CATHERINE JAMES : DANDELION : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

CATHERINE JAMES OFFICIAL SITE Catherine James

 

Bob Dylan took her out of the orphanage but played the older brother she never had. Not just one more young girl who ran away to Sunset Strip, or got caught up in the Rock Gods who courted her, a bit more of a flower child than a Groupie by my way of thinking, Catherine James survived a abusive childhood, but, not quite out of it was left to raise her only son, fathered by a British rock musician with Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine, when she was 16.  She lived by her wits after he financially abandoned them. 

 

Mom was a Malignant Narcissist, Dad beat Bruce Jenner to the change. Catherine James relied on the Universe to provide at times and proved that you don't have to duplicate the way your parents raised you, that you can better them, even if you live in a house in the woods that's barely standing or your car doesn't run or the jobs you take are odd.

 

Like a number of Rock Goddesses, she was beautiful enough to model, and despite having a very hard life, has found goodness in it. 

 

One of several books I've read by former Groupies, there's something of a delicacy to James that defies her obvious inner strength.

 

C 2016  MistressManifesto.Blogspot.com / Missy Rapport  All Rights Reserved

LETS SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER : "WE PUT THE SEX in SEX, DRUGS, and ROCK and ROLL"

 

WARNING!  As I promised I would give you a warning if I think some readers might need or want one, since MISTRESS MANIFESTO BlogSpot demurs from sexual explicitness.  Cynthia Plaster Caster (and her casts of a certain part of the male anatomy) is part of this film!  You may want to skip it if you're shy.

Video replaced with this one June 2021

"We put the SEX in Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll"

"I'm setting out to reclaim the word Groupie..."

LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER stars Pamela Des Barres (sometimes called Queen of the Groupies - at least in LA!) and Lori Maddox (AKA Lori Lightening), who both had relationships with Led Zeppelin Guitar God, Jimmy Page.  These two women were once enemies, but  years later bonded because he broke BOTH their hearts. Based on Des Barres book of the same title, watch it and learn a bit about HOW TO DEFINE GROUPIE!

LISA L. RHODES "ELECTRIC LANDLAND" on WOMEN IN ROCK N ROLL INCLUDING GROUPIES

That picture on the cover of the book isn't Lisa, but a famous Groupie at the time. 

She has the look of someone who knows the score and has seen it all.

ELECTRIC LADYLAND, WOMEN and ROCK CULTURE, 1965-1975 by

Lisa L. Rhodes, who was part of the scene as a singer and made her own album, takes on the question of the role of women in popular music during the early explosion of Rock along with the sexual revolution, in an interesting book, and one for my library. 

To do so she looked at how women in music were portrayed by the media, in particular in Rolling Stone Magazine, as male journalists quoted the musicians and singers and others looked at women's sexuality in old, sexist ways.  About half of her book is about Groupies, how they were defined in the media, Time Magazine also having published an early article about them because they were considered to be a phenomena.

Some of you will think "Why did they let themselves get used?"  Others may think, "Why didn't I run away with the band?"

Page XI

"Another reason to study rock women stems from the fat that between 1965 and 1975 gender roles were in flux in America and these women were in the front lines of the gender wars of the late 1960's and early 1970's.  For example, by redefining what it mean to be a female musician or write, these women were helping to change perceptions about women in general.  The groupies, with their freewheeling sexuality, were also helping to reinterpret what it meant to be a sexually active woman in the music scene, as well as the role of girlfriends, lover, wife, and whore.  The activities of all these women helped to establish gender roles as they exist in America today."

Page XIV

"I chose rock music because it conveys power and being a woman in our society offers us precious little of that commodity." ... Performing music at loud volume means different things to women than it does to men.  As women we are (usually) told all our lives in subtle and not so subtle ways to be quiet, at least more quiet than the men around us.  For women to take center stage, literally, and draw attention to themselves through the employment of loud volume is thus a truly liberating act..."

Rhodes also takes on these: Did the 1960's have its own moral code, as what is considered pedophilia now is viewed by some as sexual experimentation?  Did adult women Groupies basically become slaves to men they idolized or where they liberated hero worshipers?

C 2016  Mistressmanifesto.blogspot.com  / Missy Rapport  All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

MISSY SPEAKS ON MODELS AND ROCKSTARS

Missy here.

I'm aware that these days Models, particularly in New York and Los Angeles, are often kept by music men - Rock Stars!

Rock Stars often have Groupies too.  Some of them have women - girlfriends, mistresses, and Groupies, all around the world.

So why would a man want to keep a woman when he can have all that sex, without any responsibility at all to those woman?

Maybe because he wants to make his life more simple (yes really!) by having one woman in the world that he feels true to. Maybe he loves a particular woman but also feels he has chance most men don't and doesn't want to say no to sexual experiences. Maybe he keeps a woman because he can show her off to other men - his band mates - the world!

I also know of women of all shapes, sizes, and degrees of beauty, who are/were keeping their musician boyfriend, working hard and long and paying all the bills to support them both, so he can pursue his Rock Star career.  These women are paying for rehearsal time, nights out to schmooze, clothes - I mean wardrobe - costumes!  They believe in him and they also want the excitement of a Rock Star lifestyle.

When a man keeps a woman, he most often keeps her from other men, the competition, keeps her from dating.

And when a woman keeps a man?

These women who keep their Rock-Star-to-be-boyfriends are not without their own ambitions, usually to be the man's wife and share in his success. I don't know how many of them achieve this.

Another reason there is the Rock Star - Model connection is that to be successful many Models quit high school at 16 and make it to a big city where they are very vulnerable, on their own for the first time without much real chaperoning. They are often too trusting for the situation of having so very many men chasing after them and feel better about having just one man, often a worldly older man, in their lives.

While this relationship can have advantages, usually when you're a teenager your boyfriend should probably be another teenager, but to get real, the young model with the older man as a lover is common and so is a young model being kept by a photographer or someone else in the business. (I'm saying younger here but I'm concerned about jail bait young.)

At the same time a lot of Rock Stars are also dropping out of school young to pursue their music, to get a head start in an occupation that is driven by youth.  You could say that the models and rock stars have that youth, ambition, and the zeal of the new and so much else in common.

It can all be really adventurous and heady.

Another reason there are so many Model - Rock Star connections is that once a woman is modeling she meets a whole lot of other models who have men in their lives that make life easier for them - sweeter - or who want to keep them. There's a lot of struggle in modeling for most who aspire to it. While taking so much rejection it can be wonderful to come home to someone who thinks you're special enough to be helped.

YOU?

Missy

 

C Missy Rapport/ Mistress Manifesto 2013
All Rights including International and Internet Rights reserved

MISSY ASKS : DO YOU LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH A ROCK STAR ?

So many women are drawn to the excitement of being with the band.
Are you a groupie?
Are you the mistress of a rock star?

Do you share him with other women? (Should I ask?)