LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES- OCT 26, 2019…IT WAS FORTY NINE YEARS AGO THAT A WAKE WAS HELD AT THE “LION’S SHARE” IN SAN ANSELMO TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF JANIS JOPLIN. JOPLIN, WHO DIED OF AN ACCIDENTAL DRUG OVERDOSE THREE WEEKS EARLIER, HAD LEFT $2,500 IN HER WILL TO THROW A HUGE PARTY IN THE EVENT OF HER DEATH. THE LION’S SHARE WAS PICKED BECAUSE THAT WAS A VENUE THAT HAD HOSTED MANY OF JOPLIN’S GIGS IN THE PAST. JOPLIN USED TO LIVE NEAR THE BORDER OF CORTE MADERA AND LARKSPUR UNTIL SHE DIED IN 1970. BEFORE THAT, SHE AND HER BAND ‘BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY’ LIVED TOGETHER IN A LARGE HOME IN WEST MARIN. THE PARTY WAS ATTENDED BY HER SISTER LAURA AND JOPLIN’S CLOSE FRIENDS. UNFORTUNATELY THE CEREMONY TURNED EVENTFUL AS BROWNIES LACED WITH HASHISH WERE UNKNOWINGLY PASSED AROUND AMONGST THE GUESTS. ACCORDING TO SAM ANDREW THE GUITARIST FOR ‘BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY’ AND ‘THE FULL TILT BOOGIE BAND’ : “We had a party for Janis Joplin after she died in this very room(at the Lion’s Share) and everyone was snorting coke in the bathrooms. It was insane.’
THE INVITATIONS FOR THE EVENT READ “THE DRINKS ARE ON PEARL”(THAT’S WHAT HER FRIENDS USED TO CALL HER) AND THE BASH WAS ATTENDED BY OVER 200 OF JOPLIN’S FRIENDS, FAMILY AND MUSICIANS. THE GRATEFUL DEAD AND OTHER GROUPS PLAYED. THE FINAL TAB FOR THE EVENT WAS OVER $1,600 (IN 2019 MONEY THAT WORKS OUT TO OVER $40,000 IN BOOZE).
HERE’S A FULL SAN FRANCISCO CONCERT WITH JANIS AND ‘BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY’ FROM 1968
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