Des Barres wrote two memoirs about her experience as a groupie, "I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie" (1987) and "Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up" (1993). It is widely believed that Cameron Crowe drew from these memoirs to create the groupie character Penny Lane for his film "Almost Famous." Crowe has stated that the character was actually a composite of various girls he knew during his time as a teenage rock journalist, including one named Pennie Trumbull who went by Pennie Lane. The memoirs by Des Barres have another connection to the film: actress Kate Hudson read them for inspiration as she portrayed Penny Lane.