WyoW--

You obviously have a valid point.

I certainly wouldn't argue that sucking down Southern Comfort and shooting heroin with some regularity, in addition to whatever other chemical forms of feel-good enlightenment she might have been pursuing during her musical career, contributed to Janis Joplin's health and longevity. In my post I was merely passing along second hand information received from concert-goers I knew who had commented on the intensity of her performance(s). Having never seen her perform, I am not qualified to determine for myself whether the amount of energy she put into her concerts had anything to do with her untimely death.

I am left to wonder, however, had Elvis been delivering primal screams night after night or had Jerry Garcia burned his guitar and smashed his equipment at the end of a Grateful Dead concert, would they have been taken away any sooner from this earth? It's like the questions in psychology regarding whether a specific human behavior is genetically or environmentally determined: often the answer is "A Combination Of The Two." I don't think anything the Stones have done in concert, even during the "Gimme Shelter" days, compares in intensity to what was captured on tape of Janis' live performances. And certainly there are stoner musicians like Gregg Allman and J.J. Cale who can somehow continue to grind out lackluster musical performances, as well as the flip side of that coin being Death/Goth/Thrash/Heavy Metal bands who pump iron and drink carrot juice back stage so they can scream and physically abuse their instruments for the duration of their concerts. It's a rarity, however, to find a doper who can deliver a jet-fueled concert nightly for any sustained length of time.

My comment that she shaved a year off her life with each performance she gave was based on the fact that she was such an abuser, coupled with what I had heard about the intensity of her concerts. My unqualified opinion is that these two factors combined to cause her early death.

I would be interested in any artists you consider to be able to deliver such high-powered performances as Janis Joplin was able to do during her brief career. I am always on the lookout for music that pegs the goosebump meter.

Regards, Neil