I don't really expect Janis to talk back, but I am going to make this a semi regular feature. Why? Because famous people give us a common point of reference, and this is my blog and I want to.
The pain that eventually killed Janis (along with the drugs) was what made her soooooo damn good. I think maybe she was the so much the heavyset, kind of plain girl that she might not have heard her own beautiful voice. But would it have been beautiful without the pain? Janis, did you ever really hear yourself sing?
Janis on stage was mesmerizing. I believed it when she sang the blues. I still do, because I think it was truer than true. But I wonder, did she forget that the thousands of people who connected with her because of her music, also believed it, lived it, understood it? Janis, did you think you were the only one who was looking for love?
Today she'd have handlers, probably a plastic surgeon-then she was pretty much alone. But would it matter? Janis, would you have been alone anyway?
Janis, taking about her highschool reunion was probably more like most girls than she realized. That was on a talk show. A later interview, when she was back at home for the reunion, is painful to watch, because her pain is so out there. Janis, did you ever resolve those parental issues, or did you take them with you when you left?
I guess the question I'd most like answered is-Janis, would you trade the brilliance and the pain for....what? What didn't you get?
