Abbie Hoffman talking about Janis Joplin

[ismnotwasm]

Out of the book "Woodstock Nation"
Epilogue
"Janis was the heroine of Woodstock Nation. Bold and Sassy, her energy could ignite millions. I saw her perform all over the country. In the funky old Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, in the Fillmore's West and East, on TV, backstage where she would line up a row of twenty studs, in the Chelsea Hotel bar and on the street. She used to drop into our place at all sorts of weird hours when we lived around the corner from the Filmore East. She was the only person I ever saw use a needle. When she popped a load and pulled out the works, she'd cluck her tongue making a sucking noise and her face would break out into that shit-eating grin like the one I run down dedicating this book to Lenny Bruce. The very thought makes me shiver. You couldn't know Janis without knowing her death was near and you couldn't know the Rock Empire without knowing that her death would mean a bundle to the horde of enterprising vultures who choose to pick at the corpse."
Saw the thread where a lot of people thought Joplin was overrated. It brought this to mind. Different time and place. It seems like a different world, if you read Hoffman. Of course he was on acid a lot.
No opinion on who likes her and who doesn't. I'm an indifferent fan myself, but these words never leave my head when I think of her.

[enigmatic]

1. that's a great piece

Janis' voice was otherworldly; like Billie Holliday's it never masked the emotions inside of her. I grew to love her stuff in my 30's; I kicked myself for waiting so long to come to my senses...

[khashka]

2. No one with a soul could think Janis overrated

She didn't have the greatest voice... but it gets inside you and wrenches your heart. You don't hear her songs, you feel them.


Khash.

[enigmatic]

exactly

technically, it was ok; emotionally, it was devastating..

[ismnotwasm]

3. Yeah, that 's it

Sang from her heart. When I was younger I obsessed on the sixties since I was too young when it all was going on. I read biographies, histories-you name it. These words always break my heart. RIP Janis and Abbie.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

4. I'm glad I didn't see the other thread

How I loved her back in the day. Patron saint of weirdo girls - so appropriate that R. Crumb did the cover art for the album that made her famous. I give copies of "Cheap Thrills" to teen girls today and they love her as much as I did.