The Full Tilt Boogie Band

In April of 1970 The Full Tilt Boogie Band, formed by Janis Joplin and consisting of ex-Pauper Brad Campbell, guitarist John Till, pianist Richard Bell, organist Ken Pearson, and drummer Clark Pierson, played their first session together on April 4 at the Filmore West studios in San Francisco.

In mid-May, they make their official debut as Janis' backing band at a Hell's Angels' benefit in San Rafael, California. They spent most of the summer touring, the dates are as follows.

May 29: University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
May 30: Jacksonville, Florida.
May 31: Miami, Florida.
June 5: Columbus, Ohio.
June 6: Indianapolis, Indiana.
June 14: Kansas City, Utah.
June 19-20: College Park, Maryland.
They appeared on the Dick Cavett Show in New York on June 25 where "Move Over" was recorded live.
June 26: Schenectady, New York.
On June 27&28, they played a concert to an overloaded Canadian National Exhibition Stadium in Toronto for the first stop of the "Festival Express Train". Other performers included The Band, Grateful Dead, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Ian and Sylvia & Great Speckled Bird , New Riders of the Purple Sage, Tom Rush, Buddy Guy, Eric Andersen, Mountain, Ten Years After, Traffic, Seatrain, Charlebois, James & the Good Brothers, Cat, Mashmakan and the Modern Rock Quartet.
July 1: "The Festival Express Train"'s second concert was held at the Red River Exhibition in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
July 4: They played McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. That was the final performance with the "Festival Express Train".
July 5: Sicks Stadium, Seattle, Washington.
July 7: Honolulu, Hawaii.
July 9: The acoustic demo for "Me and Bobby McGee" was recorded at the Sunset Sound studio in L.A. where they eventually record the rest of the album "Pearl".
July 10: Janis sings at Ken Threadgill's 70th birthday party in Austin, Texas.
July 11: Sports Arena, San Diego, California.
July 12: Santa Clara Fairgrounds, San Jose, California.
July 17: Albuquerque, New Mexico.
August 2: Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, Queens, New York
August 5: Ravinia Park, Highland Park, Illinois.
August 6: Peace Festival, Shea Stadium, New York City.
August 8: Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, New York.
August 11: Garden State Arts Center, New Jersey.
On August 12, They play their final concert at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Massachusetts in front of over 40,000 fans. At the Sunset Sound studio, "My Baby" and "Get It While You Can" are recorded on September 24. On the 25th, they did "Move Over", "A Woman Left Lonely", "Trust Me" and "Me and Bobby McGee" followed by "Half Moon" and "Cry Baby" on the 26th.
The first take of "Mercedes-Benz" was recorded on the October 1 (which was released 'as is'), and finally "Buried Alive in the Blues" was started on October 3.
On October 4, Janis didn’t show up at the studio. Her producer, Paul Rothschild, sent someone over to the Landmark Motor Hotel in Los Angeles to fetch her. She didn’t respond to repeated efforts to awaken her by banging on the door so the desk clerk used a passkey to enter her room. Janis was found dead, at 27 years of age, from an overdose of heroin. Eerily, "Buried Alive in the Blues" remains an instrumental, as she was supposed to have recorded the vocals that day. These are some of the lyrics written by Nick Gravenites:

I'm buried alive, oh yeah, in the blues,
I'm buried alive, somebody help me, in the blues.
I beg for mercy, I pray for rain,
I can't be the one to accept all this blame,
Something here trying to pollute my brain,
I'm buried alive, oh yeah, in the blues.

Pearl, named after Janis' nickname, went on to become her best selling and most memorable album. In '71, it stayed 9 weeks at #1 and a total of 23 weeks in the top 40. In 1990, Rolling Stone magazine named it the #11 LP of all time. Her first #1 Hit, "Me and Bobby McGee", written by Kris Kristofferson, stayed #1 in the charts for 2 weeks in March of '71. "Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose..."; those are powerful lyrics that could have not been said better. But then again, who better to perform this song but Janis Joplin? "Me and Bobby McGee" was about everything Janis ever stood for and felt: Doing exactly what you wanted because you could... Unfortunately the loneliness expressed in the song hit too close to home for Janis too; "feeling good" was past tense. It's hard to imagine where Janis might be today, and how she'd be singing. But for the fans, her premature demise made her an immortal legend, one that's in the hearts of many today.

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