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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZGTOsGirls Together. Outrageously, an all-girl group. A troupe of groupies called the Laurel Canyon Ballet Company (after their neighbourhood) danced in L.A. clubs to combos incl. Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention; in the spirit of the times they were each called "Miss' by Tiny Tim. Zappa had established a production company called Bizzare and a label called Straight to promote non-mainstream acts such as Wild Man Fischer, Captain Beefheart and Alice Cooper (recommended by Miss Christine, according to Zappa); he christened the GTOs: Miss Mercy (Fontentot) and Miss Cynderella were newcomers; Miss Christine (Frka), Miss Lucy, Miss Mercy and Miss Pamela (Miller, later Des Barres) were backed by Mothers and others on their only album, Permanent Damage '69 (reissued on Enigma '89), mixing music and speech, living up to Zappa's hopes with Miss Christine's discussion of infamous groupie Cynthia Plaster-Caster's diary, Miss Mercy's "The Eureka Springs Garbage Lady', and a song about Beefheart's shoes entitled "The Captain's Fat Theresa Shoes'. Misses Mercy and Pamela sang backing vocals on "Hippie Boy' on the Flying Burrito Brothers' landmark album The Gilded Palace of Sin; on that album Miss Christine achieved a immortality as the inspiration for "Christine's Tune' (later also known as "Devil In Disguise'); she also appeared crawling out of what looked like a crypt on the cover of Zappa's Hot Rats. She died '72. Miss Pamela appeared as herself in Zappa's film 200 Motels and went on to write I'm With The Band '89, subtitled "Confessions of a Groupie'; later Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up. By the time of Rockbottom '96 Des Barres was writing about rock's casualty list from Brian Jones to |