A Chipmunks Request
Last week I wrote about Janis Joplin going uninvited on stage with Tina Turner. That wasn't the entire story. Instead of leaving the stage she waited off to the side of the stage and when Jagger came out prancing around before the rest of the group came on Janice was right there along with him. Reportedly, they refused to go on until she left the stage. This was the Rolling Stones, the most popular group in the country afraid of the most famous woman in the country.
There is a song by the Canadian poet, songwriter and singer Leonard Cohen called Chelsea Hotel #2 that for years fans speculated about who the girl was. It talks about a sexual encounter in the hotel. The Hotel was quite famous as many musicians and writers would either stay while in the city or some, Like Cohen, lived there. Many people didn't like his singing but I was a big fan.
Some years ago during an appearance he told the full story. Janice had come looking for Kris Kristofferson, who wrote some great songs and would write one for her. Cohen, in the lobby, told her that he was Kristofferson. She knew he was lying, but she was there and had nothing else to do, so?
After he told the story he apologized to her ghost.
Another time after she left her first band, Big Brother And The Holding Co, she joined The Kozmik Blues Band, who had an all Black horn section and they were playing in I think Houston or maybe Dallas. At some point, very loudly, someone yelled a racial comment and she stopped playing and addressed the crowd saying they were her brothers and if she didn't like it they should leave and she wouldn't perform until he left. She knew that she might not get paid but just didn't care. He left, a few others left, the remaining audience gave her an ovation and supposedly she went on to give a great performance.
She finally recorded the song that Kristofferson wrote for her " Me and Bobby McGee" 3 days before she died, and her greatest success came off the album featuring that song "Pearl"
Chelsea Hotel #2