Legacy Recordings

Everybody who’s lived a musical life can name the moments when music changed their lives forever. Many of us who were kids in the ‘60s could tell you about the first time they saw the Beatles on TV or heard that Motown track on the radio or took umbrage to Dean Martin insulting the Stones.

In 1968 I was 12 years old and already a voracious music consumer. I listened to the radio in my hometown of Chicago incessantly, rode the bus to the closest record store and bought the singles that I loved. Thanks to my own big brother who was already in college, I was also being turned on to LPs by the likes of Cream, The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane.

In the summer of ’68 my parents decided to take me on vacation to a resort in Indiana called Indiana Beach. The attraction there for me was a huge arcade room and a primitive early attempt at a water slide that was as thrilling as it was dangerous (or is that thrilling BECAUSE it was dangerous?). They also had a small discothèque that was really a converted gym and as I passed by it on my way to the arcade I couldn’t help but notice a sign that said in great big letters TONIGHT: BATTLE OF THE BANDS and then underneath in smaller letters: also Big Brother and the Holding Company from San Francisco.

I’ll be honest. The thought of a battle between some bands was the selling point for me and I convinced my folks to let me attend this show by myself. When I walked into the place it was immediately apparent that I was the youngest person in the house by far and the teenagers and college kids that packed the place looked at me with what I perceived to be bemusement mixed with scorn.

The three bands that were battling were all set up on the dance floor and each played 2 or 3 songs. They were all young local bands with tiny amps, crappy drums and singing through the clubs tiny PA. This was my first exposure to live rock music and I was duly unimpressed. Partly because I was literally getting stepped on by all these big kids and partly out of boredom with a battle that drew no blood, I withdrew to the back of the place where there was a large curtain covering up a 3 foot riser that turned out to be a stage. I leaned up against that stage and watched the crowd crown the band “Nobody’s Children” the winners and then suddenly someone announced over the PA “Ladies and Gentlemen…Big Brother and The Holding Company.” The curtain parted behind me, and as I turned around the house lights went down, a psychedelic light show started and a blast of musical energy came screaming out of the band’s Marshall stacks. And wailing away right in front of me, close enough to touch (especially as the crowd surged behind me and pinned me to the edge of the stage) was Janis Joplin.

The band played their set and even though they struggled with some technical difficulties throughout, when it was over my life had changed. I truly understood the power of rock n’ roll. When I returned to Chicago I told all my friends about my experience. Repeatedly. Like a new convert would. Then I went out and purchased my very first LP…”Cheap Thrills.”

When I went back to school in September the teacher asked us to write about the highlight of our summer. That was a no brainer for me. As you can see, she liked my little essay. Hope you do too.