I saw Janis a few months before her death. After the show was over, she came back onstage, pulled the piano bench to the edge of the stage, sat on it, and simply talked and joked with the audience for about thirty minutes.

I attended a concert every couple of weeks in those days, saw all the "legends" of the era, and have fond memories of many of them. But that simple act on Janis's part, allowing us to get close to her as a person instead of just a performer, is the one of which I'm most fond.