Janis Ian Returns to Greenwich Village

To Take the Stage at The Village Trip Annual Festival

 

Guest Appearance to Honor Leonard Bernstein

At Bernstein Remix! Event

On September 21 at The Loft at City Winery

 

“I’m very stoked to announce

that I will be appearing as part of the ‘Bernstein Remix’

…My goal was not to just ‘remix,’

but to reinvent the piece, and create something

that’s in keeping with climate of our times,” says Ian

 

 

Ian Scheduled for More Appearances,

 In-Person Q&A Sessions at Screenings 

Of Her New Award-Winning Documentary,

Varda Bar-Kar’s Janis Ian: Breaking Silence

 

 

(NEW YORK) – As a teenager, Janis Ian began making her imprint on culture with her music, and much of the early benchmarks of her career were performances in venues in Greenwich Village in New York City – including The Village Gate (famed nightclub that also showcased Jimi Hendrix and Nina Simone among countless other pioneers) and The Gaslight Cafe. Growing up performing in and exploring the neighborhood gave Ian a rich musical education that helped propel her to create a prolific catalog of groundbreaking songs. On September 21, Ian returns to Greenwich Village to celebrate Leonard Bernstein for The Village Trip’s Bernstein Remix! event at The Loft at City Winery.

Ian says, “Very stoked to announce that I will be appearing as part of the ‘Bernstein Remix.’ The event is part of the Village Trip, a festival conceived by Liz Thomson decades ago and finally brought to fruition recently. I’ve known Liz forever and have worked with her on ideas and concepts as time allowed. It’s going to be a fabulous festival.

 

“The goal of my portion is basically to reimagine a piece by Bernstein, but make it your own. Not just by singing or playing it, but by approaching it creatively. For my contribution I chose the song ‘Cool,’ originally written for the musical ‘West Side Story’ by Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. Working in close collaboration with actors Pooya Mohseni and Eugene T. Barnes, director Maggie Reed, and composer David Amram, we five have created a short collaborative theater piece based on the original work.

 

“I believe our piece maintains the spirit of Bernstein and Sondheim’s work in the original musical. My goal was not to just ‘remix,’ but to reinvent the piece, and create something that’s in keeping with climate of our times.”

 

As part of the 10-day festival that celebrates culture and community across Greenwich Village and the East Village, Bernstein Remix!will feature unique takes on various slices of Bernsteiniana by a star-studded lineup including Ian appearing with David Amram. The concert benefits Artful Learning™, the teaching model founded by Alexander Bernstein that puts his father’s philosophies of education into practice.

 

“Bernstein Remix! is a wonderful way to remind today’s listeners of my dad’s musical multiplicities, reflected off the many facets of these brilliant musicians.” notes Jamie Bernstein, Leonard’s eldest daughter who brought together the artists for the show. “Plus, we get a blazing new expression of Bernstein’s lifelong devotion to using music to make our world a better place.”

 

Ian gained mainstream attention after performing her second single, “Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking),” on Leonard Bernstein’sbroadcast special, “Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution.”

 

Originally released three times between 1965 and 1968 — in the midst of the Civil Rights movement — the song became a national hit after Bernstein dedicated an entire segment of his CBS television special to it and Ian. “Society’s Child,” from Ian’s self-titled debut album on Verve Records that was nominated for the Best Folk Performance (Album) GRAMMY Award in 1968, entered the Billboard 100 singles chart 58 years ago on May 27, 1967.

 

“‘Society’s Child’ contains many of the musical joys we’ve talked about and some we haven’t. Like fascinating sounds, both natural and electronic, like a strange use of harpsichord and that cool, nasty electric organ. There are astonishing key changes and even tempo changes, ambiguous cadences and equal phrase lengths, the works,” said Bernstein in introducing Ian on the special.

 

Post-performance Bernstein continued to wax poetic on the artist, the song, and the performance. “It kills me. That sassy retort of the organ at the end. That voice, those words, that key change… You’re a great creature.” Of the importance of the song’s message he added, “What Janis has written is a short social document, not a satire, not a protest, but just a picture of a social trap. Of course, underneath it is the spirit of protest which underlies so many of these pop songs. The implication is, and strongly, that this is not at all the way things ought to be.

 

Watch the full appearance here: https://youtu.be/300LiZtuDPw

 

This performance of “Society’s Child” landed Ian on other national television shows, including “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” and “The Tonight Show,” as well as the opening act of one of the day’s most popular artists, Donovan. The song was later inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, which honors recordings considered timeless and important to musical history, in 2002. It also spawned the name of Ian’s autobiography for which she received her second GRAMMY Award for “Society’s Child: My Autobiography” in 2013.

 

The book has since inspired a new documentary, Varda Bar-Kar’s Janis Ian: Breaking Silence. The film, out now in select theaters and available online to stream, rent, or buy, had its broadcast premiere on PBS’ “American Masters” series this June. It features Ian as well as friends and collaborators including Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart, Laurie Metcalf, and Arlo Guthrie, and has critics and audiences finding it to be important, moving, and award worthy. Earning the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 35th Annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival (SDIJFF), it debuted as an Official Selection at DOC NYC in November 2024 and has also been named Best of Fest-Top Films at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival. In features about Ian and the film, Rolling Stone proclaimed “Janis Ian is a living, breathing trailblazer. Let’s listen to her.” And Deadline stated “in addition to being one of the great songwriters of all-time, Ian is a captivating raconteur.”

 

Screenings in selected theaters are slated for the coming months, in which Ian will be attending for in-person Q&A sessions. On October 21, film director Varda Bar-Kar will join her for a reel-to-real viewing event at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles.

 

 

For more information on Janis Ian: Breaking Silence, go to: janisiandocumentary.com/viewing-options

 

For more information on Ian, go to: janisian.com

 

Janis Ian: Breaking Silence Screenings

with Janis Ian in-person Q&A

September 11 – Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA

September 24 – Johnson Hall Opera House, Gardiner, ME

September 25 – Stone Mountain Arts Center, Brownfield, ME

September 27- Cafe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY

September 28 – Assembly, Kingston, NY

October 21 – GRAMMY Museum @ LA Live – Reel to Reel

(with Janis Ian & film director Varda Bar-Kar in-person Q&A)

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