Big Brother and the Holding Company, part sixteen. 2004

Posted on July 22, 2012 by J L tagged.

2004

2 January 2004 The Docksider Erie Pennsylvania

See how Pennsylvania made that little portal out to Lake Erie ? Croatia has outlets to the Adriatic Sea much narrower than this, maybe a mile in length.

The Erie Canal, dug in the early 1800s, and connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie, is what made New York New York. Many other ports, Savannah, Boston, were more important at the time, but with a way to get goods over the Appalachians (Alleghenies) and to Ohio and points farther west, New York City became the dominant Eastern doorway to and from the rest of the country.

Even today transport by barge on the Erie Canal uses a tenth of the fuel of a truck.

I used to sing this song in my folk music days. This printed music, however, is very odd, with B# going into C. Both are the same notes. I’ve never seen anything like this. Anyway, I loved this haunting melody and the history embodied in the song. This song is rather like what The Volga Boatman must have been to the Russians. Minor key, strongly pentatonic, a chant, really, primitive, strong, good for keeping time while rowing.

This version makes a lot more sense. This one’s in E minor. I think I used to sing it in D minor. There is a lot of history in songs, all songs.

Caro Viaggiatore. The title means “Dear Traveler.” It’s a kind of a pun on Caravaggio because this is a copy of his painting. I put Elise and me in there. I learned how to paint by copying painters before me.

Rodney Albin Ellen Cavanaugh Peter Albin

3 January 2004 Sellersville Theatre Sellersville Pennsylvania

Self portraits are invariably serious because the artist is looking so intensely into the mirror.

I bet Ant Knee took this photograph.

Liverpool lad pours a Bud in the Sausalito harbor.

Sharrie Gomez and I in San Francisco.

21 April 2004 Kellogg Foundation Lake Tahoe California At this event, I met Don Graham the neurosurgeon who since has gone from this…

… to this. He and Sarah made Adyson Graham who is impossibly beautiful.

24 April 2004 Wild Hog Festival Helena Arkansas It rained so hard at this event that she could have almost gone swimming in the audience.

We really thought we might be electrocuted. Everything was soaking wet.

Peggy Pettigrew Stewart created this image.

25 April 2004 Rosy’s Jazz Hall New Orleans

Cool New Orleans dudes backstage.

Meanwhile, farther upstream, the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers are flowing together at Cairo, Illinois. “We pronounce it Karo, like the syrup.”

And I am swearing that I will learn how to draw a hand in any position, any lighting.

When I think of Florida, I think of the coasts. Sarasota where Elise used to live and Melbourne, home of my brother Stephen and his family.

Orlando, where the Carol guitar was stored in a vault for a while, is an inland place.

13 May 2004 The Vault Orlando Florida The Carol guitar travels around the country and is in San Francisco now, I believe.

When we played there in Orlando, I took the guitar out of The Vault and put it on stage.

The Musical Instrument Museum near Phoenix.

Mujeres floridas. Flowered women.

The Vault in Orlando.

Elise and I moved into this house where we live now in 2004. It’s a small house on two and one half acres, a hectare.

All of Us (oil on canvas)

I drew these profiles in Pahala, Hawaii.

The Hawaiian archipelago is actually much longer than this, extending some 1,200 miles over the Pacific.

Midway Island, that small two mile long dot there on the globe, is at the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago. It is one third of the way to Tokyo from Honolulu. My family traveled once in a propeller plane that actually refueled at Midway en route to Okinawa. We refueled again at Wake Island too, if I’m not mistaken.

Chad Quist, guitar Kacee Clanton, singer Todd Zimberg, drums

Sam Andrew Elise Piliwale

11 June 2004 Kona Brew Pub Kona Hawaii

Kona Brew Pub

Colin and Wayne and Wayne’s lovely wife. Erstwhile equipment managers for Big Brother, now far richer than we are, PLUS, they get to live in Hawaii. Así es la vida.

James Gurley and I lived on the beach at Makena off and on for a couple of years. I wrote the song Maui there.

Every autumn, humpback whales swim 3,500 miles from Alaska to Maui for their winter vacation in the Au’au Channel between the islands of Maui County. Summer in Alaska, Winter in Maui, not a bad life.

Double Happiness.

Regina and Kacee were with us.

Regina is Austrian. Her name means Queen. Vivat Regina !

Alexandria Virginia

19 June 2004 Red Cross Waterfront Festival Alexandria Virginia Judy and Todd Bolton, so good to see them again.

Tristan Avakian played guitar with us and Todd Zimberg was on drums. Tristan is now with Jennifer Espinoza in some incredible Queen scene.

Jefferson Starship: Slick Aguilar Diana Mangano Paul Kantner Marty Balin Tim Gorman Prairie Prince Jack Casady Photo: Tim Sylvan

30 June 2004 Stop 345 Memphis Tennessee

Right on the mighty Mississippi.

31 July 2004 Magic Springs Theme Park Hot Springs Arkansas

Sam Andrew Elise Piliwale

6 August 2004 Sellersville Theatre Sellersville Pennsylvania

Sellersville is a borough in Bucks County in the Philadelphia-Camden metro area.

7 August 2004 South Park Concert Site South Park Pennsylvania

Eve and Adam (oil on canvas)

13 August 2004 Gray’s Harbor Fair Elma Washington

I always wanted to open for a parrot.

A beautiful place. Actually, when you think about it, the whole world is a beautiful place.

Kate Russo and I passed this one with ease.

14 August 2004 Berbatti’s Pan Portland Oregon

You can see why I decided to learn how to draw hands.

18 September 2004 Tree Frog Music Festival Fairibault Minnesota

Primavera Elisiana.

24-25 September 2004 El Dorado Hotel & Casino Reno

Na’alehu Theatre

Kainani Kahaunaele

2 October 2004

Jessica’s crown.

Chad Quist goes Hawaiian.

Peter Albin Karen Lyberger

2 October 2004 Hamakua Music Festival Honoka’a Hawaii

Chloe Lowery and Elise

The banyan tree downtown Lahaina, Maui. This tree just keeps on going and growing. It’s all one tree and it covers this entire very large block.

4 October 2004 The Landmark Hotel Los Angeles Photo: Howard Sounes

16 October 2004 Largo Cultural Center Largo Florida Wendy Rich

This was a local gig for Wendy. She lives nearby in St. Petersburg.

Peter Albin Photo: Jan Jenson

19 October 2004 The year I set out to learn how to draw hands. I filled notebooks with them.

21 october 2003 The main thing is to draw each joint, each bone in the hand. You can’t slur over it or it’s not going to look right.

24 October 2004

November 2004 Four More Years (oil on canvas)

20 November 2004

31 December 2004 Coco’s in Ko Samui, Thailand. set list This was a happy period of musical adventure for the band.

Señor Blues (oil on canvas)

Sam (I’m so excited I can barely breathe) Andrew

Big Brother and the Holding Company

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Big Brother and the Holding Company, part fifteen. 2003

Posted on July 12, 2012 by J L tagged.

2003

18 January 2003 Porterville Auditorium Porterville California

Back to the Beans and Bangers circuit.

13 March 2003 The Brook Southampton UK

Peter Albin Victoria Sidley Sam Andrew

14 March 2003 The Rayners London Harrows UK I asked Kacee Clanton to sing with us on this trip, and she did a good job. I said, “Only thing is, don’t bring anyone with you, and pack extremely light. We only have a small van to travel in. Also, where we will be staying, there are often no elevators and many flights of stairs,” so Kacee showed up with her girlfriend and the largest suitcase I have ever seen. She’s been to Europe many times since then. I bet her luggage was lighter each time.

Once a year we go to Europe. Sometimes twice.

The band this time: Sam Andrew, Chad Quist, Glenn Halvarsson, Kacee Clanton and Peter Albin.

The band with the van.

15 March 2003 Borderline London

16 March 2003 Borderline Diest Belgium Quite a coincidence to play two clubs with the same name in two different countries on two consecutive nights.

17 March 2003 Club Banana Peel Ruiselede Belgium This was a tent in an open field. A happening place, though.

It was fun and educational to be in the Netherlands.

One of the best men who ever lived: Vincent Van Gogh. I read his letters to his brother Theo, and, even allowing for the fact that he is putting on his best face for a dear relative who is going to send him money, comfort and love, still, the piety, honesty, penetration, sheer energy and deep feeling of Vincent are amazing and very affecting. If he had never painted a stroke, he would still be a very remarkable person.

Van Gogh’s birthplace.

He was born in Zundert, in the far south of the Netherlands.

18 March 2003 Stairway To Heaven Utrecht Netherlands

19 March 2003 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam I went to this museum long ago when I was in the Kozmic Blues Band, and back now.

20 March 2003 Wilhelmina Eindhoven Netherlands

My mother’s name was Wilhelmina.

She was named for this queen of the Netherlands.

21 March 2003 Patronaat Haarlem Netherlands This is the hometown of Frans Hals, an extraordinary painter.

Franz Hals visited this home for retired men and painted the inhabitants in the very room where I saw his work. One of the quickest artists ever, he handled all that 17th century lace with verve and accuracy, alla prima, very few corrections. It was a privilege to be in the same room where he did that.

Hals did this painting in this building in about three hours. If you look closely at the original, you can see the almost incredible rapidity of the brushstrokes.

22 March 2003 Iduna Drachten Netherlands

Some of these towns were so destroyed in World War Two that they are brand new and even strip mallish today.

Hengelo is almost due east of Amsterdam, close to Enschede.

23 March 2003 Kleine Kunst Hengelo Netherlands “Kleine Kunst” means “little art.”

Janis Joplin

Now we drive far south to Velden am Wörthersee, Austria.

Gúðrun Kofler (center above) has brought us here to her place many times now.

25 March 2003 Bluesiana Rock Café Velden am Wörthersee Austria

Velden is way down in the south of Austria between Villach and Klagenfurt, very close to Italy and Slovenia.

This marquee greeted us on entering Velden which has aspects of Tahoe and Santa Barbara.

In old Germany the catchphrase was Kinder Küche Kirche (Children Kitchen Church). Here it’s Konzert Keller Kofler, something like that: Concert Cellar Kofler, Gudrun’s surname.

Chad can not only bowl, he can also rock and roll.

We had fun. I apologized for George W. Bush, but otherwise we had a wonderful night.

Monika Pabst ! ”Papst,” exactly the same pronunciation, means “pope,” and I think she would make a great pope. Papst Monika Pabst.

Glenn Halvarsson, sommelier for the Swedish tap water tour.

Chad giving his Victory salute.

One of the all time great guitar players. Clean, intelligent and always interesting.

Die Freundlichkeit. Austrians are light, witty, schpritzy like Mozart’s music.

An example of this is down the street at the Stehbar (the stand bar). You think a US bar would advertise this way ?

26 March 2003 Planet Music Vienna

28 March 2003 Colos-saal Aschaffenburg Germany The name of the club is a Wortspiel, a pun. Koloss (Colossus) is a giant, and Saal is an auditorium (like French Salle).

29 March 2003 Alter Gasometer Zwickau Germany The old gasmeter or the old gas company. I like the reuse of these buildings. This one is a beauty.

“East” Germany was under Soviet domination for a long time and there was not a lot of money under Communist rule, so, paradoxically, many places were left “unimproved” and as they were in the 1930s. Indeed, Prague in many places looks much as it did in Mozart’s time, which is why they filmed extended portions of Amadeus there instead of in Vienna. Communism had the inadvertent virtue of preserving an older way of life.

When I stay in an old hotel room in eastern Germany, I think a lot about the lives lived there under Communism. The faded walls, ancient appliances and creaky floors speak to me of all the people who simply tried to make it through those parlous times.

The “cookwash.” Laundromats are great places for guitar playing. Somehow they filter out the mistakes.

The Sword of the East. Don’t get me wrong. There were a lot of beautiful ideas in Communism. The rights of women, for example, were recognized under that system, and in old Soviet films you see women engineers on locomotives, women doctors, a real gender equality only beginning to be seen in the West.

Communism, though, had the misfortune to be directed by human beings and we all know how selfish and venal they can be, and how even a little power can pervert the finest ideals.

So, in the former East Germany, I see much evidence of the wreckage of hope and ambition and comfort. This can be dispiriting.

The times, though, as someone once noted, are a changin’. All of these old buildings and old lives have a new lease now. Suddenly former East Germany is hip. The people in the DDR were “hillbillies” not so long ago. Now they are “authentic” and preserved from the olden times. This is a familiar scenario. Social regentrification, I suppose you could call it, and it’s worth a lot more than nothing.

It’s just that, when I am in those old hotel rooms late at night, I think of the ones who didn’t make it, the ones who died shortly before the Wall came down and thus lived their entire lives in desperate hope, cramped conformity and, sommetimes, in terror.

We are the people.

Vacation in the DDR, the Orwellian named Deutsche Demokratische Republik. Now that it’s over, everyone wants to reëxperience life under Communism. The “Ford” in the East Germany of that time was called the Trabant (the Trabi) and now everyone wants to have one and especially that little tent that was erected on top of the car. It’s so chic, don’t you know ?

How quickly we forget and how easy to remember the “good old days,” which, of course, never were. Nostalgia for neuralgia.

Brezhnev and Honneker, the East German leader, certainly seemed to be feeling the love, but there wasn’t a lot of trickle down. There never is. There never will be.

31 March 2003 Objekt 5 Halle Germany

1 April 2003 Musiktheater Rex Lorsch Germany

Albert Ellis made this button.

2 April 2003 Rockfabrik Ludwigsburg Germany

It’s funny to me, because “Rock” in German means “skirt,” and fabrik could be cloth, but it really means Rock Factory. Rock und Blouse could be a skirt and blouse, or it could be Rock and Blues. Depends on how good your spelling is.

4 April 2003 Fismo Einsiedeln Switzerland My room was right across from this monastery.

Fismo is an acronym: Fédération Internationale des Sports Mécaniques Originaux.

The CH = Confoederatio Helvetica The Helvetic Confederation. In his book The Gallic War, Julius Caesar used the word “Helvetica” for what is now Switzerland.

6 April 2003 Albani Music Club Winterthur Switzerland

My niece Emily Bullis Rollins came to see me in Winterthur. We had such a good time. I wish I would have had her sing a jazz standard or two.

From Winterthur to Dallas… culture shock.

Cathy Richardson sang with us and Joel Hoekstra played guitar, two hot Chicagoans.

9 May 2003 Wildflower Arts & Music Festival Richardson Texas

28 June 2003 Jenner By The Sea California

17 July 2003 Point Breeze Webster Massachusetts

18 July 2003 Ocean Beach Park New London Connecticu

19 July 2003 Vetrock Mason Field North Attleboro Massachusetts

Elise Piliwale midtown Manhattan.

27 July 2003 Central Park Summer Stage New York City Simone and Elise.

Diane Lotny and the fabulous Rob Clores.

Ashley Kahn and friends.

This is where we met the beautiful and talented Sophia Ramos. Sophia sang Ball & Chain and she stopped the show.

Couple Number One : Carrie and Rob Clores.

There was an embarrassment of riches that day: Annisette, Baby Jane Dexter, Chan Marshall, Christine Ohlman, Caron Wheeler, Diane Lotny, Genya Ravan, Judith Owen, Kate Pierson, Lene Lovich, Little Queenie, Milini Khan, N’Dea Davenport, Phoebe Snow and Simone.

Judith Owen.

Kate Pierson was her usual charming self.

Miz Happiness and Joy, Milini Khan.

Brad Campbell and Snooky Flowers came, and we pretended we were the Kozmic Blues Band with Rob Clores and Maury Baker, the original drummer.

Milini Khan belongs to Chaka, and Simone belongs to Nina, so we had some royalty there.

Liz Getz and Elise Piliwale.

Phoebe Snow came by and sang Piece of My Heart. It was so good to see her… and hear her.

Diane Lotny, Kate Pierson and Elise Piliwale.

Chan Marshall.

Chan sang Down On Me.

Cat Power.

Ry Cooder came to Central Park because he was playing with some Okinawan musicians.

My first oil painting, 2003.

18 September 2003 Sky Church Experimental Music Project Seattle

19 September 2003 The Kenworthy Performing Arts Center Moscow Idaho

20 September 2003 First Orcas Island Music Festival Orcas Island Washington

I did these paintings in three hours… and they rather look it.

25 September 2003 Justin Herman Plaza San Francisco

4 October 2003 The Landmark Hotel bathroom sink, room 105 Los Angeles Photo: Howard Sounes

Yes. We still think of her all the time. Photo: Didier Richard

12 October 2003 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco

Wendy Rich sleep learning.

6 November 2003 Skihuette Oberwangen Switzerland

Oberwangen is very close to Bern. We often play also in Rubigen (in the l0wer righthand corner of this map).

7 November 2003 The Krone Bar Einsiedeln Switzerland

8 November 2003 Baden Halle 36 Baden Baden was a famous spa. Dostoyefsky set a novel there, Der Spieler, The Gambler. This word “Messe” can mean “a mass” or a “tradefair.” You see it a lot with city names. ”Messe” can merely mean “town center” or something to that effect, since the fair, and the mass, were usually held in the center of town.

9 November 2003 Albani Music Club Winterthur Switzerland Lovely people here.

Wendy Rich Glenn Halvarsson Glenn is Swedish, don’t you know. In fact, he’s a big Swedish meatball.

Sound checks. I love them so much. (That is an example of irony.) During this one, which was actually pleasant, we performed Blue Bossa and Cry Me A River, which Wendy Rich sang to perfection. The jazz ballad is really her strong point.

Wendy with that dazzling smile.

Wiedersehen !

11 November 2003 Hirsch Nürnberg Germany To some, this town connotes trials of World War Two gangsters. To me, it is the home of Albrecht Dürer.

Typically restrained crowd at one of our, pardon the expression, concerts.

I visited Dürers house in Nürnberg, and pulled this print on his own press upstairs. Big thrill for an artist.

Dürer was a very successful artist. He was the Norman Rockwell of his time, in that his art was instantly understood and very popular.

I love his work too, and have made many copies of it.

13 November 2003 Das Movie Bielefeld Germany

Bielefeld doesn’t exist! For some reason, internet users in Germany write this a lot. I know it exists. I’ve played there a couple of times.

Michael Spörke is writing a very interesting book about Willie Big Mama Mae Thornton and I am helping him with translation and editing. Maddie Fields wrote Ball & Chain and Big Mama sang it so memorably. Big Mama was big, in every way. She looked like a truck driver. When she and Nick Gravenites were together, it was like two truck drivers. The rest of us would cower in the corner when they were holding forth backstage.

Michael published the German edition of his book Big Brother and the Holding Company, Die Band, die Janis Joplin berühmt machte, in 2003 or so. This title in German has a double meaning that is impossible to translate into English. It can mean either “the band that made Janis Joplin famous,” or “the band that Janis Joplin made famous.” Rather a neat ambiguity there.

Elaine Mayes took this interesting photograph.

14 November 2003 Alte Mälzerei Regensburg Malz = malt, so this could mean The Old Maltery, a brewery.

Da läuft was. Something’s going on (t)here.

The Cotton Club Zug Switzerland

Zug is a little south of Zürich. “Zug” means a train or a column (of, say, marching soldiers) or a procession, so it’s an odd name for a town.

Katy Did Did and Peter Bilt. Peter, good guitar player, used to play with Pearl Harbor and the Explosions about the same time that I played with Pearl Heart.

Ellen Janet Deible-Stachurski Dan Andrew

30 December 2003 Sudsy Malone’s Cincinnati Ohio

31 December 2003 The Rose Medina Ohio

See you next week !

Sam Andrew

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Hey ! Little Richard !

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Big Brother and the Holding Company, part fourteen. 2002

Posted on July 8, 2012 by J L tagged.

2002

19 January 2002 Turlock California

28 January 2002 Chanhassen Minnesota

31 January 2002 Area 22 Newport Rhode Island

1 February 2002 Bank Street Café New London Connecticut

Every time I play at the Bank Street Café, someone asks me about my brother Dan who went to the Coast Guard Academy in New London.

Study for a painting.

2 February 2002 The Company Theatre Norwell Massachusetts

After playing in Norwell, we fly over the amazing Atlantic Ocean to England.

13 February 2002 The Astor Theatre Deal UK I feel as if Charles Dickens may have written about this place.

Right on the English Channel. Dover is a bit farther south down the coast and Southampton more so.

14 February The Brook Southampton UK

Beth Hart played many of these same places just before us. We once followed Yngvie Malmsteen all over Europe in a similar fashion.

I suppose you could call it the Beans and Bangers Circuit.

15 February 2002 The Point Cardiff Wales As we were entering Wales, our driver said, “Do you have your passports?” I started and replied, “No, no one told us to… ” He smiled. We fell for it. I fell for it… and her.

The French call Wales the pays de Galles. It’s a land of singers, poets, actors.

Bards

People of the voice.

Charlotte Church

The Point used to be St. Stephen’s Church and it still felt like it.

16 February 2001 The Flowerpot Derby

Derby is in the north and center of England.

It’s pronounced “darby,” as in Darby Slick.

I asked a Black Country man how he pronounced the name of this big city and he said, “BUH min ghum.” Rather different from “Birming hayam,” as they say in Alabama.

17 February 2002 The Stables Milton Keynes UK Cleo Laine, the American singer, lives here and she and her husband built this place.

Chad Quist Sam Andrew Lisa Mills Todd Vinciguerra Peter Albin

20 February 2002 The Limelight Crewe UK

Crewe is in the northwest of England, in Cheshire, where the cat lives. Crewe is the home of the Bentley automobile.

And the Limelight.

21 February 2002 Picture House Beverley UK This is such a beautiful place.

Beverley is near Hull on the Humber river.

Brierley Hill is in the West Midlands, the Black Country.

Brierley Hill is in Dudley. Samuel Johnson grew up in the town of Lichfield on the east side of Birmingham, the other side.

22 February 2002 Robin Hood Brierley Hill UK This is where Robert Plant came and stole Lisa Mills away from us. Hood Robin.

Oh, well, I have stolen and I have been stolen from, and so it goes. Paul Kantner paid me the compliment of stealing Cathy Richardson from me.

And then once or twice they took Sophia Ramos also.

I’ll just take it as a salute to my good taste in singers.

Just call me the unpaid talent scout for the Jefferson Starship. But I have stolen many a musician from them, and Jimmy Page saved my life once, so, eh?, we’re even.

23 February 2002 The Boardwalk Sheffield UK

24 February 2002 The Mean Fiddler London

27 February 2002 Piesel Fulda Germany

28 February 2002 Theater Rex Lorsch Germany

We took this photo in Liverpool, but I’m using it for Lorsch.

Laura Albergante Visconti took this photograph.

Then we went to Schwerin, Germany, way up north. It felt like going to the end of the world.

1 March 2002 Speicher Schwerin Germany

2 March 2002 Blues Garage Hannover Germany

This is where we met Michael Spörke who wrote a book about our band called: Big Brother and the Holding Company, Die Band, die Janis Joplin berühmt machte. I translated this book and in English it is now called: Living With the Myth of Janis Joplin. Michael is writing a new book about Willie Mae Big Mama Thornton and I am doing some light translating and editing on that one too. It’s an interesting story. We played many times with Big Mama and she was a fascinating character, so Michael’s book is well worth reading.

“Alte Weberei” could mean “the old weavery.”

3 March 2002 Alte Weberei Cottbus Germany

Cottbus is very far east, almost in Poland, and it feels like it.

4 March 2002 Hahn (which means “hen”) is the other airport near Frankfurt, smaller, a lille easier to negotiate. It’s like La Guardia compared to JFK.

Our friend Elena Lichtenberger (upper left) is from Kaiserslautern.

Saint Anthony (San Antonio) praying over my head.

Muddy Waters and his wife. She’s playing an A and he’s making it play.

I stole the Muddy image from Jessie Brawer. Jessie, thank you.

23 March 2002 The Powerhouse Pub Folsom California

6 April 2002 Center for the Arts Grass Valley California Drew (great name for an artist, right?) Friedman did this drawing.

20 April 2002 The Majestic Theatre Streator Illinois

Alex Call and I wrote a couple of songs together. I recorded one of them with Mary Bridget Davies, Ben Nieves and Jim Wall just last December.

At that same recording session, we did a couple of songs that Wendy Rich and I wrote just about the time this photograph was taken.

3 May 2002 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco

23 May 2002 Melba Theatre Batesville Arkansas

Beverly Ambort

Thank you, Rona Walstra.

Beverly Ambort Chad Quist Help ! Chad has a giant Bud growing out of his head. No, not that kind of Bud.

An illustration from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam, artist Edmund J. Sullivan.

Some singers sound like they have a microphone in their throat. She sounds as if she has the whole PA in there.

24 May 2002 Pop’s Sauget Illinois

26 May 2002 The Waterfront Covington Kentucky

From my fingerpainting period.

“Tatemae honne,” the title of this painting, is Japanese for the public face and the private self.

Sam Andrew Lisa Mills

1 June 2002 The Thirsty Ear Columbus Ohio

One of my first sculptures.

2 June 2002 Motown Harley Davidson Taylor Michigan

14 June 2002 Constable Jack’s Newcastle California

Two good friends of the band: Judy and Todd Bolton.

15 June 2002 Lake County Fairgrounds Lakeport California On the west shore of Clearlake.

Sam Andrew senior year Kubasaki High School Okinawa Japan

29 June 2002 Tussey Mountain Amphitheatre Boalsburg Pennsylvania

7 July 2002

Musicians for Love, Janis in San Diego.

12 July 2002 Festival Grounds At The Pier Buffalo New York

27 July 2002 Kronberg Germany In a gemütliches Gasthaus. Very typical post gig scene.

31 July 2002 Woodstock Swiss style

8 August 2002 Point Breeze Webster Massachusetts

9 August 2002 Fall River Celebrates Fall River Massachusetts

10 August 2002 Ocean Beach Park New London Connecticut

15 August 2002 Coeur d’Alene Casino Worley Idaho

16 August 2002 Whitehorse Mountain Amphitheatre Darrington Washington

17 August 2002 Grant County Fair Moses Lake Washington

4 October 2002 The Landmark Hotel, room 105 Los Angeles

12 October 2002 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco I was watching Manhattan (Woody Allen) in this cinema when Alan Weiss approached. “Recognize the place ?” I looked around and it slowly dawned on me that this was the Avalon, a place where I had been caught in the broom closet with Dany and a joint. I swallowed the joint and tried to swallow Dany too.

Sign for our road when we lived in Lagunitas, California.

19 October 2002 Center For The Fine Arts Grass Valley California

20 October 2002 Spirit of Peace San Francisco Civic Center

26 October 2002 The Brookdale Lodge Brookdale California

Marie-Hélène Castelain

Françoise Hardy When I lived in Paris, Françoise Hardy and Johnny Hallyday were the king and queen of the scene.

I was barely aware of them, but in restaurants I would see them on Scopitone, a kind of proto MTV, video jukeboxes that would play a song for a franc.

27 November 2002 When musicians play snatches of other melodies during a solo, they are said to be “quoting.” These are some of the quotes I use when s0loing on Blindman.

Next week, part fifteen. Thank you for being here.

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Big Brother history, part fourteen – 2002

Posted on July 5, 2012 by J L

Come on in, people, and be happy.

We’ve got good things to tell you.

Excuse me while I kiss this guy.

19 January 2002 Turlock California

28 January 2002 Chanhassen Minnesota

31 January 2002 Area 22 Newport Rhode Island

1 February 2002 Bank Street Café New London Connecticut

Every time I play at the Bank Street Café, someone asks me about my brother Dan who attended the Coast Guard Academy in New London.

2 February 2002 The Company Theatre Norwell Massachusetts After playing in Norwell, we fly over the amazing Atlantic Ocean to England.

13 February 2002 The Astor Theatre Deal UK I feel as if Charles Dickens may have written about Deal. Dover is a bit farther south down the coast and Southampton more so.

14 February The Brook Southampton UK We are on the Beans and Bangers Circuit.

15 February 2002 The Point Cardiff Wales As we were entering Wales, our driver said, “Do you have your passports?” I started and replied, “No, no one told us to…” He smiled. I fell for it.

The French call Wales le pays de Galles. It’s a Gaelic land of singers, poets, actors.

The Point used to be St. Stephen’s Church and it still feels like it.

16 February 2001 The Flowerpot Derby in the north and center of England.

Derby is pronounced darby, as in Darby Slick.

I asked a Black Country man how he pronounced the name of this big city and he said, “BUH min ghum.” Rather different from “Birming hayam,” as they say in Alabama.

17 February 2002 The Stables Milton Keynes UK Milton Keynes is about halfway between Birmingham and London.

Cleo Laine, the American singer, lives here and she and her husband created The Stables.

I was here at The Limelight in Crewe with Chad Quist, Lisa Mills, Todd Vinciguerra and Peter Albin.

20 February 2002 The Limelight Crewe UK

Crewe is in the northwest of England, in Cheshire, where the cat lives. Crewe is the home of the Bentley automobile.

21 February 2002 Picture House Beverley UK Beverley is near Hull on the Humber river, but Hull is industrial and Beverley is leafy and rural.

Brierley Hill is in Dudley.

Samuel Johnson grew up in the town of Lichfield, Staffordshire, on the east side of Birmingham.

22 February 2002 Brierley Hill UK This is where Robert Plant came and stole Lisa Mills away from us. Hood Robin.

Oh, well, I have stolen and I have been stolen from, and so it goes. Paul Kantner paid me the compliment of stealing Cathy Richardson from me.

And then once or twice the Starship took Sophia Ramos also, but only because they had to. They always have to.

I’ll just take it as a salute to my good taste in singers.

Just call me the unpaid talent scout for the Jefferson Starship. But I have stolen many a musician from them, and Jimmy Page saved my life once, so, eh?, we’re even.

Almost even.

23 February 2002 The Boardwalk Sheffield UK

24 February 2002 The Mean Fiddler London

27 February 2002 Piesel Fulda Germany

With Tom Finch, Peter Albin, Anthony Edman and Lisa Mills in Liverpool.

28 February 2002 Theater Rex Lorsch Germany

Der Speicher can mean a warehouse, a storage place.

1 March 2002 Speicher Schwerin Then we went to Schwerin, Germany, way up north. It felt like going to the end of the world.

2 March 2002 Blues Garage Hannover Germany

This is where we met Michael Spörke who wrote a book about our band called: Big Brother and the Holding Company, Die Band, die Janis Joplin berühmt machte. I translated this book into English. It is now called: Living With the Myth of Janis Joplin.

Michael has written a new book about Willie Mae Big Mama Thornton and I helped him with that one too. It’s an interesting story. We played many times with Big Mama and she was a fascinating character. Michael’s book is well worth reading.

3 March 2002 Alte Weberei Cottbus Germany Alte Weberei could mean the old weavery.

Cottbus is very far east, almost in Poland, and it feels like it.

4 March 2002 Hahn (which means hen) is the other airport near Frankfurt, smaller, a little easier to negotiate. It’s like La Guardia compared to JFK.

23 March 2002 The Powerhouse Pub Folsom California

6 April 2002 Center for the Arts Grass Valley California

20 April 2002 The Majestic Theatre Streator Illinois

We are open to all families.

3 May 2002 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco

23 May 2002 Melba Theatre Batesville Arkansas

24 May 2002 Pop’s Sauget Illinois

26 May 2002 The Waterfront Covington Kentucky

The Waterfront is essentially a barge and it broke away from its moorings this year 2014 and crashed into the Clay Wade Bailey bridge.

1 June 2002 The Thirsty Ear Columbus Ohio

2 June 2002 Motown Harley Davidson Taylor Michigan

14 June 2002 Constable Jack’s Newcastle California

15 June 2002 Lake County Fairgrounds Lakeport California On the west shore of Clearlake.

29 June 2002 Tussey Mountain Amphitheatre Boalsburg Pennsylvania

Beth Hart

7 July 2002

Musicians for Love, Janis in San Diego.

12 July 2002 Festival Grounds At The Pier Buffalo New York

27 July 2002 Kronberg Germany

31 July 2002 Woodstock Swiss style

8 August 2002 Point Breeze Webster Massachusetts

9 August 2002 Fall River Celebrates Fall River Massachusetts

10 August 2002 Ocean Beach Park New London Connecticut

15 August 2002 Coeur d’Alene Casino Worley Idaho

16 August 2002 Whitehorse Mountain Amphitheatre Darrington Washington

17 August 2002 Grant County Fair Moses Lake Washington

4 October 2002 The Landmark Hotel, room 105 Los Angeles

Dolores Park 1935

12 October 2002 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco

19 October 2002 Center For The Fine Arts Grass Valley California

20 October 2002 Spirit of Peace San Francisco Civic Center

James Gurley

26 October 2002 The Brookdale Lodge Brookdale California

27 November 2002 When musicians play snatches of other melodies during a solo, they are said to be “quoting.”

These are some of the quotes I use when s0loing on Blindman.

Alan Merrill and friends

Jennifer Espinoza

Sam Andrew

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Big Brother and the Holding Company, part thirteen. 2000-2001

Posted on July 1, 2012 by J L tagged.

2000 – 2001

2000-2001 Lisa Mills. You think she looks good, you should hear her sing.

El Ciego is Blindman and No Te Gusto is Down On Me, but that seems like not such a good translation. No Te Gusto means you don’t like me, and the song means much more than that. Well, No Te Gusto means I Don’t Please You, if you please, but “looks like everybody in the whole round world… DOWN on me” is a whole different kettle of fish. More, kozmic, cosmic, universal… beyond YOU don’t like ME. More like the whole damn world don’t like me. And stronger than that, is DOWN on me.

There IS another meaning to Down On Me, as I was to learn with Marilyn Chambers.

We were going to go on the road together and she asked me to play Down On Me and she was going to sing it. She took the song literally and began acting out the down on me part. That was interesting.

22 January 2000 Six Rivers Brewing Company McKinleyville California

Elise Piliwale in Hawaii, sweet baby.

26 January 2000 Paradise Lounge San Francisco

10 February 2000 Halley DeVestern

Simone Mo took this photograph of my tuner at the Koko Live Club in Biella Castelletto, Italia.

Doing Love, Janis at The Bay Street Theatre Sag Harbor New York

Funny writer. I wish I could remember his son and the circumstances.

Elise and I. Village Theatre, Love Janis.

Rob Clores, and there is Joe Stefko in the back.

James Gurley

I spent February-March in Paris writing songs and recording with Janice de Rosa and Martyn Ingle.

Elise self portrait charcoal and strings.

Elise’s favorite self portrait.

2 April 2000 Record Convention Pittsburgh

My handsome brother Dan Andrew.

John Till Good guitar player, good man.

Elise at the Acropolis.

In Austria, I sometimes stay in a town called Klagenfurt where Gustav Mahler had a Komponierhäuschen, a little composing house, on Lake Wörther.

Don Aters took this photograph.

26 May 2000 The Valley Grill Great Valley New York

27 May 2000 AM JAM Biker Festival Cobleskill Fairgrounds Cobleskill New York

28 May 2000 Joyous Lake Woodstock New York

17 June 2000 Medicine Park Music Hall Medicine Park Oklahoma Lance Dresser

Lisa Mills

24 June 2000 Cuesta College San Luis Obispo California

15 July 2000 Burg Herzberg Open Air Festival Hof Hühnstadt Germany

31 July 2000 Writing about Jerry for Relix Magazne.

19 August 2000 Westover Winery Castro Valley California

Elise Piliwale Sam Andrew Westover Winery Castro Valley Gig 2000

25 August 2000 Kelsey’s New Albany Indiana

26 August 2000 Motown Harley Davidson Taylor Michigan

Sam Andrew Peter Albin

29 August 2000 The Combat Zone Toronto Ontario

30 August 2000 The Ottawa Bar Windsor Ontario

31 August 2000 The Village Inn Leamington Ontario

1 September 2000 Classic Fest 2000 Windsor Ontario

2 September 2000 Rockin’ Rhythm & Blues Fort Erie Racetrack Ontario

3 September 2000 Roach Roast Festival Rainbow Farm Vandalia Michigan

8 September 2000 State Capital Steps Sacramento

22-23 September 2000 Alturas Night Club Reno

4 October 2000 The Landmark Hotel, hallway to room 105 Los Angeles Photo: Howard Sounes

7 October 2000 Schnepf Farms Festival Site Queen Creek Arizona

Tim Robbins Joel Hoekstra

Joel has a large “extra” part in Rock of Ages. He holds his own with Russell Brand in the Strip being destroyed scene, and that is saying something because Russell is very talented and he has the divine spark of energy in him… something that cannot be taught or learned, but is innate. And Joel holds his own. He commands as much attention in that scene as Russell does.

Another Englishman who could be destined for greatness. I hope so anyway. He deserves it.

Joel Hoekstra is probably the best guitarist I have ever known. Not the retiring type either. He did it the easy way. He practiced eight hours a day for twenty years. Anybody can do that, right ? OK, let’s see you do it. It’s time for him to stop doing that hand gesture, though.

OK, full disclosure. Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand fall in love and KISS ON THE MOUTH in this film. Since Brokeback Mountain, all the Hollywood dudes have to do this. It’s right at the top of their resumé: Am willing to kiss same sex on mouth. Actors are such hams. They’ll do anything for a little exposure, or cash, or, preferably, both.

Reminds me of Brezhnev and Honneker, but at least they have the excuse that they’re commies and godless fellow travelers. I bet no one paid them for this. Shame, shame. Oh, well, that’s life under communism for you. You never get paid for having fun.

Tom Cruise can do anything… except stay married… ooh, ouch, no, I didn’t say that, praise god, no, I didn’t say that. This Rock of Ages film is extreme, excessive, poppy, ridiculous and silly, of course, and it has NOTHING to do with being a musician and playing rock and roll for living, but it’s stupid and dumb and I love stupid and dumb movies, so I’m a fan, definitely. Oh, yes, did I mention TOO LOUD.

Whatever happened to the guy in the suit singing “I’m In The Mood For Love” to the simpering young girl ? Ahhh, those days may be gone forever… Moonlight becomes you, it goes with your hair, you certainly know the right things to wear… They just don’t write’em like that anymore. I had to sing these lines in a play once. I thought, wow, someone got paid for writing this ?

Elise and I saw Rock of Ages in the theatre too, before we saw the film, and that helps. How, I’m not quite sure.

13 October 2000 Mississippi Coast Harley Davidson Anyway, Joel was on this gig with us in BillLUCKsee, Biloxi, Mississippi.

People from the Northeast say “OreGON” and “BiLOXee,” probably thinking that here on the Gulf Coast there are lox to be found. Lachs is the German word for “salmon” and that’s where “lox” came from. BUT, in the West they say ORegon and in the South they say BiLucksee.

Sam Andrew Lisa Mills

Wendy Causey Elise Piliwale Biloxi Gig

25 November 2000 Paper Song Oakland

Daphne Graham

25 November 2000 Swan Marketplace Oakland

3 February 2001 Paradise Beach Inn Grover’s Beach California Clams from Pismo Beach.

23 February 2001 Bio tuner ? I love that. It’s so Variety. Slang from the 1940s.

25 February 2001 We put a lot of work into this one.

24 March 2001 Schnepf Family Farm Queen Creek Arizona

Janis Joplin.

26 March 2001

Chet Helms

Musicians in the New York version of Love, Janis.

6 April 2001 New York Daily News

23 April 2001

Larry Etkin Joel Hoekstra Dan Cipriano 23 April 2001

26 April 2001 The after party for the New York Love, Janis.

27 May 2001 Ashkenaz Berkeley

1 June 2001 Sedgwick County Zoo: chimpanzee division Wichita Kansas

2 June 2001 Medicine Park Music Hall Medicine Park Oklahoma

Bill Ganaye.

4 June 2001 Heathrow, what a great name..

16 June 2001 Starlight Amphitheatre San Diego This is in Balboa Park, a lovely place

17 June 2001 Pine Knob Auburn Hills Michigan

Elise Piliwale 1996.

20 June 2001 Experimental Music Project Sky Church Seattle

22 June 2001 Keswick Theatre Philadelphia

23 June 2001 B.B. King’s Blues Club New York City

1 July 2001 Battlefield Harley Davidson Festival Gettysburg Pennsylvania

13 July 2001 Riverside Ballroom Green Bay Wisconsin

14 July 2001 Angel’s Saloon Hamler Ohio

Mimi Fariña

15 July 2001 Motown Harley Davidson Taylor Michigan

18 July 2001 The Borderline London

Peter Albin Chad Quist Sam Andrew Lisa Mills Todd Vinciguerra

19 July 2001 The Masque Liverpool Anthony Edman took this photograph.

You can tune a guitar…

… but you can’t tuna fish.

20 July 2001 The Brook Southampton with Anthony Edman

21 July 2001 Open Air Festival Burg Herzberg Germany

Lisa Mills.

11 August 2001 Trump Taj Mahal Atlantic City New Jersey

12 August 2001 Gathering On The Mountain Blakeslee Pennsylvania

17 August 2001 The Thirsty Ear Tavern Columbus Ohio

Don and Sarah Graham.

Addyson Graham

18 August 2001 Lapeer Days Festival Lapeer Michigan

Clark Walker.

Jan Sullivan Elise Piliwale

19 August 2001 Emerald Queen Casino Tacoma Washington

24 August 2001 The Orbit Club Boynton Beach Florida

26 August 2001 Rockstock Toole Utah

14 September 2001 Elks Lodge Chico California

16 September 2001 Westover Winery Castro Valley California

Kikeriki, unsere goldene Jungfrau ist wieder hie.

20 September 2001 Beth Hart, Jon Nichols standing behind her, Todd Vinciguerra on drums. I never had Beth sing in Big Brother. She’s the only one I missed.

Beth Hart, we would love to have you come sing with us if you ever have the time.

Doodling, always doodling.

I drew Kacee Clanton and Jon Nichols at the Love, Janis rehearsal.

And Todd Vinciguerra, the drummer.

28 September 2001 San Diego opening of Love, Janis.

Dana Anderson Jon Nichols I wish I knew her name.

I met Kacee Clanton on this show. Oh, happy day.

Randal Myler, good friend and straight shooter, wrote this play based on Janis’ letters home to her family.

Iz Mi Hope DeBorse

29 September 2001 Redwood Empire Fairgrounds Ukiah California

2 October 2001 Elise and I are married in Las Vegas. Smartest thing I ever did.

When she was very young, Mary Bridget Davies sent me this photograph of her Hallowe’en costume, little realizing that she would spend a great deal of her time dressed this way while we were doing Love, Janis.