Rock Bottom by Pamela Des Barres

Author:Pamela Des Barres [Des Barres, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crónica, Memorias
Publisher: ePubLibre
Published: 1996-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

The Superfreak behind bars.

(ADAM W. WOLF)

Why did he need a facade? I ask. “I chose to create that persona. I read about the Masai warriors in Africa and put braids in my hair. They used to weave horse and lion hair into their braids. They believed if you wore the hair of powerful animals, you would gain their power and spirit. After I saw Kiss onstage, I wanted my show to look like the Fourth of July. The persona of Rick James was wild and crazy —sex, drugs, and rock and roll…”.

I remark that I think it’s odd how he refers to himself in the third person. “I relinquished Rick James”, he announces with relish. “I set him free and buried him. He nearly killed me! I’ve always third-person’d him. It was always strange to hear my mother say ‘Rick’. My name is James Johnson. Rick never sat with me right. It was always uncomfortable”. I ask if he considers himself a violent person and he shakes his head. “If anything I consider myself nonviolent. I’m from the hippie era —peace, love, groovy. You know where I’m coming from. I found the violence coming out of me later, after my mother passed away. Not so much violent, but angry”. Were there things left unsaid? “There were a lot of things left unsaid and undone”, he says sadly, leaning closer to me. “My cocaine addiction was running so rampant, I didn’t know how to stop it. I didn’t understand the sickness”. Perhaps he was too high? “That’s one reason”, he concedes. “And if I was sick, everybody around me was. Everybody did it. You can’t have rock and roll without drugs, you can’t have rock and roll without sex. It’s a vicious circle and I became angry. I was angry when I was young. I was mad about living in a white tenement slum, run off from school by Polish people. I was mad about my mother being in the numbers rackets, working for the Mafia. I was angry about the fact that my father would beat my mother on a daily basis, and that my mother would take it in turn and beat on me. I was an abused child. I was mad about all those things, very bitter and very angry”.

I ask if he’s still in touch with Tania. “Yes. She’s incarcerated, and God knows she’s having her share of problems. There’s a lot of jealousy with those women up there. They’re like really tripped out, you know, that we have a relationship. Tania’s my best friend. We’ve been able to elevate past the bullshit. Plus, we’ve got this son. He’s being taken care of by a nanny. His name is Tasmin, like a Tasmanian devil”. He smiles. “We call him the Tas Man”. I get down to it and ask if he feels justice was served in his case. “As far as my being here? Absolutely not. I’m not saying this because of my ego or profession, but

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