Lost Notes: Groupies
This season on Lost Notes: Groupies. Women of the Sunset Strip from the Pill to Punk. From KCRW and Golden Teapot.
Episodes
8: The Groupie Dream
As the first wave of LA punk started to take hold in Hollywood, both on and off the Sunset Strip, the girls of the rock n roll underground flattened scene hierarchy by carrying the torch of the sexually charged, “I do what I want” spirit exemplified by the most notorious Hollywood groupies–in creative and unexpected ways. Then, Lori, Morgana, Dee Dee, and Pam
7: The Dawn of Punk
In the mid 1970s, as glam rock fizzled out, new kids began to trickle in on the block–kids who looked up to the groupies as party girl icons, as rock’n’roll legends, who went out there and got what they wanted…come hell or high platforms. Kid Congo Powers, Alice Bag, Pleasant Gehman, and Theresa Kereakas all were pulled towards the glitter and guitars
Supreme Glamour (from "Dressed")
Hello Lost Notes fans! The final two episodes of Groupies: Women of the Sunset Strip from the Pill to Punk are coming later this week. But first, we want to share an episode of the podcast Dressed: The History of Fashion. Mary Wilson is a founding member of one of the most iconic, successful—and stylish— 1960s singing groups of all time: The Supremes
6: From the Slutmobile to the Starship
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 privat
5: The Oral History of Star Magazine: Bad But Not Evil
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?
4: Hollywood Encounters
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 scen
3: Girls Together Outrageously
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 int
2: The Fairytale of Miss Pamela
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 somethin
1: Lori Lightning and the Baby Groupies
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.
Coming soon... Groupies: Women of the Sunset Strip from the Pill to Punk
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
Chasing the Watermelon Man
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.
Gloria Jones In Conversation
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&r
Talking Fela Kuti with Sandra Izsadore
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
Larry Mizell Live in Conversation at KCRW HQ
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&r
Nia Andrews & Terrace Martin on Reggie Andrews
Lost Notes brings you behind-the-scenes conversations with Nia Andrews and Terrace Martin about the legendary Reggie Andrews.
Do What You Want To Do: The Legacy of 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
Dear Ruth: How Ruth Dolphin (Re-)Built a Musical Empire
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.
Go with the Flow: Community, Virality, and the Politics of Dancing
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.
Places & Spaces: The Mizell Brothers’ LA Alchemy
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.
Kendrick Lamar and the big samples (from “Switched on Pop”)
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.
Viva Tirado: The South/East LA Connection
Lost Notes explores how the song “Viva Tirado” exemplifies the inter-generational musical conversation between LA’s Black and Brown communities.
My Lady’s Frustration: How Fela Kuti Found Afrobeat in LA
Lost Notes explores how Fela Kuti’s time in LA in 1969 was instrumental in the creation of his legendary Afrobeat sound.
Mojo on Trial: The Seedy, Greedy World of Ruth Christie
Lost Notes details the darkly hilarious schemes of record-label magnate Ruth Christie, who instigated one of the most absurd court cases in music history.
The True Story of ‘Tainted Love’
Long before “Tainted Love” was an ‘80s anthem, it was a 1965 B-side by LA’s Gloria Jones. We trace the song’s journey from a warehouse floor to the annals of pop history.
Lost Notes Returns with the True Story of ‘Tainted Love’
‘Lost Notes’ returns for Season 4 with a special preview episode about the song “Tainted Love,” and its lesser-known origins as a forgotten ‘60s soul gem from LA.
Jonathan Demme: 'Stop Making Sense' interview and guest DJ set (1984)
Talking Heads’ 1984 film, Stop Making Sense, has long been regarded by critics and fans alike as one of the greatest concert films ever made. A new A24 restoration of the film is out in theaters now.
Director Jonathan Demme dropped in on Deirdre for a guest DJ set while the film was still in theaters. Demme sat in for SNAP No. 172 on November 8, 1984, spinning a wild sel
Bent By Nature - Ep. 10: Rollins
Throughout “Bent By Nature,” you’ve heard many stories of the lifelong connections set in motion by Deirdre O’Donoghue. But none were quite as surprising as the bond between Deirdre and fellow iconoclast Henry Rollins, the former Black Flag frontman, musician, writer, actor, activist, and longtime KCRW host. After a chance meeting in early 198
Bent By Nature - Ep. 9: Promised Land (with Julian Cope)
The artist has got to be not like the historian.The historian’s got hindsight. He can go back and go, “That was a great moment.” But the artist’s got to go, “No, I was there.” It’s like, history is something that happens. You can’t be there at history. — Julian Cope, May 10, 1991
It’s May of 1991. Deirdre is in Londo
Bent By Nature - Ep. 8: Half A World Away (with Michael Stipe)
It’s September of 1984. And Deirdre is head over heels for a fast-rising quartet from Athens, Georgia called R.E.M. In just a few years, the band’s music will be inescapable on commercial and college radio alike — and their massive success will mark a turning point for the American musical underground.
“There were moments when R.E.M., my former band, were hugely popular,” says
Bent By Nature - Ep. 7: Ages of You
In the mid-1980s, two young women are coming of age in the San Fernando Valley. In a few years, when they’re teenagers, they’ll both latch onto DJ Deirdre O’Donoghue, for totally different reasons. Felicia Daniel becomes obsessed with the new music Deirdre is playing on “SNAP!” Her best friend, Tanja Laden, gets into Deirdre’s deep-dives int
Bent By Nature - Ep. 6: Crossing Over (with David Lowery)
It’s New Year’s Eve, 1986. Deirdre is talking with the LA Times’ music critic, Robert Hilburn, about the musical trends of 1985.
Deirdre O’Donoghue: I don't think that the big, quote-unquote, "rock" stations can very much longer ignore the growing numbers of people who are listening to alternative radio stations all around the country ... with which yo
Bent By Nature - Ep. 5: Haywire (with Kathy McCarty & Brian Beattie)
It’s Independence Day Weekend, 1988. And Deirdre is celebrating the return of Glass Eye, her favorite independent act from Austin, Texas. They’ve just released their third album, “Bent By Nature.” But Deirdre’s allegiance to the band went much deeper than a catchy title. For her, they represented the very best of what Austin had to offer, which at
Bent By Nature - Ep. 4: Almost Magic (with Syd Straw)
It’s September 4, 1986. And Deirdre has just met a kindred spirit in singer Syd Straw. Like Deirdre, Syd traveled in good company. You could pick out her voice on records by Los Lobos, Rickie Lee Jones, Was (Not Was), and more. As an early member of the indie supergroup The Golden Palominos, she was a feature on Deirdre’s playlists long before she became a regular
Bent By Nature - Ep. 3: Inside Out (with David and Bekki Newton)
In 1988, while most of the music world was fawning over Morrissey’s solo debut, Deirdre O’Donoghue was all-in on a new record from a lesser-known English band: The Mighty Lemon Drops. After years of support on “SNAP!,” their single “Inside Out” blew up in the U.S., becoming a college rock anthem and MTV staple that launched the band into pop
Bent By Nature - Ep. 2: Music Could Be Your Whole Life
Illustration by Meredith Schomburg
In episode two of Bent By Nature, co-producer Bob Carlson explores the life of influential and enigmatic DJ Deirdre O’Donoghue behind the mic. Born in New York City and DJing across the country before landing at KCRW to host "SNAP!", O’Donoghue didn’t talk much about her past or private life — even in the face
Bent By Nature - Ep. 1: This Is 'SNAP!'
Before Soundcloud and Bandcamp, there was Deirdre O'Donoghue and "SNAP!," the LA DJ and radio show that served as a waypoint for underground music, artists, and its fans — and helped shape the sound of independent and D.I.Y. culture today. In the first episode of "Bent By Nature," co-producer Bob Carlson introduces O’Donoghue and goes inside the com
Bent By Nature: Trailer
She was the most influential American DJ you’ve never heard of. Deirdre O’Donoghue was a vital force in the musical underground of the 1980s. Countless artists crammed into her studio to perform live on her late-night show, “SNAP!” on KCRW. And after 40 years, those legendary sessions will be heard again. Join Michael Stipe, Henry Rollins, Julian Cope,
Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 7: Grace Jones
In 1980, anti-disco sentiment was at a high and Grace Jones was coming off a trilogy of disco albums. If she stayed stagnant, it felt like her career could be swept away. And so out of disco’s death rattle – driven by the discomfort of white male tastemakers – Grace Jones rose, reinforced and reimagined in a new decade freshly obsessed with risk.
Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 6: Minnie Riperton
Most know Minnie Riperton because of one part in one song. “Lovin’ You” was Riperton’s biggest hit, and she doesn’t sing that magic, piercing note until around the 3-minute mark. Cancer took Riperton away tragically in 1979, and the next year producers got to work on a posthumous album. Filled with leftover recordings and celebrity cameos, “
Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 5: Hugh Masekela & Miriam Makeba
In December of 1980, two exiled artists and freedom fighters attempted return to their home in South Africa for a concert. Jazz musician Hugh Masekela and singer Miriam Makeba were briefly married, but they had a robust collaborative relationship that stretched across multiple decades. The 1980 concert wound up happening in neighboring Lesotho — and the performance becam
Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 4: John Lennon & Darby Crash
Punk singer Darby Crash dreamed of immortality. The single full-length Germs album was to become a holy grail of music history, and his passing might’ve made him a legend, but Darby Crash died on December 7th, 1980. By the time the news of his death began to circulate, it was well into December 8th, the day John Lennon was shot by Mark David Chapman. As radio statio
Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 3: Ian Curtis
In May of 1980, Joy Division lost its lead singer, Ian Curtis. The band decided that they would carry on with a different name. From the cutting room floor, a song with Ian Curtis haphazardly slurring the words he’d written became the first single for a decade-defining band. New Order was made up of people who were weighed down by grief and regrets. Straining themselves
Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 2: The Sugarhill Gang
In 1979, "Rapper’s Delight" was released and went on to become the first Top 40 hip-hop single. Sugarhill Gang almost had no choice but to follow the single up with a full-length. So in the early months of 1980, a six song, nearly forty minute album by a rap group was released. The debut, self-titled album by the Sugarhill Gang wasn’t received without controversy,
Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 1: Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder released seven albums from 1970 to 1976. It is an impenetrable run of albums and songs, one of the greatest in music history. Then, in 1979, he faced his first defeat of the decade. Reviews for “Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants” were harshly mixed. So in 1980 Stevie was due for a comeback. Lost Notes host Hanif Abdurraqi
Lost Notes: 1980 - Introducing Lost Notes: 1980
This season the poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib explores the year 1980. It was the brilliant, awkward and sometimes heartbreaking opening to a monumental decade in popular music.
Lost Notes S2 Bonus: Teenagers Surfing on the Wave of the Apocalypse
Our second of two Lost Notes bonus episodes for this summer. This one is about The Student Teachers. In 1977, a group of music obsessed friends got together and decided to form a band. Most of them were still in high school and almost none of them had even picked up an instrument before, but they lived and breathed the New York City music scene and wanted nothing more than to
Lost Notes S2 Bonus: Power to the People
The new season of Lost Notes will be here in September. Meantime, this summer, we’re sharing a couple of bonus episodes. Fifty years ago, an unlikely musical group evolved out of the Oakland chapter of the Black Panther Party. They were called The Lumpen. And although they quickly gained a following for their air-tight funk, they were always meant to be much more th
Lost Notes S2 Ep. 8: Song of a Gun
As long as there have been guns, there have been songs about guns. But American culture's relationship with guns is changing. Does popular music reflect that? We take a look at the history of music's relationships with guns, and gun control activism, to find out.
Lost Notes S2 Ep. 7: Beyond Disco: Nermin Niazi and Feisal Mosleh
In the early ‘80s, two teenage siblings in London recorded an album that fused Pakistani pop and British New Wave. It became a perfect harmony of the two worlds they lived in. This is the story behind their lost masterpiece.
Lost Notes S2 Ep. 6: Imagining Billy Tipton
Jazz pianist Billy Tipton has been celebrated by some as a trans pioneer – but his story resists an easy telling.
Lost Notes S2 Bonus: More on John Fahey and Legacy
As a supplement to our episode on John Fahey, we share a conversation between Jessica Hopper and Carla Green about artist legacies in the era of cancel culture and #MeToo.
Lost Notes S2 Ep. 5: Living with John Fahey, aka A Room Full of Flowers
John Fahey’s guitar playing influenced the sound of the American underground for generations. But how does that legacy change when you hear from three of the women who knew him best?
Lost Notes S2 Ep. 4: A Castle On Top of A Hill: The True Story of Fanny
The rock band Fanny ruled the Sunset Strip in the 1970s, and they were supposed to be the next big thing. They explain the price women pay for being ahead of their time.
Lost Notes S2 Ep. 3: Sonic Sculptor: Suzanne Ciani
Synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani used an esoteric instrument to design some of the most well-known commercial sounds of the 20th century.
Lost Notes S2 Ep. 2: To Chan Marshall: A Letter to Cat Power
Poet and author Hanif Abdurraqib's letter to Cat Power about how her album The Greatest worked its way into his life.
Lost Notes S2 Ep. 1: Teenage Offenders: Reckoning with a Punk Past
The Freeze were an early American punk band. Now, 40 years later, two members reckon with the lyrics they wrote as teenagers.
Lost Notes: Introducing Season 2
On this season of Lost Notes, the music journalist and author Jessica Hopper is looking at artist legacies. How do they hold up? How do they change over time? Learn how decades on a song can find new meaning, something different than when it was written. Find out what happens when we apply our 2019 politics to 1974’s songs. And hear from pioneering women who have been wr
S1 Bonus - Reissue: Unfictional - Nature Boy
The strange story of the postwar pop standard "Nature Boy" and its enigmatic creator, eden ahbez.
S1 Bonus - Reissue: Heat Rocks - Cymande
Legendary DJ/crate-digger Cut Chemist professes his love for Cymande’s 1972 self-titled debut.
S1 Bonus - Reissue: The Dove
A global pop icon appears in a most unexpected place in this story from Pod Planet’s Clive Desmond.
S1 Bonus - Reissue: Mad About the Boy
We resurface a story from Falling Tree Productions that takes a look at the empowering flip-side of pop fandom.
Lost Notes S1 Ep. 8: Searching for the Root: The Incredible Journey of Aisha Ali
In the wake of the swinging ‘60s, a young woman named Aisha Ali travels to North Africa in search of her roots. There, she single-handedly documents hours and hours of music and film from Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt ... much of it still unheard.
Lost Notes S1 Ep. 7: A Million Dollars Worth of Plastic
In 1989 McDonald’s ran the biggest flexi-disc promotion ever, sending out 80 million discs (playing the “Menu Song”) as inserts in newspapers all over the country. A very special copy of this record was almost burned to heat a family home in Galax, Virginia. Instead, it ended up winning the homeowner a million dollars.
Lost Notes S1 Ep. 6: Shaggs' Own Thing: The Story of the Wiggin Sisters
One of the most unlistenable bands of the ‘60s became a cult favorite decades later, gaining praise from the likes of Frank Zappa, Kurt Cobain and Sonic Youth. But did the Wiggin sisters from Fremont, New Hampshire even want to be in a band in the first place? The New Yorker’s Susan Orlean recounts her reporting on the band’s strange trip to unexpected fame.
Lost Notes S1 Ep. 5: Johnny Tried: The Ballad of Glen Sherley
When Johnny Cash played his iconic concert at Folsom Prison he covered the song of one very talented inmate. Johnny pulled some strings, plucked Glen Sherley from prison and brought him out on the road. Did this turn of fortune wind up helping or hurting the formerly unknown songwriter?
Lost Notes S1 Ep. 4: New Edition's Neighborhood Secret
The boys in New Edition were basketball fans from Boston - Celtics country. So what happened when they hung out with the L.A. Lakers in a music video during the height of the 1980s Celtics/Lakers rivalry?
Lost Notes S1 Ep. 3: Electricity: Conversations with Captain Beefheart
In this intimate radio portrait of one of music’s most legendary eccentric geniuses, writer Kristine McKenna offers you a visceral experience of what it was like to be friends with Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart).
Lost Notes S1 Ep. 2: Outlaws of the Airwaves: The Rise of Pirate Radio Station WBAD
Pirate radio station WBAD in New York was a beloved source for fans of underground, unsanitized hip-hop in the 1990s, but how high could this illegal operation fly while also staying under the radar?
Lost Notes S1 Ep. 1: Louie Louie: The Strange Journey of the Dirtiest Song Never Written
An FBI Investigation, an engagement ring, wine coolers... the surprising story behind the ubiquitous anthem that every teenager bangs out on their first guitar.
Lost Notes - Season 1: Introducing Lost Notes
Hear a preview of Lost Notes, an anthology of some of the greatest music stories never truly told. Top journalists present stand-alone audio documentaries that highlight music’s head, heart and beat, with host Solomon Georgio as your guide.
Recommended
10000 MINUTES
1000 Things You Should Know
1000x
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales
1001raah | هزار و یک راه
1001 Sherlock Holmes Stories & The Best of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1001 Songs That Make You Want To Die
100 Famous Dogs
#100MasterCoaches with Mel Leow, MCC
100% Mixtape Podcast
100 With The Hunter's
10-41: A UCSO Podcast
