Lost Notes: Groupies

Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco. The Continental Hyatt House. The Rainbow Bar & Grill. Glam rock was the genre du jour and there was no more convenient or welcoming a circuit for an intrepid teenage groupie to land in than the Strip in the early 1970s. As for Led Zeppelin, LA became their spiritual home-away-from-home (read: wives). From flying in on their private jet, the Starship, to cruising down Sunset picking up groupies in their white stretch limo, the Slutmobile, Led Zeppelin’s superstardom marked a new era, and level, to groupiedom.

A teen magazine so daring, so outrageous, so scandalizing and sexually suggestive that it only lasted…five issues. Star Magazine: from the publishing empire that brought you Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Guns & Ammo, and later in the 90s, Sassy, there was, in 1973, a red-hot new music rag that glamorized the teenage groupie lifestyle rampant on the Sunset Strip. Or did it? We asked the original staff who made the magazine: who, exactly, was a Star girl?

As a girl, Dee Dee Keel ditched the doldrums of Venice for the thrills of Hollywood. Just a few years later, she would soon become the woman behind the world-famous Whisky A Go-Go... as well as an infamously active groupie. Meanwhile, Morgana Welch, a scene-savvy Beverly Hills High Schooler, gets in with Rodney Bingenheimer, Led Zeppelin, and other powerful party boys and scene insiders, as she tries to chart her own path into the rock n roll lifestyle—Hollywood encounter by Hollywood encounter.

Venice Beach teen Dee Dee Keel was desperate to find out what was happening behind the scenes, in the clubs and hotel rooms of Hollywood: so she tracked an intriguing local rocker, Jim Morrison, on his way to the Strip. That’s where she first saw Miss Pamela in all her groupie glamour. By 1969, Pamela Des Barres was no longer a Valley teenybopper; she had transformed into a rock icon-in-the-making. Her freaky clique of Laurel Canyon sprites were ordained by Frank Zappa to become the world’s first all-girl band of all-girl groupies, the GTOs. Soon, they had the likes of the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Who, and Led Zeppelin taking notice, just as Rolling Stone dedicated an entire issue to the groupie phenomenon and made the GTOs its centerfold.

The origin story of Miss Pamela Des Barres, the original queen of the groupies, author of the iconic memoir, I’m With the Band. From her mid-Sixties teenage bop room Beatlemania, to in a few short and sexy years, having Mick Jagger on the prowl looking for her – Pamela learned quickly, through friendships with Captain Beefhart and Frank Zappa, that she was something special.

In 1973, the Sunset Strip was the epicenter of the rock n roll universe, where rockstar mythology was being built in real time. This is where fourteen-year old Valley girl Lori Lightning found herself, along with her clique of Sable Starr and Queenie Glam, known as the Baby Groupies, as they became the teenage rulers of the Hollywood music scene.

In the early 1970s, LA’s Sunset Strip was the epicenter of the rock'n'roll universe. Drugs, sex, private planes, limos, destroying hotel rooms – it wasn’t a myth. At at the center of it all, were groupies. It’s a story we all know – but it’s never been told from this perspective. This season, on Lost Notes, we bring you GROUPIES: The Women of Sunset Strip, from the Pill to Punk. The real, riotous, rock'n'roll stories of the girls who lived it all, hosted by Dylan Tupper Rupert, from KCRW and Golden Teapot.

An audio folk story examining the tradition of Black watermelon long-haulers, who drive to farms in the South for watermelon and sell them in Black neighborhoods around the US.

KCRW’s acclaimed music documentary podcast, Lost Notes, returns for its fourth season. Co-hosts Novena Carmel (KCRW) and Michael Barnes (KCRW / KPFK / Artform Radio) guide you through eight wildly different and deeply human stories, each set against the kaleidoscopic backdrop of LA’s soul and R&B scene of the 1950s-1970s. Support KCRW’s original programming like Lost Notes by donating or becoming a member. This season of Lost Notes kicked off with the story of “Tainted Love” – and, more specifically, the story of its original singer, Gloria Jones. Despite a fascinating and wide-ranging career that stretched over decades, Gloria largely suffered the indignity of being a one-hit wonder who never even enjoyed having that one hit for herself. But as anyone who heard our episode knows, Gloria Jones was responsible for so much amazing music … with a life story to match. Now, we conclude our season by hearing it all from Gloria herself, from the original recording of “Tainted Love” to her songwriting career at Motown and her life with Marc Bolan of T. Rex – as well as the 60th anniversary of that legendary and iconic song. Gloria sat down with Michael Barnes at KCRW in July of 2024.

KCRW’s relationship with Fela Kuti goes back to 1980, when KCRW’s Tom Schnabel and Roger Steffens were connected with the mighty Afrobeat innovator while he was still imprisoned in Nigeria. Six years later, once Fela was free and clear to tour internationally, he came to Los Angeles and visited KCRW in person, again with Tom Schnabel. The connective tissue between these two events is Sandra Izsadore, who returned to KCRW for the first time in decades to talk with Lost Notes co-host Michael Barnes about meeting Fela in LA in 1969, and her essential role in the creation of the Afrobeat genre. It’s safe to say that without Sandra, there would have been no Fela as we came to know him soon thereafter. And that’s no exaggeration.

KCRW’s acclaimed music documentary podcast, Lost Notes, returns for its fourth season. Co-hosts Novena Carmel (KCRW) and Michael Barnes (KCRW / KPFK / Artform Radio) guide you through eight wildly different and deeply human stories, each set against the kaleidoscopic backdrop of LA’s soul and R&B scene of the 1950s-1970s. Support KCRW’s original programming like Lost Notes by donating or becoming a member. On Wednesday, July 17, Lost Notes welcomed the legendary Larry Mizell to KCRW’s Annenberg Performance Studio for an incredible evening of stories and music about his pioneering work with his brother Fonce in 1970s Los Angeles. Anyone who’s been keeping up with the show will already know about the Mizell Brothers … but if you’re new to the family, we encourage you to stop right now and back up to our episode on Larry and Fonce Mizell from earlier in the season. The Mizells’ story is so rich and amazing that it deserves to be heard from the very beginning. And if you know their story, then this week’s episode is going to be extra-special. Today we bring you our live, in-person conversation with a man who, along with his brothers, helped create the sound of Los Angeles in the 1970s: Mr. Larry Mizell.

While we're off this week, we want to introduce you to a new show made by our pals over at Maximum Fun. It’s called Primer – and it’s all about exploring music from outside the English-speaking world. This season is all about Japanese City Pop and features artists like Tatsuro Yamashita, Hiroshi Sato, Taeko Onuki, Haruomi Hosono, Mariya Takeuchi. We'll catch you back here for more Lost Notes in July.

Lost Notes brings you behind-the-scenes conversations with Nia Andrews and Terrace Martin about the legendary Reggie Andrews.

Lost Notes examines the legacy of Reggie Andrews, a world-class musician, producer, and mentor who changed the lives of countless young musicians in South LA. Andrews spent more than four decades in the LAUSD school system, teaching and mentoring generations of notable musicians: Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Cameron Graves, Ronald Bruner Jr. and his brother Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner, Patrice Rushen, Gerald Albright, Ndugu Chancler, Rickey Minor, The Pharcyde, Syd from the Internet, Tyrese Gibson, and hundreds more – taking them from South LA to the Hollywood Bowl stage and far beyond.

Lost Notes celebrates the life of Ruth Dolphin, who went from being a terrified widow with four kids to the mother of an LA musical empire.

Lost Notes presents a story about Soul Train, the Slauson Shuffle, and what’s lost – and found – when a regional dance suddenly belongs to the world.

Lost Notes introduces a pair of brothers - one from NASA, the other from Motown - who launched an entire musical universe from their Hollywood Hills hideout.

Lost Notes returns with a brand new episode next Wednesday. To tide you over, we’re featuring a deep dive into Kendrick Lamar’s 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers from our friends at Switched on Pop.

Lost Notes explores how the song “Viva Tirado” exemplifies the inter-generational musical conversation between LA’s Black and Brown communities.

Lost Notes explores how Fela Kuti’s time in LA in 1969 was instrumental in the creation of his legendary Afrobeat sound.