Janis Tribute

[Marsbar]

A TRIBUTE TO CELEBRATE JANIS JOPLIN’S BIRTHDAY BOOKED AT
LULA LOUNGE JANUARY 18 & 20
Actress, playwright and singer Jan Kudelka calls her tribute to the pioneering blues-rock singer Janis Joplin “an intimate journey into the woman’s epic voice and tender heart.”
With a powerful voice — backed by the four-piece “JanisWorld Band” — Kudelka reprises 16 of Joplin’s best-known songs. The performance is the concert-format offspring of the Kudelka play Janis Janus, first presented in 2001.
There will be two performances at Lula Lounge — January 18 and 20 — to mark Joplin’s birthday (January 19, 1943).
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JUST THE FACTS
What: A powerful recreation of the heart and soul of one of rock’s most influential artists.
Why: The spirit of Janis Joplin is still alive.
Who: Actress/singer Jan Kudelka with her four-piece band, JanisWorld
Where: Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St, W Toronto
When: Monday January 18 and Wednesday January 20. (Doors 6.30 p.m.; performance 7.30 p.m.)
How much: Advance tickets $20.00 at www.lula.ca (dinner reservations 416 588-0397. $25.00 at door if available.
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BACK STORY
Jan Kudelka insists that Janis Joplin has always been an important part of her life since she first heard her music on a jukebox. “She’s never been dead to me — she’s my rock buddy.”
She heard the voice of Janis Joplin for the first time as a 15-year-old, at a restaurant in Aurora. “A school friend played ‘Piece of my Heart’ on the jukebox, and almost immediately I dropped my soft drink into the plate of fries and gravy in front of me.”
Her admiration and respect was channeled into a play, Janis Janus, that premiered in 2001 and which toured successfully throughout B.C.
Reviews of her performances have been uniformly enthusiastic. The Vancouver Sun called Kudelka “fearless” and added “…(she) succeeds astoundingly at resurrecting Joplin and the period,” while the Georgia Straight talked of the artist’s “unearthly force.”
Now adapted into a concert performance edited and adapted by co-producer Maggie Huculak, Janis Joplin’s Birthday Celebration sold out two shows in Toronto last year, and is returning by popular demand.
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FAST BIOGRAPHIES
Jan Kudelka is an actor, playwright, singer and performer with a resume that includes circus work, opera, two seasons at Stratford, cross-Canada theatre tours, musicals at Theatre New Brunswick and plays at the National Arts Centre.
Janis Joplin died — aged 27 — in 1970, but her career as a powerful blues rock singer has influenced a dozens of women singers ranging from Stevie Nicks to Pink, and made an indelible part of the history of rock and roll. Her four Columbia albums, countless shows and appearances at Woodstock and on the Festival Express built a reputation that has lasted down the years. She remains a powerful presence.