The rispetto is a poem consisting of two quatrains in iambic tetrameter. The first verse has a rhyme scheme of abab and the second a rhyme scheme of ccdd.

I know exactly what I was doing 40 years ago today. I was attending the three day Atlantic City Pop Festival held at the racegrounds from August 1-3, 1969. This three day concert has been eclipsed in history by Woodstock, that featured many of the same acts only two weeks later, but that can never detract from the magical experience it was.
Among other highlights, this is one of three times I saw Janis Joplin perform live. I'm sure other people have their opinions on the greatest singer of all times - it's just that you're all wrong if you don't agree it was Janis. LOL

A little more than a year after she performed here, Janis died of a heroin overdose. She was evidently pretty out of it during her Woodstock performance, but she was "on" at this festival. I'm sure various things about her performance style caught the eye of different people, but for me, the most amazing thing was watching her feet. Most of the songs she sang have a relentless beat, and she would stomp one foot, then the other in this primal way that just mesmerized me.

And then, of course, was her voice -- raw, intense, coming from this place that had no smooth edges, bluesy, raspy, real. But the strangest thing is that I never felt bad after listening to her -- there was something triumphant about each song, no matter how much pain it spoke of. The heroin and alcohol and all her demons claimed her at age 27, but when she was on stage, she was fighting back, and for that moment, she was winning.

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