By Brian Ives
“Tommy James wrote one of my biggest hits,” Joan Jett said of the man who topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1969 with “Crimson and Clover.” She was speaking last night (October 23) from the stage of New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, at the 6th Annual Little Kids Rock Benefit. About a half an hour earlier, James and Jett had performed the song together for the first time ever.
“I was so nervous during rehearsal, I forgot the words!” Jett exclaimed. Happily, their duo performance turned out perfectly, with James starting the song on his own, backed by the house band (made up of members of Jett’s longtime backing band, the Blackhearts). One verse into the song, Jett joined him and the crowd roared.
It was all part of an event that served as a tribute concert to Jett, with artists from several generations and genres performing some of her most well-known songs (and a few rarities as well).
The show raised nearly a million and a half dollars for Little Kids Rock, an organization that helps to keep music programs in disadvantaged schools. Before the Jett tribute began, the organization held an auction that raised quite a bit of cash from the many high rollers in the audience — a dinner with the show’s producers, Steven and Maureen Van Zandt, for example, went for $60,000, while the opportunity to perform on stage (“any instrument you want!”) for the encore last night went for $20,000. The audience might have been, as John Lennon once said, the kind who rattle their jewelry to show their approval. Although in fact, most of them were on their feet throughout the night, whether bidding for some pretty awesome items (other treasures included a guitar autographed by all the members of Metallica, another one bore Slash‘s John Hancock), or to sing along with Jett classics.
Jake Clemons (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Jake Clemons, a singer/songwriter who is well known as the nephew of Clarence Clemons and is part of the E Street Band’s horn section, was this year’s recipient of the “Big Man of the Year” award, which was named after his late uncle, and per LKR’s website, “…is presented to a musician who embodies the values of generosity and service that reflect Clarence’s legacy and our organization’s ideals” (Clarence was an early supporter of LKR). Recent recipients include Darlene Love in 2013 and Steven Van Zandt in 2012.
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The 2012 and 2013 events served as ad hoc tribute concerts to the honoree, but as Jake’s discography only includes a handful of songs, the decision was made to create the “Rocker of the Year” award, with Jett certainly being a deserving recipient. But before the Jett-fest kicked off, Clemons performed two songs with some of the kids who have benefitted from the organization: First, he donned an acoustic guitar and sang “You’re A Friend Of Mine,” his uncle’s biggest solo hit, and then grabbed his sax to back up two young girls for an original song that they wrote.
Cheap Trick (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Soon after, Cheap Trick took the stage and blew the roof off with a furious version of “I Hate Myself For Loving You.” Like Jett, Cheap Trick have always seemed neither fish nor fowl in the music industry. They appeal to metal fans, punks, indie rockers and classic rock fans alike, without quite fitting into any of those categories. Later in the night, Jett noted that in the days of her early band the Runaways, she wore a Cheap Trick T-shirt as a badge of honor.
Over the years, many bands have learned that it isn’t advisable to let Cheap Trick open for you: They’re a tough act to follow. However, last night, everyone was at the top of their game, with Cheap Trick setting the bar very high, very early on. Everyone was inspired to pay tribute to Jett, who was sitting right in the front of the stage.
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Soul singer Gary U.S. Bonds followed with a relative obscurity, “Eye To Eye,” from 1994’s Pure and Simple. Then one of Jett’s most enthusiastic disciples, Brody Dalle (formerly of the Distillers), blasted through the 1981 album cut “Victim of Circumstance,” a song she sang as if she’d written it.
Brody Dalle (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Jesse Malin (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Jesse Malin, who jumped on tables in front of the stage two years ago while paying tribute to Van Zandt, pulled another “table jump” last night, belting “Bad Reputation” while stomping on some very expensive appetizers and cocktails.
Kathleen Hanna and Adam Horovitz (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Throughout the night, most of the renditions were, appropriately, pretty close to Jett’s versions of the songs. Jett’s no-nonsense music translates easily to rock, punk and soul singers. However, former Bikini Kill front woman Kathleen Hanna (backed by her husband, former Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, on guitar) took liberties with 1983’s “Fake Friends,” slowing it down quite a bit, and taking away it’s anthemic feel and playing the solo on a melodica.
Hanna spoke lovingly of Jett, telling a story of a legendary performance decades earlier. “Some jerk threw a bottle at her head and knocked her out cold.” But she soon got up and finished the song. “I like to think that she didn’t just stand up to finish the song, she did it for all of us: all us freaks and all us weirdos and all us feminists.” When introducing the song, she said that in the ’90s at the height of Bikini Kill’s popularity, she had a lot of fake friends, but that Jett was a real one, putting her in the studio for free and helping her make “the best recording I ever made,” the 1993 7″ single, “New Radio/Rebel Girl.”
Darlene Love (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
In a stylistic 180-degree turn, Hanna and Horovitz were followed by Darlene Love, who noted that she almost couldn’t make the show, and that she had to catch a plane at 6am the next morning. However, her love for Jett and her loyalty to Steven Van Zandt (currently producing her next album) wouldn’t allow her to skip it; she transformed the 1988 power ballad “Little Liar” into a bar-burning soul tune.
Mike Ness (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Things turned back to straight-ahead punk rock when Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness took the stage to sing 1981’s “Love Is Pain,” which he probably has tattooed somewhere on his body. Sung by him, it sounds like it could be a Social D song (although that’s true of almost everything the man covers).
Joan Jett and Tommy James (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Billie Joe Armstrong and Joan Jett (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Tommy James then performed “Crimson and Clover,” joined by the guest of honor for her first onstage appearance of the night. After he left, Jett stayed and was joined by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day for 1980’s “Don’t Abuse Me.”
Alice Cooper and Joan Jett (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Finally, in a moment that clearly blew Jett’s mind, she was joined by Alice Cooper for “Be My Lover,” his song that she covered in 1990. “He’s a guy whose records I bought,” she later commented. “This is surreal.”
Joan Jett tribute finale (photo by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
Finally, all of the guests and many of the young performers from Little Kids Rock, led by Van Zandt, returned to the stage for Jett’s signature tune, “I Love Rock and Roll.” That performance featured the entire audience, attendees of all ages hollering, “I love rock and roll! So put another dime in the jukebox baby!” Although many of them could as easily buy the jukebox.
“That’s what music is supposed to do, it’s special, it gets you all excited,” Jett said a few minutes earlier, during her speech, recalling her shaky rehearsal with Tommy James. “And that’s why it’s important.”
The Little Kids Rock tribute concert itself, however, made Jett’s point better than she ever could with a prepared statement. Everyone left the show excited about music in general, rock ‘n roll specifically, from the youngest performer to the oldest donator.
(All photos by Maria Ives for Radio.com)
