Remembering Janis

Insidious Von

Insidious Von

My head is my home
Sep 12, 2007
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There is a resurgence of interest in Janis Joplin happening. A film of her life will be made, scheduled for release in 2020 - fifty years after her tragic passing. Michelle Williams will play Janis...I hope they're not expecting her to sing.

The was a film made in 1979 called The Rose with Bette Midler as a psudo Janis. It wasn't very good and depressing as hell. One part of the story was very wrong. Bette Midler's character is rejected by an old school country band - that never happened to Janis. Granted the country music community was slow to catch on but by the end of the 60's they were lining up to write songs for her. Kris Kristofferson was first in line, he built his career on the song he wrote for her.

This song never gets old.

 


I watched a documentary on her life I believe it was on PBS
 
 
Like Amy Winehouse, Janis couldn't help herself and both became slovenly toward the end. Janis lived with the stigma that she was ugly, it fueled her self destruction. She wasn't ugly, unless you're strictly into models.

When I was in my early teens I was into Slade, they were not a good band. But they did introduce me to Janis. They covered Move Over which was unlike anything else they were doing. After I heard Janis sing the song, Slade got lost.

 
This is a documentary made a couple of years ago, Little Girl Blue, it is excellent. It contains interviews with her siblings and parents. If you are a Janis fan, it is a must see. Also, includes the famous train tour across Canada. Sorry, it has Spanish subtitles but it is in English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r05zPLNk10c
 
Janis, Piece of my Heart went No.1 in the last week of 1967. More was to follow and she left a an indelible impression. In 1968, Jimmy Page started a new band with fellow session musician John Paul Jones. They both contributed to Jeff Beck's sessions that would become Truth, featuring the unknown protege Rod Stewart. Page wanted someone who could sing like Janis, it was short sighted.

Robert Plant's voice would lose it's power by 1973.

 
Had she lived, Janis probably would have become a country singer, she had no shortage of songwriters in that genre. Who knows, she may have even sung at The Grand Old Opry.

The way she sang out her pain, she was not meant to last. Pearl was released 4 months after she passed.

 
Insidious Von said:
Janis, Piece of my Heart went No.1 in the last week of 1967. More was to follow and she left a an indelible impression.
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Piece of My Heart was originally done by Aretha’s sister, Erma Franklin who scored a minor hit reaching #62 on Billboard in 1967. Janis reached #12 in 1968.
Her only #1 hit was the posthumous Me and Bobby McGee, a feat also done by Otis Redding’s Sitting on the Dock of the Bay and Jim Croce’s Time In A Bottle.
 
Janis Joplin's last performance in Toronto was in June of 1970 about three months before her death.

Janis did a FREE concert on a flatbed truck in Cornation Park outside of the CNE where she had performed earlier at the Grandstand.

It was the Festival Express Tour with the Greatful Dead, the Band and many others. The musicians were all on a VIA Rail train that crossed the country doing concerts over a few days.

Eventually in 2003, there was a film released about the tour, called Festival Express.

The movie which features informal jam sessions on the train (and trips to liquor stores along the way) were incredible.

IF you like Janis or any of these bands and want a good sense what the Sixties were like for young people, try to see the movie.

This tour occurred the year after Woodstock. There is a musician's quote, "Woodstock was a treat for the fans; Festival Express was a treat for the performers."

The movie really does show these musicians at their best - jamming and partying together on the train. Just the thought of it makes me feel good and gives me a sense of ' WHOPPIE ! '
 
Can't say I was a big fan, but I kinda liked her. A guy I knew at the time (1970) berated her for being a screaming drill sergeant. However it was 1970 and I was living in Calgary and the festival express came to town for 3 days and nights at McMahon Stadium.Tickets were around $30.00 for 3 days so a large contingent of hippies refused to pay....but we perched on the high slope of ground looking down into the stadium, so you could hear much of it. On the last night I met a guy from Vancouver who said he crashed concerts all over North America for a career choice at that time...He lead the way and we approached security and don't know what he said, but they ushered us in?? we made our way up some wooden steps and into the changing rooms, where Janis Joplin was sitting side by side at a piano, slugging a bottle of Southern Comfort and singing along.
We somehow got outside in front of the stage and she came on with the band and gave a great performance.
Years later, some English friends I met on holiday in Cuba, mentioned they had seen some old documentary the night before on the hotel tv, about said concert. I was too embarrassed to admit I was so old, as to be there. That was a couple of months before she passed on.
 
Mugabe, that is some fanciful drug induced delusion you have there. Was John Lennon there with Yoko dressed in white eating chocolate cake out of a bag? Did the concert crasher that hypnotized the security guard then turn after getting you in and tell you that he now owned your soul and grew horns on his head and hooves on his feet?
 
Wild Wiglin Willie said:
Mugabe, that is some fanciful drug induced delusion you have there. Was John Lennon there with Yoko dressed in white eating chocolate cake out of a bag? Did the concert crasher that hypnotized the security guard then turn after getting you in and tell you that he now owned your soul and grew horns on his head and hooves on his feet?
Click to expand...

what part of that mundane story is too much for you to grasp? I guess, compared to you I have really lived it up.Did you never go anywhere or do anything with your life? Anyway, nice to know I now have you as my own personal troll.
 
Robert Mugabe said:
He lead the way and we approached security and don't know what he said, but they ushered us in?? we made our way up some wooden steps and into the changing rooms, where Janis Joplin was sitting side by side at a piano, slugging a bottle of Southern Comfort and singing along.
Click to expand...

Mugabe, so you are saying that this Svengali figure that can get into not only the concert venue but the changing room of Janis just by whispering into a security guards ear went to the hill where the penniless hippies and runaways were and picked you and a chosen few to go with him?

Years ago there was a case of a janitor letting little kids into the Maple Leaf Gardens to see the game in exchange for favors, was that the case for you as well?
 
Wild Wiglin Willie said:
Mugabe, so you are saying that this Svengali figure that can get into not only the concert venue but the changing room of Janis just by whispering into a security guards ear went to the hill where the penniless hippies and runaways were and picked you and a chosen few to go with him?

Years ago there was a case of a janitor letting little kids into the Maple Leaf Gardens to see the game in exchange for favors, was that the case for you as well?
Click to expand...

Got it.You were a janitor at Maple Leaf gardens who diddled little kids. I guess your memories come from a deeper fonder experience. how did you enjoy the kids? bet that's all you've done with your life.
 
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