Local News from Marbletown, Rochester, & Rosendale
In the mid-60s, Janis Ian, a teenage singer-songwriter from New Jersey, scores a controversial hit single called “Society’s Child,” about an interracial love relationship. The song launches her illustrious career but also ignites death threats, plunging her into an emotional tailspin, only to emerge from the ashes in the 1970s with an even bigger hit, “At Seventeen,” ahead of its time in confronting lookism and bullying. Ian overcomes significant obstacles including embezzlement, record industry misogyny, and heartbreak to find love and produce an indelible body of honest songs that earn her a devoted following and critical acclaim. In addition to rare historic TV and concert footage, her documentary features interviews with industry friends and contemporaries Lily Tomlin, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Paxton, Laurie Metcalf and Jean Smart. The film examines her teen years on the vibrant Greenwich Village folk scene jamming with legends Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. The screening, 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, at the Rosendale Theatre, 408 Main St., Rosendale celebrates June as LGBTQ Pride Month and will be co-hosted by Eve Papp, President of the New Paltz Pride Coalition. Admission is $10/$6 members. Visit rosendaletheatre.org or call 845-658-8989 for more information.
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Janis Ian 1975 photo by Peter Cunningham.
