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Jett turns on the afterburner Bad-girl rocker plays to record crowd at Clarkston event
from: iStockAnalyist.com
by Elaine Williams, The Lewiston Morning Tribune, Idaho/Photo by thenaturalstoner
July 18--Kim McCallum once got caught by her mother in her bedroom, pretending her hairbrush was a microphone and belting out JOAN JETT's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" to a cassette on headphones.
McCallum's aunt, Stacy Goucher, remembers hearing Jett on the radio at a time when Pat Benatar and Blondie were among the few other female rockers. Goucher's friend, Heidi Krause, saw Jett when she played in Pullman, probably in 1984. Her memories of the show are as much about the music as they are about it being a concert that was out of town and her parents let her go.
The three Clarkston residents were among what was estimated by law enforcement to be close to 4,000 fans who converged at Gateway Golf, the driving range turned concert venue, to see JOAN JETT play Rockin' on the River. The crowd was a record for the event, which is in its ninth year.
Dressed in a tight black vest and jeans, with tattoos showing on her arms and chest, Jett took the stage around dusk, delivering "Bad Reputation," in her distinct, gravelly voice.
Many watching, like McCallum, Goucher and Krause, have been familiar with Jett's music since she became popular in the early 1980s.
Jett was the reason Debra Alm of Grangeville came to Rockin' on the River for the first time, bringing four friends.
She and her friend used to visit the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley to do karaoke. "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" was their favorite. "I like her music and she seems to be a pretty nice person from what I can tell," Alm said.
Other Jett fans at the concert were still in their teens, drawn in part by her bad-girl mystique. "I like she can be her own self and doesn't care what people say," said Shelley Foust, a Clarkston 16-year-old.
"She doesn't dress like a girl," Foust said. "She can make her own music and not have the company telling her what to do. She's independent."
Having a headliner of Jett's stature wasn't the only thing working in Rockin' on the River's favor this year. Temperatures hovered in the low 90s, well away from the 100-degree mark. People milled about in shorts and tank tops without worrying about being overwhelmed by the heat at the event, which drew some who enjoy the socializing as much as the bands.
James Berg, 16, of Clarkston, was sitting in the grass in a spot with a direct view of the stage. "You get to hang out with friends, listening to music and getting to drink Mountain Dew."
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