JANIS JOPLIN

A Life from Beginning to End

BY HOURLY HISTORY

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Copyright © 2024 by Hourly History.
All rights reserved.

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 Table of Contents

Introduction
Early Life in Texas
Finding Herself in California
Back to School
The Rebel of UT
On the Road
Struggle with Addiction
Big Brother and the Holding Company
The Monterey Festival
Cheap Thrills and Kozmic Blues
Last Days and Death
Conclusion
Bibliography
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 Introduction
Janis Lyn Joplin’s story began in the industrious oil town of Port
Arthur, Texas, on January 19, 1943. Her father, Seth Joplin, worked
as an oilman for Texaco, while her mother Dorothy was a college
registrar.
Despite being a small baby, weighing a mere five pounds at birth,
Janis grew to be a vibrant and spirited child within the Joplin
household. From a young age, she exhibited a deep love for learning.
Her parents fondly recalled how she would practically live at the
local library, where she read through countless books. Janis had a
knack for absorbing a vast array of knowledge, covering a wide
spectrum of subjects, from literature to music and beyond. Yet,
despite her intellectual prowess, Janis often chose to underplay her
intelligence in social settings. This was a habit that she picked up
from her father Seth, whom she used to refer to as a kind of “hidden
genius.”
Indeed, Seth Joplin was much more than just an oilman. He
possessed a keen intellect and an artistic side, characteristics that he,
for reasons of fitting in with his refinery colleagues, rarely displayed
in public. As Janis Joplin blossomed into a rock star, she embraced a
mystique similar to her father’s. She could easily be the brightest
person in a room, yet she chose to present herself as a rough-edged,
approachable bohemian. Her public image was that of a rock star
who was as at home with the common person as she was on the
stage, yet those closest to her knew the depth of her intellect. Behind
the facade of the hard-living rock star lay a woman who was a
philosopher at heart.

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 Chapter One
Early Life in Texas

“I got treated very badly in Texas. They don’t treat beatniks too
good. Port Arthur people thought I was a beatnik, though they’d
never seen one and neither had I.”

—Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin was one of those kids who stood out in class from the
get-go. Her teachers immediately noticed her sharp intellect and
decided to bump her up past second grade straight into third. This
meant she was the little one in class, way ahead in smarts but not in
size. Usually, that kind of gap can make school life tricky. Kids can
get jealous, and the smaller ones sometimes end up on the wrong
side of the schoolyard bullies.
But Janis? She seemed to dodge these typical problems. She
didn’t get her lunch money swiped and wasn’t shoved into lockers
like what happens to some kids. Instead, she kept on being the
overachiever. It looked like Janis thrived on the attention she got
from doing so well, but being an overachiever comes with its own
kind of stress. For Janis, part of that stress was trying to get her
parents’ attention, now split between her and her younger siblings,
Laura and Michael.
Navigating through school as the young, brainy kid wasn’t easy,
but Janis seemed to handle it in her own unique way. She was well-
liked, and she had plenty of friends. All the way up until the sixth
grade, the Joplin home was host to a large group of neighborhood
friends who would play and hang out. Sadly, this fraternizing seemed
to draw to a close that fateful sixth-grade year when many of her
friends seemed to move all at the same time. It might have been due
to financial circumstances, it might have been for personal reasons,
or maybe even just pure coincidence, but it seemed like all of Janis
Joplin’s closest friends in Port Arthur suddenly disappeared all at
once. This unforeseen twist of fate would have been a real bummer
for any kid to endure.
Janis’s entrance into junior high was also difficult because,
whereas she had walked to her elementary school, she suddenly had
to take the school bus. As anyone who has undergone education at a
public school can attest, riding on the school bus can be a dreadful
nightmare—especially if one feels all alone and without a friend in
the world. It was at this moment that Janis must have first
experienced bullying, or at least the threat of bullying, for she
suddenly told her parents that she couldn’t do it—she couldn’t ride
the bus anymore. She complained that the other kids were just too
rambunctious for her and that they scared her. Seth and Dorothy
took heed of their child’s distress and found a way for her to carpool
with other (apparently more friendly) kids so that she wouldn’t have
to ride the hated bus any longer.
After this episode, the rest of her junior high years seem to have
gone by without a hitch, but Janis would run into even more trouble
by the time high school came around, and it didn’t have anything at
all to do with transportation. Her problems had to do with her image.
By this time, she had begun to put on weight, and she also suffered
from severe acne breakouts. The acne became so bad, in fact, that
she had to see a doctor to have her face sanded down. This was, of
course, not at all good for the self-esteem of a budding teenager.
Joplin became quieter and more reflective during this period, and
she started to look for alternatives. She looked for alternatives in
dress, music, art, and most especially, friends. She began to hang out
with a group of kids who were considered a bit odd by her
contemporaries. With them, she would listen to jazz, read artsy
books, and on occasion—if the mood struck just right—they would
climb the local water tower. Although today, such a thing might seem
like a typical teenage prank, back in the early 1960s in straightlaced
Port Arthur, Texas, it seemed like a radical thing to do.
They also consumed a lot of beer. People in town began to take
notice of Janis and her crew’s shenanigans, expressing their distaste.
With this, Joplin developed what was then termed a “bad
reputation,” with people insinuating that she was promiscuous. This
rumor was very damaging to her during her high school years, even
though those who knew her best would later claim that there was
nothing to it. Janis, they insist, may have run around with a lot of
guys, but it was more like she was one of the guys. And according to
them, other than swapping beers and hopping on bridges, she was
not intimately involved with them.
Nonetheless, the rumors that swirled around her painted a
different picture, casting a shadow over her reputation. As her life
progressed, Janis Joplin would not only embrace but amplify the
very rumors that once hurt her, living a life as bold and unrestrained
as the gossip that once followed her.

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 Chapter Two
Finding Herself in California

“I’m a victim of my own insides. There was a time when I wanted to

know everything. It used to make me very unhappy, all that feeling.
I just didn’t know what to do with it. But now I’ve learned to make
that feeling work for me.”

—Janis Joplin

As Janis Joplin began her senior year of high school, it was clear that
she was well ahead of her peers. She didn’t even have to attend class
full-time; she had enough credits to reduce her presence at school,
and she took advantage of the extra time in her day to take up
various jobs. During this time, Joplin worked as a waitress and then
as a ticket seller at a theater. She also found time to hang out at a
local coffee shop to take in the scene. She even began to sell some
artsy paintings she had put together. Yes, among other things, Janis
had become a gifted painter. Although she would later slough off her
art as not a big deal, she had made some inspired avant-garde works
that showed real talent.
In May of 1960, Janis Joplin finished her time at Thomas
Jefferson High School. Not even 18 years old, the young Joplin
looked forward to starting college—hopefully in a place that could
appreciate both her art and her unique personality. Her first year,
however, she remained behind in Port Arthur. She took a few classes
at the local college, focusing mostly on mundane but practical trade
skills, such as how to work in an office. Back in those days, for many
families of this era, hopes weren’t nearly as high as they are now, and
learning a trade was deemed to be just as valid as becoming a doctor
or lawyer.
Janis was fairly mild-mannered during that first year out of high
school, except for one incident that occurred in 1961. That summer,
she snuck off to Houston and headed to the Purple Onion
Coffeeshop, a hipster joint full of beatniks. Janis was by now
fascinated with anything that was deemed beyond the mainstream,
and like a moth to a flame, she was drawn to this mecca of
alternative life.
However, something happened here that had the young Janis
drinking way too much and becoming very, very sick. It would later
be learned that she was suffering from a kidney infection, for which
she was hospitalized. Her parents, for their part, seemed more
worried about her mental state than her physical condition, and after
her release, they booked her to see a therapist. Joplin was evidently
quite unhappy, not just with herself but with her surroundings. She
insisted a change of scenery was necessary. Her parents, seeking to
oblige their daughter, agreed to allow her to stay with her aunt in the
much different backdrop of Los Angeles, California. They paid for
her transport, and she headed off to LA later that summer.
Janis was supposed to get a job and lodge with her aunt
indefinitely, but shortly after she got a job for a local telephone
company, she moved right out of her aunt’s house and went on to live
in a small apartment in LA’s hipster-crawling neighborhood of
Venice Beach. Today, Venice is likely more known for crime and
homeless camps than anything else, but back in Janis Joplin’s day, it
was a little different.
At any rate, it was her experience in Venice that proved to be a
major turning point for Janis, and her personality would change
considerably after her stay there. When she came back to Texas to
visit, her friends noticed the distinct difference. She came decked out
in a sheepskin jacket, speaking the latest beatnik slang, and was full
of all kinds of unconventional (at least unconventional to southern
Texas stylings in the early 1960s) ways to live one’s life.
There was also a change in Janis by the mere fact that she was,
for once, quite happy and fulfilled. She was happy because she
believed that she had finally found herself. The previously struggling
outcast had found her niche in life. As much as music and pop
culture historians would later speculate about her music and her
antics, deep down all Janis was really trying to do was find some way
to be accepted. If talking the latest lingo, listening to the latest tunes,
and wearing the most flamboyant clothes somehow carved out a
place for her in life, she was more than ready to do so.

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 Chapter Three
Back to School

“I always wanted to be an artist, whatever that was, like other

chicks want to be stewardesses. I read, I painted, I thought.”

—Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin returned to Port Arthur in 1962 as a changed woman.

She had a new style, and to the surprise of some of her friends, she
had also taken up singing. It was her friend Jim Langdon who, on
what seemed like a spontaneous whim, persuaded her to perform on
stage at the local Beaumont Club for a gathering on New Year’s Eve.
Jim and his friends provided the backing music as Janis sang a few
jazz numbers. Although the reception Janis received was quite weak,
she didn’t let it discourage her. On the contrary, she found that she
enjoyed performing on stage and wanted to keep it up.
She followed up this outing by getting herself singing time at
Beaumont’s Halfway House as well as the Purple Onion. Yes, at the
same joint that she had once left sickened physically and entirely
disillusioned mentally, she was now taking center stage. She soon
expanded her reach, heading out to venues in Louisiana, where she
sought to merge with the eclectic mix of sights and sounds in the
French Quarter.
At her side were once again her good friends from high school,
such as Jim Langdon and Jack Smith, and once again, the fact that
Janis was paling around with a group of guys in dive bars led many
to speculate that perhaps Janis was not quite as wholesome as she
used to be. But her friends would later recount that Janis might have
been a bit of a flirt, but it didn’t go much further than that.
Apparently, it was quite common for Janis to shoot pool with her
admirers and allow them to buy her beer, only for her to suddenly
make a hasty exit with her friends warily in toe.
It wasn’t long before Joplin was looking for new horizons, and
she found it in the creative center of Austin, Texas. She and her
companions had often looked toward the skyline of Austin from their
favorite haunt, perched up high above the Rainbow Bridge, and now
it beckoned like never before. It may not have been California, but it
was certainly much better than Port Arthur.
For Janis Joplin, Austin seemed like just the place to get a fresh
start. She enrolled at the University of Texas and moved into a
campus apartment. Most of the students at the school were rather
conservative, but Janis soon found a small group of like-minded
friends. Among them was a girl who originally hailed from the East
Coast—Fredda Slote. Janis and Fredda would be lifelong friends.
Fredda recalled her first encounter with Janis as being quite simple
yet profound. Janis saw Fredda standing in line to sign up for a
course and, apparently simply by the way she dressed and carried
herself, pegged her as being a kindred spirit. Janis then boldly
walked up to her and introduced herself, and the two were friends
from that day forward.
Another good friend that she met at UT was a guy named Gilbert
Shelton, who was studying art and wrote for the Texas Ranger, a
satirical college rag that was making the rounds at the time. Soon
enough, Janis and her friends would essentially become the main
driving force of counterculture on the UT campus.

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 Chapter Four
The Rebel of UT

“Janis didn’t just happen to start singing folk music and be

discovered by the media. . . . She was one of those people who’d
practice long into the night to get one twist of phrase right or the
transition from one chord to another. They were all fanatics. You
have to be if you’re going to be a musician. An artist is a fanatic by
nature and that’s what she was.”

—Fredda Slote

During her time at UT, Janis grew up fast. On most nights, she
partied and played music until the break of dawn. Her grades, as one
might imagine, suffered as a consequence. During her first semester,
she earned two C grades and Ws for the rest, meaning she dropped
out of class. Instead of going to class, she became a regular
performer with a local band called the Waller Creek Boys. Yes,
although Janis was the lead singer, she was once again lost in a
crowd of boys.
Initially, the group was just a party band, playing at the routine
house parties among their friends. It wasn’t until one of those mutual
friends—one Stephanie Chernikowski—established a venue at UT
called the Folk Sing, in which local folk and other music acts could
perform, that Janis and company really began to get noticed.
The Folk Sing was somewhat akin to an open mike night. The
open mike night (sometimes called open stage night) revolves
around one main idea: having one designated night a week for
random, everyday folks to plug into the PA system, get on stage, and
try their luck singing into a microphone. These affairs typically
feature a grab bag of budding musicians, from whole bands testing
their chops to just one lone person with an acoustic guitar singing
their heart out. UT’s Folk Sing was a lot like that.
According to those who remembered it, a wide range of would-be
musicians tried their luck performing at the Folk Sing. Some were
good, some were bad, and some were downright embarrassing. But
Janis and her group—the Waller Creek Boys—were one of the better
acts to perform. They plied their trade at this venue and almost
immediately developed a following. However, the times were
changing, and both changes in music and international politics
would soon affect budding musicians and counterculture enthusiasts
alike.
The emergence of socially conscious artists such as Bob Dylan
and the increasing involvement of the US in the Vietnam War would
lead to the development of so-called protest songs. Those who made
the songs were inspired to make a difference, and some simply
jumped on the bandwagon because it seemed like the hip thing to do.
For Janis and her colleagues, this move toward more social
awareness was a great aid for their music and personas, even if their
own personal songs did not always embody the ethos of the
protest/folk scene.
Janis Joplin would write and perform many songs that could only
be described as feel-good rock and roll party tunes, but the influence
of protest music was still there all the same. If anything, Joplin was
protesting the conventional life that many expected her to live simply
by being herself and refusing to conform. It was perhaps her sheer
grit, determination, and attitude—no matter what her actual lyrics
were—that made Janis embody the rebellious spirit of protest more
than anything else. She lived a life of unconventionality, and her very
existence and mode of living was a protest in itself.
It wasn’t always easy. School officials even took special note of
Joplin and her friends and were quite apprehensive of the
happenings at the apartment where they lived. It was rumored that
free-for-all parties were taking place at all hours of the night, where
drink, drugs, and good times were shared by all. This did not bode
well with the conservative school officials, and they sought to rein it
in. Janis didn’t mind though because she had better things to do
anyway. As soon as January of 1963 arrived, she would hit the road.

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 Chapter Five
On the Road

“I’ve been looking around, and I noticed something: how much you
really need to be loved. Ambition isn’t just a desperate quest for
position or money. It’s just love—lots of love.”

—Janis Joplin

Joplin was always a big fan of Jack Kerouac’s masterpiece On the

Road, an epic chronicle of a tour across Jazz Age America. Janis, like
many youngsters, longed to create her own similar cross-country
adventure. So, in January 1963, she and her good friend Chet Helms
sought to travel from Austin, Texas, all the way to San Francisco,
California. It was a brash thing to do, but Janis was indeed in a spur-
of-the-moment state of mind.
Their first pitstop was none other than the home of Chet’s
parents. Of course, crashing at one’s parents—or even the parents of
one’s friends—wasn’t exactly the glorious and epic journey that Janis
was hoping for. Nevertheless, they decided to take a break at the
Chet home in Fort Worth, Texas. Janis apparently made quite an
impression on Chet’s parents. Even in the presence of his elders, she
didn’t refrain from using copious amounts of profanity. She also
didn’t care about her clothes—jeans and a loose shirt with no bra—
which were considered fairly risqué for the time.
When Chet then suggested that Janis bunk with him, his mother
simply wasn’t having it. She informed them in no uncertain terms
that they would have to move on. And they did. Chet’s little brother
drove them to the outskirts of Fort Worth. From there, they put their
thumbs to good use and hitched rides with several motorists until,
some way or other, they ended up in San Francisco.
Once in San Francisco, they were able to hook up with a musician
they had met at UT, David Freiberg. Frieberg had played with a
group called the Mendicant Folksingers for Peace and was more than
happy to give Chet and Janis a place to stay. It wasn’t long before
they also lined up a place to perform. Joplin became a source of great
interest at a local joint called Coffee and Confusion—so much so that
it’s said that during her first night, people took up a spontaneous
collection for her. She was able to collect around 50 dollars for this
feat. It wasn’t much, but it was at least enough for her and Chet to
get some food to eat.
Her performance at Coffee and Confusion opened the door for
another event at a coffee shop called the Coffee Gallery. Here, she
once again reprised her schtick, and she was greeted with similar
praise. She also managed to rub shoulders with some rockers who
would later become quite notable, such as Marty Balin, David
Crosby, Nick Gravenites, and Terry Garthwaite. Janis would also
meet none other than Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead fame during yet
another stint at the local coffee shop folk venues.
At this time, Joplin was crashing in a basement with a bunch of
other folk musicians, who gave her free room and board simply
because they recognized her talent and wished to support her. In
times when others could not support her, she found other ways of
survival. There were tales of panhandling and even stealing, as well
as much milder stories of getting free food at missions and
occasionally being handed discarded produce by friendly grocery
store managers.
When she wasn’t scraping to get by, Janis spent the rest of her
time perfecting her craft and preparing for the next big gig. Her
drinking, which would become quite an infamous part of her life, was
already a problem. It’s said that during her time in San Francisco,
she would openly drink on street corners and likely didn’t seem all
that much different from the regular riff-raff, other than the fact that
she could carry a tune better than most.
Joplin also managed to get into a bad accident on a motorcycle.
She was angry with a man she was dating, and in her haste to get
away, she hopped on his bike and ended up crashing. Although she
broke her arm in the mishap, she persevered and for a time even
managed to get a regular-paying job working as a keypuncher. It was
this gig that enabled her to buy some much-needed music
equipment.
Later that fall, Janis had a surprise guest come her way—her
father, Seth Joplin. Although Janis’ parents had thus far shown
remarkable restraint in handling their daughter, he had by this point
become concerned enough to track her down. Janis must have been a
bit worried about having her father take a peek at the inner workings
of her hectic world, but as it turns out, she needn’t worry that much.
Her father understood her better than most, and he didn’t condemn
her lifestyle in the slightest. Instead, he waxed philosophical with
Janis, explaining to her his view of how life was just kind of a big joke
that we all take way too seriously. According to Seth’s way of
thinking, life was ridiculous, and we should all just step back and
make the best of it.
The notion that life is a joke is strangely depressing and
refreshing at the same time. The viewpoint that everything is
meaningless in the long run can inspire people to take risks, not take
themselves too seriously, and do what they really want—because
none of it matters anyway. In good time, Janis Joplin—no matter
where she was, who she was with, or what she was doing—would take
these words of wisdom to heart.

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 Chapter Six
Struggle with Addiction

“Playing isn’t necessarily about misery. Playing isn’t necessarily

about happiness. But it’s just about letting yourself feel all those
things that you have already on the inside of you, but you’re all the
time trying to push them aside because they don’t make for polite
conversation.”

—Janis Joplin

By the mid-1960s, Janis Joplin was not only deeply immersed in the
music scene but had also become heavily involved with drugs. It’s
said that she and her friends started shooting heroin around this
time. Janis was soon a flat-out drug addict, and such a description is
by no means an exaggeration.
Her friends would later recall how, during one instance in which
Janis couldn’t get her hands on drugs, she actually attempted to
shoot up watermelon juice. Such a thing certainly couldn’t be healthy
and goes far to explain how so many people die of drug overdoses. If
someone is fiending for heroin bad enough to inject fruit juice into
their veins, there’s no telling what they might do when they get the
real stuff.
Janis was also quite promiscuous at this time. She dated both
men and women. Now, any pretense of chastity had gone by the
wayside. Although Joplin was with a lot of different people during
this period, her most stable relationship was with a woman named
Jae Whitaker. She first met Jae back in 1963, and she would remain
a big part of her life for several years to come. Still, Janis was falling
apart. By 1965, she was dangerously underweight, and even her
drug-abusing friends were worried about her. They decided to raise
money to send her back to her parents’ home in Port Arthur.
Janis was frustrated that she hadn’t made it big in music, but for
a time, she was willing to try other things to see if she could
straighten out her life. She stopped using drugs, cleaned up her
appearance, and enrolled at Lamar University in neighboring
Beaumont, Texas. Here, she took courses to be a social worker. Her
heart was still in music, though, and she continued to perform in her
spare time, heading out to the musical hub of Austin whenever she
had the chance.
The truth was, when Janis was not performing, she felt like a
turtle closed up in a shell. She would express these feelings in a song
she wrote during this period called “Turtle Blues.” Here, she
described herself as feeling like she was just biding her time, hiding
herself away. Even when she tried to conform and hide, however,
others sensed that there was something different about Janis Joplin.
At Lamar, some students would later recall thinking she was
downright “weird.” Part of the weirdness might have actually been
due to withdrawal symptoms. Joplin was coming off a lot of heavy
drugs and suffered from terrible bouts of anxiety as a result. Bright
lights, sudden motion, and loud sounds were all enough to trigger an
exaggerated, startled response from her.
Nevertheless, she did her best and made decent grades while she
was there, getting Bs in most of her classes. But even while Janis
Joplin was hiding in her turtle shell of conformity, things were
changing on the outside, especially in her old stomping grounds of
California. The folk, beatnik, and jazz scene was suddenly giving way
to rock and roll and the hippie movement. By the year’s end in 1965,
it became clear that there was a major sea change in both music and
culture in the works.
Even though Janis had left her wild lifestyle behind in California,
her absence coincided with an outright generational shift of
consciousness. Bob Dylan had gone electric, and the American folk
bard was now suddenly blowing the doors off the British invasion of
the Beatles, which had occurred a year prior. Many other American
folk-turned-rock groups followed suit. At the same time, a new drug
called LSD was being passed around among the youth. Minds were
being opened, and new styles were being created left and right.
Janis Joplin just couldn’t resist getting involved in this resurgent
scene, and by the following year, her brief sabbatical was over, and
she would be back in San Francisco to see it for herself.

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 Chapter Seven
Big Brother and the Holding Company

“All of a sudden, someone threw me in front of this rock and roll

band. And I decided then and there that was it. I never wanted to do
anything else.”

—Janis Joplin

Just prior to moving back to San Francisco, Joplin first tried her luck
once again in Austin, Texas. She had begun periodically performing
at music clubs in the area, and by the spring of 1966, she was
convinced that she had to make a return to music. That summer, she
made the trek back to California, driven there by Travis Rivers, who
was a mutual friend of Chet Helms.
Janis kept her parents back home in Port Arthur, Texas, in the
dark about much of this. Travis had stopped by Port Arthur before
they began the long trek, but Janis didn’t tell her family that they
were going to California; she made it seem as if she would just be
staying in Austin for a while. Upon her departure, the next they
heard from their daughter was by way of a letter she penned on June
6, 1966, which explained that she was following her dreams—dreams
that had led her back to San Francisco, California.
Joplin was giving herself until the end of the summer to make it
in music and promised that if it didn’t work out, she would return in
the fall to resume her coursework in college. There are countless
budding young musicians who have made this same exact sort of
pledge while on summer break from college. The only difference is
that most of these would-be rock stars never hit the big time and do
indeed return to school in the fall. Janis Joplin, of course, would be a
whole other story.
Rather than return to Port Arthur with her tail between her legs,
she hooked up with an up-and-coming musical outfit called Big
Brother and the Holding Company. The group was a fusion of blues
and the new harder-edged sounds of psychedelic rock. She had been
introduced to the group by her old point man from the San Francisco
music scene—Chet Helms. Helms was actually serving as the
manager of Big Brother and the Holding Company at the time.
During one of their early gigs with Janis, the group performed at
the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco and made a fairly good
impression on the crowds. This is a great testament to Janis’ voice
and her ability to roll with the punches because Big Brother wasn’t
exactly her usual style. Janis was used to a low-key, bluesy set of
tunes, while Big Brother was a loud, amped-up rock band. Yet her
voice was able to rise above the ruckus quite nicely.
The band actually practiced in an old, abandoned horse barn next
to the San Francisco Fire Department. Here, they amped up so loud
that Janis was often heard literally screaming over the music. It was
so intense, in fact, that the cops were once called to investigate the
screams coming from an unknown female subject. That unknown
female subject of course was Janis Joplin.
Being able to sing over a loud band was just one component of
Joplin’s success; the other was her charisma on stage. While it’s true
that some great artists don’t even acknowledge their audience—
perhaps they look intently toward the rafters or even close their eyes
as they put everything into the music, completely ignoring the crowd
—most of the time, this introspective approach doesn’t work.
Fortunately, Janis did not have this problem because she was
actively engaged with the audience the whole entire time. Like a
female Mick Jagger, she was able to saunter about, joke and laugh,
and be totally free, as she had fun right along with the audience.
Her only real concern was her appearance. Janis had long
struggled with image issues, and besides struggling with her weight
and having a hard time dealing with acne, she had yet to discover any
real fashion sense. During her first few concerts with Big Brother and
the Holding Company, she would dress pretty plainly in jeans and a
sweater, though she desperately wanted to embrace a new look. This
was the dawn of hippie culture after all, and just about everyone on
the scene had their own unique style of dress. Determined not to be
left out, Joplin began to scour local shops for a winning wardrobe.
Soon, she was wearing flashy dresses decked out in eye-catching
necklaces and beads.
It was about a month into Joplin’s return that she and her
bandmates settled in a new house in Lagunitas, just northwest of San
Francisco. Here, they lived together as well as played together. The
band essentially served as a surrogate family pooling together
resources and offering comfort and encouragement when needed.
Along with the immediate band members—Dave Getz, Peter
Albin, Sam Andrew, James Gurley, and of course Janis Joplin—there
were also plenty of extras. The bandmates’ significant others, their
friends, and friends of the friends made up a pretty sizeable
entourage. Even so, this readymade crowd was not always enough, as
the band found out when they went on a brief tour of Chicago in
August 1966. This engagement ended up going off the rails when
their promoters failed to promote the gig well enough to fill up large
venues with paying customers.
In their downtime, the band hooked up with record producer Bob
Shad, which resulted in a few tracks being recorded for Mainstream
Records. The group then returned to San Francisco, hoping and
waiting for something noteworthy to come their way. They wouldn’t
have to wait for long because soon they would be singing a whole
different tune for the folks down in Monterey.

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 Chapter Eight
The Monterey Festival

“As it gets closer and more probable, being a star is really losing its
meaning.”

—Janis Joplin

The Monterey International Pop Festival kicked off on June 16, 1967.
It was billed as a weekend of music, fun, and fine art. Although the
mega musical and cultural event known as Woodstock later managed
to get all the attention, the Monterey Pop Festival was just as
important. It was this event that crystallized the musical and cultural
happenings of the California music scene and essentially presented
the phenomena for the whole world to see.
Sure, the event was a local one in the sense that it was held in
Monterey, California, but it was showcased and packaged in a way
for the whole world to take part in. The notoriety was stirred up in
California that weekend, and then it was talked about in countless
newspaper op-eds all over the world. Also telling was the fact that the
musicians who performed on stage were not just from California.
There were California acts, of course, but Jimi Hendrix was there as
well, and so were the Who. The latter came all the way from London,
so this was clearly about more than the California scene. Monterey
might have been the location, but the purpose was to demonstrate an
international cultural phenomenon.
In the midst of all this, Janis Joplin took the stage. Sure, she was
playing with a band, but of all the members of Big Brother and the
Holding Company, it was most certainly sister Janis who stole the
show. Those who knew her would later recall that she was quite
nervous before she alighted that stage, but any last-minute jitters fell
away as soon as she stepped up to the microphone. People were
amazed at what they heard; the sound of loud rock music with the
tour de force of Janis’ thick and husky voice wowed the crowd. Joplin
didn’t miss a beat, and her performance was more than enough to
knock people’s socks right off their feet.
She tore into songs such as “Roadblock” and “Down on Me” with
abandon, and soon, the whole crowd was mesmerized by the frenetic
pace of what seemed to be rock and roll’s newest face. The most
memorable number was likely the heartfelt tune “Ball and Chain.”
Janis, for her part, always put everything she had behind this song,
and the experience was no different at Monterey. She flew across the
stage like a tortured tornado of humanity, stomping her feet to the
music as she delivered a relentless vocal assault. She whispered, sang
sweetly, and unleashed guttural howls—all to the shock and delight
of concertgoers.
The first rendition was not committed to film, but the second one
was indeed recorded for posterity and would appear in Pennebaker’s
documentary of the occasion—Monterey Pop. During the
performance, Janis appeared exuberant. She seemed to have the
euphoria of one who knows that success is on the horizon and their
dreams are finally within grasp.
It could be said that the Monterey Pop Festival was the moment
that Janis Joplin found herself. Yet, at the same time, it was also the
moment that spelled the doom of her backing band. Just as all eyes
were looking at Janis Joplin, the band itself became more and more
irrelevant. This was evident when the group signed with Columbia,
and their subsequent material was repackaged to read “featuring
Janis Joplin.” It seemed to be just one step removed from calling the
outfit Janis Joplin and the Holding Company.
Joplin was indeed a rising star, and one could hardly keep her
from shining. She was enjoying every minute of her newfound fame
and was particularly pleased with the effect that her stardom was
having on men. Before, she would bitterly complain that she had
trouble appealing to attractive men, but now she had no problem at
all. It seems that the fact that she had become a famous rock star had
a way of making her a better catch. No longer lonely, she had guys
lining up to meet her after every single show. These liaisons would
have consequences, however, the most serious coming in January of
1968 when Janis became pregnant from one of her relationships.
There is still much that remains unknown about this episode, but
it seems that a then 25-year-old Janis Joplin decided to terminate
the unexpected pregnancy. It’s said that Janis spoke with a friend—
Linda Gravenites—about the ordeal and expressed remorse, but at
the same time, she just couldn’t see herself becoming a mother at
this point in her busy career.
According to Joplin biographer Alice Echols, she was on stage
singing in front of the band almost immediately after the abortion
had been carried out. A very sick and weak Joplin was witnessed
performing in LA by a former booking agent by the name of Todd
Schiffmann. Schiffmann would later recall how he encountered
Joplin backstage, bent over and in clear distress. She informed him
that she had recently had an abortion and mentioned wanting to go
to the hospital. This was apparently right before she and the band
were about to go on in front of a screaming audience of fans
demanding to get what they had paid for. Schiffmann, realizing her
dilemma, suggested that she blame her inability to perform on a
malfunctioning PA system. He encouraged her to go out on stage and
explain to the crowds that she had to cancel the show.
Schiffmann should have realized that as soon as Joplin got up in
front of a crowd, the last thing she would be able to do was cancel.
Instead, Janis complained to the howling audience that there was a
lot of “bulls--t” taking place backstage. As if she herself were above
the fray, and the disturbance had nothing at all to do with her, Janis
projected the cause of her problems elsewhere. Rather than explain
to the crowd that she couldn’t perform because she wasn’t feeling
well, she declared that no matter what was going on back there, she
was just “going to do it.” To the delight of fans and the astonishment
of Schiffmann, she then went on to perform a full set before the
roaring crowd.
Yet as much as her fans approved of her, it would become
increasingly clear that her parents back home in Port Arthur, Texas,
did not. This was painfully apparent in August of 1967 when her
mother and father paid her a visit. First, they visited the apartment
she stayed at and were shocked at her living conditions. Although
Janis had cleaned up the place considerably, it was still a disquieting
experience for her parents. Janis then treated her parents to a
concert. They were in the audience at the Avalon when Janis
performed with Big Brother. It seems that they weren’t particularly
impressed.
Still, after it was all said and done, they did come to accept that
Janis had made her choice. She had chosen the life she was living,
and even though it would be a stretch to say that they gave their
blessing, they did indicate some degree of acceptance. It was after
this emotional reckoning that mom and dad bid their daughter
goodbye and good luck. She would definitely need it.

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 Chapter Nine
Cheap Thrills and Kozmic Blues

“On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home

alone.”

—Janis Joplin

In the spring of 1968, Janis and Big Brother headed off to New York
to finalize the terms with Columbia, as well as embark upon an
impromptu tour. The first place they performed was over at the
Anderson, a famed theater house located on the lower east side of the
city.
Janis was nervous before the start of the show, worried about
whether or not she would be accepted on the East Coast. Despite all
her success in Texas and California, the new crowd she faced in New
York gave her the jitters. Would the magic work for her here like it
did out West? She and her bandmates couldn’t help but be
intimidated by the gritty, harsh realities of life in New York City. The
hectic, fast-paced New York of the 1970s was indeed quite a bit
different from the relaxed vibes of California. So, one can hardly
blame the band for having a little bit of stage fright. Nevertheless,
they knew that the show must go on.
It was actually none other than blues legend B.B. King who
opened for Big Brother. King is said to have played a tremendous
show, with both his incredible sense of musicianship and his ability
as a lyrical storyteller on full display. This, of course, only made it
more nerve-wracking for Janis Joplin and the group since it was
literally going to be a tough act to follow.
When it was her time to shine, Janis ran out on stage as Big
Brother belted out the rhythm for the song “Catch Me Daddy.” She
then tore into her frenetic vocal rendition of the track. The audience
almost immediately showed their approval of the spectacle she made,
shouting in excitement at this energetic young woman’s
performance. There was so much enthusiasm for Joplin, in fact, that
the group ended up doing a total of four encores before finally
coming to a close with Janis wailing out the words to “Ball and
Chain.”
Their success here would lead to more opportunities elsewhere,
and a short time later, they were the headliners over at the Fillmore
East. Yet as successful as these outings were, the divide between
Janis and her backing band was growing. It was now quite common
for them to part and go their separate ways after gigs. The guys in the
band would party hard and leave Janis alone to sit at some hole-in-
the-wall bar to sip on a bottle of Southern Comfort.
Janis was tired of being ditched by bandmates whom she
increasingly viewed as being ungrateful. After all, if it hadn’t been for
her, they wouldn’t have gone this far, right? In that sense, Janis
Joplin probably did have a point. Yet as much as she might have
thought that they lacked gratitude, her bandmates were increasingly
resentful of Janis for stealing the show. The very person who had
brought them into the limelight was becoming an increasing source
of agitation, animosity, and, of course, no small amount of jealousy.
There was also some discord back home in Port Arthur. Since
becoming discovered by the New York press, Janis had engaged in
some rather colorful interviews. She realized that the more she
embellished an aspect of her life, the more the press ran with it.
Janis, who had spent much of her life feeling attention-deprived,
couldn’t help but lead the reporters on. They wanted a story, and she
became determined to give it to them. This often meant exaggerating
or even outright lying about her past.
Rather than talking about how she had moved to California with
the help of her parents before moving back home to Port Arthur to
study, she told a bald-faced lie. She claimed that her parents kicked
her out of the home at 14 and that she had been basically roughing it
on her own ever since. Janis apparently didn’t realize the damage she
was doing to her mother and father by feeding the press such false
narratives. It seems she was so focused on creating an exciting
background for herself that she didn’t realize that her parents back
home would be hurt when others began to question them about it.
Her mother and father knew it wasn’t true, but it obviously hurt
tremendously to know that most of the world would think of them as
being cold and cruel parents—cold enough to kick a 14-year-old out
on the street.
 This was one of many instances where Janis acted without
thinking, and she likely soon came to regret her actions. But for the
moment, she didn’t have much time for such soul-searching
contemplation. After their whirlwind tour of New York, Janis and the
band were off to Detroit, Michigan, where they performed at the
Grande Ballroom on March 1, 1968. Efforts were made to record the
set live, but ultimately, the performance wasn’t their best. For a
change, the audience wasn’t too impressed, no matter how hard
Janis and Big Brother tried to elicit enthusiasm from them. This was
rather devastating, of course, since it’s kind of hard to make a good
live album when you can barely even get the crowd to clap for you
between songs.
It was ultimately decided to ditch the live album idea. Instead, the
band headed back to New York and was put in the studio for
Colombia Records. Here, they got to work on the intricate process of
recording a studio album, which would later be dubbed Cheap
Thrills. For a band that was used to just getting on stage and letting
loose live, the transition to studio recording was a tough one to
make. The band even got the studio to make arrangements to allow
them to record on a makeshift stage. This enabled them to feel more
comfortable and at ease, as if they were playing live on stage when in
reality they were recording in the studio. It was just a mind-over-
matter kind of shift in perception, but it seemed to do the trick.
Even though being on a stage helped ease their nerves, this live
band was still showing some rather glaring problems under the
studio microscope. Janis Joplin’s vocals were fine, but the
instruments were out of tune, and timings were off. The lack of
refinement among the other members was a clear indication to the
old studio hands that Janis Joplin would likely need to ditch her old
backing band.
The fact that their producer, John Simon, was known for having a
perfect sense of pitch didn’t help matters. For the band, being a little
off wasn’t that big of a deal. Playing live was more about excitement,
energy, enthusiasm, and getting your point across. One off note
never seemed to matter that much. But in the quiet studio, every off
note that John Simon heard was like someone scratching on a
chalkboard. He couldn’t handle it.
The process soon became excruciating for all, as Simon insisted
that every note be perfectly timed and perfectly in place. The process
was a slow one, and several weeks rendered only a few usable songs.
By April, Simon and the band decided to regroup on the other side of
the country at a studio in Los Angeles, California. It took some doing,
but the album was finally completed. And despite any handwringing
in the studio, Cheap Thrills would go on to become a smash hit on
the music charts.
Unforgettable tracks such as “Summertime” and “Piece of My
Heart” would hit the radio with a vengeance. The latter—which
would become an anthem for both youthful angst and unbridled joy
alike—blared from car radios nationwide all throughout the summer
and fall of 1968. As successful as the album was, this would be the
last major venture Joplin would undertake with Big Brother and the
Holding Company. Shortly after a final performance with the group
on September 14, 1968, at the Fillmore West, Janis made the
announcement that she and Big Brother had split up and were going
their separate ways for good.
Considering the fact that Janis and Big Brother had just dropped
a hit record, this was a very interesting situation to be in, but Janis
would indeed ring in the following new year of 1969 as a solo artist.
This, of course, didn’t mean that she wouldn’t have a band of
musicians backing her up—she did. Joplin would be able to soak up
all of the spotlight with no mention of the new musicians; she just
needed a group who could play well and leave the drama at home.
But not everything would go as well as intended. For one thing,
there was a hardcore nucleus of fans who liked the notion of Janis
being part of a band. There was some outcry from this quarter that
she should not so easily dismiss Big Brother. This was especially true
in San Francisco, where the band had first risen to prominence. For
them, cutting loose Big Brother and the Holding Company seemed
like some sort of betrayal. And if Joplin thought that cobbling
together a new band would be easy—she was mistaken.
One of the reasons that she had cut Big Brother loose was due to
charges that they were rather mediocre musicians. It was now time
to hire the professionals that Janis and the studio executives wanted,
yet it wasn’t always easy to get her new backing band on the right
page. The first sign of trouble was when Janis approached Big
Brother drummer Dave Getz and asked him to show the new
drummer how to play. The new guy was apparently struggling to get
a certain part of “Summertime” right. The fact that Janis would
approach the drummer she had just fired with such a request shows
how socially awkward and insensitive she could be.
Of course, the spurned former drummer refused to be of help. If
the new guys wanted to learn how to play the hits, they would just
have to listen to the record. The dismissed former band members
certainly weren’t going to be of any help as it pertained to training
their replacements. All this led to a severe disappointment when
Joplin performed for the first time with her new backing band at the
Winterland in San Francisco. The performance was widely panned,
and critics especially lambasted the new backing band arrangement,
remarking that Big Brother was better than the new outfit.
Still, Janis plowed ahead, and that April, she and her new band
were headed off to Europe to go on a grand tour. Fortunately for
them, the European audiences, blissfully unaware of the drama with
Big Brother, were warm and receptive from the beginning. This boost
to their morale seemed to do wonders as Joplin and her new band
finally clicked and performed like they were meant to. The music was
now solid, and Janis was free to do her thing as her vocals soared up
to the rafters in excited enthusiasm. She was able to return stateside
more or less triumphant, but upon her return, she was in for more
problems.
Columbia was after Janis for a new record. These entreaties
would ultimately produce the Kozmic Blues album, or as it was
officially titled, I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! It wasn’t
an easy album to produce by any means, but it would render some
memorable tracks all the same. The album came out in the fall of
1969, and little did anyone know that it was the last record that
would be released while Janis Joplin was still alive.

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 Chapter Ten
Last Days and Death

“The more you live, the less you die.”

—Janis Joplin

Although considerable effort was made to keep Janis Joplin off drugs
during the recording of her first solo album, almost immediately
after the Kozmic Blues record was released, she was back to shooting
heroin on a regular basis. Her new album did well enough in the
meantime, though it wasn’t as well received as Cheap Thrills. Some
fans were also a bit disenchanted with the perceived shift away from
psychedelic rock and into a more soulful sound.
Still, Joplin would take this sound far and wide, going on a
massive tour where her music found appreciation on every corner.
Her final live performance occurred on August 12, 1970, at the
Harvard Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts. Later that fall, Joplin
began work on what would become her posthumous studio album,
Pearl. The last track she recorded was the epic “Mercedes Benz”
tune, which was put to tape on October 1, 1970. It was a catchy and
humorous track that had the star pleading with the almighty for a
brand-new car. Some might have found such things sacrilegious, but
for Janis, it was all in good fun.
At any rate, with “Mercedes Benz,” she had managed to record
enough material to render a final album before her own abrupt
passing a few days later on October 4, 1970. On the night of her
death, Joplin had been at Sunset Sound Recorders to listen to the
instrumental track for her cover of Nick Gravenites’ song “Buried
Alive in the Blues,” planning to record the vocals the following day.
After leaving the studio, she returned to her hotel room. The
following day, when Janis did not show up at the recording studio,
her road manager, John Cooke, went to the hotel to check on her. He
found her dead on the floor beside her bed. The official cause of
death was determined to be an accidental heroin overdose,
compounded by the possible consumption of alcohol.
Janis Joplin’s passing was indeed so abrupt that few could even
manage to process it at the time. She was now a member of the
infamous “27 Club,” a group of influential musicians who all died at
the age of 27, which also includes Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and
later Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. In fact, Joplin’s death came
just weeks after the death of Jimi Hendrix, another iconic figure of
the era.
Making it especially hard to come to grips with was the
posthumous album that came out right after her demise. Even as the
newspaper headlines were printing out her obituary, Janis Joplin
was alive and well on the nation’s radios with a whole stream of
attention-getting new songs. She lived on through her music then,
just as she continues to live on now.

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 Conclusion
Following Joplin’s death, there was not only a profound sense of loss
but also an appreciation for her contributions to music and culture.
Her soulful voice and her fearless approach to life and art solidified
her status as an icon transcending the 1960s. As the years rolled on,
her influence remained unmistakable. She became a reference point
for artists who sought to infuse their music with emotional depth,
influencing fashion, feminist movements, and the cultural landscape
at large. Janis Joplin was a trailblazer who demonstrated the power
and appeal of living authentically and embracing individuality.
Her posthumous album “Pearl” continued to captivate audiences
with timeless tracks like “Me and Bobby McGee.” These songs have
become anthems that connect with generations of fans. Janis’s legacy
extends beyond her music; she embodied the spirit of the 1960s
counterculture by championing individuality and challenging
societal norms. Her message of embracing one’s uniqueness and
living life passionately continues to resonate strongly today.
Janis Joplin’s influence is evident in modern culture, from
documentaries and films to books that attempt to capture her
essence. Music festivals and contemporary artists often pay tribute to
her, and her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
highlights not just her musical achievements but her cultural
significance. Her legacy speaks to living life at full tilt, embracing
your true self, and belting out your soul’s song, come what may.

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 Bibliography
Cooke, John Byrne (2014). On the Road with Janis Joplin.
Echols, Alice (1999). Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of
Janis Joplin.
Friedman, Myra (1973). Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis
Joplin.
Kemp, Mark (February 2016). "Janis Joplin Biography". Rolling
Stone.
Yamato, Jen (November 2015). "The Secret Life of Janis Joplin: A
Girl, Interrupted". The Daily Beast.

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