Joplin’s legacy lives on 40 years after her death

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Janis Joplin

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October 4, 2010

Darragh Doiron The Port Arthur News The Port Arthur News Wed Oct 06, 2010, 08:33 AM CDT

PORT ARTHUR —

Janis Joplin gave the world a piece of her heart.

The Port Arthur native, born Jan. 19, 1943, belted out raw emotion from deep within her soul, forever changing the landscape of rock and blues music.

Then, as her star was rising to the top with major performances at the legendary Woodstock music festival and the Monterey Pop Festival, Joplin succumbed to an accidental heroin overdose 40 years ago on Oct. 4, 1970.

She influenced countless other musicians through the decades including Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone who paid tribute to Joplin in a musical performance during the 2005 Grammys and American Idol contestant Crystal Bowersox who wowed the audience with her rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee.”

Joplin’s siblings, Laura and Michael Joplin, sold some of the rights to her songs and life back in the 1990’s and talk swirled about who would play the songstress. Two biopics were talked about for some time; “The Gospel According to Janis” starring Zooey Deschanel and singer Pink and in 2003, Renée Zellweger was attached to another biopic titled “Piece of My Heart,” which has since been scrapped, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

Then, in July of this year a new project was announced called “Janis Joplin; Get It While You Can.” Amy Adams is set to play Joplin.

Joplin’s story has been captured by author Ann Angel with the book “Janis Joplin; Rise up Singing.”

The book followed the life of a girl “who struggled against rules and limitations, yet worked diligently to improve as a singer. It’s the story of an outrageous rebel who wanted to be loved, and of a wild woman who wrote long, loving letters to her mom. And finally, it’s the story of one of the most iconic female musicians in American history that died at twenty-seven,” according to information from the publisher.

The Port Arthur Historical Society invites the public to a book signing event for the newly released book to be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 14 at the Museum of the Gulf Coast.

The event is held in conjunction with the display of an original one-of-a-kind Neal Preston silkscreen of Janis Joplin. Measuring 9 feet tall, the image is taken from a photograph believed to be from Joplin’s performance at the Festival Express Concert in Toronto, Canada, not long before her untimely death.

The museum has a permanent display on Joplin that features some of her personal items, artwork and music.

For more information, call the museum at 982-7000.

mmeaux@panews.com

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