A Janis Joplin Memory
Just as you might remember where you were on 9-11 or when Kennedy got shot or when the Challenger exploded, you probably remember where you were the first time you heard Janis Joplin sing. For me, the first time was a magical experience. Not that I had the pleasure of hearing her in concert or performing in a club somewhere out on the coast. No such luck. I first experienced Janis in the sparsely furnished living room of a small apartment in suburban New Jersey. In the center of the room sat a hassock which also served as a table. Upon it was an ashtray, a ball of hash, and a small five-dollar battery powered transistor radio. A few friends and I were passing around the pipe listening to WNEW FM out of NYC when the DJ led into Another Piece of My Heart. The soulful sounds that enveloped us and strummed our every fiber had no business coming out of a small plastic box no bigger than a school book. But, they did. Hopelessly hooked on Joplin, next day I went out and bought Cheap Thrills and played it till the grooves wore out.¹
¹ Ace's Bio-Farm.
Janis Joplin Quotes
"I must be an optimist because a pessimist is never disappointed."
"Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That's what music is to me."
"Well, to summarize, Big Brother is doing great and I just may be a 'star' one day. You know, it's funny. As it gets closer and more probable, being a star is losing its meaning, but what ever it means I'm ready!" ~ from a letter to her mother, summer 1967
"I wouldn't know. I'm a juicer." ~ response to a reporter's request for a definition of Acid Rock
