I'm with the Band

Overview

The book tells the story of Pamela Ann Miller, a groupie who gets a kind of fame in the 1960s by having wild nights with musicians and actors. Pictures of famous musicians and actors accompany the many stories of her time in Los Angeles, California, during the late 60s and early 70s. She recounts tales of moments shared with girlfriends The GTOs which they use as a way to outwardly express themselves. She becomes Frank Zappa's nanny, spends time with Jimmy Page in love and even has a relationship with Don Johnson (before he met Melanie Griffith). "I'm with the band!" is her anthem and carries her back and forth in her travels with the men she loves.

Her escapades include travels to England where she spends time with Mick Jagger amongst others. She also travels to the Continent before coming back home. She later falls in love with Michael Des Barres, an English glam rocker, and reaches 'happiness'. In the late 70s and early 1980s, Pamela discovers a world of philosophy and psychology which opens up her mind, affects her love life and interests in discovering its sense, becoming a writer and writing this book. At the end of this book, she reveals that she marries Des Barres. She ends the books with the story of their wedding and the birth of her son, Nicholas Dean Des Barres. The 'fears' described in her book became true in 1991, four years after its release, when she divorced Des Barres. Now she lives alone with two cats, Dupi and Tupi. This is told in the subsequent book, Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up.

Publishing history

The book was described by Kirkus Reviews as "a classic account of rampant narcissism among guitar egomaniacs", and enjoyed considerable success, being issued as an audio book in CD in 1995, then reissued as a paperback in 2005, with a Kindle edition the same year. It remained in print in 2012. The book is frequently referenced by histories of rock.

HBO series

HBO came close to producing a series version of the memoir as a comedy-drama entitled "I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie," which is based on the book. Zooey Deschanel was briefly attached to play the lead role of Pamela Des Barres though the series never came to fruition.