In 1967, as the new sound of rock and roll was taking over popular music, John Byrne Cooke was at the center of it all. As a member of D. A. Pennebaker’s film crew, he witnessed the astonishing breakout performances of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival that June. Less than six months later, he became road manager for Janis and her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and from then on, Cooke was a constant presence behind the scenes as the woman called Pearl took the world by storm. This intimate memoir spans the years he spent with Janis, from Monterey to Europe, Woodstock and Festival Express. Cooke tells the whole incredible story as only someone who lived it can. INCLUDES PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHS