May 2007 News

Since his start in the music industry during the 1960s, KENNY LAGUNA has made a name for himself as a performer, songwriter and producer. Beginning as a performer with bands like WMCA Good Guys, then moving into producing, his varied career has ranged from bubblegum pop to New Wave. He has worked with artists as diverse as Tony Orlando and Bow Wow Wow, and Laguna was also instrumental in starting the career of JOAN JETT. He has produced all of Jett's albums, leading to major hits such as "Bad Reputation," "I Love Rock and Roll," and "Do You Wanna Touch Me." Along with these musical projects, Laguna has helped run BLACKHEART RECORDS, a label started for JOAN JETT releases, which has also put out records by the likes of the Eyeliners and Metal Church.

Recently, Laguna produced the new JOAN JETT album SINNER, and is currently touring as a keyboardist with JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS in support of the album. In a lengthy phone interview, Laguna talked about his long and varied career as well as upcoming projects.

Matthew Donovan: First question, what drew you to music and how did you get your start in the music business?
KENNY LAGUNA: Well I'm from an artsy family. Downtown Greenwich Village was were I was born. I spent the early part of my life there; it's where my parents lived. My grandfather was an architect, my father was an architect, and my mother is an oil painter of some renown. I also had an aunt, Lucy Brown. It was kind of expected that I wasn't supposed to be something like an accountant; I should be a struggling artist.

Carmen Electra and her gal pal, '80s rocker JOAN JETT, enjoyed a girls lunch in the West Village on Monday.

While the dynamic duo stepped out in similar shades and hoodies, Carmen strutted around town in black wedge sandals as Joan kept her rocker cred in a pair of motorcycle boots. Girls will be girls!

Joan and Carmen have been best buds ever since Electra starred in Jett's "ACDC" music video. Rock on ladies!

One camera shoot of JOAN JETT and The Vacancies performing Change The World live at SXSW 2007
Click here to see Joan perform "Change The World"

JOAN JETT performs Bad Reputation with The Vacancies live at SXSW 2007
Click here to watch "Bad Reputation"

JOAN JETT performs her hit song I Love Rock N Roll with members from The Vacancies and The Dollyrots live at SXSW 2007
Click here to see "I Love Rock N' Roll"

JOAN JETT performs Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah) with members from The Vacancies and The Dollyrots live at SXSW 2007
Click here to view "Do You Wanna Touch Me"

In this week’s Teeing Off, Henry blasts those who make themselves into tabloid fuel when a famous friend or relative dies—then recommends the best way to make money off of a celebrity’s death. Another Letter from Henry finds Henry asking the President of the People’s Republic of China how it feels to have the upper hand on America while our president kisses his ass.

CELEBRITY GUEST: JOAN JETT
Legendary rocker JOAN JETT drops in to talk about the thirtieth anniversary of her independent label and what it meant to be a female trailblazer in the early days of punk.

MUSICAL GUEST: THE BLOOD BROTHERS
The Blood Brothers perform "Set Fire to the Face of Fire" off their album "Young Machetes". The Blood Brothers also perform the song "Laser Life" exclusively on IFC.com.

Click here to see the preview.

ALBANY -- Organizers of next year's 60th annual Tulip Festival have a real problem on their hands. How do you top the fabulous celebration that took place in Washington Park on Saturday?

The tulips were in full bloom.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous.

And the music was a perfect cross-generational blend that seemed to appeal to everybody in attendance. And it certainly did seem as though everyone was in attendance.

Headliner JOAN JETT hasn't had a hit since 1990 -- before many in Saturday's huge, record-breaking crowd were even born -- but she certainly still knows how to rock. There's nothing very tricky about what she does -- she just straps on her guitar, slams out basic, three-chord rock 'n' roll anthems and everybody has a good time.

"I don't have to tell you what to do," she declared. "We're just gonna have some fun. So just relax -- a little singing, a little dancing."

Jett and her band (aided by semi-hidden keyboardist KENNY LAGUNA just off stage right) hit the stage with a blast of "Bad Reputation," then a dip back to her teenage days with the RUNAWAYS' "Cherry Bomb" and a tear through Bruce Springsteen's "Light of Day," before romping through Gary Glitter's fist-pumping anthem, "Do You Wanna Touch Me?"

Morgan: Wow. What an honor it was to be given the opportunity to work with Joan on such an amazing song. On top of that to get to work with John Doe and Duane Peters was unimaginable. I would name all the amazing people that made this happen but it would take to long. If you feel a little misty watching it; that's how I feel when I think about the crew on this project: Amazing.

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