ABSTRACT
The other members of Big Brother and the Holding Company sit guzzling beer, trying on beads, and hassling their roadie. But Janis stalks around the tiny room, her fingers drumming against a tabletop. The lead singer gingerly places his guitar in its plush casket, and peels off an imitation brocade jacket, sweatshirt, pullover, and soaked undershirt. Janis glances briefly at the ground to make sure it’s still there, and then offers the gorilla some booze. He lifts his mask to accept. His name is Gary the Gorilla, and Janis digs that, so she gives him her bottle to hold during the set, and follows Peter the bassman through the dressing room door. In 1961, Janis and Chet Helms hitchhiked west. They were anonymous freaks then, newly plucked from Texas topsoil.
