A MOUTHFUL OF PENNIES PRESENTS: JANIS JOPLIN (AS THE WHISKEY-GRAVEL ROLLS THROUGH THEIR DULCET MANEUVERS)

“Standing Nude” by Bob Seidemann, 1967

Janis Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970)

Janis

 

When

You sing

You make my heart wet

and the polyps

In my ventricles

Quiver

As the whiskey-gravel rolls through their dulcet maneuvers,

A tumble from your guts,

I only wish

To gather your colored cloth, feral hair,

pockmarked corpulent flesh,

and your sorrow—sodden from the womb—

In my arms

and cradle—

    But, Mama, you are dead

 

When the chemical hit a critical level

of toxicity

You seized up

So violent

You smashed your face

against the bedside table

of the Landmark Motor Hotel

 

Your psilocybin Porsche still idle in the parking lot

——————————————————————————————————————–

photo by Richard Avedon, Port Arthur, Texas, 8/28/69

 

Hello All,

Today being the 43^rd anniversary of Janis Joplin’s death, I chose to celebrate the life of this extraordinary talent by putting together a mixtape of some of my favorite tracks by her.

By all common standards considered a homely girl, and certainly rough looking—when this woman from Port Arthur, Texas sang she could transform into the most beautiful thing in the world. Up there all radiant with sweat and emotion, she’d take a tune at full-tilt and hold nothing back—she was a rarity—she was sincere.

—Enjoy yourself!

 

————————(CLICK TO LISTEN & DOWNLOAD)————————- – —   –   –

A Mouthful of Pennies Presents

Janis Joplin (As The Whiskey-Gravel Rolls Through Their Dulcet Maneuvers)

By A Mouthful of Pennies (Bobby Calero)

Cover art by  A Mouthful of Pennies (Bobby Calero)

R.I.P.

——————(BOBBY CALERO)——————–  — —   –    –    –      –

(Janis Joplin blotter art by R. Crumb)