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24 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 She Didn't Tell It All! Apr 16, 2009
By Patty Pipes
A group of us, still in the music scene loop, passed an unpublished copy of this around, and I just had to dink Sally one star for not telling all she did! She literally glossed over her experience with Jim Morrison, and completely left out a few "smaller" groups like Iron Butterfly.
Sally, if you ever read this, I want you to know I remember the L.A. Free Press photographing you several times and dubbing you "The Sweetheart of Sunset Strip." And you didn't even mention it!
Potential readers really should buy this book. It's incredible. Sally (and I need to let everyone know I do NOT know the author!) tells things the way they were. She doesn't get explicit about sexual activity, which makes it all the more enticing. She never got into heavy drugs, wasn't in rehab, and didn't go on tour with the Beatles. She lived a real life -- an abusive homelife with her family and then more abuse in love relationships -- yet she kept one eye on the future and managed to survive, which I find remarkable.
If you weren't around in the sixties, Sally's book will show you how it really was rather than the whitewashed hyped-up bull you find so often about that decade. Tijuana abortions, asassinations, riots, protests, near-starvation . . . they're all in the book along with the joy of rock concert antics, being a successful singer/songwriter, and having the good luck of hooking up with some great guys.
Thanks to some photos e-mailed me by Randy, I was able to click back to that girl who looked so much like Cher (that's Sally on the book cover, by the way) and was gracious to everybody she met. I'm trying to find a way to e-mail her, so if anyone knows how I can get in touch, please contact me or post here!
This book is a jewel. What a lady, what a life. I'm proud to be a member of her generation.
20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
 What A Trip! Apr 16, 2009
By David Crosby
I had the good luck to read a pre-publication copy of Blue Jean Baby given to me by a musician who knows both the author and me, and I was completely surprised. Expecting to read another sexploitation groupie book, I found myself engrossed in what I, also a 1960s L.A. denizen, remember to be the music scene.
The book is divided into three parts. Part One is called Beatlemania and Other Childhood Diseases, and we go on a naive, funny, but extremely pro-active trip with an ambitious concert-goer, room-key stealer, and otherwise obsessed music fan.
Part Two is called Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll, and all that good clean fun becomes tempered by drug experimentation, first-time sex, and more ambitious music pursuits. It's the heart of the sixties.
Part Three is called The Last Gasps of the Sixties, and the author drops us right on our butts with accounts of abuse, near-fatal illness, lost love, and the extreme loneliness of being a Canyon girl.
I love the Afterword. The author gives us her point of view of the world as it is now, and explains where her friends are and what they're currently doing. It ties together loose ends and is extremely satisfying to read.
Blue Jean Baby is an unexpectedly candid, chatty book. I felt as if the author were sitting in my living room, arms wrapped around denim knees, telling me how it was for her in the sixties.
A great read!
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
It brought back my teen years May 11, 2010
By T. Picariello
"guineapic"
I really loved this book. I was a Beatle's freak and saw them when I was 14 at the Boston Garden in 1964. I was infatuated with all the singers and groups in the book (in a way, I became jealous of Sally Parmer)!!! What a great time the '60's were. I would recommend this book to all the baby boomers.
10 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Review of Blue Jean Baby Apr 19, 2009
By Steven Tyler
Betty told me to buy and read this book so I'd treat music fans better. I flipped through the book so I could say I read it, and actually got involved. Once I read the book cover to cover, I was impressed. I honestly had no idea that groupies created such deep connections to musicians, and I didn't know how lonely a groupie's life was. Sally Parmer was a musician herself, and a good one. I first met her backstage after one of her rock musicial performances in Hollywood, and remember signing a guitar for her. She was polite but didn't seem like what I'd consider a groupie. She was a beautiful, talented lady who wanted to make sure her own performance, along with the performances of her cast members, went as smoothly as possible. My take on groupies has changed, and now I can tell who is a music fan and who wants to meet a celebrity. Blue Jean Baby was a serious music fan. She deserves credit for the way she lived her life, and I wish her all the success in the world with her enlightening book.
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
A Smart Book About A Smart Groupie Apr 22, 2009
By Mike
Blue Jean Baby is a unique book. It takes the reader on a first-hand trip through her teen years, against the backdrop of the sixties. The book is smartly written to sound like a storytelling session, which is a superior way of communicating information. In short, there's never a dull moment because of the way the book is written.
As for content, this girl's life during the flower child decade was both "normal" (middle class California girl) and remarkable (she was smart, talented, and just look at the cover to see how she looked) . . . but she had as much working against her (abusive family situation, poor health, high strung personality) as she did for her.
The book truly is a roller coaster ride. It begins by lulling us into laughter with concert pranks and Beatle-chasing, then slides us into sex and minor drug experimentation, and ends with a thud (I don't want to give too much away).
I read a lot, and this book came highly recommended. Whether you're looking for a biography, book about the sixties, coming of age story, or "groupie book," you'll appreciate the inspiration and intelligence of Blue Jean Baby.
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