For the old guys here...
- Thread starter kijanacat
- Start date
I went to a concert at Rec Hall that featured Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin was lead singer) and the Allman Brothers. It was my junior year which would have been 1969 -1970. Both groups at that time were pretty much unknowns. My roommate talked me into attending. The Allman Brothers were great, and Janis was incredible. There might have been a third group but I don't remember.
That week I went to the Record Room and blew my paycheck on two albums.
Wait....is this a memory test. I'm in trouble.
Fair,
Are you sure it wasn't in 1969? I know I went with a certain roommate and he only lived with me in 1969-1970.
This from Onward State:
Janis Joplin—October 19, 1968
Joplin crooned her way into almost 6,000 Penn Staters’ hearts with her Rec Hall performance in 1968. According to AlumnInsider, Penn State had the Jazz Club to thank for booking Joplin to Rec Hall in order to hear her signature tracks, “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Piece of My Heart.”
Another source says she played Rec Hall October 18 and Philly the next day, both in '68
Final word, from list of Joplin Concert sites, says October 19, 1968.
https://www.songkick.com/artists/19445-janis-joplin/gigography
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I am not trying to get into an argument here, and my memory can be a little foggy. The concert that I saw was Big Brother and the Holding Company. Janis was the lead singer. The band was relatively unknown and so was Janis. At some point in the concert a fan jumped on the stage, ran up and tried to hug Janis. She just froze and security ushered him off.
Did she record "Me and Bobby McGee" as a solo artist or with Big Brother?
Could we be talking about two different concerts? I don't recall Rec Hall being that full.
I was a student at Penn State in those years and I remember her coming to campus but do not remember the date. I checked the sources because I was curious. It appears she definitely played Rec Hall in '68. Perhaps she came back in '69 but I can find no mention of it.
From Wikipedia re: "Me and Bobby McGee":
Joplin recorded the song for inclusion on her Pearl album only a few days before her death in October 1970.
And she had left Big Brother before that. So Onward State and Alumninsider had that wrong. I believe they also have the wrong date.
I found this site which lists Joplin concerts. It says October 18, 1968, and Philly the next day. Maybe they are wrong about the song but it seems all sites say October, 1968.
https://janisjoplin.com/live
Janice Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company were hardly "pretty much unknowns" in 1969 - 70. I saw her at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and she was a superstar ever since that time.
She could have sang the song at concerts prior to recording it.
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You were at Monterey Pop....nice. My brother went I think it was during the Saturday evening groups. He said Otis Redding stole the show.
Well, anyone older than me and I graduated in 1971. I thank you all for your responses. My wife and I were driving back from the shore and she told me she attended a Janis Joplin concert and we couldn't remember the date. We were eating in a place called Ron;s in the Chester Springs/Lionville area when I decided the only people who would have an answer hand out on these boards. Thanks.
I was there. I was in the upper deck. Before the concert began, I used the little boys room. As I came out down on the floor was Janice drinking some Southern Comfort and teasing her hair. I shouted something to her. She couldn’t hear me or just ignored me.
No, I said I went to a Joan Baez concert but I remember people coming back to the dorms after seeing Janis Joplin. That means she appeared in ‘68 or ‘69. I’d swear I saw Baez at PSU but I guess we are both getting old. I thought Papa John Creach opened for Joan.
Big Brother and the Holding Company was the first band for Janis becoming famous. She left them but took the guitar player to the new band. That is the band that recorded the “Pearl “ album. That album had me and Bobby McGee and Mercedes Benz among others. The Big Brother album had Summertime and piece of my heart. This is from memory but I believe I have it correct.
Did Joan Baez perform at Schwab at that time? I think Arlo Guthrie performed there about that time, for example.
Yeah, 68 seems right. As I remember she and BB couldn’t land at Phillipsburg airport and had to come in from Pittsburgh(?). It was a long wait and lots of people left. Big mistake that was.
I actually worked at Monterey Pop, and saw every performance. Otis Redding was absolutely terrific, but for a lot of people the big attractions were two still relatively unknown groups that came into the Festival with a lot of "buzz", but had actually been seen live by almost no one outside of their home states --- Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. A weekend that I'll never forget (the Festival closed with Scott McKenzie absolutely nailing "San Francisco"). The Monterey Pop Festival would definitely be one of the 10 best experiences of my entire life. I was stationed at Fort Ord, and had a weekend pass, but had to go AWOL on Friday (I got the job the weekend prior). My job --- and you can't make this up --- checking the credentials of all the performers as they entered the Fairgrounds. I honestly don't think I appreciated it as much then as I do now.
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Hard for me to believe that it was almost 60 years ago, but the first time I saw Joan Baez was at a concert during my freshman year at Bucknell, which was 1961-62. I think she had just recorded her first Vanguard album at that time. I've seen her several times since. Damn, I'm getting old.
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Scott McKenzie had a terrific voice. His lead on 500 Miles by the Journeymen is the gold standard.
The Joplin concert was sponsored by the Penn State Jazz Club. A friend of mine was an officer in the club and said that Joplin and the band came back to his apartment for a post concert party. Said she got totally shitfaced on Southern Comfort.
Joan Baez played Rec Hall on Jan. 24, 1971. It was disappointing. She kept talking about her husband David, who was either in jail for resisting the draft or in Canada.
I had a friend on the stage crew, and I was sitting on the steps to the stage after the Big Brother & the Holding Company concert waiting for them to pack up the equipment. Someone sat down on the step above me. I turned around, and it was Janis. I got to talk to her for a minute or two (she was headed to Philly for the next concert).
By the way, when the guy jumped up on stage to hug her, the cops grabbed him, and she said, "Don't hurt him."
There was no opening act. Papa John Creech played with the Jefferson Airplane in a different concert.
Someone earlier thought Janis and the Allman Brothers were on the same bill. Not true. Mandrake opened for the Allmans in a separate concert.
And Arlo Guthrie did play Rec Hall. The Youngbloods were the opening act.
I remember all this, but not much from the classes I took.
I had a friend on the stage crew, and I was sitting on the steps to the stage after the Big Brother & the Holding Company concert waiting for them to pack up the equipment. Someone sat down on the step above me. I turned around, and it was Janis. I got to talk to her for a minute or two (she was headed to Philly for the next concert).
By the way, when the guy jumped up on stage to hug her, the cops grabbed him, and she said, "Don't hurt him."
There was no opening act. Papa John Creech played with the Jefferson Airplane in a different concert.
Someone earlier thought Janis and the Allman Brothers were on the same bill. Not true. Mandrake opened for the Allmans in a separate concert.
And Arlo Guthrie did play Rec Hall. The Youngbloods were the opening act.
I remember all this, but not much from the classes I took.
Thanks. Always nice to win an argument. I KNEW I saw Joan Baez and remember I wasn’t thrilled with her song selection. I also remember “crashing” the Jefferson Airplane concert when the crowd rushed the ticket takers.
She was hot at Newport. I still have a crush on her. And GREAT voice.
And I can't believe you worked Monterey!! Any chance you got in the movie??? I usually watch that thing about once a year downstairs in my bar with the speakers blasting! That's when California girls were still hot! And I mean HOT!!!! An absolute All Star cast of performers!!
I always wonder what happened to that girl in the movie that was wiping down the chairs. She was a 20 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Being at Monterey is like saying you saw Babe Ruth hit his 60th Home Run or were there when Franco caught his Immaculate Reception. A truly historic music event!
What's really wacky is that I have this vision in my mind of you guys all looking like you're 18 to 22 years old again even though you are all probably at least 70.
REALLY miss that music!!!! And the good times we all had without big brother and social media looking over our shoulders all the time. Glad I'm not a kid today.
GREAT thread!!!!!!!!
Fair,
Mea Culpa. I checked with my former roommate, and he thought the concert was the year before we became roommates. He was living in a fraternity and I was in another apartment in 1968. This lines up with your dates.
My memory was right at least on the person I attended the concert with.
No problem. Hell, I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, let alone 50 years ago.
You're too kind --- I'm 77, but my music is frozen in the 60's and 70's. You can easily imagine my Pandora stations. Some time I'll pass on my Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin stories well before anyone had even heard of them. I still have several Monterey Pop ticket stubs (many varieties) that I've held on to forever. To me, Monterey Pop was 1000 times better than Woodstock. Also, and this gets forgotten, the Festival was more than just the music, but additionally a celebration of life and culture in the Bay Area during the summer of 1967. And yes, the women were gorgeous!
Great stuff --- thanks for sharing. You're probably aware that he passed away not too long ago.
Yes. 2012 at 73 and from a somewhat unusual cause...complications from Guillaine-Barre Syndrome. His music lives on. Rest in Peace.
I had no idea it was THAT long ago. I still get a chill when I hear "San Francisco" (my wife hates it). Time flies as you get older. A friend of mine has a great analogy. You know how the first half of a roll of toilet paper seems to last forever, but the second half goes very quickly --- well, that's kind of like life after 65
Yes, I saw Janis Joplin at rec hall. I graduated end of March ‘71 not sure what year she played. I also saw James Brown and John Mayall at rec hall at 2 other events.
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