Jett, Blackhearts Regroup
Joan Jett and Blackhearts have regrouped to play a handful of shows. Jett is at the tail end of a six-month run on Broadway as transvestite Columbia in the The Rocky Horror Show. (She is currently negotiating an extension.)
“I’m really anxious to go out and play a Blackhearts show,” she says. “I love being on Broadway, but being off the road with the Blackhearts has really reinvigorated my desire to play all my hits with my band,” Jett says from her Long Island, New York digs.
Jett will not be part of the The Rocky Horror Show cast album, declining when it became apparent that she would not have creative control over her performance on the record. “We had a deal, they chose not to live up to it, and they found out that real rock & roll doesn’t work that way,” says Jett’s manager Ken Laguna.
The Blackhearts’ first show will be the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the famous club where both Bruce Springsteen and Jett got their starts. “The Stone Pony is a perfect place for me to do my first show,” she says. “It’s historical and means so much to me in terms of my own career.
Despite her not being on the Rocky Horror album, Jett has recorded electronic versions of two the show’s signature songs, “Time Warp” and “Science Fiction,” with German DJ/producer duo Ulf Sommers and Tony Bruno. However, there are no specific plans yet for a release.
Joan Jett and the Blackheart’s initial tour dates:
4/21: Asbury Park, NJ, Stone Pony
4/28: Green Bay, WI, Oneida Casino
5/4: Los Banos, CA, Merced County Spring Fair
5/5: San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill
5/20: Long Beach, CA, Shoreline Park