Description:

Janis Joplin
[Port Arthur, TX], July 28, 1965
Early Janis Joplin ALS to Boyfriend De Blanc, Claiming She Cleaned Her Drug Habit Months Before Joining Big Brother & the Holding Company!
ALS
A lengthy autographed letter from Janis Joplin to her boyfriend, later fiancée, Peter De Blanc in San Francisco. Signed "Janis" at conclusion, with holograph transmittal envelope signed "Miss Janis Joplin" on outside flap, postmarked Port Arthur, Texas, July 28, 1965. Within, she describes going to school and being clean of drugs, wishing the same for De Blanc. Exhibits flattened letter folds and light toning throughout; expected weathering to envelope. Near fine- penned just months before her career took off. 3pp, measuring 6.25" x 9.5",

In part:

"…I'm managing to be Janis but not incur the wrath of all Port Arthur & Beaumont by being too far out. I mean I am a little different & I dress a little different, but I'm clean now & I talk softly & I don't antagonize anyone. It's really making me happy.
Bob Dylan's new record- all 6 minutes of it- is popular here too, so I'm getting a smattering of culture w/ my education. Isn't he too much!?
…This is usually about the time that you 'forget' or whatever it is & decide that you want to have a taste of crystal [methedrine] again. I do hope you haven't- and won't. Please, Peter, we don't lack anything now… Right? Tell me…
Sorry I mentioned it, I'm not really 'there' anymore, you know. Hope you're not."

At the time this letter was written, Joplin was living at home with her parents, hoping to rebuild her life and recover from a period of drug abuse. In May 1965, her friends in San Francisco noticed the detrimental effects on her health from regularly injecting methamphetamine, and encouraged her to return to her family's home in Port Arthur. Back in Texas, Joplin changed her lifestyle- she avoided drugs and alcohol, adopted a beehive hairdo, and enrolled at Lamar University in nearby Beaumont. Later, in the fall of 1965, Joplin became engaged to Peter De Blanc, who she had been seeing since the end of her first stint in San Francisco. The engagement was short-lived, however, and De Blanc called it off soon after.

The following year in 1966, Janis was recruited to join the psychedelic rock band Big Brother & the Holding Company, at which point her music career began to take off in earnest. The band's debut studio album was released by Mainstream Records in August 1967, shortly after the group's breakthrough appearance in June at the Monterey Pop Festival.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 6.25" x 9.5"
  • Medium: ALS

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