Gary James' Interview With The Author Of Janis: Her Life And Music
Holly George-Warren



There's never been another singer quite like Janis Joplin. For three years she blazed across the world horizon and then she was no more. Holly George-Warren has researched Janis Joplin in her new book, Janis: Her Life And Music. (Simon And Schuster Books) We spoke to Holly George-Warren about Janis Joplin.

Q - Holly, what did you do on October 4^th, 2019, the 49^th anniversary of Janis' death?

A - Oh, God. What did I do that day? It's weird. I did feel this kind of sadness. It's weird because it the week before my birthday, which is October 10^th and another one of my book subjects, Gene Autry died on October 2^nd. Janis, October 4^th. There's this kind of pervasive sense of sadness that day. Of course I listen to Janis' music a lot. I'm pretty sure I listened to her music that day.

Q - I understand the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles allows people to stay in the very room Janis died in. Have you been there?

A - I was just there actually. It's now called the Highland Gardens Motor Hotel. It's really quite similar to how it was when Janis stayed there all the time. She loved that place. It's very cool. Her room of course has new furnishings and everything, but it hasn't been changed as far as the structure goes. There's like a little kitchenette. There's a huge walk-in closet and carved on the walls are signatures and messages from people all over the world who have been coming there for years to pay homage to Janis. I was actually there a few days after the anniversary of her passing. I was there around October 14^th. Something like that. I thought I was going to feel really, really sad, but I didn't. It's just the fact that these people keep coming there to pay homage and they do have a little plaque outside the room. It's horrible that she died so young, but it sounds so weird to say, but at least she did go out in a place that she really loved. She loved that place. She always stayed there. There's no memorial to visit. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered off the coast of California, near Stinson Beach where she lived. So, this gives people a place to go. The manager there is really nice. If no one is staying there, he'll let you in to see the room. The swimming pool is exactly situated the way it was when she used to love to hang out by the pool and there's some pictures of her staying by the pool. It's a cool vibe there. When I was there, again I was there about ten days after her passing, there was no one staying in her room, but the guy told me there is a man who comes almost every year and stays in her room, either the day she passed or very close to it.

Q - But, you never stayed in that room overnight?

A - No, I never did.

Q - Have you ever heard any reports of strange phenomena going on in that room?

A - I actually did ask the guy from the hotel and I'm trying to remember what he said, 'cause I didn't do an official interview. I just was chatting with him. I'm pretty positive he said that there was... People over the years thought they heard something or a sound or something like that. There were some kind of vibes, vibes like a visitation from Janis, but it was a good vibe though. It was not a negative thing. It was just kind of this feeling. I don't recall him saying anyone had seen an apparition or anything like that. It was more just kind of the vibe.

Q - Was it hard to find people who were close to Janis who were willing to talk about her for your book?

A - This coming January 19^th, (2020) would be her birthday. She'd be turning 77. So, a lot of her peers are in their late seventies. She's lost some of them. But I was able to track down a lot of people and most of them were willing to talk to me. People that she grew up with. Her bandmates. People like that.

Q - Janis was unique in the sense that today she probably would never have happened. I say that only because had she signed a record deal, her handlers would immediately go to work on re-making her image.

A - No. That would not have happened. Janis was totally in control of herself, her musical vision. Even if she got signed today she would be more like a Lady Ga Ga type who has a very clear vision of what she wants to do, how she wants to look, what she wants to sing, who she wants to play with, and if you don't like it, then fuck you! That would've been Janis. She would not have allowed herself to be molded. She was a very strong person as far as her vision goes. In fact, I kicked the book off with a quote from Janis that says, "Don't compromise yourself. That's all you got." That was Janis. A lot of people blame Clive Davis or Albert Grossman for her leaving Big Brother And The Holding Company, but Janis made that decision herself. Those closest to her, her bandmates included, said Janis would never do anything she didn't want to do. And she was like that her whole life. Even as a kid. She was fearless. She wasn't afraid. She was willing to pay the price for being an outsider, for being outspoken and expressing her views even though it would not be a popular opinion. That's how it was for her in Port Arthur, Texas. That's why she had some problems by the time she got to be 15, 16 years old. I think if Janis was around today she'd be hugely successful. She'd be a producer, something that women were not even allowed to do when Janis' career was going on. She had that technical producer kind of head. She worked very hard in the studio. She loved being in the studio. She also was very much in control of her image. She created this image which definitely hid and disguised certain aspects of herself that she kept private, but that was her. She came up with that. She did it. There's no way she wouldn't have continued to do it. She would have continued to do all sorts of music, kind of like the way Neil Young has, even Dylan to an extent. If you don't like it, I'm going to do this now. That was Janis. Joni Mitchell was like that too later on.

Q - Much of the sadness surrounding Janis' death is what she would have done had she lived.

A - Oh, yeah. She was in a good place with her music when tragically she got this super strong China White heroin. Her tolerance was down and horribly it killed her.

Q - Had she accomplished everything she wanted to accomplish?

A - Not at all. Her career was still at the very beginning. She had lots more she would've done.

Q - Janis' friend, Peggy Caserta wrote a book and gave an interview to Rolling Stone. Did you see that interview?

A - Yeah.

Q - She disputes the official cause of Janis' death. She believes that Janis caught the heel of her shoe on the shag carpet, tripped, broke her nose on the nightstand and died of asphyxiation. What do you think about what Perry Caserta is saying?

A - Okay. Well, bless her heart. Peggy has had a hard life. I'm sure she feels a lot of guilt and sadness to this day. She was supposed to meet Janis that night. She didn't show up. She was a heroin addict herself at the time. Most of the time a lot of people, to be able to handle certain grief in their lives, they try to look to other theories to make them feel better. But I read the coroner's report. There's no doubt about it, she died of a heroin overdose. I think something like eight other people died that night, overdosing on the same batch of heroin. I even know the guy's name who brought in the heroin from overseas. It was China White. He hung out with Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull and a lot of other people. It was just like what happens today with people that get fentanyl and mix it with their heroin and don't know and overdose 'cause it's so strong. Just the other night I was doing a big book event in Manhattan. We go walking out of the real nice book shop, McNally Jackson. We're walking up the street to a restaurant. There's a commotion. They're bringing this well dressed young man out of a bar/restaurant who was overdosing on heroin. He doesn't have a pulse. They have him on the sidewalk, trying to give him CPR and bring him back. They call the cops and they show up with Narcan and they're able to revive him and take him to the hospital. Sadly there was no one there to revive Janis. There was no Narcan and she got a very strong dose of heroin. Her tolerance was down because she'd been clean for about four or five months. So, she died of a heroin overdose. There's no doubt about that.

Q - Why wasn't anyone with Janis that day?

A - Well, because Peggy (Caserta) stood her up.

Q - Why didn't she have what the British would call a "minder" with her? I don't mean boyfriend.

A - She did have a boyfriend who stood her up also. He was supposed to have come in from San Francisco that day and he postponed it to the next day. Since she was expecting to have company, she didn't make plans. She'd been in the recording studio that day. She had gone to Barney's Beanery and had a couple of drinks with Kim Pierson, who was her keyboard player, and then he went to his room, she went to her room. Interestingly, the other bizarre twist to the story is when she was doing heroin on a regular basis, before she quit in 1970, she would mainline it. She would shoot it into her vein. This particular night she just skin popped it, okay? So, after she did the heroin she did actually seek out company in a sense. She went to the lobby of the hotel. I was just there and I traced the steps. It's like about a three minute walk, if that, and that includes like locking the doors. She probably didn't even bother locking her door, walked to the lobby, got change for the cigarette machine, bought the cigarettes, chatted with the guy for a few minutes, went back to her room. The other horrible twist of fate is that there was one guy that really did care about her deeply. The two had had a thing for a couple of months. They had met in Brazil. He'd come back to California with her. They had been together a couple of months. She was still very focused on making her new record, going back on tour, and putting her band together. He wanted to continue traveling around the world. He graduated from Notre Dame. He had been in the Peace Corps. He was a very cool guy and he was traveling around the world. So, they made an agreement to meet up again in like a year and a half, after they finished doing their things. He'd actually written her, I think it was from Nepal or North Africa. I'd have to double check in the book. Anyway, he'd written her and said, "Oh, you'd love it over here. Miss you more than you know Mama. C'mon over. They say it's beautiful in the Fall here." That was sitting there in her mailbox. It's such a tragic twist of fate. Sadly, she didn't see the letter. It was around one o'clock in the morning. She went back to her room. She still had the $4.50 clutched in her hand. She did fall and hit her face on the nightstand. Believe me, she did not catch her foot on the rug. Peggy can believe whatever she wants to, but she didn't have one, but two coroner's reports. There was an autopsy. So, that's the story.

Q - She should have been staying someplace where she could have been watched, not The Landmark.

A - That's where she liked to stay. That was her choice. She loved it there. It's weird. Her room was smaller and closer to the front. It overlooks Franklin. Some of the guys in the band and John Cook, her road manager, had larger rooms in the back of the motel. It's very odd. But for whatever reason, she always stayed in that same room. She loved it, Room 105. Who knows? Again, it's interesting that Rolling Stone would just quote her. The fact of the matter is there was a police investigation and an autopsy and not one, but two coroner's reports. The second one was supervised by Thomas Noguchi, who was the most famous Medical Examiner in Los Angeles. He also handled the the deaths of Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. I've seen the report and the cause of death is accidental overdose of heroin. It describes everything about her. It's a full autopsy. There's nothing about any concussion. When you overdose on heroin your lungs and your heart shut down. So, in a sense there is asphyxiation, but your lungs are shutting down because of the heroin overdose.

Q - I don't understand why Janis Joplin needed heroin.

A - Well, what about Billie Holiday? What about Charlie Parker? What about Jerry Garcia? What about John Coltrane. What about Jim Morrison? Sadly, a lot of the most talented people who are very, very sensitive people, unfortunately turn to this substance that I call in the book, a blanket of numb, just to shut things out. Janis knew of the problems. She did not want to be addicted. That's what's so sad. She had been clean. People tend to overdose actually even more frequently when they've been clean for awhile 'cause their tolerance is down. But horribly, other members of her band Big Brother were also addicted to heroin. Her guitar player's wife, Nancy overdosed on heroin and died. Janis actually paid his legal fees. James Gurley was charged with manslaughter or second degree murder for her death. He's the one that shot her up. Janis paid for his legal fees to get him off. So, she was very well aware of the risks involved and she took them regardless.

Q - Did you see that clip of Janis and Raquel Welch on The Dick Cavett Show? It's kind of a strange look.

A - Yeah. She had her issues sometimes with people that she thought, what she would call "plastic people," Hollywood types that wore tons of makeup and allowed themselves to be objectified. She had problems with that. But who knows, once she got to know Raquel Welch maybe they would've hit it off. She was a bit argumentative with her in that clip, arguing basically about fans. Janis' point, if I recall correctly, was that, hey! You should always be available to your fans. Your fans are kind of what made you. I would have to see it again. I'm just remembering it off the top of my head. Raquel Welch was more about the press were too much like paparazzi, bothering people, people deserve their privacy. I think Janis was defending more of the powers that be, if you're a public personality you have to deal with it, if I recall correctly. That's what they were kind of discussing heatedly, slightly heatedly.

Q - Did Janis ever understand just how many people she inspired?

A - Yes, she did. What happened was Janis was really so good to her fans that she never sequestered herself away from her audience. Even up to her very last concert, the last public appearance that she did in August of 1970 with Full Tilt Boogie. She played at Harvard Stadium for like 40,000 people in the afternoon. I was just up in Cambridge and did a book event just last week and people came that were at that show. She was mingling with the audience, sharing a bottle of wine. I interviewed so many people who got to meet Janis after shows because she would hang out. These people would tell her how much she meant to them, how she had changed their head around and what her singing had done for them. She loved hearing that. Also, I've seen her scrapbooks where people would send her notes and poems and drawings and all this stuff about how much they admired her. She pasted those in her scrapbook. So, she was aware of the effect that she had on people, definitely.

Q - What does it say about a person who achieved the American dream, in this case Janis, but never did find happiness?

A - Well, she did have lots of moments of happiness. That's one fallacy I think I've tried to show in my book. There were periods of her life that she was very happy and she was 27 years old. But your twenties are your angsty years, right? You may be at the top of your game as an artist. I think she was still developing as an artist. She still had so much more music in her to give us. But she never had the opportunity to come to terms with losses and sadness that she had felt in her life. That's the kind of thing you do more when you hit your forties or even your fifties. Her life was cut short. So, she never had that opportunity. But I tried to show in my book that she had plenty of opportunities. She was the life of the party. She was having a really good time, even in 1970. She was in a good place when she died. She had some issues, but overall she was in a good place musically. She was very happy with her music. She did see that music was the one thing that never let her down. I tried to show sections of the book where you could see that she was having a good time. She was happy. Because of the incredible, bluesy way that she sang and the way that she was able to tap into those sorrows, she she sang and put them out to the audience. I think it left an impression that she was always broken hearted, always sad. But that was not the case.

Official Website: www.HollyGeorgeWarren.com

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