Love, loss, and faith renewed as only Janis Ian can tell it.

[jgmaute]

Originally Posted by OneMansGuitar

I know a lot of you probably already know all about Janis Ian's lost D-18.

But it was new to me. So a friend sent me this link, which I received when I happened to be visiting my mom.

For the benefit of my mother's aged eyesight, I read this story aloud. When I looked up at the end, tears were streaming down my her cheeks and she was sniffling and laughing at her own outpouring of emotion.

But then, emotional impact is something Janis Ian has been providing the general public since she was a teenager, through such songs as "Society's Child" and "At 17."

So, do yourself a favor and check this out!

On Guitars & Righteous Men by Janis Ian

Thanks for posting, this is always a good read. I first read this article when someone on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum posted a link over ten years ago. Not only did I love the article but because of the post I found her web page and reconnected with Janis' music and work. I've since heard her many times, taken classes from her at Swannanoa, and become a supporter of The Pearl Foundation (a foundation named after her mother that funds scholarships at different schools for adults returning to college). If you're not familiar with her current (or past) work, spend some time getting lost in her webpage, www.janisian.com. Janis has one of the most comprehensive web pages and it's filled with her music, lyrics, articles (like the one posted), etc.

As someone has mentioned, her autobiography, Society's Child, is a great read and I also have read it many times. If you really want a treat, get the Grammy winning audio book she did of it.

Janis continues to write and though she's cut back drastically on her touring, you may find a time you can hear her in person. Here's a link to one of her newer songs, "I'm Still Standing" performed with Diana Jones. If you like it, go to www.janisian.com for a free download.

http://youtu.be/_VKoNqG-B3Y

[Bronsky]

Is that story really that cool?
I'm happy for her that she got the guitar back, but equally sorry that she would subject herself to such misery for so many years over the loss of what is only a guitar after all.

I don't see myself as a cold person, but I know I could never let myself get this attached to an inanimate object, especially after it's lost.
Maybe it's just the dilettante Buddhist in me.
Or maybe this lady has a very different way of connecting to her emotions, and that's probably what makes her a talented Musician, and me just a hack with a guitar.

[jgmaute]

Originally Posted by amyFB

Another Janis Ian fan here , and a story:
Last year (or the year before ) she and tommy e were both at Philadelphia Folk Fest and it was a really sweet moment to see two people discover someone each has always admired from a distance and finally meet and play together/
They performed a fabulous version of that song together.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You were there?! I've enjoyed the video, bet it was REALLY amazing in person!

Here's the link I've watched

http://youtu.be/6w5dsiXwxok

[DenverSteve]

Originally Posted by Bronsky

Is that story really that cool?..... I know I could never let myself get this attached to an inanimate object, especially after it's lost.

Great story and, as everything Janis does, well written.

To the quote: I would tend to agree with you but, in her case, a deeply sensitive musician who's father gave her a prized possession - lost her dad's guitar. Be slow to dismiss a father/daughter connection. That guitar may have been her existing link to her father... or she might feel a connection to that guitar for any number of reasons linked together - then shattered by the "intrusion" into her life when her tranquility was shattered by a burglar breaking into her home and stealing her instrument - her "money-maker". I have no such connections to items but to those that do, the loss can be as real as the loss of a loved one. It obviously wasn't histrionics or the value of the guitar as she ended up with two other fabulous Martins in between losing and finding her guitar.

[jaymarsch]

Another big Janis fan here. I think after all of the times that I have seen her in concert over the years in Chicago, then San Francisco, and numerous times at the Freight in Berkeley, I always left thinking it couldn't get any better. Then I had the good fortune to take a class of hers at Swannanoa a couple of years ago. She sang At Seventeen for us and I was in the first row - about two feet away. She delivered that song with a freshness and depth of emotion that was stunning. And, as has been mentioned, her guitar chops are stellar. Great skills at using the guitar to accompany a song. She is also one heck of a performer. She's one of my favorite singer songwriters and I have one of her CDs in my car player right now.

Best,
Jayne

[amyFB]

Originally Posted by jgmaute

You were there?! I've enjoyed the video, bet it was REALLY amazing in person!



Here's the link I've watched



http://youtu.be/6w5dsiXwxok

You could have heard a pin drop during that performance.

One of my treasured concert memories!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[G7th-nick]

I've had the privilege of meeting Janis a few times. We've done a few capo things together. She is, undoubtedly, a wonderful human being with a heart of gold.

[SpruceTop]

Count me in as a Janis Ian fan!

[janisian]

Thanks, all, for the kind words. I apologize that I didn't post sooner but I somehow got locked out of the site, and it took until today to straighten out my credentials!

Bronsky, I don't normally care much about possessions - I've lost everything and then some, and the only two things I regretted were the stolen guitar, and having to sell my Bosendorfer piano. The Bosendorfer because it was an extraordinary instrument, the kind I never thought I'd get to own. I spent three years trying out every Bosendorfer that came into LA County, and I won't see its like again.

The Martin was given to me by my father, and you'd probably have to read the article to understand why it was so meaningful. Not just to me, but to half a dozen big-name guitarists I could mention here. It was, and is, an amazing instrument. Even for a pre-war D-18. Yes, Pastor Steve, I cared about it because my father gave it to me, and it was and is a strong link to him, both as a parent and as a musician. I also learned to play guitar on that instrument, wrote my first songs on it, made my first records with it, did my first shows with it.
I think "intrusion" is an excellent word, by the way. If you've never been robbed, arrived home to find everything in disarray and things you cared about suddenly gone, it's difficult to understand.

By the way, Bronsky, not to be challenging but I didn't "subject myself to misery", and if it came across that way, either I didn't write the article well enough to convey what I wanted to convey, or you haven't read it. Okay in either event, of course, but "misery" is a very strong word.

I've experienced a fair amount of losses in my life, at now at 65 experiencing them more and more, I agree that a thing is only a thing. (Although to be honest, if my house burned down tomorrow with everything in it, there are "things" I would miss, that hold meaning for me, and are not replaceable. Still, it's true that they are things, not people.)
But I would also argue, as a writer and player, that saying "the loss of what is only a guitar after all" is like saying "it was only first love, after all." Or "It was only an affair, after all." Or, to be extreme, "It was only a house, after all."
I think for a artist especially, the first of pretty much anything is something to be cherished, be it your first instrument, your first song, your first performance, etc. When you give it away yourself, that's one thing. But when it's taken from you, that's another.
Just my two cents!!

[Mr. Paul]

Welcome, and thanks.


Paul

[cageyOne]

Wonderful story and very touching. Welcome, Janis, to the forum. I hope you'll stay awhile and impart to us your musical experiences and knowledge... it would be an honor.

I was a just a small child when Society's Child came out, but my parent's played it and "At Seventeen" growing up. At Seventeen, in particular, always gets me to reminiscing and brings up such vivid, happy memories of life in the 70's. Thank you!

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by janisian

Thanks, all, for the kind words. I apologize that I didn't post sooner but I somehow got locked out of the site, and it took until today to straighten out my credentials!

Bronsky, I don't normally care much about possessions - I've lost everything and then some, and the only two things I regretted were the stolen guitar, and having to sell my Bosendorfer piano. The Bosendorfer because it was an extraordinary instrument, the kind I never thought I'd get to own. I spent three years trying out every Bosendorfer that came into LA County, and I won't see its like again.

The Martin was given to me by my father, and you'd probably have to read the article to understand why it was so meaningful. Not just to me, but to half a dozen big-name guitarists I could mention here. It was, and is, an amazing instrument. Even for a pre-war D-18. Yes, Pastor Steve, I cared about it because my father gave it to me, and it was and is a strong link to him, both as a parent and as a musician. I also learned to play guitar on that instrument, wrote my first songs on it, made my first records with it, did my first shows with it.
I think "intrusion" is an excellent word, by the way. If you've never been robbed, arrived home to find everything in disarray and things you cared about suddenly gone, it's difficult to understand.

By the way, Bronsky, not to be challenging but I didn't "subject myself to misery", and if it came across that way, either I didn't write the article well enough to convey what I wanted to convey, or you haven't read it. Okay in either event, of course, but "misery" is a very strong word.

I've experienced a fair amount of losses in my life, at now at 65 experiencing them more and more, I agree that a thing is only a thing. (Although to be honest, if my house burned down tomorrow with everything in it, there are "things" I would miss, that hold meaning for me, and are not replaceable. Still, it's true that they are things, not people.)
But I would also argue, as a writer and player, that saying "the loss of what is only a guitar after all" is like saying "it was only first love, after all." Or "It was only an affair, after all." Or, to be extreme, "It was only a house, after all."
I think for a artist especially, the first of pretty much anything is something to be cherished, be it your first instrument, your first song, your first performance, etc. When you give it away yourself, that's one thing. But when it's taken from you, that's another.
Just my two cents!!

And those are the $.02 that count. Thank you so much, Ms. Ian, for your music, for this story, and for your comments on this little thread on our board.

[nowgibson]

Some 02 cents worth.
Mahalo for sharing the story.

[GuitarLight]

Centuries from now, people will still be listening to "At Seventeen" ....Janis Ian is an icon of the generations.

[Gitarre]

Originally Posted by WordMan

And those are the $.02 that count. Thank you so much, Ms. Ian, for your music, for this story, and for your comments on this little thread on our board.

I agree, you certainly could not get a more qualified $.02 than from Ms. Ian. Well said to both Ms. Ian and the pastor steve.