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Joan Jett knows how to rock and roll
BY GREG BAISE
Joan Jett loves rock and roll. Ac-
tually, she loves Rock and Roll-
the absolute. That absolute is the
continuum which contains Chuck
Berry, Elvis, the Rolling Stones, the
Yardbirds, the Stooges, the Ra-
mones, the Sex Pistols, and Jett.
None of this rich boy posturing
belched by the Eagles, or the "Let's
be real dirty tonight but be sure and
get up and vote for George Bush to-
morrow" dictum set forth by the
ever-so-rebellious Bon Jovi.
Joan Jett is a rebel. Your mother
doesn't like her leather apparel, the
fact that she won't talk to People
magazine, or that God-awful tobacco
she smokes. Hell, she smokes and
she blows the smoke into Jon Bon
Jovi's pretty boy face.
When Jett was around 15, she and
four other girls (including modern
day heavy metal dominatrix Lita
Ford) formed the Runaways, who
sang about the essential rebellious
elements of rock and roll- espe-
cially sex. Their unofficial an-
them,"Cherry Bomb," found on their
eponymous debut. Their first album
also included imaginary sequences
from a girls' prison movie.
'Joan Jett is a rebel.
Your mother doesn't like
her leather apparel, the
fact that she won't talk to
People magazine, or that
God-awful tobacco she
smokes.
Jett crunched out the tunes, in-
spired by her love for T. Rex and
Suzi Quatro, while Cherie Currie
sang - for a while. Jett started de-
veloping her vocal talents around the
time of the second Runaways album,
Queens of Noise, where she sang six
of the album's ten tracks. But Currie
wasn't too keen on the idea of Jett
edging into her spotlight.
After their obligatory tour of
Japan, which was the only place the
rI~~lE~i MA Iov
Joan Jett will rock the Michigan Theater this weekend.
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Runaways met with any type of
success, Currie left, taking bassist
Jackie Fox with her. Jett took over
the Runaways, providing the lead
vocals along with her prowess on
the guitar.
All of this took place 1976-7,
the year of the Great Punk Explo-
sion. Fueled by hard guitars and
glam rock progenitors of punk like
Gary Glitter and T. Rex, the Run-
aways fit well into the punk genre..
Jett even befriended Steve Jones and
Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, who
contributed to the last Runaways al-
bum, And Now ... The Runaways.
Unfortunately, everybody else in the
band wanted to ape heavy metal over
punk, and Jett got fed up. She quit,
and the Runaways broke up.
In 1980, Jett went into a studio
and recorded her first solo album,
Bad Reputation . Steve Jones was
there. Paul Cook was there. The al-
bum rocked, not only on the origi-
nals like the title track and "Let Me
Go," but on covers as well, like
Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna
Touch Me (Oh Yeah)'," the Isley
Brothers' "Shout," and Sam the
Sham and the Pharoahs' "Wooly
Bully."
As chronicled in her video for
"Bad Reputation," no American
record company wanted to take a
chance on this ex-Runaway. But
those zany, sensible foreigners in
Europe, who always have sharper
tastes than us Philistines in Amer-
ica, took up production and the
22,000 copies of Bad Reputation
sold out rapidly. Jett and her man-
ager, Kenny Laguna, began printing
copies of the album domestically on
their new record company, Black-
heart, at their own expense. To help
with personal finances, Jett toured
massively to highly receptive audi-
ences, who were wooed by her sassy
image and her adherence to the true
spirit of rock and roll - rocking
loud and hard.
America wanted more, and Joan
Jett delivered. In 1981, she recorded I
Love Rock and Roll with her tour-
ing band, the Blackhearts. Like Bad
Reputation, the album displayed
how Jett charmingly makes use of
her Gary Glitter/Sex Pistols sensi-
bilities. The title track became a
major hit.
But after the massive success
came the massive slump. The next
two albums sold less than the previ-
ous ones. In 1984, she took a two
year break from recording.
The makings of the great come-
back brewed in 1986's Good Music,
which (along with more original
rockers like the title track and "Black,
Leather") contained her cover of
Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner"-
the "Louie, Louie" of future genera-
tions. Jett also made her acting debut
in Light of Day, with perennial
See Jett, Page 16
Folk master
BY MARK SWARTZ
What I remember most about
seeing David Bromberg at the Arkn
last October is that the man was in
complete control. He was the master returns to
of that weatherbeaten six-string
lying across his knee. He was the
master of the sold-out crowd Ann Arbor
crammed into the tiny club. When
he wanted us to sing along with as headlir
him, he told us to, and we did. When
he wanted to sing by himself, he
told us to shut up. Requests? Don't in festival
be ridiculous. Forget that other
guy- David Bromberg was the
boss. with a singular brand of
David Bromberg returns to Ann authority.
Arbor as a headliner for the Twelfth Bromberg's awesome
Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival, range developed from his w+
guitar in one hand and bag of session musician. Duri
musical tricks in the other. A master sixties, he played guitar fore
of any permutation of music even from Chubby Checker
remotely related to folk, he blends it Dylan. Friends and fello'
all into an impressive performance. players along the way w
One minute he's delivering a bluesy Bromberg's teachers.
growl, the next he's picking and "People are willing to s
strumming a lively bluegrass stuff if they think you hav
number, and then he'll pound out a over something else," he t
rockabilly like the Stray Cats gone For instance, he coul
to hell. Whether he's inviting you to instruction in ragtime techni
"take off your clothes and throw 'em straight-ahead jazz pia
in the corner," or reminding you that exchange for a mini-lessoni
"you say you don't drink no more. and harmonics.
Let me tell you, you don't drink no Bromberg proved hin
less," he takes charge of an audience credible performer in his o
Folktellers
spin their yarns at fi
Bromberg
when.he released his solo debut in
1970. "I used to be embarrassed by
my voice," he admits. His singing,
which in the early days was in fact a
little thin, has since grown into a
highly expressive tool. When he
moans, "You Gotta Suffer If You
Want To Sing the Blues,"it's clear
he knows what he's doing.
. Q Most of Bromberg's recorded
G e output has been "live" albums.
Onstage is where he best shows off
his spontaneity. "I change the lyrics
as I go along. Just make them up,
whatever seems natural at the time,"
wit and he says. "I Will Not Be Your Fool"
from How Late'll Ya Play Til?, with
stylistic its hyperextended, rambling mono-
vork as a logue finale, highlights this side of
ng the David Bromberg.
everyone The eclectic musical wizard says
to Bob he always gets particularly excited
w studio about playing Ann Arbor because of
ere also what he calls the "educated
audience."
how you "I could play an Irish slow air (a
e control particular form of accompanied
heorizes. ballad) and they all will be familiar
d give with the genre," he explained.
ique to a No, you don't need a degree in
nist in musicology to appreciate the David
in scales Bromberg experience. Savants and
simpletons alike will be entertained,
mself a amused and dazzled. Just keep your
wn right requests to yourself, OK buddy? 0
takes c
David Bromberg knows how to mas
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BY MARK SWARTZ
Folk Festival. Folk music, right?
No, not for the Folktellers. "We
don't sing and we don't play
instruments," affirms Barbara
Freeman, in a warm, Tennessean
drawl. "We tell stories."
Acting as emcees for the Twelfth
Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival,
the Folktellers will do more than
play Bert Parks to David Bromberg
and John Prine's Miss America.
Freeman and her partner, Connie
Regan, will offer "filler fun" by
spinning their wondrous yarns for
the audience while the next acts
ready themselves.
Be it an old-time story about a
wicked blacksmith, a chilling
"ha'nt" tale, or a segment from their
original two-act play, Mountain
Sweet Talk, their entertainment
appeals to audiences of all ages.
"Children are more open to it at
first. After fourth grade, it's not cool
to like storytelling," Freeman says.
"But deep down, everybody likes a
story. Adults get as wide-eyed as the
kids."
For a while, Freeman remembers,
storytelling fell into a temporary
period of disgrace. Evidently the
media didn't consider a mere story
sophisticated enough to warrant
attention. "If a storyteller was
mentioned at all, he'd be called a
raconteur," she laughs, almost
choking on her own French accent.
"But you're talking about thousands
of years of tradition versus only
about thirty years of neglect."
How is storytelling doing today?
"It's definitely come of age again."
The greatest albatross around the
storyteller's neck is the video age
and all its imagination-sapping
trappings. "You know those
Nintendo video games?" Freeman
asks. "I think they rack your central
nervous system. There has to be
tim
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Emcees Connie Regan-Blake (left) and Barbara Freeman (right) will entertain the crowds as the
Twelth Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival this weekend by reviving the art of storytelling.
PAGE 6 WEEKEI~O/JANUARY 271989
PAE 6
WEEKENU/JANUARY 27
WEEKEND/JANUARY 27 1989