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After a long, storied history, Pamela Des Barres' 1987 memoir, "I'm With the Band"--the colorful, definitive account of the L.A. rock world of the '60s and '70s from a young girl's, um, intimate perspective--is on its way to the screen. Des Barres is co-writing the screenplay, with Allison Anders ("Grace of the Heart") set to direct for the Starz! cable channel.
"It's all about a groupie girl growing up in the Valley and heading over the hills to Oz, to meet all the rock stars," Des Barres says.
Where Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (a similar story, from the view of a male teenage tyro journalist) fictionalized Crowe's real- life experience, Des Barres' book names names, unflinchingly detailing her relationships (sexual and otherwise) with rockers including Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, Keith Moon, Gram Parsons and Frank Zappa, as well as her experience as a member of the Zappa- produced groupies group the GTO's (Girls Together Outrageously).
"What I love about Starz! is they have the guts to do that," Des Barres says.
"In earlier treatments that have been done for the book, names have been changed. But they're public figures--or unfortunately in rock 'n' roll heaven. No one has sued me about the book. It's all the truth."
The book has been the subject of several previous attempts to put it on film. Ally Sheedy once optioned the rights with the intention of playing Des Barres, and later Drew Barrymore and Christina Applegate each explored the role. But it wasn't until Des Barres started working on a screenplay with high school friend Iva Turner that the project really got moving, as...