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  • Sounds like Janis

    Sounds like Janis

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January 21, 2011

Kozmic Pearl to channel Joplin at Hall of Fame concert

Darragh Doiron The Port Arthur News

PORT ARTHUR —







A no-hassle attitude, high notes and costuming will help Myrna Sanders “channel Janis” Joplin at Saturday’s Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame concert, but the Houston singer notes she’s not “on stage” all the time.

When she and Kozmic Pearl band set up for Sanders to portray Joplin, the Port Arthur-born queen of rock ‘n’ roll,  people share brushes with Janis. She appeared at the Joplin Birthday Bash in Port Arthur as Joplin in 2007.

“They say I really do channel her and they feel like she’s really in the room. At every gig almost somebody says they knew her or went to school with her ... Sometimes you don’t even want to know,” Sanders said.

When The News called  Sanders, she said she’d call back, because she was at Home Depot buying a washer and dryer. The mundane task seems about the most un-Joplin like thing the singer could be doing, but she can’t be on stage all the time.

“It’s so funny. If people only knew, band members come over and they think that’s all I have to do. Dude, I have to clean my house and cook and take my dogs to the vet. My whole life is not music. I wish it could be,” Sanders said.

But Joplin’s tough-girl attitude is something she incorporates into everyday living.

“She didn’t take any crap off anybody, and I try not to, either. If people try to start something for no reason, I say I’m not the person to be doing this with. Basically she was carefree and didn’t want to be compromised in any way. She didn’t want any hassles,” Sanders said.

Joplin was born  Jan. 19, 1943. At the concert, Sanders plans to perform some Joplin standards and some she dug deep for, including “Flower in the Sun” and “Dear Landlord.”

Sanders’ original music is what she calls Texas blues rock, a typical “out of Austin sound,” she said. Later this month she’s planning to record her second album.

“I don’t have a definite title yet, but I’m toying with a couple of things, like “this is not my first rodeo.”

The 24th Annual Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame Show, formerly known as the Janis Joplin Birthday Bash, will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, in the Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center in Port Arthur. This year ever-popular Wayne Toups will be the honored guest and main attraction. 

Other performances include Larry Grisham and Longneck Roadt.

Tickets are $22 in advance through 1 p.m. Friday from A&S Music in Nederland, Swicegood Music in Beaumont, the Penny Record in Bridge City and the civic center. Tickets will be available at the civic center box office on the day of the show for $24. Children ages 12 and younger who are accompanied by an adult will be admitted free.

ddoiron@panews.com

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