I met a star: 'Janis Joplin made me peel off my knickers'

Rock goddess Janis Joplin in the ' rockumentary ' JANIS. Barry Rosenberg has recounted the time she got him naked. Photo / Supplied

As part of our Summer Herald content, New Zealanders are recalling their brushes with celebrity. Today, Barry Rosenberg tells of the time Janis Joplin got him naked.

There were 30,000 people in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park that beautiful summer's afternoon. 29,999 were naked. Guess who wasn't.

Yep, that was me. Just weeks before I was sitting in a posh office in Philadelphia, suit, secretary, untold stress, deep depression and the pills to go with it.

I had said, "That's it!" Got in the car and headed west. This was late 1960s, smack in the middle of the hippie thing.

The motel manager told me about the "Be-In" Sunday. "Gotta experience it," she said.

So there I was, stranger in a very strange land. All those naked bodies, faces painted, bands playing, people dancing. Everybody happy.

"Hey, man!"

I looked up. A woman, naked of course. Kind of dumpy, pendulous breasts, spots.

"Why don't you take your threads off, enjoy yourself?" she wondered in a Southern accent.

"Um, um, um ... "

"It's okay," she said. "Keep them on, take them off, whatever. But sure is nice to let it all hang out, y'know?"

Peer pressure, I suppose. Slowly, I removed my jersey, folded it neatly, placed it on the ground. Shoes, socks, trousers, same. I glanced over.

"All right, I'll turn around," she giggled.

Then in a move I never thought possible, I peeled off my knickers.

"Great!" she exclaimed. "Hey, I'm Janis. Capricorn." She waited.

"Barry. I'm, er, a Leo."

"Groovy. I dig Leos!"

She took me by the hand, led me into the throng of fleshy humanity, introduced me to a number of friendly people.

"Gotta split," she then said. "I'm up next."

And that was the last I saw of her. Oh, I did spot her a few days later on a billboard outside the Fillmore Theatre. "Biggest star on the rock scene!", it announced.

I hardly recognisedJanis Joplin with clothes on.