From Janis:
Extremely pleased to announce that my final touring show will be at the Keswick Theater on Saturday, November 19. Sponsored by my beloved WXPN, I’ll be joined by old friends Livingston Taylor and Tom Chapin. Tickets on sale May 27, 10am EST (though Amex pre-sale starts May 26. Go figure.)
I’d wanted to wind up my N.A. touring career in a place that meant something to me as an artist. Philadelphia has always loomed large in my life. I took the bus from East Orange to spend weekends with my older friend Merka when I was 12, and she’d hide me in her Temple U. dorm room. She and her friends Bif & Graham introduced me to coffee houses. I saw Dave van Ronk for the first time.
My first out-of-town “real gig” was at the Main Point when I was barely fifteen. I came back from being a child star at the Philly Folk Festival with “Stars”, and got to hear Bob Dylan tell me it was “One of the great songs”. I traded opening and closing slots with Billy Joel at the Academy of Music, watched Bruce Springsteen and his band in a small club before he began recording, and learned to put on makeup from Odetta at that same club.
I fled to the Philly area after “Society’s Child”, and recovered there. I learned to drive, to handle a checking account, all the things I’d missed being on the road through my teens. I became a real writer, and realized my life’s intention there.
Years later, along with Odetta, Ronnie Gilbert and a host of others, I paid homage to Pete Seeger at the Keswick. I sat in with the 4 Bitchin’ Babes. I hosted a birthday party for Odetta. It’s a great hall, a big hall, and I’m just hoping to fill it with joy.
It means a lot to me that I get to say “Thank you” and “Goodbye” there. Hope you can join me.