Last night Dan and I went to a Joan Jett concert at one of the saddest venues in Tucson but we still had a great time.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts played at the Desert Diamond casino, the local Tucson Tohono Odom Nation (or Tribe?)-owned reservation-based casino. Now, these casinos totally depress me due to the fact that they even exist. The Desert Diamond casino (one of two in the Tucson area) is especially depressing because they have obvious members of the native-american community who are wearing really odd, ill-fitting uniforms that are supposed to look like tribal uniforms or something. It just bums me out. They also all look pretty depressed...heck....its a really depressing place. Its full of 70 year olds with cigarettes dangling from their mouths and cocktails in their hands pulling levers on slot machines!
Also, when you go to the cashier booth to change a voucher or chips back into "real" money, the cashier says "good luck" and it seems like "good luck" getting out of here without wanting to drink yourself into a depressed stupor. I'm no vegas aficionado but cashiers don't generally say "good luck" when you're leaving.... The dealer in Blackjack says "good luck" when you plop down your money to change it into chips....but not usually when they "color" you out (consolidate your chips into bigger denomination chips).....weird.
Ok, back to the concert. I mentioned this concert to a few people and was really surprised to learn how few people know who this woman is. Her most famous song is "I love Rock 'n Roll (put another dime in the jukebox baby)." She was a member of The Runaways with Lita Ford (and some other chicks) and she's pretty much a bad ass. Dan likes to mention that Joan Jett would definitely kick Pat Benatar's ass if they ever got in a fight....that seems obvious to me but its something Dan likes to bring up whenever we hear a Joan Jett song. She has a jet-black mullet, tattoos and wears high top converse for God's sake! Pat Benatar would be toast.
Our seats were very near the front. I'm using the term "seats" loosely because these were literally banquet chairs lined up in rows on a convention room floor in front of the stage. We bought our obligatory concert t-shirts and headed to our seats. Dan went back to the bar to get me a drink as Joan came on for her first song so he totally missed this part. She sang about one sentence and ZAP! she got an electric shock from the mike! What?!? Joan kept on singing but she was very upset by this (rightfully so)....then it happened again! Joan was livid. (Fortunately our seats were close enough to see her face clearly.) She looked like she wanted to kick Pat Benatar's ass or the sound guy's ass (for sure). Like a pro, she finished her song and then they took a break to change mikes so the lead singer wouldn't get electrocuted anymore. Like I said, nice venue......
They brought out a new mike and, after some understandable initial hesitation, Joan got her groove back and sang her heart out. She sounded great and was a great entertainer. She really sang to the crowd.
Here's a little note to anyone going to a convention room with banquet chairs venue.....WHEN YOU STAND UP IN THE FRONT ROW NO ONE BEHIND YOU CAN SEE ANYTHING. I felt like it was an Army football game and I was a cadet having to stand for the whole damn thing in support of my team. Geez.
Ok, Joan was totally cool. She wore a black tank top and sequined/sparkling leggings with black high-top converse. She looked great and sounded really great. She has one heck of a voice. I had heard reports that several years ago she didn't sound very good and looked like hell....well she's appears to have rebounded from that and she was back in full force! She sang her hits (which are higher in number than I thought) and some pretty awesome covers and some old stuff from The Runaways (Ch-ch-ch-cherry Bomb!).
We had a great time and were blown away by how great an entertainer she is (despite being on the senior's tour playing crappy venues). Good work sister!
After the concert, we went to the casino again where "Mr. Vegas" Dan Kelly doubled (and maybe even tripled) his money. I don't know what it is, I put money on the table or in a machine and its gone. Dan puts it on and (while it may temporarily be gone) he usually ends up with more money than he started with. I went to the bathroom and saw the pile of chips he had when I returned. He looked over at me and I said "time to go"....because you got to know when to walk away.....
Dan noticed that we've now been to two concerts in 6 days...something he's never done before (even when he was hitchhiking all over New York state to see the J. Geils Band). Yes...we're party animals.
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