Joan Jett really knows how to work a crowd, and she did just that last night at Irving Plaza with her band the Blackhearts. Singing a bunch of songs from her latest album Sinner, as well as her hits, she really got everyone dancing and singing along, as well as clapping and raising their hands to the music. The great thing about a Joan Jett song is if you don’t know it, by the second verse you can totally sing along. They are deceptively simple but she says a lot in between the lines. Her classics such as “I love Rock and Roll”, “Crimson and Clover” and “Bad Reputation” were a joy to witness. She just puts out such a positive vibe and is in such great shape and looks gorgeous. Women in the crowd were yelling, “I love you!” and “I want to marry you!” And of course Joan and her band bring a lot of rock n’ roll swagger and posturing along with jumping 3 feet above the stage.

After the show, thanks very much to Q’s dad Bas, we got backstage passes. I was completely awestruck, but strangely not nervous at all meeting her. I told her that she has such a great energy and spirit and that really came through tonight. She was very humble and said it was easy with a great crowd like us.

Joan Jett is just amazing. The fact that she struggled so hard in the beginning to get signed, finally starting her own Blackheart Records label, is just a testament to her commitment to expressing herself creatively. It really gives me hope for my own creative endeavors. I feel a renewed sense of optimism and inspiration from meeting such a passionate woman who has always lived her life with total authenticity.

Lately I’ve been trying to focus on my disaster fantasy novel. I’d like to finish it, get an editor to look at it, really perfect it, and then get it published. Just read Be your own Literary Agent which gave me lots of ideas on how to jump start this whole thing. It really gave me hope, although I realize getting a novel published is really really really difficult. But the book gave tons of examples of authors who worked without an agent (sometimes self-publishing and selling their books out of cars) that are now very successful. Names such as John Grisham, James Redfield, and E. Lynn Harris.

Then this article in the Times about a fantasy writer whose book was picked up for a movie really gave me a lot of hope. So I really need to get cracking with this, and while it is going to be a real challenge, I feel like if worst comes to worse I can publish it online. I’m really excited. I wish that nanowrimo let you participate if you want to continue writing a novel but the rules say you have to start a new one, so I guess I’ll have to find some other way of motivating myself to finish this thing.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are the funniest, most comically brilliant duo I have ever known. They met in 1978 while attending the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Their French & Saunders comedy show spoofs movies, tv, and pop culture in a hilarious way. Add to that the BBC’s amazing production quality and their spoofs are just so dead on. They’ve spoofed Madonna, Fellini, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? as well as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. I love that their subject matter ranges from the very high brow to the common everyday. And what pulls it all together is the amazing chemistry between them.

A lot of folks are more familiar with their later work, Absolutely Fabulous, which I also adore. They still put on French & Saunders Christmas specials, which we can’t really get in the states, but youtube has a lot of their work and you can also order it on netflix. I highly recommend checking their stuff out.