A lot can happen in just a few years. At the time, it may seem to take forever. But, for those involved and who live to tell about it, time really does fly and things change. Others aren't so lucky.

To that point, a new stamp issued just last week would have been unheard of a few decades ago. Unlike presidential, military and social icons, the person featured on it was in the public eye for a mere three years before dying alone of a drug overdose. Doesn't matter. In that short time, Janis Joplin captivated a generation with a tenaciously gritty piece of her heart.

Like most, I first discovered Janis Joplin on the album "Cheap Thrills" by Big Brother and the Holding Company. The band had brought Joplin into their fold in 1966 as they were trying to emerge in the San Francisco music scene along with The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and others.

Naturally, Joplin didn't just glide into the lead role with the band. Born in Port Arthur, Texas she was bullied in high school, graduated and soon moved to Los Angeles to pursue music, failed, moved back to Texas, moved again to the Bay area where she tried to create a new music career, failed again, began drinking and doing drugs, and again moved back to Texas.

In 1966, Joplin once more traveled to San Francisco where she was recruited by old friend Travis Rivers for the Big Brother audition. She nailed the audition and the band soon developed a following in the Bay area.

The next stop was the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival where Joplin and the band blew everyone away with their version of the Big Mama Thornton classic, "Ball and Chain." Tensions rose in the band due to the attention Joplin garnered with her raw vocals and sexually overt style. But, things looked up when Clive Davis signed them for Columbia records. Their album "Cheap Thrills" debuted less than a year later to rave reviews and gold record status.

Joplin's drugs, bourbon and tensions in the band escalated to where they parted ways after the album. She soon formed the Kozmic Blues Band that traveled with her in 1969 to Woodstock. Her performance there was so "spotty," not one of the 10 songs she and the band performed made it onto the Woodstock soundtrack album or the feature film. That band also split up.

After a notably lackluster solo effort, in 1970, her next chapter started and ended with the Full Tilt Boogie Band. They went into the studio and recorded the smash album "Pearl" on which she wrote two her own songs, "Move Over" and "Lord, Won't You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz." Also on "Pearl" was a cover of the smash Kris Kristofferson hit, "Me and Bobby McGee."

In 1971, "Pearl" exploded onto the charts and gold status. It was the best achievement she never would know. Plagued not only by alcohol and casual drugs but by then a heroin addiction, in 1970, at just 27, Joplin died from an overdose in a room at Hollywood's Landmark Hotel mere days after the recording sessions were finished. She never heard the album. Joplin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

The new "Forever" Janis Joplin stamp is done in a 1960s Fillmore East psychedelic poster style showing an image of Joplin taken in 1970 smiling and wearing her signature pink shades.

As I said, given her background, performance style, demeanor, addictions and patent irreverence, it's a stamp that would never have seen the light of day a few decades back. It just wouldn't fly. But, time does, and so much can happen in a few short years. Joplin is now immortal proof of that.

Special first day of issue cancels are still available of the Janis Joplin stamp. To obtain one by mail, purchase the stamp at a local post office, affix it to a self-addressed envelope and send that inside of a separate mailing envelope to: Janis Joplin Stamp, Retail Manager, PO Box 7838, San Francisco, CA 94120-7838

There is no charge for the postmark and the USPS will return the specially canceled envelope by regular mail. But, all orders MUST be postmarked by Oct. 8, 2014.

To find out more about Peter Rexford and features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.