On the Road with Janis Joplin
Page 41
To everything there is a season: Book of Ecclesiastes; adaptation and music by Pete Seeger.
CHAPTER 15
“I had never even heard of Janis Joplin”: Author interview with Richard Kermode, January 25, 1974.
Sam Andrew comes off the stage unsure: E-mail from Sam Andrew, January 3, 1999.
“Miss Joplin has never been better”: Michael Lydon, The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, February 23, 1969, section VI. The Times review of Janis’s February 11 debut at Fillmore East is quoted in a sidebar to this piece.
The writer is Michael Lydon, a Bay Area freelancer: The New York Times Magazine, February 23, 1969, 39.
“Rumors had come from New York, where she debuted”: Robb Baker, Chicago Tribune, March 9, 1969, A6.
He shook my hand!: Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 250.
The latest edition of Rolling Stone: Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 246.
“Lots of people don’t want their stars to change”: Author interview with Jon McIntire, May 8, 1986.
CHAPTER 16
“Don’t you know how happy we must be?”: Tape recording by Bob Neuwirth, Albert Hall, April 21, 1969.
I figure if you take an audience: Janis Joplin, quoted in Dalton, Piece of My Heart, 162–164.
“Do you prefer it?”: Tape recording by Bob Neuwirth, Albert Hall, April 21, 1969.
“I’m so excited!”: Tape recording by Bob Neuwirth, April 21, 1969.
In Janis’s suite, the presence of old friends: Account of events in Janis’s room from author interview with Bob Seidemann, August 12, 1997.
CHAPTER 17
Janis and Sam get word that Nancy Gurley: Author interviews with David Getz, July 24, 1997, and Sam Andrew, April 23, 1997.
She will contribute to the legal fees: Author interview with Bob Gordon, May 10, 1986.
“I felt the [new band] was constantly trying too hard”: Author interview with Mark Braunstein, September 9, 1997.
“Every now and then a guitarist will still come up to me”: Author interview with Sam Andrew, July 27, 1997.
Sam has known Albert longest: Author interview with Sam Andrew, October 18, 1973.
Not long after this confrontation, on another evening at the Landmark: Paul Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal, July 14, 2006, interview with Sam Andrew.
Walking across the patio by the pool: Author interview with Richard Kermode, January 25, 1974.
“Janis was like this complete person”: Author interview with Linda Gravenites, May 9, 1986.
John Till is a Canadian who shares musical credentials: E-mail from John Till, March 26, 2004.
Janis sings “To Love Somebody” and joins Cavett on the set: Video of talk segment from The Dick Cavett Show, July 18, 1969.
From audience suggestions, an emotion is assigned: Author interviews with Garry Goodrow, October 17, 1973, and Howard Hesseman, August 8, 1997.
Janis is assigned frustration, and Cavett love: Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 256, is the source for the specific emotions.
CHAPTER 18
“Here comes Peter Cottontail”: Words and music by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, who also wrote “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
“The important thing that you’ve proven to the world”: Max Yazgur, in Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music (film), Warner Bros. Inc., 1970, Michael Wadleigh, director.
“Woodstock, in all its mud and glory”: Baez, And a Voice to Sing With, 165.
“There was a vast relief today”: Alistair Cooke, The Guardian, August 19, 1969.
“Notwithstanding the personality”: Quoted by Barnard L. Collier, “Tired Rock Fans Begin Exodus,” New York Times, August 18, 1969.
“But it was very East Coast, Woodstock”: Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, 282.
CHAPTER 19
Somehow this bizarre exchange banishes John’s doubts: Author interview with John Till, Clark Pierson, and Richard Bell, October 16, 1973.
Carl keeps us amused in the green room: Author interview with Carl Gottlieb, August 7, 1997.
We have got to get ourselves back to the Garden: “Woodstock,” words and music by Joni Mitchell.
“Tom Jones could’ve been a real heavyweight in the music biz”: Janis Joplin, quoted in Dalton, Piece of My Heart, 64.
Bobby connected with Michael the same day: Author interview with Bob Neuwirth, September 28, 1997.
“Oh honey, I know how you feel, I know you feel that you’re through”: “Little Girl Blue,” music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart.
“It was like a concentration camp for a day”: Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, 300.
“With the Kozmic Blues Band, nobody gave it a chance”: Author interview with Cornelius “Snooky” Flowers, October 20, 1997.
“an excellent performance”: Mike Jahn, “Janis Joplin Gives a Rousing Display of Blues and Rock,” New York Times, December 20, 1969.
“Heroin has some payoffs”: Author interview with David Getz, July 24, 1997.
BRAZILIAN INTERLUDE
Before she went to Carnival: Events in this paragraph from Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 269–275, and author interview with Linda Gravenites, May 9, 1986.
“When I came back from England”: Author interview with Linda Gravenites, May 9, 1986.
CHAPTER 20
Bobby goes to the Village to hear Ramblin’ Jack Elliott through newspaper headlines announcing the Kent State massacre: Author interview with Bob Neuwirth, September 28, 1997.
We hear Judy Collins sing “If I Had a Golden Thread,” and a voice that may be David Dellinger exhorting us: Author’s recording of the demonstration on the National Mall, May 10, 1969.
In the final days of the Kozmic Blues Band: Author interview with John Till, Clark Pierson, and Richard Bell, October 16, 1973.
Clark is from Albert Lea, Minnesota: Author interview with Clark Pierson, John Till, and Richard Bell, October 16, 1973.
Bennett Glotzer, who has been Albert’s partner since: Author interview with Bennett Glotzer, August 11, 1997.
During her set, a naked couple tried to make it onstage: Author interview with Peter Albin, September 15, 2011.
Afterward, when Janis was leaving the hall: Author interview with Bennett Glotzer, August 11, 1997.
As Jack tells the story: Author interview with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, July 25, 1997.
CHAPTER 21
Janis has warned Dalton at the outset: Dalton, Piece of My Heart, 21–22, 24.
“Something happened last year and I became a grownup”: Dalton, Piece of My Heart, 185.
“She knew what she wanted”: Author interview with John Till, Clark Pierson, and Richard Bell, October 16, 1973.
CHAPTER 22
It turns out that when Bill arrived in New York: Bill King, “Janis: Memphis Meltdown,” 1995, unpublished; posted to allaboutjazz.com, October 2009, and e-mails to author, April 14 and 17, 2011.
“Full Tilt Boogie, from what Janis was telling us”: Author interview with Rock Scully, October 2, 1973.
“The singer is only as good as the band”: Dalton, Piece of My Heart, 233.
“Everybody was just wiped, and pale”: Author interview with Clark Pierson, Richard Bell, and John Till, October 16, 1973.
“I’ve never seen Jerry drunk like he got drunk on that train”: Scully and Dalton, Living with the Dead, Boston: Little, Brown, 1996, 197.
“I had a corner room on the twenty-eighth floor”: Author interview with John Till, Oct. 16, 1973.
“The times that I went out with Full Tilt”: Author interview with Lyndall Erb, October 18, 1997.
CHAPTER 23
For Janis, Threadgill was a mentor and an inspiration: Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 101–102.
On a small stage in one corner of the lounge: Author interview with Margaret Mo
ore, October 7, 1997.
“Kenneth was as big a ham as Janis”: Author interview with Margaret Moore, October 7, 1997.
When the applause dies down: Author interview with Margaret Moore, October 7, 1997.
“I just remember that she was just awesome”: Author interview with Margaret Moore, October 7, 1997.
I learn from Margaret that Janis told Julie she had to promise me: E-mail from Margaret Moore, July 15, 2011.
CHAPTER 24
“I haven’t had so much fun since the first year with Big Brother!”: Janis Joplin, quoted in John Wasserman, San Francisco Chronicle, July 15, 1970, 47.
“Grossman not only said his clients were artists, he believed it”: Fred Goodman, The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce, New York: Times Books, 1997, 273.
When Janis shows an interest in the technical aspects: Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 292.
“That was when I first realized”: Author interview with Margaret Moore, October 7, 1997.
“Man, those people hurt me”: Janis Joplin, quoted in Michael Lydon, New York Times Magazine, Sunday, February 23, 1969, section VI.
Q: What do you remember most about Port Arthur?: Janis, Crawley Films/MCA Home Video, 1974, F. R. Crawley, executive producer.
“That name was not supposed to reach the press”: Janis Joplin, quoted in Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 300.
As Bob Neuwirth makes his way back to our table: Author interview with Bob Neuwirth, September 28, 1997.
It’s meant to be funny, but: Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 296–297.
On Saturday, Janis and Clark Pierson and David Dalton went to see: Dalton, Piece of My Heart, 136–139.
Bound to continue her quest tonight: Author interview with Margaret Moore, October 7, 1997; Laura Joplin, Love, Janis, 301–302.
“And I remember Janis was kind of tinkly and giggly”: Author interview with Margaret Moore, October 7, 1997.
“And she was foul-mouthin’ him”: Author interview with Bob Neuwirth, September 28, 1997.
CHAPTER 25
Songs arrive by the bucketload, through a manageable signal to work with: Author interview with Fritz Richmond, November 27, 1997.
In the first week, Janis and Paul Rothchild settle into a routine: Information on music submissions and Janis-Paul routine: author interview with Fritz Richmond, November 27, 1997.
“Rothchild is . . . a little bit above the musicians”: Author interview with Brad Campbell, October 11, 1973.
Seth is surprised to learn that: Author interview with Seth Morgan, February 10, 1974.
“I felt very out of place”: Author interview with Seth Morgan, February 10, 1974.
CHAPTER 26
Bennett Glotzer is here: Author interview with Bennett Glotzer, August 11, 1997.
“Everybody continued to make that record with just a little bit more love”: Author interview with Paul Rothchild, March 19, 1974.
“It was amazing to watch Paul operate”: E-mail from John Till, March 26, 2004.
“That album’s a miracle”: Author interview with Bob Neuwirth, September 10, 2012.
When I later learned from Laura Joplin’s Love, Janis: pages 310–311.
MEMORIES
“And Janis, I think with all of her blustering and shows of strength”: Author interview with Paul Rothchild, March 19, 1974.
“I think most people go through what Janis had to deal with”: Author interview with Margaret Moore, October 7, 1997.
“She was a very decent person, a very vulnerable person”: Author interview with Bennett Glotzer, August 11, 1997.
“In the last year of her life, I saw her two times”: Author interview with Milan Melvin, October 5, 1997.
“A great singer, a really great singer”: Author interview with David Getz, July 24, 1997.
“She overcame so much”: Author interview with Nick Gravenites, December 14, 1973.
“Of all the lead singers that I know”: Author interview with Paul Rothchild, March 19, 1974.
“I feel that she was coming into her own”: Author interview with Seth Morgan, February 10, 1974.
“That’s the last time I ever saw her”: Author interview with Howard Hesseman, August 8, 1997.
“Let’s just say that Janis was a great performer”: Author interview with Bob Neuwirth, August 13, 1997.
“She was a force of nature”: Author interview with Alan Myerson, September 27, 1997.
“And she also liked being the center of attention”: Author interview with Lyndall Erb, October 18, 1997.
“She was smart, funny, intelligent, warm, caring”: Author interview with Mark Braunstein, September 9, 1997.
“Many people have asked me the question”: Author interview with Milan Melvin, October 5, 1997. Milan’s guess was right that the heroin Janis took was unusually strong. Laura Joplin, in her biography of her sister, Love, Janis, was the first to report this fact (pages 310–311).
“I was just devastated”: Author interview with John Fisher, November 15, 1997.
“Albert wasn’t the kind of guy who cried a lot”: Author interview with Bennett Glotzer, August 11, 1997.
“[Albert’s] energy and spirit were severely damaged when Janis died”: Peter Yarrow, quoted in Goodman, The Mansion on the Hill, 108.
“All my life, I just wanted to be a beatnik”: Janis Joplin, quoted in Dalton, Piece of My Heart, 240–241, from a conversation he taped between Janis and Bonnie Bramlett aboard the Festival Express.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTERVIEWS
Taped interviews conducted by the author. In a few cases, notably with Sam Andrew, I followed up on the interviews through e-mails.
Members of Janis’s Bands
Big Brother
Peter Albin
Sam Andrew
David Getz
Mark Braunstein—Equipment
Kozmic Blues Band
Sam Andrew
Brad Campbell
Terry Clements
Richard Kermode
John Till
Mark Braunstein—Equipment
Full Tilt Boogie
Richard Bell
Brad Campbell
Clark Pierson
John Till
Others
Barbara Carroll—widow of Bert Block, who was Albert Grossman’s partner, 1968–1969
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott—the one and only
Lyndall Erb—Janis’s roommate, April–October 1970
Mimi Baez Fariña—Joan Baez’s sister; wife of Richard Fariña
Barry Feinstein—photographer; Monterey Pop cameraman
John Fisher—Love Limousines, New York City
Ralph J. Gleason—San Francisco Chronicle music critic
Bennett Glotzer—Albert Grossman’s partner, 1969–
Garry Goodrow—the Committee
Robert E. Gordon—attorney for Albert Grossman, Big Brother, Janis
Carl Gottlieb—the Committee; television writer
Bill Graham—rock promoter
Linda Gravenites—Janis’s roommate, 1968–spring 1970; former wife of Nick Gravenites
Nick Gravenites—singer, songwriter, Albert Grossman’s friend and confidant
Debbie Green—taught Joan Baez guitar; Cabale Creamery coffeehouse, Berkeley
Sally Grossman—widow of Albert Grossman
Howard Hesseman—the Committee
Robert L. Jones—George Wein Productions: Newport Folk Festivals
Jon McIntire—Grateful Dead management
Peter Melchior—Esalen Institute; Big Sur Folk Festivals
Milan Melvin—Janis’s early lover in San Francisco; involved in underground FM radio in San Francisco
Seth Morgan—
Janis’s fiancé at the time of her death
Geoff Muldaur—Jim Kweskin Jug Band
Alan Myerson—director of the Committee
Bob Neuwirth—artist, musician, songwriter
D. A. Pennebaker—filmmaker: Monterey Pop and others
Fritz Richmond—author’s Cambridge roommate, Charles River Valley Boys, Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Elektra Records engineer
Paul A. Rothchild—record producer: Doors, Janis’s Pearl album, others
Rock Scully—Grateful Dead management
Bob Seidemann—San Francisco photographer; early friend of Big Brother and the Holding Company
BOOKS
Baez, Joan, And a Voice to Sing With, New York: Summit/Simon & Schuster, 1987.
Crosby, David, and Carl Gottlieb, Long Time Gone: The Autobiography of David Crosby, New York: Doubleday, 1988.
Dalton, David, Piece of My Heart: A Portrait of Janis Joplin, New York: Da Capo, 1991.
Gleason, Ralph J., The Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Sound, New York: Ballantine, 1969.
Goodman, Fred, The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce, New York: Times Books, 1997.
Graham, Bill, and Robert Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, New York: Dell, 1993.
Grushkin, Paul, The Art of Rock, New York: Artabras, 1987.
Holzman, Jac, and Gavan Daws, Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Music, Santa Monica, Calif.: First Media, 1998.
Janis Joplin: A Performance Diary, Petaluma, Calif.: Acid Test Productions, 1997, includes ten essays by John Byrne Cooke.
Joplin, Laura, Love, Janis, New York: Villard, 1992.
Kooper, Al, Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards, New York: Billboard Books, 1998.
Lemke, Gayle, and Jacaeber Kastor, The Art of the Fillmore 1966–1971, Petaluma, Calif.: Acid Test Productions, 1997.
Mailer, Norman, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, New York: Primus, Donald I. Fine, Inc.
Scully, Rock, and David Dalton, Living with the Dead, Boston: Little, Brown, 1996.
Von Schmidt, Eric, and Jim Rooney, Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years, Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor/Doubleday, 1979.