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Yah, Welcome

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to Induction Vault, a production of I

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Heart Radio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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M hmmm, revolutionary

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blues maybe in Janice Joplin achieved

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rock icon status when the Rock Hall honored

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her in her

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first year of eligibility following

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a raw, stripped down acoustic performance

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of Peace of My Heart. Melissa Ethridge,

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an outsider and activist in her own right,

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pays tribute to the woman she deems the only

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goddess in a sea of rock gods. A

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rebel and a beatnik from a small Texas

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town, Janice's career paved the

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way for women like Melissa, music stians

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who blazed their own paths and refused

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to perform. Melissa

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wonders what could have been had Janice survived,

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imagining the singer recording an MTV

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unplugged album or championing

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women's rights that she was still around. Janice

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sister Laura, brother Michael, and friend

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Bob Gordon accept the award on her behalf,

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lauding her authenticity and compassion.

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This knight confirmed what fans have known all

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along that rock and roll

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history wouldn't be complete without Janice

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Jackline. It's

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a real honor, and it's very exciting and

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it's uh something I've never done, but something

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I'm very honored to do. Janice

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Lynn Joplin was born in January nine in

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Port Arthur, Texas. And

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I can sort of imagin and what that was like growing

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up in a small town because I grew up in a small town

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myself, but it was the

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forties and fifties that she grew up in, and

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from what I gather, it wasn't easy for Janie. From

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the very start. She was very different. She

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was a rebel and a beat nick. She

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was taunted and ridiculed and the other kids would

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throw pennies and rocks

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at her because she looked different and because she acted

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different, and in all areas of her

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life she refused to conform. She

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asserted her freedom. She painted

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and she wrote poetry, and at this

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tender period of her life she discovered

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the blues, and

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after high school she got out of Port

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Port Arthur and explored the

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the hippie culture in

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Austin, Texas. First, she

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used to carry an auto harp around with her at

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all times and and would perform

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at the local coffee houses

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and the bars and the student union and the now

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famous Thread Gills in Austin, Texas.

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She traveled to the West Coast and dabbled

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in performing in l A and San France Cisco. She

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also discovered the drug culture and

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immersed herself in it like everything else in

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her life. Full on the drinking,

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the grass, acid, heroin, speed,

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and sex with men and women.

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That was what a young person did at the time, and it wasn't wrong

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or even considered dangerous then. It

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was an attempt to expand one mind,

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one's mind and heart to the

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possibilities of life other than what

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one was taught by society. She

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came home to Port Arthur one more time in n actually

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an effort to slow down and grasp

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what she was really, what she really wanted

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out of life. She enrolled in secretarial

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school. She smoothed down her

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wild hair into a bouffont and even

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got engaged. But it

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didn't work. She couldn't

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do it. She couldn't lie down and

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conformed to the standards of small

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town Texas. So when

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she got an offer to join a band in the Bay Area, she

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returned to San Francisco and joined Big Brother and

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the Holding Company. Yeah

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the Big Brother signed in August of six

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with the Mainstream Records. They

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played the Monterey Pop Festival

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and their first album was released. And

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then Columbia Records brought out the

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Mainstream contract in March and

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they released Cheap Thrills. It reached

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number one and it stayed there for eight

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weeks. This

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all happened at a time when hate Ashbury scene

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was in full bloom. Without trying, Janice

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became an icon. She was the only goddess

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in a sea of rock gods. Posters

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of her were sold right next to those of Hendricks,

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Leary and other heroes of the time. The

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posters depicted a wild thing, half nude

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hair, flying an image completely different

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from any other woman in the public

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eye at that time. In

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Janice split from Big Brother and formed a new band

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called The Cosmic Blues Band. They played

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all through nine and in October

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they released I Got Them Old Cosmic Blues Again,

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Mama. In September of

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nineteen seventy, Janie started recording

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a new album with a new band, the Full

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Tilt Boogie Band. She had recorded

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the tracks, sang all the vocals except

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for one buried Alive in the Blues,

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and it was never finished. On

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October nine seventy, after

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a good day in the recording studio, Jannis

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dropped by for a few drinks at her regular watering

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hole, Barney's Meanery. Friends

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she had planned to meet up with her that night had stood her

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up, so Janice Chopolate went back to her

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Hollywood hotel alone. She

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bought a pack of Marble reds. She

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chatted with the hotel clerk, and went to her

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room. The next day,

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Janis Joplin was found dead at age

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seven from a heroin overdose. Janice

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once said she became a singer because

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a friend loaned her his Bessie

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Smith and Lead Belly records. Janice

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said of Bessie's myth, she showed

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me the air and taught me how to

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fill it. Before Janice

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died, she even paid tribute to Bessie

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by buying a headstone for her unmarked grave.

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Janice was the sixties. She was

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the style, the sound inspiration

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for men and women all over the world. She

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wasn't playing a character like the

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rebel in the high school in Port Arthur. She

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was just being herself. Even

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when she was a full fledged rock star, she

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was ridiculed for her dress and her looks from

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being different than others. Yet she

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never apologized, never backed away

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from the truth. Instead, she stood fast

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in her beliefs. To

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her fans, she was a goddess. She

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was the passion and power of love and freedom.

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Men and women both felt it, understood it, and felt

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understood themselves. I

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remember the first time I heard Janice

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Joplin. I was ten years

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old. My parents had purchased

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the album Pearl. I remember listening

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to the songs as I studied

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the album cover and wondering about this crazy

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woman in feathers and beads, smiling

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on laying on that couch. I

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had never heard the blues. I had never heard Bessie

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or Odetta or Lead Belly, but

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I was hearing them. Then, when

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I was nineteen, I discovered her other work and it grabbed

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me. I wanted to explode like that,

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I wanted to feel like that, and I wanted to sing

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like that. Yes,

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Jannis Joplin was a junkie.

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Yes she was an alcoholic. Yes she was promiscuous

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men women. She made no excuse for it. In

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nineteen sixty seven, Jannis Joplin

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was strange and freakish. But I think today she

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would be pretty hip she would be alternative,

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and I think so she would do quite well and

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uh because of what she did. I feel like what

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she did in her life at that time enabled

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me when I was a young girl in nineteen

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seventy six growing up not to feel

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so strange about wanting to do the things I wanted

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to do. She gave me power

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in my life. We didn't have to be

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secretaries or house housewives.

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We could be rock stars. I

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never knew Janice. I never saw

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her or heard her voice live. I

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never witnessed the fireball of fury that she unleased

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on stage. But I think

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I understand when a soul

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can look on the world and

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see and feel the pain and loneliness

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and can reach deep down inside and find a voice

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to sing a bit, a soul can heal

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and hers did. I

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wish. I wish the dose of

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heroin she injected

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that night had not been ten times accidentally,

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ten times stronger than what

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her usual hit was. I

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wish she was here with us. I wish

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she was making a comeback right now and

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doing an MTV Unplugged. I'm

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getting her tribute album together and standing up

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and swimmen's rights or get four women's

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rights, standing up for gay rights,

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standing up for intolerance everywhere,

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against fern Republicans or whatever

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she I think she would be doing that, I absolutely

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do. I

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wish she would have survived. Then

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maybe I could tell her, thank you, thank

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you for traveling that road, for carrying that ball

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in chain, for giving a

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piece of her heart. I wish

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I could congratulate her personally, tell

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her she will always be a part of rock and roll

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history, that she helped create it, lived

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by it, and died by it. I

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wish I could say to her now, welcome,

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Welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a place

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you so definitely deserved to be. After

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the break, we'll hear from Jenesis, friend

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and family on the Rock and Roll Hall

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of fa in Ducts involved. You

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know, one of the things that Janice said that I like

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the most is that you

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need to be true to yourself because yourself

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is all you got. And obviously

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what was most powerful and

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most important to Janice was music and

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her ability to find her emotion and

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share that with people. To hear

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from her public and from the industry

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that she is still communicating and

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being there with them is very moving

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for me and I thank you. I

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just wanted to thank everybody with the Rock and Roll Hall

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of Fame. It's a it's a really nice thing.

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Next week is Janice's birthday and

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it's a really cool present. Uh.

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I just really wish it was she

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was up here instead of me. That's all I got. Thanks.

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This event reminds me of a

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story about Janice and it

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involves Ahmed earned again. There

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was a party at my home in Los Angeles

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while Janice was recording the Pearl album

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and Bob Krasnow was there,

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and Ahmed was there, and

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Janice sort of spontaneously saying Mercedes

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Benz to the plause

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of the gathered people in the record business,

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and Ahmed kind of smiled at her

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and said, if you come upstairs with

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me for a while, I'll let you record

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the song. And perhaps

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typical arm And had no interest in the

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song, but he was, you

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know, going for it. Um.

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As far as I know, nothing happened. And uh,

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Janice never went through the motions.

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She gave every bit of herself in

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every way and every aspect of her life.

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I can remember being scared to death

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while she was driving on the windy part

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of Sunset Boulevard at ninety in

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her famous Porsche, and

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of course you've seen just now

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and I'm sure know about the incredible

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passion with which she sung. Another

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part of Janice was as kind of as

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a philosopher in a way in the society

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of the sixties. And I

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think of her in terms of three

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elements, be true

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to yourself, as Laura just said, having

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respect for other people, and

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being compassionate. Thank

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you on behalf of Janice

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m. Thanks

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for joining us on this week's episode of Rock

13:03

and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault. For

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more on your favorite inductees, to shop

13:08

inductee merch or to plan your trip to

13:10

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, visit rock

13:12

Hall dot com. Plus view

13:15

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Special on demand

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on HBO Max. Our

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executive producers are Noel Brown, Shelby

13:22

Morrison, and Esa Gurkey. Supervising

13:25

producer is Taylor shakogn Research

13:27

and archival assistants from Isabelle Keeper

13:29

and Shannon Herb. Thanks again for joining

13:32

us on this week's episode of Rock and Roll Hall of

13:34

Fame Induction Vault. Induction Ball

13:36

is a production of I Heart Radio and The Rock

13:38

and Roll Hall of Fame. For

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more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I

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