In my youth, I was a “Band-Aid” that special upper echelon of girl/woman that was chosen to act as Muse to famous musicians. Although I adore Pamela (I’m With the Band) Des Barres and am mad for Morgana (Hollywood Diaries) Welch, I disagree with the use of the term ”groupie” as groupies were the ordinary chicks that the guys picked up (often after the girls had made a roadie or two first!) for a one night, after concert, roll in the hotel sheets. We, the “Band-Aids” maintained relationships with our musical Gods! Many of us actually worked in the biz and we threw the parties, cooked the dinners, opened our homes, sat in on the studio sessions, and provided much more than a sexual pit stop. It was all very old school. We were more like spiritual therapists crossed with ladies of the court and we were the gals they called every time they hit our cities! We were the musical Muses.
Although I intially was partial to drummers, it was usually the guitarists and especially the guitarist/ lead singers that borrowed my heart. I can think of no greater aphrodisiac than watching a crowd of thousands chant the name of the man who you are going to be blissfully alone with later! It’s like being the one to hand the scarf to the knight before he engages in a joust! And there is nothing more fun than the antics and musical interludes that transpire on a tour bus zooming to the next city! When I look back on those days, I can honestly say that I don’t regret a single moment! In fact, I wish I could do them all over again!
Unfortunately, that lifestyle is completely dead now as rap and the “video vixens” came along and brought a real sleasezoid, woman hating, vibe to the whole biz! (And no, I wouldn’t be naming any names as that is decidedly un-Band-Aid like! At least, not until I pen my autobiography!) In fact, with the exception of a few amazingly musical brothers and sisters, the whole music business is a sad shadow of its former self with very few real musicians. I’m talking about the type of musician that elicits such emotion through his music that every guy wants to be him and every girl (and some guys) want to shag him!
Thus I was absolutely scintillated by the awesome documentary “It Might Get Loud”! The film chronicles the lives of three of rock’s most legendary guitarists, Jack White of the White Stripes, The Edge from U2, and the incomparable Jimmy Paige from Led Zeppelin allowing them tell their stories in their own words and through their music. I literally fell in love with, the still quite dapper looking Paige, who was witty in that quintessentially English way. (I have been fortunate in Life to have met both Paige and Robert Plant. Jimmy was very charming while Robert grabbed my boob!) It was so amazing to learn the story behind the Man. Since this was really his first interview in almost 40 years and certainly, the most extensive coverage ever done of his Life, until I saw the movie I knew very little about him personally other than his penchant for whipping his lovers, which was related in Pamela’s first book! My favorite parts of the film all centered around Paige, from the footage of him as a pre-teen on a local TV show to this really cool moment when he compared playing certain songs to having an orgasm! This was something I was certainly ready to do right there in my seat when he picked up his axe and gave us some chords from “Whole Lotta Love” with White and the Edge accompanying! I just had goose bumps throughout the performance bits of the film! One of my other favorite moments was Jimmy grooving out to Link Wray’s classic track “Rumble”. Listening to him describe the licks in the song just made me wish I could spend an evening partying with Jimmy with him playing me all his favorite tracks from the thousands of LPs that were visible in the shot.
I also came to love Jack White even more. His back story was also intriguing. He described how coming from a family with ten kids and growing up loving the blues and rockabilly in the ‘hood of Detroit shaped his musical future. It is also great to know that if you are chillin’ with Jack, he can not only play you some truly mean blues he can reupholster your couch as well! (I was lucky enough to see White’s band, The Raconteurs, last year at a T-Mobile launch. He is one of those rare musos, I described earlier, where you go home just satiated from his enormous talent!)
As for the Edge, I love his guitar style but his personality didn’t pop onscreen as much as White’s and Paige’s. You just didn’t get the same warm fuzzy feeling or the compulsion to wanna hang with him that you did from Jimmy and Jack. He comes off more “pop star” than “Rock Star”. For example, what would one call him? Somehow it is just not hot that he has a moniker instead of an actual name! While “Jimmy” or “Jack” can be dreamily murmured, I somehow can’t picture anyone repeatedly screaming “The Edge” in the throes of passion!
It was great to meet the film’s director Davis Guggenheim, who is also the husband of Elizabeth Shue. He jokingly relayed that he almost lost Elizabeth to the enigmatic White during the filming! To which I responded that since neither his wife or White were in attendance at the screening, he’d better call her to make sure she was at home! Anna Sui was an absolute jewel, who described how she uses music to inspire her lines. It was also fabulous to see TGATP crush (it’s a a small crush. I am still more partial to musos than actors!) Norman Reedus, who said he was off to LA to work on a film. I was disappointed that Courtney Love was still so seemingly affected with herself. This type of overly self-conscious star behavior is more fitting of a newcomer to the fame game than a seasoned vet and does her no favors! However, she looked amazing accompanied by her hottie young guitarist.
The film is an absolute must see for anyone who truly loves music. It was like being invited to sit in on an intimate conversation between three legends and there were some really amazing musical moments throughout! One can only pray that it will jumpstart the out of touch music industry to sign some real acts. During the Q&A, Lyor Cohen, CEO of Warner Music Group, kept reminiscing about the reunion concerts he had recently flown to the UK to attend! But my question is why aren’t these folks signing new acts that people will want to see in reunion 40 years from NOW? I mean, all well and good, to wax on about how great it was to see Led Zeppelin and Cream 40 years later! But these folks aren’t gonna be around for ANOTHER 40 years! Why not sign more NEW acts, like Jack White, that people can walk out of a concert transfixed by? I mean, ask yourself, who will we be as excited to see in a reunion concert 40 years from now?
It Might Get Loud opens this Friday, August 14th.
[salbumphotos=3,72,7,n,n,picasa_order]