Arrrgh.

I’m under the influence of another outlier. Janis Ian, to be more specific. With the hit song Society’s Child at the age of 16 and a Grammy for At Seventeen at age 25, eep. Her memoir, Society’s Child, narrated by her, kept me company during 7 hours of driving.

I’m not a huge fan of folk music although I can appreciate some of the songs of the obvious greats: Joni Mitchell, Laure Nyro, and hmmmm, not sure who else there is. See. I told you. I’m not a huge fan.

But Janis the woman and artist. I wish I could hire her to sit next to me once a week and tell me stories for an hour. She could tell anecdotes or just plain make shit up. There’s something in her voice -- a combination of humor and deep intelligence.

My years of possibly having been a wunderkind are so far behind me I need a telescope just to see them. This is a huge relief. “Never was wunderkind. Check.” (Be sure to pronounce it vunderkind, or you’ll miss an opportunity to sound pretentious.) Stll wondering what to do with the rest of my life...

Take-away items from Society’s Child:

Stella Adler advised, “Trust the talent.” (I can do that.)

Janis’ mother, “God doesn’t care if I’m an atheist.” (I plan to steal that line.)

Janis read Day on Fire. (I’ve ordered a copy. Going to set my expectations low.)

 

Should you want to hear a memoir that’s the chronicle of a gifted writer, former teen star, and a talented artist all wrapped up in American history (the ‘60s and the ‘70s) purchase Society’s Child from Audible.com.