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From Joan Jett's perspective, the 2006 Vans Warped Tour is "like a big, traveling block party."
"There's great camaraderie among the bands," the Philadelphia-bred rocker said in a phone interview this week before a show in Ventura, Calif. "It's a festival atmosphere, which is different from a regular tour. It's sort of loose and relaxed. I'm having a great time. I'm really enjoying myself."
As the tour crisscrosses the country, the 47-year-old singer and guitarist is meeting and hanging out with her younger counterparts in the punk world. A slight weariness in her voice from a hectic day on the road couldn't mask her passion for one of the biggest tours of the summer.
"It's the kind of music I love as a fan, and a lot of these bands I was somewhat familiar with. But most of them I'm not that familiar with at all. So as a music fan, it's a great thing to immerse myself in," she said.
Jett is a punk-rock icon who started her career with wild-child teen punk band The Runaways in the 1970s before launching a solo career in the 1980s. She currently performs with her longtime band, the Blackhearts. Their biggest hit, "I Love Rock 'N Roll," is a rock anthem.
Among those playing Saturday when the tour reaches the Gorge are NOFX, Rise Against, Anti-Flag, Motion City Soundtrack, Underoath, Saves the Day, Senses Fail, The Bouncing Souls, Helmet and Less Than Jake.
"This is Joan's culture. She can play with any kind of band there is," said longtime producer, collaborator, manager and producer Kenny Laguna, who talked with a reporter before handing the phone to Jett.
"This culture is what she grew up in, what she's comfortable with. These kids in these young bands know that Joan is one of the ones who blazed the trail. She set the standard and created a model."
In addition to such favorites as "I Love Rock 'N Roll," "Bad Reputation" and her covers of Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover" and Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me," Jett and the Blackhearts' set features songs from her current album, "Sinner." The new album touches on political and social themes in such songs as "Riddles" and "Change the World."
"I've never had problems writing songs about sex or relationships," Jett said. "But for a while I've wanted to write about other subjects, like politics and spirituality, but those are difficult subjects to broach because I don't want to come off as preachy or corny."
"Riddles" is a song about doublespeak aimed at the Bush administration.
"It isn't a personal attack in the sense of calling the Bush administration morons," she said. "It's just reflecting on what we're seeing in our country. They don't talk straight to us. They don't speak English. Everything is meant to confuse."
"Change the World" is about making the world a better place, whether you're a politician with a lot of influence or a laborer with a positive attitude.
"Sometimes just having a smile on your face can change someone else's bad mood. Vibes are very tangible," she said.
"If you can run for office and make big changes, great, do it. But if your changes are as small as just smiling and being a light in your own life and maybe changing someone else's day, that's good too. It's about doing what you can."
One of Jett's biggest songs, "Bad Reputation," featured a video about her rejection by major labels, which led her and Laguna to launch their own label, Blackheart Records. In this era of independent bands and labels, it may be hard to appreciate such a pioneering effort.
But Jett is modest about her role as an indie-rock trailblazer, as well as any inspiration she may have provided the generation of rock musicians who followed.
"It's hard for me to believe that I had anything to do with anything. I mean, it's just not the way I think of myself," she said.
Jett is involved in a number of charities and causes, from childhood leukemia to support for soldiers injured in Iraq. In the mid-1990s, she collaborated with surviving members of Seattle band The Gits on a series of benefit concerts and a subsequent album to raise money and awareness in the search for the late Mia Zapata's murderer.
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