It was really nice when Janis came home in 1965 and was much more settled. Here I was getting into the marching band and here she was going off to play blues music in Los Angeles, so there was a significant difference of life experience at that point in time. I mean, who was she to think she could go off to college and check the world out while I was still stuck at home? But, you know, we grew and did different things. I think Janis' leaving home and going off to college was something that really was both devastating and infuriating. When Janis moved away, what did that do to you? She was always there until she left home after high school when she was going to college. In that sense she really brought me up in a certain part of life, you know, how to be a kid and groovy and into things. She taught me how to draw, she taught me how to play guitar, she chose books. With you being six years younger than her, was she someone you looked up to? There's only a certain amount of palling around you can do with that kind of an age difference but we certainly played around in the neighborhood when it comes to playing ball or things like that when we were kids and before she got too sophisticated as a teenager to play those kinds of things. She was six years older than I, so when I was entering junior high school she was entering college. That's a huge age difference when you're young. Well, you have to understand that Janis was 10 years older than Micheal. The three of you - you, Micheal, and Janis - were palling around pretty much around town? She was a very nurturing, caring, fun older sister, really involved with us. Janis was a wonderful big sister she brought us in, made us feel included even when we were really young, showed us how to participate and took care of us. Our neighborhood was full of kids running around, playing chase and hide-and-seek and stuff. Janis was six years older than I was, and she was really into having a younger sister - and later, when Micheal was born, having a younger brother.

Love janis by laura joplin