Happy Birthday Janis

Today is Janis Joplin's birthday, so here is your Lee Somewhat Related to Janis Joplin Story of the Day.

When Sam and I first moved in together, we moved into this large ramshackle house/apartment thingie that was a bong's throw from UT Campus. It was, at one point, a huge house, but somewhere along the way it was divided into four apartments. The apartment itself was pretty cool--nice hardwood floors, cool old neighborhood...as long as you didn't mind the bbq smell wafting 24/7 from the little joint directly behind us and the ever present homeless people who would sleep in the alley, or just stop there to vomit occasionally. There was a cobblestone courtyard where all the residents would hang out and share beer and smokes..some more..fragrant than others..but anyway, at one of these little gatherings, one of the longtime residents told me that Janis Joplin herself had actually lived in one of the apartments when she was a student at UT. Now, I have no idea whether this was accurate or not, but I can tell you that the 19 year olds who lived across the hall from me fervently believed it. They were the kind of little hippie freaks who didn't bathe because they figured the patchouli would cover it and bought kegs of Pearl that cost like $35. Seriously. They were mostly very sweet and not at all annoying except for that they would sometimes come knock on my door to bum cigarettes or (curiously) sticks of butter and always would tell me about how Janis still lived in the apartment. They could sense her, man. And sometimes? They could even hear her in the walls. I remember one of them telling me this and my saying to him, "um, do you not think that is..I dunno, RATS?" And he said, "awww, no dude, it's Pearl, man, it's her, it's PEARL."

In all fairness, though, I have to tell you that it was not, in fact, rats. It was a family of possum, which we found out later that week when they tired of the walls and came out to take up residence in our living space. Now, every time I hear a Janis Joplin song, I think of the complete, abject terror I felt when I found one of the baby vermin in my dog's food dish. I'm not sure I've ever screamed so loud in my whole life.. Good times.