Janis Ian

Janis Ian
Event on 2013-04-04 19:00:00

On Thursday, April 4, the Community Center for the Performing Arts and KLCC proudly welcome two-time Grammy Award winning recording artist Janis Ian back to the WOW Hall.  This is a seated show.

In her fifth decade of writing songs and performing, Janis Ian won her second Grammy Award of nine total nominations over the years in eight categories!  Her 2013 Grammy, presented at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, is for Best Spoken Word Album for her audio book Society's Child (Audible.com).  She had stiff competition — President Bill Clinton, First Lady Michelle Obama, Rachel Maddow and Ellen DeGeneres.  

Janis' audio book was produced by Grammy Award winner Stefan Rudnicki, producer of over 1,000 audio books, who has also been honored with Grammy nominations, Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards.  Like most everything she does, "We did the entire thing live, including the singing and playing.  No edits, no overdubs, no recording studio."  When she won, she sincerely considered it to be a, "stunning upset."  With her inimitable sense of humor, she went on to say, "There must be a joke in here somewhere.  An ex-president, a First Lady and three lesbians go into a bar…"  

On a more serious note, she said, "We artists are the last alchemists, pulling your dreams, your hopes, your deepest desires out of thin air, and turning them into something you can hear, and play, and sing.  My first Grammy nomination came when I was 15 years old.  For better and for worse, I have watched my business become an industry – but one thing will never change.  We don't sell music.  We sell dreams."

Janis Ian began her mostly stellar, sometimes stormy, professional life at the age of 12 when she wrote her first song and was published by Broadside Magazine.  That led to her first "real" show, at New York's venerable Village Gate, where she shared a stage with Tom Paxton (with whom she recently toured the east coast of the U.S.), Lou Gossett Jr., Judy Collins, Phil Ochs and a host of other singer-songwriters. 

At 14, she wrote "Society's Child", the name of her self-penned autobiography (Tarcher/Penguin).  Kathy Mattea describes the book this way, "After finishing Society's Child, I feel like I've had a front row seat to the soundtrack of my life."  

From Janis' first headlining show at Greenwich Village's Gaslight Café at age 15, her life was fraught with challenges.  Most adults could not have survived the scorn and controversy that surrounded what was to become her debut single and first hit.  "Society's Child" focused on an interracial couple in an era when tempers flared at even such a mention.  The intimidating boos she received on-stage from racists shied in comparison to the hate mail and death threats she was subjected to.  She has continued to hold her head high despite criticism, family problems, near fatal health issues, failed relationships with both men and women including  an abusive and broken marriage, and devastating financial crises.  She says of her early career, ""I wrote my first song at 12.  Was published at 13.  Made a record at 14, had a hit at 15, and was a has-been at 16.  So 'At 17' means more to me than you can know."

"At Seventeen" became her trademark song and, along with the album on which it debuted, Between the Lines, it earned five Grammy nominations and two wins including Best Pop Female Performance and Best Engineered Recording.  The song has since joined "Society's Child" as inductees in the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

Health problems, a broken marriage and numerous other challenges followed causing her to rethink her life.  After a nine year hiatus when she studied theatre with legendary Stella Adler, she returned to music with Breaking Silence and received her eighth Grammy nomination (1993).

Writing prose came early as well.  Her article The Internet Debacle: An Alternative View (available on her website) has been posted on over 1,000 websites, quoted in USA Today, translated into eleven languages, used as evidence in the Napster and Grokster cases, and featured by BBC-TV.  The first book for which she wrote, The Stars Anthology or Stars:  Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian received praise.  Thirty science fiction writers used her songs as a backdrop for their imaginations.  Awards were numerous, including recognition of a story she wrote specifically for the anthology, "Second Person Unmasked".  Now, with the success of her autobiography, she is expanding  her literary horizons with a children's book based on Ian's song "The Tiny Mouse" (Lemniscaat Publishing ) due in Fall 2013.  The book, which will be illustrated by the Schuberts, will include a CD of the song so children can sing along.

Music and lyrics are about life experiences and, as Janis' life has been full and colorful, so have her songs as evidenced by her multiple awards, Grammy and Dove Award nominations and commendations.  Her songs have been recorded by singers as diverse as Cher, John Mellencamp, Celine Dion, Hugh Masakela, Nana Mouskouri, Charlie Daniels and Roberta Flack.

Always one to follow her heart and her beliefs, Janis was one of the first celebrities to come out publicly.  She and her partner of 23 years were married in Canada in 2003, the only place where gay marriage was legal at the time.  Her roller coaster ride has taken her to Nashville, her home this past quarter-century, where she thrives with new product on her own Rude Girl Records label, ongoing touring, and perpetual and prolific songwriting. 

Tickets are in advance, at the door.  Doors open at 6:00 pm and showtime is 7:00.

at Wow Hall
291 West Eighth Avenue
Eugene, United States