• Welcome to the Internet Infidels Discussion Board.

Janis Died 50 Years Ago Today

 
 
 
I

ideologyhunter

Contributor
Joined
Jan 10, 2004
Messages
7,597
Location
Port Clinton, Ohio
Basic Beliefs
atheism/beatnikism
The world lost a great voice 50 years ago when Janis Joplin died. I've always responded to her urgent emotional delivery. Her entire career (dating, that is, from signing with a major label and getting press attention) was less than three years long. I love the Big Brother stuff, and a few things she did with her horn band, but it's the final half hour of studio material on Pearl that showed how much she grew as an artist. The key tracks on Pearl (Cry Baby, Get It While You Can, Me and Bobby McGee, A Woman Left Lonely, and the often overlooked Trust Me) show a singer who knew how to build a performance and top it off with a passionate burst at the end. Absolutely no telling what she could have done if she'd been kinder to herself.
Any newbies who wonder what all the hype was about should start with Pearl, then get one of the best-ofs. Do not pass up the opportunity to acquire This Is Janis Joplin, the 7-song set that Big Brother guitarist Jim Gurley released of Janis, from around '66, which includes 2:19 Train, I Aint Got a Worry, and especially her devastating reworking of Buffy St. Marie's Codeine.
 
I've told the story on the boards before, but I got to hear her and Big Brother in a small club in New York just days before their album was released and they became famous. I'll never forget it.
 
I remember reading that post of yours. Could you have seen her at a club called Generation? That gig, I believe, was the day of, or the day after, MLK was assassinated, which means early April of '68. Part of the performance was filmed, and has been used in documentaries, and the Piece of My Heart was released on a compilation cd.
I never saw Janis, but I went to four gigs by the reformed Big Brother & got to talk to Dave Getz and Peter Albin. Also met several people in Port Arthur who knew JJ as a teen. People who saw her at gigs have indelible memories of Janis on stage. I've spoken to several; sometimes they claim to have seen extraordinary sights, as did a woman who saw Janis with BBHC at the Anderson Theater in Jan. 68. She told me that as the concert began, Janis ran out to her mike, jumped in the air as high as she'd ever seen anyone jump, and then land at her mike and storm into the first number. (And the ticket to see the band was probably $3 or $4 back then...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom