[Dixielandjazz] Janis Joplin & OKOM

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

aha!   now the connection comes to light, thanks Steve, I got involved 
with Janis about 1967-68 era with Big Brother, and one of my former 
Baritone Sax Players left my 60s R&B band to tour Europe with her.  He 
too is a life long Stoner and that one tour with her has been his claim 
to fame ever since, and he has not had a decent gig since then.   He 
stayed so stoned on that tour that he does not even remember anything 
about it but being on it and being stoned everywhere they went.

Now he has medical marijuana ( he gets sick if he is without it for 
thirty minutes or longer)  :))
Name withheld to protect the guilty and he still owes me money that I 
don't wish to give up in a lawsuit. :))   Not that he could afford a 
lawyer, but he might be growing enough to pay one off with it.

Musical content:   "Smoke get's in your Eyes"   and too much gets in 
your Brain too.

Yes indeed it is possible to get too much of a good thing and then it 
is a Bad thing.   I have lost a lot of good friends and good musicians 
over the years behind their overindulgence in their non- habits.


By the WAY  BARBARA DANE IS AN Excellent Singer and should be on the 
Sac. Jazz Jubilee,
She lives nearby in Vallejo, Ca.   Sang with one of my Black Gospel 
Groups for spell.  I expect to see her on Xmas Eve at a party.


Cheers,

Tom



-----Original Message-----
From: Steve barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: DJML <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 16:11:33 -0500
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Janis Joplin & OKOM

   on 12/18/05 12:36 PM, Artwoo at aol.com at Artwoo at aol.com wrote:

>Hi: I have heard that bay area OKOM legend Dick Oxtot was instrumental 
in
>recognizing Janis Joplin's talent and getting her career started.

>Perhaps some other members who knew Dick might be able to explain this 
in more
>detail.


Hi Art & Listmates:

As you say, Oxtot was a LEGEND in OKOM in the bay area.

In 1965 Janis Joplin wrote and recorded "Mary Jane"  with  Dick Oxtot's
Oakland Athletics Jazz Band. It is on the soundtrack to the movie 
"Janis":

"Now when I go to work, I work all day
Always turns out the same
When I bring home my hard-earned pay
I spend my money all on Mary Jane
Mary Jane, Mary Jane, Lord, my Mary Jane."

Mary Jane, of course, being marijuana.

She was very much a folk-blues singer before 1966, with years of 
experience
in folk clubs in Texas and San Francisco.  She was basically doing 
Bessie
Smith tunes. Extremely loud she didn't need a mike.

She also sang some Dixieland jazz with Dick Oxtot around the Bay Area 
and
took advantage of her first stay there, to hear some of his records, 
after
Barbara Dane had advised him to expose Janis to Ma Rainey, which he did.
(BTW, Barbara Dane is a wonderful tradjazz/blues singer who should be 
well
known to OKOM fans)

In 1966 Joplin started to outgrow her trad roots.

Cheers,
Steve


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