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Jett lands at BayFest
from: Honolulu Star-Bulletin
She's rightly called the godmother of punk, a mid-1970s leather-clad teenager in a "jailbait" Los Angeles band called The RUNAWAYS and, for years afterward, leader of the BLACKHEARTS and a rock 'n' roll icon to male and female fans alike.
He's the godfather of bubblegum rock of the 1960s, a historical figure who's worked both American coasts as a songwriter and producer -- from the Brill Building in New York to the sunny climes of Los Angeles. Now, KENNY LAGUNA is the manager, on-stage sideman and the only regular record producer JOAN JETT has ever worked with.
Together, they're tight friends and comrades-in-music, so alike in their passion for rock 'n' roll that talking to Laguna is the next best thing to talking to the woman herself, who's notoriously press-shy.
Jett and the BLACKHEARTS played at the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base site five years ago, and return to BayFest for a Sunday night concert. (More about her intriguing relationship with her fans in the military later).
Laguna became involved in Jett's career after The RUNAWAYS broke up in 1978. After trying to start a solo project in England, recording a few songs with ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, Jett returned to L.A. the following year to act in a movie based on The RUNAWAYS. Jett's then-manager was friends with Laguna and brought them together to write songs for the film.
The movie was never released, but the meeting turned out to be kismet. They've been inseparable musically since, creating no B.S. rock 'n' roll that transcends the trendiness of new wave rock. Just look at the list of hits since the BLACKHEARTS' inception in 1980: "Bad Reputation," a cover of Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" (both 1980); "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," a cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover" (1981-82); "Fake Friends," a cover of Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" (both 1983); "Light of Day" (written for her by Bruce Springsteen; it's the title song in the 1987 movie she co-starred in with Michael J. Fox); "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and "Little Liar" (both 1988).
Jett continues to be a hard-touring musician since her last run of hits, refusing to become a creaky "oldies act." Her most recent release was 1999's "Fetish," a sexually charged, envelope-pushing anthology.
She also still has the acting bug, and was part of the cast of the 2000 Broadway revival of the "Rocky Horror Show."
KENNY LAGUNA has been by her side through it all. "We've been together for so long," he said last Friday from his hotel room in Boulder, Colo., where he was visiting his daughter, who attends college there.
"It's been an enduring relationship. Sure, we've had our big arguments over choosing what songs to play, but the ill feelings only last an hour.
"The secret to that is that we don't blame each other, and that's been a blessing. Buddies don't blame each other for their own mistakes. Even though I'm her producer, Joan wouldn't hear of it if we wrote or picked songs that don't match up to her standards.
"I admit it's a weird relationship, also being her road manager and playing with her band on-stage," he said. "JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS are a unique bunch, and I didn't want to be known out there as the Svengali that guides her look and career. She was already done with that bulls--- with (L.A. producer/RUNAWAYS creator) Kim Fowley.
"JOAN JETT was already special back then, and look where she's gone because of that break Fowley gave her and the rest of the band. But while the other former RUNAWAYS are still mad at him (no, it's really hate!), not Joan, because she realizes that being in the RUNAWAYS provided a bridge into the industry. Luckily, she feels pretty secure with me."
Laguna is a survivor himself. "After the popularity of bubblegum pop died and the hits stopped coming, I felt 'you're over, a 20-year-old has-been.' I went from riding in limos to loading up boxes at 8 a.m. in the dead of winter on 12th Avenue in New York City. It was a miserable time for me."
Known as quick songwriter and producer, Laguna found work at Motown's British branch before returning to the United States and meeting Jett. He became her on-stage keyboard player and backup singer more recently. "It started after 9/11, at a Springsteen benefit concert in Monmouth County, New York, where 300 people in that town all died in that attack on the towers," he said.
"We were asked to be part of that concert and, of course, the band had to play "Light of Day." Out of the blue, I was asked to sing background -- and I hadn't sang publicly in 10 years! But it felt good to be up there, singing along with members of the E Street Band."
WHEN ASKED why the band has appeared twice in Hawaii, but only at the military-run BayFest, Laguna said that "we've been the No. 1 band for the military troops over the last 10 years." That's something Jett doesn't advertise.
While other American celebrities have traveled to foreign hot spots on well-publicized jaunts, Jett and Laguna aren't doing this for their own self-aggrandizement but to give back to young men and women putting their lives on the line for their country. They've been to all of the recent war zones.
"We were on one of the first planes into Iraq that, as soon as we landed, took out the first casualty of the war.
"We took our guitars, a little synthesizer and battery-operated amps and, at one point, actually go out to where the advance Special Forces were, all to vibe these guys with our music and make them feel good."
From Bosnia to Afghanistan, the BLACKHEARTS continue to go wherever American troops are throughout the world. "Because of our longtime dealings with the military, and their trust in us, we're able to go under the radar and play in places no one else could go to. But whenever we play on bases, it's like a love fest between us and the military personnel. With the help of the Armed Forces Network, we do interviews, we bring our CDs and T-shirts, sign autographs, and just bond with these wonderful kids," Laguna said.
"I joke that we've done the 'Stan tour -- Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan."
And while he thinks he could get in hot water with Jett for talking out of turn, Laguna said "our playing for the military is not meant to justify the current political policy they're fighting under -- Joan is as progressive as they come. In fact, she's deeply troubled and conflicted by the killings still going on over in Iraq. But we still think it's a privilege to entertain our troops over there."
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