Why poet Lynn Crosbie loves Pamela Des Barres's music groupie memoir I'm With the Band
Lynn Crosbie is an author of poetry and prose, whose work includes the poetry collection The Corpses of the Future and the novel Where Did You Sleep Last Night. One of her all-time favourite books is Pamela Des Barres's memoir I'm With the Band, which is about the period Des Barres spent following famous musicians in the 1960s and 1970s, including Frank Zappa and Jimmy Page.
Unfiltered passion
"The book I go back to the most is I'm With the Band by Pamela Des Barres. It's her scandalous groupie tales from the 1960s. It seems very lightweight and fluffy at first, but she's a beautiful stylist and manages to capture something innocent about her passion for these men. She's a musician herself; it feels exciting to know there's equal footing there.
"It's something I like to draw on too, that sense of unmitigated desire. That's probably the best way to write about anything — with nothing coming between you, what you love and what you want to write about."
Lynn Crosbie's comments have been edited and condensed.