JANICE JOPLIN 11/24/68 DALLAS TX
11/24/68 Dallas TX
JANICE JOPLIN with Big Brother & The Holding Co.
A big day in my mental history of music in Texas. Head Usher at the Memorial
Auditorium in downtown job from high school ROTC.
The show was so good in my mind now, I completely forget the opening act. It may well have been members of Big Brother doing a small Jam Band thing to open it up while Janice got
“tuned UP” . When she got started she confirmed all I had heard on record or the radio so far. She COULD SING . DANG !!! The set of pipes on her was unreal. Go back and listen to her version of SUMMERTIME , BALL & CHAIN etc. She was peeling the paint off the back wall of the building with pure emotion. The crowd that I was to help control was dead floored as I was and hardly got out of their seats. When the band came out at first I was surprised at the LONG LONG straight hair on most of the band. The Beatles and English bands had hair but nothing like 20“+ length.
This was a year of no bra as a protest also and JANICE was behind it fully. From the front half of the downstairs section , she was in full display with a fuzzy macrame poncho type thing on. Every time she raised her mic arm the audience swayed along to keep watch on the situation.
Maybe that’s why they didn’t get up too ? It was a fun show for me and was blown away. Next month JAMMING WITH FREDDIE KING ....