(Oldest Living Confederate Groupie Page 2
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Hamzy lives in a modest white one-level house with green trim at the end of gently sloping street. There is a rusty Tercel parked on the dirt patch masquerading as a driveway. It's covered with cobwebs and dried pine needles; the hood is tattooed with small animal footprints and there is a bullet hole in the passenger-side windshield. As I walk up the muddy path overgrown with tall grass, the screen door swings open and Hamzy waves me inside.
The décor of the house is 1970's garage sale chic, and the smell of marijuana and unchanged cat litter hangs heavy in the air. Whitesnake's "Fool for Your Lovin'," is blasting on the stereo. Every wall in the house is adorned with rock memorabilia from her adventures over the last 35 years, including hundreds of all access tour laminates hanging from hooks in every room. There are framed, autographed photos of artists such as REO Speedwagon and Van Halen, each with a corresponding backstage pass. An enormous pile of drumsticks sits in a dusty corner of the living room. Most are monogrammed, including one that reads: "Ringo Starr." Connie points to a photo of herself with Rick Springfield from 1985. He towers above her five-foot frame and his arms are wrapped around her. She looks radiant, with flowing mocha hair and large, chocolate-brown eyes: "I never actually did Rick Springfield," she says, "but I had sex with his (female) masseuse on the massage table and he videotaped it. He got off on voyeurism. You know, he was Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital ."
Today, as Hamzy approaches 50, she looks remarkably healthy for a woman whose life has been riddled with booze, drugs, and indiscriminate sex. She is thin, but not sickly. Her hair still flows to her shoulders, though the dark roots are evidence of a neglected dye-job. There are more lines in her face, and at times she looks tired. But there are also flashes of radiance--particularly when a song comes on the radio that she likes--and this morning her eyes are full of life. Hamzy pours herself a glass of Franzia chardonnay and drops in a couple of ice cubes. She motions to a tray on the cluttered coffee table containing a glass bong, some rolling papers, and a small amount of weed: "You mind if I get high?" She takes a hit from the bong. "I know it sounds crazy, but I wanted to be a groupie since I was a little girl."
Connie was born an only child to working class parents in North Little Rock in 1955. Her mother was a housewife and her father did auto body and fender work, but according to Hamzy, "he was a womanizing gambler on the side." When she was in grade school, her parents took her to see Dick Clark's "Caravan of Stars," a popular concert series featuring bands such as Herman's Hermits, Little Richard, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. "I would see these girls going backstage--they were always dressed up, and they looked so glamorous," she says. "And I wanted to be back there, too."
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