I received an email this week about a concert coming up this week at the Midland Cultural Centre in the near north, and it immediately stirred memories of my early days in radio.
Back in the mid-70s I started work at CHFI-FM in Toronto, first as an operator/producer and eventually as a music programmer in the music library. Back in those days nothing was automated and we programmed each set of music by hand, using two turntables to make sure two pieces of music would sort of blend together nicely. It was a time-consuming operation back then, compared to today when computer software programmes just appear to be randomly selecting the music according to a preset list of parameters.
By about 1974 the music mandate of the station was broadened somewhat to include some additional soft pop music currently making the charts, and as such we started programming a wide variety of younger, more socially conscious singer/songwriters along with the more traditional fare the station was well known for.
It was about this time, 1975 to be exact, we were introduced to a young folk artist who seemed to be more than a little lonely while growing up, if her music was to be believed. Many did, in fact, and Janis Ian enjoyed enormous success for her breakout album Between the Lines. The first song on the LP, When the Party's Over was the first track we played in regular rotation on the station, as I recall. But it wasn't long before everyone was paying attention to another song from the album, the delicate single At Seventeen which reached the Top 3 and went on to win a Grammy.
Both songs seemed to come from deep inside her heart, echoing the pain of adolescence she and many of us felt at one time in our lives. For me personally, the pain of loneliness reached its zenith the time I invited several industry and personal friends to a party at our family home in Toronto and only one single, solitary person showed up. We had a nice evening, thanks, but it crushed my spirit and hearing both those songs made me realize I was not alone; others shared my sense of loneliness and pain.
But what of the singer who brought us those songs and so many others? Janis Ian was born in 1951 in New York City and began writing her first songs at the tender age of 12. At the age of 15 she recorded her self-titled debut LP that gave us Society's Child, which with its accent on interracial romance was summarily banned by several radio stations. It was the great conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein who invited Ian to perform the song on a television special devoted to pop and rock music and the resulting publicity literally made Ian the proverbial overnight sensation.
But success did not rest comfortably on her shoulders, and after dropping out of high school she recorded three more albums, giving the money in turn to friends and charities. It was a chance meeting with a photojournalist at a peace rally that prompted the two to eventually marry, and Ian announced she was retiring from the music business at the tender age of 20.
Alas, the marriage did not last so Ian returned to the recording studio in 1971 to produce Present Company, which did not meet with much success. Three years later she returned with the album Stars, and her song Jessie eventually became a hit for Roberta Flack.
After the phenomenal success of 1975's Between The Lines, however, public response to her follow up efforts were tepid at best. She tackled material ranging from domestic violence and eroticism to the Holocaust, but much of it failed to reach as wide an audience as her previous successes did.
Today, you could be forgiven if you thought Janis Ian was now little more than a musical footnote in the annals of popular and folk music. But you can't keep a good girl down, and Janis is still performing, writing and commenting on society today. Based now in Nashville, Ian holds two Grammy Awards and was nominated no less than nine times. Her albums have sold over 9-million copies worldwide.
But I suspect it is her social activism that is nearer and dearer to her heart, as she has received honours from any number of organizations for her work, including MADD and the Human Rights Campaign Fund.
Those social sensibilities along with her music will be on full display this week when Janis Ian performs in concert at the Midland Cultural Centre, the first appearances for Ian in the area in many years.
Rather than just a live concert of her past hits, the Midland appearances will be spread over two nights: first on Tuesday September 11th when MCC manager Eugene Rea talks with Ian about her life, career and ultimately her legacy. The next night, Wednesday, Janis Ian performs at the same venue in concert.
Tickets are available separately or as part of a special offer package for both nights. For ticket information and availability, contact the Midland Cultural Centre box office at 705-527-4420.
The Midland Cultural Centre is more than just a concert venue, and Janis Ian is more than just another singer/songwriter we remember from our younger days. Both are vital contributors to today's cultural scene, and I can see both venue and singer benefitting each other quite nicely.
Who knows, When the Party's Over you might just feel you are At Seventeen all over again...
Enjoy your weekend!
September 8th, 2018.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment