Kozmic Blues

Big Brother & the Holding Company keeps alive the memory of Janis Joplin.

By: Susan Van Dongen

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Big Brother & the Holding Company, featuring original members Sam Andrew (center), Peter Albin (left) and David Getz, plays VetRock in Doylestown, Pa., June 7.


   Think of Janis Joplin and the image that most likely comes to mind is a human ball of energy outrageously dressed in psychedelic bell-bottoms, love beads and feather boas, with long, tousled hair blowing in the wind. She’d hit the stage in her self-styled "full-tilt boogie" to growl out blues-rock the likes of which no one had ever heard before — at least not from a middle-class white woman.
   Sam Andrew, guitarist and music director of Joplin’s original backing band, Big Brother & the Holding Company, knew her as a fellow traveler through some of the wildest times in rock history. He remembers her better as a friend, though. Naturally, he recalls her rock star antics and almost feral performance style, but he also knew a quieter, more thoughtful Janis.
   "I loved Janis and her music from the first time I heard her," says Mr. Andrew from his home in San Anselmo, Calif., just north of San Francisco. "Plus, she was funny. Funny is always good, and she was one of the funniest people I ever knew.
   "To me there was no difference between Janis the legend and Janis the person," he continues. "Janis was one to make trenchant observations, phrased in a very comic and original manner. She did this on stage all the time. It was obvious that we were hearing a non-compromising woman with a great deal to say about what was going on. It was like hearing Margaret Cho, Anais Nin, Mae West and Simone de Beauvoir all rolled into the same person. It was quite a ride."
   Mr. Andrew and two original members of BBHC — Peter Albin and David Getz — will perform on the main stage as part of VetRock Music and Art Festival 2003 in Doylestown, Pa., June 7. The event features almost 12 hours of non-stop music by ’60s and ’70s groups such as Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals, the Soul Survivors, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Jay and the Techniques, as well as the New Hope, Pa.-based Toni Brown Band. In addition, local bands Mojo Mystics, Shack Daddys and Legends are slated to appear. A third stage will showcase intimate acoustic performances by Bob Stirner and Living Earth, former Hot Tuna member Michael Falzarano with Kerry Kearny and friends, and Mark Diomede from Juggling Suns.
   Conceived in 1998 by area concert promoter Lu Bates — a Vietnam veteran — a portion of the proceeds from VetRock will benefit local community services and veterans causes. This is one of the reasons Mr. Andrew was happy to sign on. An Air Force brat who practically grew up on a base in Okinawa, Japan, Mr. Andrew has a sympathetic perspective to the daily grind of military life — especially family life. In fact, he played in his first bands alongside soldiers, sailors and airmen stationed in Japan.
   "There were a lot of great musicians in the various service bands and they taught me a lot," says Mr. Andrew. "I could never understand why people spurned the soldier during the Vietnam War, because I knew he or she was just trying to muddle through as the rest of us were. It was the people in charge who were causing the real mischief, then and now.
   "So many people were ground down by the arbitrary nature of the military," he continues. "Most vets are people who were trying to act honorably by doing their duty as they saw it. They were and still are taken advantage of by cynical, manipulative leaders both in and out of the service. By the way, I often saw Janis take the time to talk to soldiers when she saw that they were lonely or in shock at being back home in America. We frequently traveled with soldiers because we lived on airplanes. Janis had an indignant side, but she could also be very compassionate."
   Best remembered as Joplin’s raucous backing band, BBHC was active long before she joined them. As the house band at the Avalon Ballroom in psychedelic-era San Francisco, they were famous for playing a combination of progressive rock and jazz. Mr. Andrew was already a veteran musician when he met guitarists Mr. Albin and Mr. Getz, and assumed the role of the group’s music director.
   "Long before Big Brother, I had read every book on music I could find and gave myself a theoretical education," Mr. Andrew says. "Later, I went to the New School and Mannes School of Music in New York City where I studied harmony, counterpoint and composition. My entire musical career has run backwards. I had success first and paid my dues later by studying seriously."
   In fact, Mr. Andrew has several works for string quartet, piano pieces and even a symphony in his compositional repertoire. He names Chuck Berry and Little Richard as influences, but also Charlie Christian, Billie Holliday, Django Reinhardt, Lil Hardin, Louis Armstrong, Glenn Gould, Edith Piaf, Hank Williams, Louis Prima and Spike Jones as just a few of his favorite people in music.
   "If music is sincere and competent, I love it," Mr. Andrew says. "If it’s true, it’s good."
   BBHC eventually caught the eye and ear of entrepreneur and concert promoter Chet Helms, who suggested adding a vocalist to the group’s all-instrumental sound. Mr. Helms introduced Joplin to BBHC, who had moved to the Bay Area from her home near Austin, Texas. After a certain amount of adjustment, the blues-inflected BBHC meshed perfectly with Joplin’s extraordinary stage presence and rootsy voice — influenced by Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton and Ma Rainey.
   "Janis actually changed her acoustic style to sing electrically with us," Mr. Andrew says. "There was a lot of combining, melding, and synthesizing of styles as well as giving in, fussing, fighting and love."
   Joplin with BBHC caught the public imagination, especially with their live shows, such as the fabled performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Their classic debut album, Cheap Thrills (
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), went to number one on the pop charts with the help of the single "Piece of My Heart"—not to mention stylistic cover art by R. Crumb. Joplin left BBHC in 1968, bringing Mr. Andrew with her to form the Kozmic Blues Band.
   BBHC disbanded in 1972, two years after Joplin’s death, re-formed in 1986, and since the 1990s has been touring steadily, mostly throughout Europe and the West Coast of the United States.
   At 62, Mr. Andrew shows no sign of losing his enthusiasm for music and a host of other creative outlets he’s nurtured.
   "I’m going to keep writing songs, painting, drawing, sculpting, writing, being involved in theater and just generally keeping busy and working hard," Mr. Andrew says. "These things keep me happy and they’re better than meditation or yoga. We will keep playing as Big Brother as long as people enjoy hearing us play. We still have fun, and we still play high-energy music that makes people smile."
   Mr. Andrew grows pensive, though, reflecting about losing Joplin — a talented singer, gutsy proto-feminist and, most importantly, a good friend — at such a young age.
   "I know that Janis was unusually talented," he says. "She was a very intelligent woman who could do a lot of things, but she could really sing. I have the bootleg tapes to show it. One of the great tragedies about her (early death) was that she hadn’t yet started to give the world all she had. She hadn’t even begun."
Big Brother & the Holding Company performs at the VetRock Music and Art Festival 2003, Maennerchor Field, Cold Spring Creamery Road, Doylestown, Pa., June 7, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tickets cost $28 in advance, $32 at the gates. For information, call (888) 397-3100. Tickets can also be purchased through www.tickets.com. On the Web: www.vetrock.net. Big Brother and the Holding Company on the Web: www.bbhc.com