Janis Joplin needs a proper forum to celebrate the many dimensions of her Singing/Musicianship and to finally show Her Regal import that built the house of classic rock.

Thank you

Indeed she does, and so I have created a performer forum for Janus Joplin and moved this thread into that forum.

Domo Arigato

Janis performed at Bill Graham's venues throughout her brief career. I'm hoping they'll stream some of her shows from her solo bands. Especially nice to hear would be her two versions of Lorraine Ellison's Stay With Me from the West Coast debut of the Kozmic Blues Band in March, 1969 at the Winterland.

I've listened to an amateur recording of both versions and they're scorching. Probably one of the most soulful, heartbreaking, heart-pounding performances of Janis I've heard captured.

Stay With Me was the only song Bette Midler did in The Rose that Janis actually sang herself..

Janis also did another tune originally released by Ellison: Try Just A Little Bit Harder.     

Another concert that should be in the Vault is the Big Brother reunion of April 4, 1970 at the Fillmore West. Two songs from this show appeared on the lp, Joplin In Concert, although both were cut to half their length - Ego Rock & All Is Loneliness. That night demonstrated Janis Joplin's exponential progress as a singer & also how far the musicianship of the band had come after Janis went solo.  

Janis did two Kozmic Blues Band tunes with Big Brother - Try & Maybe. (The song Maybe is one she can be heard urging the audience to request on the tape of a show from years earlier. Right after, one of the other members of Big Brother tells the audience, "No, you don't know what you're asking for" which sums up their attitude toward opening up their setlist to her suggestions.)

The performance of Try & Maybe with Big Brother - which again, I've heard on an amateur tape - is spectacular. One of the best versions of both songs. They should have listened to her.   

Another night that should be on any Joplin fan's Vault wish list: 

Janis  debuted her Kozmic Blues Band on February 11-12, 1969 at the Fillmore East after an infamous, poorly-received appearance at the Stax Volt Christmas party the previous year. Although her performance is a bit shaky - vocally and in the band's accompaniment - there are enough transcendent moments to make the recording interesting and even historic.

For example, Janis sang two tunes written by friend and fellow bluesman, Nick Gravenites - You're The Only One Who Really Knows (which has never been commercially released) and an awe-inspiring, noticeably more restrained Work Me Lord.

Tpalgeorge

I agree on all the above mentioned shows. Any seasoned diehard Janis fan has waited so patiently for this opportunity to arise.

My version of heaven, to have at least ONE comprehensive filmed Janis Joplin show at BG's great venues to be able to witness Janis in a whole new dimension. How cool would that be? The Real Janis Nation knows what I'm talking about. I hope my dream comes true for everyone out there who feels as I do about Janis Joplin's momumental importance as "the house that Joplin built".

Peace

Why not put out some of the existing video footage or a few concert tapes? I've never seen an answer that made any sense or seemed candid from those responsible for releasing her music. 

You're right. I think it would be great if Graham captured even one song, let alone an entire concert on film. It's clear how exciting her performances were from her appearances on Music Scene, Hollywood Palace, Ed Sullivan, Cavett, European TV and of course, the Festival Express footage first seen in 1974's Janis: The Way She Was.

Why is that movie the only one in film history that hasn't made it to DVD?

Did you know D. A. Pennebaker (Don't Look Back, Monterey Pop) followed Janis around during recording sessions for Kozmic Blues as well as Cheap Thrills?

Here's an excerpt from an interview he gave the BBC that's at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/features/rock-docs/ask_pennebaker.shtml

Richard Abrahams, Aberdeen
I read that you started a film about Janis Joplin but didn't finish it. Is that true and what was the problem?
DA Pennebaker
It is true. I shot a fair amount with her over about a month or so when she was in New York recording her first solo album with Columbia [I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!]. I filmed a lot of the recording sessions and she came over to my studio and I'd play records for her. It was a film that I couldn't see how to do so we both abandoned it. I really liked her a lot. She was very smart and I thought she was not taking the road that was most advantageous for her. But who was I to say? I happened to like that band she was with [Big Brother and the Holding Company]. I know they weren't the greatest musicians in the world but I thought they were what she needed. They were her friends and like a family to her. Later when she had Full Tilt Boogie behind her it made her feel very competitive and she didn't have any instrument apart from her voice so she just started using it as loud as she could to keep up with them. I thought that was not a good way for her to go. I think she needed what Lester Young did for Billie Holiday - something like that.

D. A. Pennebaker also filmed Big Brother at a "Wake For Martin Luther King" held at the New Generation Club in NYC on April 7, 1968. They're captured performing Catch Me Daddy, Piece Of My Heart, Down On Me and Summertime. This footage was included in Comin' Home, another video which inexplicably never made it to DVD format and in fact, is now out-of-print.

Every now and then a bootleg VCD version shows up on Ebay, though and occasionally someone puts a video copy up for sale. The performance is breathtaking, so they're worth any price.   

The live recordings and film of Janis performing are also priceless for the clarity they lend us nearly 40 years since her passing. While every book (or play or movie) has provided another aspect or vision of who she was, that portrait's made fuzzier with each layer of new paint. She might be better served by a compilation of essays sharing memories or giving homage rather than a straight chronological biography. Something to reflect that she meant different things to many people and even cultivated that chameleon quality in her personal life and career. 

The official record for Janis may be her recordings, which often contradict the books. Myra Friedman's Buried Alive had access to the players (and Janis) and proximity in time going for it, but that works against it too. There are tapes with Janis performing Work Me Lord - two mentioned already that may be in Wolfgang's Vault - that highlight how easy it is to get it wrong. (More later.)        

From Alice Echols’ Scars Of Sweet Paradise (1999): "Jae Whitaker, her lover from North Beach, yelled at the television when she heard the news (that Janis was dead). ‘You goddamn stupid ***!’ she shouted. ‘I was just so hurt and angry."

Janis died October 4, 1970. Myra Friedman’s Buried Alive was published in 1973. Many of those she interviewed were, like Whitaker, "just so hurt and angry." While their memories were fresh, the views and opinions expressed were often raw and visceral.

Although lacking the shadings of emotion and understanding provided by time, Friedman gave a (mostly accurate) first rendering of Janis Joplin’s life from beginning to end and many aspects of this portrait were copied by each successive biographer.

From Buried Alive: "A lot of people felt she disliked them, like John Clay. I know personally though - he didn’t know it - but she was trying a lot to help him. She had a tape of his stuff and she was playing it around, trying to get people interested."

Offhand remarks from grieving friends and associates, such as that Janis was considered unsupportive of friends, were later expounded upon by other authors. In Alice Echols’ (somewhat derivative) tome, Janis was also ungenerous to fellow artists, and if female and singing in the same style or genre, she was a downright ***.

There’s another side to the story, though. Many instances of Janis’ support and generosity toward other musicians can be found in press interviews or recordings of her concerts...

On friend and fellow bluesman, Nick Gravenites:

Fillmore East (February 1969): "That’s a song by Nick Gravenites who used to be with the Flag and is a fantastic cat singer and songwriter."

"I’ve got a new song I’d like to play if you don’t mind. I think it’s, well, it’s a dynamite tune! It’s another song by Nick. It’s called Work Me Lord.".

Winterland (March 1969): "We’re gonna close with a new tune. We’re gonna do some of the other ones in the next set, you know, but this is a new one that I really like a lot by Nick Gravenites called Work Me Lord."

Albert Hall (April 1969): "I want to do one more tune... No, that’s not it...We’re gonna do a tune written by Nick Gravenites who used to be with the Electric Flag....It’s called Work Me Lord."

Stockholm (April 1969): "We’d like to close with a tune written by Nick Gravenites, who used to be with the Electric Flag. A song called Work me Lord."

Atlanta (July 1969): "I’d like to do a tune by Nick Gravenites, who I wonder if you’re familiar with him and if you’re not, you really ought to try to look around and try and find out what he’s all about because he’s a fantastic and talented cat. He used to be with the Electric Flag, you know, but they got too crazy...and it couldn’t happen anymore...You know what I mean."

Woodstock (August 1969): "I’d like to close with a tune by Nick Gravenites, who I mentioned before because he’s such a fine songwriter. This is a tune of his called Work Me Lord."

Texas Pop Festival August 1969): "Thank you. That was a tune by Nick Gravenites, a very good songwriter, fantastic singer, a song called As Good As You’ve Been To This World."

For more on this fantastic cat singer and songwriter:

Overview: http://www.bay-area-bands.com/bab00010.htm

Autobiography: http://www.bluespower.com/a-ngbtb.htm

Interview: http://www.bluespower.com/arbn03.htm

Electric Flag playing Texas (Ego Rock): http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/ConcertDetail.aspx?id=49934|2140

Work Me Lord With Nick, Bloomfield, Snooky Flowers: http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/ConcertDetail.aspx?id=687|4661)

(More later: Jimmie Vaughan, Kristofferson, Tina)

 

 

 

 

.

Apparently, when you type "***" it changes to ***** when posted. So, I'll just say the word begins with a "B."

The first time I knew about Janis was a black and white performance aired on KQED channel 9 in SF. I'm thinkin' '66?? I was maybe fourteen or fifteen. I had never seen any "hippies" before and this stuff was so raw. I had never seen any one with hair that long and dressed like freaks. My mom came in and wouldn't let us watch the end of it because it was obscene she said.

My next recollection was some free concerts at Speedway Meadows about '67 and '68. Lot's of people at the last one with the Dead, Airplane, Quicksilver and I think Santana Blues Band. Hard to remember it was a long time ago. I remember about a hundred Hell's Angels parked on one side of the Meadow and the Cops totally out numbered, watching the spectacle on the other side.

One night we went to see the Dead at the Carousel Ballroom. We were tripping heavily and at some point we couldn't take being so close to the stage and we retreated to the little cafe in the front. There were some TV monitors and you could hear the PA still. There were two narrow doors that opened out onto small balconies over looking Market Street. Only two could stand there and I remember being there for ten minutes when that little Porche Speedster Janis had pulled up and double parked in the bus zone. From above, all we could see was a wild cartoon paint job and this mass of frizzy hair trailing boa feathers leap out of the car and into the building.

Janis made her way to the stage in short order and we could see on the monitors she and Pigpen were working on a bottle of Southern Comfort. We made our way back into the ballroom and watched Mr. Pen and Janis lay down and epic twenty minute rendition of Lovelights.

A bunch of us decided that we should go to the Fillmore West to catch the final Big Brother concerts. I just read in the thread, April '70. By the time we got downtown there was a line six deep all the way around the block. We said, let's go to see John Mayall at the Avalon. We got up to Sutter St. as the line was going in and ended up sitting near the back on the floor. What can I say? Mayall with Mick Taylor?

On the bill was Big Mama Willie Mae Thornton. After a bunch of tunes she starts talking to the audience about her music and stuff. She says that she is going to sing a song that she wrote that really launched her into the limelight. She said that the person most responsible for that was here tonight, and she points right at me. I turn my head and Janis is standing right behind me. She says, I want to dedicated this to Janis Joplin. Janis is smiling and crying when the band starts playing. Big Mama turned the place upside down. In a few minutes Janis was gone. I read later that she had come up there between sets at the Fillmore.

Anybody else have memories?

I’m surprised nobody’s come forward in all this time. There’s got to be someone else? Anyway, want to thank you for sharing your memories, tenorcat - I enjoy hearing first person accounts of Janis’ performances. They demonstrate how important she was to her audience - how much they identified with and idolized her. Also, like reading articles and reviews from back then. Those show how significant an artist she was considered - for her music, not because she died tragically.

 

I have a live cd of Big Mama Thornton (The Rising Sun Collection, Just A Memory Records, 1994) where she mentions Janis before singing Ball & Chain, "We’d like to sing this song for you. I wrote this song, ladies & gentlemen in 1960 and the late and great Janis Joplin, she asked me could she do it. So I told her, yes, but I had the pleasure of putting it on record before she did. So here it is in my own way, the way I wrote it. Now, she might have done some changes, I don’t know. See, I can’t sing like nobody but me. I might do your song, but no way in the world I can do you."

 

Ironically, this version sounds much closer to Janis’ than the earlier one I have on Big Mama’s greatest hits (Ball N’ Chain, Arhoolie, 1989). The liner notes to that collection say, "It was a song she sang a lot in the 1960s when her career was boosted by the renewed interest in blues on the part of white audiences here and overseas. It was a song Big Mama had made up herself and she really felt it. Janis Joplin also loved it and asked Big Mama’s permission before recording ‘Ball and Chain.’ Unfortunately it was not Big Mama’s legal right to grant such permission."

 

The notes reveal she assigned copyright to her songs to Baytone Records. About her recording of Hound Dog, the writer strikes a different tone, "Later Elvis Presley recorded the song and made a monster hit for himself utilizing pretty much the same arrangement."

For an update on downloads, please check out

"What Performers Are Paid" in the Ladies and Gentlemen forum.

Could you please advise where I might get a recording of Stay With Me??

Thanks