Editing Janis Joplin (section)

====January–July 1970====
At the time of the June 1970 interview with Dalton, she had already performed in the Bay Area for what turned out to be the last time. Sam Andrew, the lead guitarist who had left Big Brother with Joplin in December 1968 to form her back-up band, quit in late summer 1969 and returned to Big Brother. At the end of the year, the Kozmic Blues Band broke up. Their final gig with Joplin was the one at Madison Square Garden with Winter and Butterfield.<ref name="scars" /><ref name="dalton">{{Cite book |title=Piece Of My Heart |first=David |last=Dalton |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-306-80446-5}}</ref> In February 1970, Joplin traveled to [[Brazil]], where she stopped her drug and alcohol use. She was accompanied on vacation there by her friend Linda Gravenites (wife of songwriter Nick Gravenites), who had designed Janis's stage costumes from 1967 to 1969. In Brazil, Joplin was romanced by a fellow American tourist named David (George) Niehaus, who was traveling around the world.<ref name="Joplin, Laura" /> Niehaus and Joplin were photographed by the press at [[Rio Carnival]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]].<ref name="dalton" /> Gravenites also took color photographs of the two during their Brazilian vacation. According to Joplin biographer Ellis Amburn, in Gravenites' snapshots they "look like a carefree, happy, healthy young couple having a tremendously good time."<ref name="amburn" />

''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine interviewed Joplin during an international phone call, quoting her: "I'm going into the jungle with a big bear of a beatnik named David Niehaus. I finally remembered I don't have to be on stage twelve months a year. I've decided to go and dig some other jungles for a couple of weeks."<ref name="amburn" /> Amburn added in 1992, "Janis was trying to kick heroin in Brazil, and one of the nicest things about David was that he wasn't into drugs."<ref name="amburn" /> When Joplin returned to the U.S., she began using heroin again. Her relationship with Niehaus soon ended because he witnessed her shooting drugs at her new home in [[Larkspur, California]]. The relationship was also complicated by her ongoing romantic relationship with [[Peggy Caserta]], who also was an intravenous addict, and Joplin's refusal to take some time off and travel the world with him.<ref name="amburn" /><ref name="Garvin, Glenn" /> Prior to beginning a summer tour with a newly formed band, she performed in final appearances with Big Brother in a reunion at the [[Fillmore West]], in San Francisco, on April 4, 1970. Recordings from this concert were included on ''[[In Concert (Janis Joplin album)|Joplin in Concert]]'' released posthumously in 1972. She again appeared with Big Brother on April 12 at [[Winterland]], where she and Big Brother were reported to be in excellent form.<ref name="amburn" />

Around this time, she formed her new band, known for a short time as Main Squeeze, then renamed the [[Full Tilt Boogie Band]].<ref name="scars" /><ref name="amburn" /><ref name="buried" /> The band comprised mostly young Canadian musicians previously associated with [[Ronnie Hawkins]] and featured an organ, but no horn section. Joplin took a more active role in putting together the Full Tilt Boogie band than she had with her prior group. She was quoted as saying, "It's ''my'' band. Finally it's ''my'' band!"<ref name="scars" /> In May 1970, after performing under the name Main Squeeze at a [[Hells Angels]] event, the renamed Full Tilt Boogie Band began a nationwide tour. Joplin became very happy with her new group, which eventually received mostly positive feedback from both her fans and the critics.<ref name="scars" /> She performed with the band, billed as Main Squeeze, at a party for the [[Hells Angels]] at a venue in [[San Rafael, California]] on May 21, 1970, according to a web site maintained by Big Brother guitarist Sam Andrew.<ref name="samandrew">{{cite web |url=http://samandrew.com/big-brother-history-part-six-1969-to-1972/ |title=Big Brother history, part six, 1969 to 1972 |first=Sam |last=Andrew |date=May 9, 2012 |website=samandrew.com |access-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-date=May 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517073440/http://samandrew.com/big-brother-history-part-six-1969-to-1972/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Andrew's web site quotes him as saying, "This will be the first time that Janis' old band and her new band will be at the same venue, so everyone is a little on edge."<ref name="samandrew" />

According to Joplin's biographer Ellis Amburn, Big Brother with its lead singer Nick Gravenites was the opening act at the party that was attended by 2,300 people.<ref name="amburn" /> The Hells Angels, who had known Joplin since 1966, paid her a fee of $240 to perform.<ref name="amburn" /> Gravenites and Sam Andrew (who had resumed playing guitar with Big Brother) differed in their opinions of her performance and how substance abuse affected it.<ref name="amburn" /> Gravenites described her singing as "stupendous", according to Amburn.<ref name="amburn" /> Amburn quoted Andrew twenty years later: "She was visibly deteriorating and she looked bloated. She was like a parody of what she was at her best. I put it down to her drinking too much and I felt a tinge of fear for her well-being. Her singing was real flabby, no edge at all."<ref name="amburn" /> Shortly thereafter, Joplin began wearing multi-colored feather boas in her hair. (She had not worn them at the May 21 Hells Angels party/<wbr>concert in San Rafael).<ref name="samandrew" /> By the time she began touring with Full Tilt Boogie, Joplin told people she was drug-free, but her drinking increased.<ref name="amburn" />