Janis Joplin made an appearance on
The Dick Cavett Show on 25 June 1970. In footage from the interview, Joplin sits on set opposite the urbane host, Cavett, with blue, pink and purple feather boas woven through her hair. She had just been to Rio De Janeiro for carnival and had hitchhiked around the north of Brazil. âYou ever get back to Port Arthur, Texas?â asks Cavett. âNo, but Iâm going back next in August, man,â replies Joplin, âand guess what Iâm doing? Iâm going to my tenth annual high school reunion.â
Cavettâs audience cracks up and Joplin, perhaps a little skittish, is visibly gratified to get a laugh. She goes on to invite Cavett to come with her to the reunion and when he remarks that he doesnât have many friends in her high school class, she cracks wise again in reply: âWell, I donât either. Thatâs why Iâm going.â Does she think sheâll have a lot to say to her old classmates? Cavett asks
Janis Joplinâs scrapbooks reveal the flipside of a rockânâroll tragedy
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By Craig Mclean
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On August 14, 1970, Janis Joplin went home. Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas, was holding a 10-year reunion. Joplin rocked up in hippie flares, a scoop-necked T-shirt, a feather boa that she wore as a hat, and her trademark round, tinted sunglasses.
Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco on New Yearâs Day, 1967.
Credit:Getty Images
At the time, the 27-year-old singer and songwriter was one of the biggest countercultural forces in America. An incendiary performer on and off the stage, she was a hippie-style icon and feminist trailblazer. The previous summer she had been one of the star performers at Woodstock, managing to cut through the stoned fug and 2am start time with an earth-shaking performa