Janis Lyn Joplin
On The Road To Monterey
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It is Spring of 1962, change is in the air and a dawning of the cultural revolution of the sixties in imminent. Two college students from Austin, Texas embark on a journey that will lead them to the soon to be "hippie" capitol of the world, San Francisco and Haight Ashbury. The sprawling suburban area has long been a bastian for Bohemians, beat poets and the avante garde of the era. A tall, grey eyed activist with a passion for music and a pock faced, frail woman hitch hiking from Texas to the west coast and who would have known that this tandem would forever be etched in the folklore of The Counter Culture & psychedelia. Chet Helms & Janis Joplin were larger than life pillars of the hippie-esque motif of sixties San Francisco, her for impact on the music genre and Chet for The Avalon Ballroom, i.e., The Family Dog Productions, commissioning of poster art by legendary aritists like Mouse, Kelly, Moscoso, Griffin and Wes Wilson and his disdain for the war in Vietnam and the brutality that mirrored racism during that decade. Janis became enamored into the folk scene and the myriad of coffee houses and often played as a duet with future Hall Of Fame guitarist, Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane). Her affinity to speed would send her home to Port Arthur but as Chet began his rise to prominence as manager and booking agent, he ask Janis to return to the bay and audition as lead singer for Big Brother & The Holding Company. 1090 Page Street was an old Victorian owned by th family of Rodney & Peter Albin and on any given night, jam sessions would abound in the basement of the home. It took only one appearance for all to comprehend that a star was being born and the ascent to musical immortality would soon follow. She has often been immulated but never replicated. She was provocative, dynamic, soulful and her stage charisma was overwhelming. Although she would wilt under the pressures of various agents to go solo, she is best remembered for the two plus years with Sam Andrew, Peter S. Albin, James Gurley & David Getz, i.e., Big Brother & The Holding Company. "Ball & Chain", "Summertime", "Piece Of My Heart", explosive tunes on some days and enchanting on others. There were none before her that could exude the presence of "rock" royalty and merely a handful could come close after her dmise. Her brief twenty-seven years evolved into an absorbing addiction to dangerous two narcotics, a gripping drama of rehab and recovery. Towards the end of her life, predicated on her state of mind,, performances would range from caustic to euphoric. All these years later I think of her as an apologue, a moral fable in which a person can reach the zenith of their potential and yet self destruct way before her time. Monterey would be the event that launched her brief rise into the echelons of supremacy and as we embrace the 40th anniversary, the ghosts of Avalon will most certainly be amidst the masses on the sacred ground in Monterey County, and..as it should be. The impact of Janis Joplin could only be measured by the passing of time and she is revered and idolized by all who know and love music.To touch the lives of others by merely being capable of a singing with a passion is truly a gift. Forty years later, few have been able to say the same. Cheers Don Aters - Haight Street Music News - 2007 |
