There was a 300 pound black stripper called TV Mama that drove the squares out into the night...Miss Mercy burst out of a huge cake, topless, and threw icing at everybody!
Speaking about people who have been symbols in the 80s and who now are very careful of their immaculate image: what do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger will have thought of your portrayal of him as all testosterone and spliffs?
Haha! Speaking of Miss Mercy! Only telling the truth!
Moving on to today: with internets's great popularity, the websites run by and dedicated to groupies are rendering conquest made less and less 'private' as they are being communicated to the world in real time. The risk is bringing everything down to the level of a circus, what do you think?
There are positives and negatives about not keeping secrets. Also, you don't know who's telling the truth! Or exaggerating the truth...people haggling and berating each other is sad stuff, but it is what it is, and we have to deal with what is. Rockers are more discreet these days due to this kind of behavior. I think that's why actresses/models are more likely to hook up with rockers now. It's easier for themtomeet, and WInona Ryder or Kate Hudson is not going to blog about what happened in the hotel room last night.
In your book we see that Sweet Connie is very angry with Bill Clinton because, once he made it to the White House, he denied that they ever had an affair even though it was 1 in 1000 for the US President. Connie dislikes liars, but wouldn't any rockstar have done the same to avoid troubles at home? What do you think?
Yes, Bill had to deny it all, but obviously he's a very horny fellow and Hilary has had to deal with it for years. Connie is very uppity about men denying her, as she is a straightforward, outspoken wild woman..
In the first part of your book you often refer to the great visionary cinema of the 60s, from Jodorowski to Fellini, passing by Russ Meyer and David Hamilton. As you will imagine, a European magazine is very interested in your judgement of these great movies. Tell us…
I love the exquisite imagery, the endless, open-minded possibilities of these filmmakers. I prefer it to splattered technicolor and in-your-face, leaving nothing to the imagination. But I do appreciate Russ Meyer's all-or-nothing humor! (usually ALL!)
These are mainly flicks which were often shown in art houses, in those places where cult movies still very popular today were born, in specialised midnight movie places. Did you ever attend these venues?
Always. Enchanted till sun-up.
Russ Meyer in particular brings us back to the prolific phenomena of B-movie, which in the 70s you contributed to as an actress. How do you look back on these?
Like fabulous cartoon strips come to life!
In the book there is an almost biblical moment which fascinates me, and its the oniric vision of Marylin Manson, represented almost as a Christ, a bearer of knowledge. It is an image of cinematic scope…
Yes, Lexa Vonn of the Plastics has a heightened awareness of Marilyn Manson's capabilities to alter world consciousness. He certainly altered hers. It's fascinating, yes?
I adore, and with me all European cinema lovers, John Milius, especially as a director! You actually interviewed a groupie, Amanda, who is his daughter. I am amused by the idea that she herself is probably unaware of the fact that her father- thanks to films such as 'Big Wednsday' and 'Conan the Barbarian' - is extremely well known in rock and countercultural environments. Tell Amanda, John is like a rockstar.
I will!
The great Cameron Crowe states in capital letters that his intent, with the great film 'Almost Famous' – is to communicate to the world that groupies most of the time were more 'rock' than the bands themselves! You and him have the same mission: is he your blood brother?
Yes, we do see alike. He married his own rock star you know!
Let me finish with a statement from the journalist Robert J. Lewis, whom you quote in your book: "The only thing to be ashamed of is the negation of desire". If you could donate a comment for me and for the readers…
I love Jack Kerouac's insistent statement, 'LOVE YOUR LIFE OUT.' It says it all.
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