Everyone knows the leader of the Blackhearts loves rock and roll – and the Baltimore Orioles. Nestor got some old Jim Palmer tales from the former Runaway and Hall of Famer.
As we all long for an World Series for Baltimore Orioles, we throw back to that time in 2012 when the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer talked baseball with Nestor before her legendary appearance at the Dundalk Heritage Fair on 4th of July weekend.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Joan Jett, Orioles fan, Dundalk show, Camden Yards, Jim Palmer, no hitter, new album, rock and roll, music industry, Runaways movie, teenage fans, second life, women’s basketball, road tour, game accessibility
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Joan Jett
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
I used to use this song, and I love this song, so this was Joan jett’s request on the program, Oriole fan, Joan Jett. And you have to fulfill a request from Joan Jett. I’ll do anything Joan Jett tells me to do. Quite frankly, I will. I Nestor. I don’t even know if I want to talk to Jo jet. I might just want to listen to Jo jet for the next 30 minutes, but I’m going to have the honor tomorrow night. Joan Jett is not only playing in Baltimore, she’s playing in Dundalk, my hometown. She’s playing my hometown fair that I’ve been getting drunk at since, quite frankly, the time I was about 12 or 13, and I’ll be in the beer garden not only tonight for Dennis DeYoung, but I’ll be back tomorrow. And no offense, I was a much bigger sticks fan in 1980 than I was a Joan Jett fan, but I’m a bigger Joan Jett fan now, and I am honored to have Joan back on the show, and I’m gonna talk a little Orioles and a lot of rock and roll with the great Joan Jett. Joan, welcome back to Baltimore. What’s up?
Joan Jett 01:06
How you doing? How are you great to be back. You
Nestor Aparicio 01:09
know it’s going to be 105 tomorrow. Here. You know that? Right? 105 degrees?
Joan Jett 01:14
Well, you know what? I’m looking for, a good sweat. So I can’t wait now.
Nestor Aparicio 01:19
You are in an Oriole fan, and I was having lunch with somebody today, and they didn’t know you’re an oral fan fanatic. Well, that fan fanatic short for right? And I know 98 rocks had you on. I’ve had you on this show. I’ve been doing this 21 years now, but I will never forget the first day I toured Camden Yards. You were there touring Camden Yards, when the media was touring it, you were in like a dress. You weren’t yet the usual Joan Jett leather thing. But I thought, Man, this is how big of an Oriole fan Joan Jett is that she’s touring Oriole parking candidates, I think you’re like the only celebrity Oriole fan. So this year has been great for anybody that’s an Oriole
Joan Jett 01:58
fan. Well, first, I gotta say it couldn’t have been a dress. It had to be like an Oriole jacket tied around my waist, because I wear dresses.
Nestor Aparicio 02:04
You wore something nice that day. You weren’t the rock and roll guard, a long
Joan Jett 02:08
t shirt. Maybe I was dressed up, but I don’t wear dresses. So no, never.
Nestor Aparicio 02:14
It wasn’t a game. It was just like sort of a media thing. You know? Why? Right? I
Joan Jett 02:18
remember. I remember. Yeah, it was awesome, but, but, no, I wouldn’t have been in the draft. So
Nestor Aparicio 02:22
all this suffering went on, you know, with the Orioles are decent. Now, fine, fun.
Joan Jett 02:29
The oils are what I said, the
Nestor Aparicio 02:30
Orioles are better now,
Joan Jett 02:33
it is really exciting this season, although I’m having a little bit of nervousness at the moment. You know, I don’t like I don’t like them losing. I’m sure nobody does, but, you know, I’m excited because I think the team is great, and I love Bucha Walter. I think he is the kind of manager that can really keep guys heads in the game. And you know, that’s what you need to do, is fight through these times when nobody’s hitting. You know? I mean, you get in a good enough pitching where, if the guys are hitting, we can want some of these games, but, you know, they’ll come around. And I’m not worried about it. I live in New York. I live in New York. Okay, so I can’t wait to be able to, you know, have the battle. When
Nestor Aparicio 03:20
is the last time you lived in Maryland or lived in Baltimore? I mean, I guess living in New York and being a rock and roll living that rock and roll lifestyle, baseball is a lot easier to access now if you’re addicted to a team, because baseball is everywhere and you can get it on the internet. We didn’t have these luxuries back in the 80s,
Joan Jett 03:38
right? And I do five follow the oils, and I’m going to be watching the game on my iPad tonight backstage before I go on stage. So but I used to live in Rockville and my father and used to take my brother and sister and I to games, and went to about 10 while I lived in Maryland, and I was, I was, I lived in Maryland from age eight to 13, but my first game was Jim Palmer against catfish hunter. I was 13 rows behind home plate and Jim Palmer through a no hitter. That was my first game. So that’s what I mean by oil fanatic. You know, you can’t, you can’t set the buyer or higher. You know. Well, you know, it’s
Nestor Aparicio 04:24
funny, because I think everybody that knows any about the Orioles, that knows about rock and roll in the 80s and your career, knows that you were there. And that’s a kind of a famous story of you attending the Palmer no hitter. Joan, I’m now 43 years old. I’ve been to, you know, probably 1500 baseball games in my life, and I’ve never seen a no hitter. Did you have any idea how special it was when you were a kid?
Joan Jett 04:45
Well, yeah, my dad was explaining it to me, and I was a baseball fan at the time, so I did recognize that it was a very special occasion. And but as you go through history now, you know, as as you. Were able to reflect back, especially the caliber of, you know, team, and the caliber of the pitching that Jim was going against, and certainly the royal pitchers at the time, when you talk about 420, game winners on that team and that, you’ll never see that kind of thing again. So it’s pretty, pretty incredible to have been able to see that part of baseball when teams are playing like that. When’s
Nestor Aparicio 05:29
the last time you got to a game or a game, you check them out when they’re playing the Yankees or the Mets up in
Joan Jett 05:36
New York. If I’m on the road, it’s been, it’s been a couple of years since I’ve been to a game. I’ve gotta get some game, and I really hope to get to one this year, hopefully down Baltimore. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 05:44
you’re getting down here tomorrow, and you’re playing my hometown fair, the Dundalk heritage fair. It’s going to be 105 degrees. We’re looking forward to it. Tell me a little bit about your music right now and where you are. I was checking the set list out, and I am very heartened that you’re going to be doing the bad reputation, which, by the way, was my theme song here in 2008 I want to let you know I played your song every day on the air. I hope the ASCAP people paid you for that. And and writing new music, doing new songs. What is a Joan Jett set list look like tomorrow night in Dundalk for us?
Joan Jett 06:15
Well, we’re going to be doing, obviously, a lot of hits, and we’re going to be doing some fan favorites through the years that weren’t necessarily top 40 hits, and then, like you just mentioned, we’re working on a new album. We’re in the studio, and I always like to play the new songs for people before we even record them, so you can have some kind of a gage as to whether you’re on the right track. I mean, it’s still straight up rock and roll, and it’s, you know, the subject matter might be slightly different than what I was writing about when 20 years ago, whatever. But it’s still, you know, still, I think, very relatable. I
Nestor Aparicio 06:55
think it’s interesting how much the record business has changed. The music business has changed over the years. I mean, you’re talking about watching an Oriole game on your iPad, you know? I mean, for the old people like us, you know? I mean to think that we would have this little device in our pocket that would have every song we’ve ever had that we it’s a click away. It really is kind of amazing, and I guess it makes your music even more vibrant for younger people to get turned on to it, because it’s so easily accessible, you don’t have to put a dime in the record machine anymore. It’s just you hit the iPod and you can have Joan Jett or anything else you want these
Joan Jett 07:28
days, right? But also, people have so many choices that you know, you don’t want to get lost in the shuffle. So it’s, you know, it’s always the things to try to differentiate, I guess, yourself, from other people, or just give them a reason as to why they should come and see you. So I think just have a good time. We people know what we do, I think, and we had a couple years ago, there was a movie that came out about my first band, the runaways, Kristen Stewart, who of Twilight fame, played me, and you know, it’s good. It really opened up a lot of the younger kids to to the runways music, which I’ve actually noticed in the audiences, you get a lot of teenage girls in the crowd and stuff, which is really fulfilling because it took that long. But, you know, the kids want to play rock and roll.
Nestor Aparicio 08:32
Well, I think there’s a second life to everything. And I think a song like I Love Rock and Roll obviously gets played a whole lot, but you even did, I remember ESPN was using The Mary Tyler Moore song remake for their their women’s basketball and different stuff. And that was maybe 10 years ago or whatever, but it gave a whole second life to not only a song, but also to you. And I think a pretty cool message for people as well,
Joan Jett 08:56
totally, totally. I think that was yeah for the women’s college basketball Sweet 16, I believe. Yeah, but, but yeah, it’s you just have to just if you can stay in there long enough and keep fighting and stay out there. And we’ve always been on the road, really all the time. That’s what I do every year. I don’t sit back and do nothing or go on vacation or anything. I just go out on the road and try to stay out there. Well, I
Nestor Aparicio 09:21
hope you promised the Rock and Roll tomorrow, man, we’re really looking forward to seeing you. I know I’m really gassed up about you playing my hometown in the festival, which is why we called to try to get you. I don’t even do radio every day anymore. I retired a few years ago. Just happened to be here today. I said, Get Joan Jett on. Oh, wow. We found Julie. We found you, and I really appreciate you taking a couple minutes. I didn’t realize you were playing in Minnesota tonight. Is
Joan Jett 09:42
that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we had you early in the morning. Alright, we’ll get in here. Yeah, dress lightly. I
Nestor Aparicio 09:51
might not dress at all. Joan,
Joan Jett 09:53
that’s fine, just make sure it’s cool with the cops.
Nestor Aparicio 09:59
Hey, what. See you tomorrow night in Dundalk. Rest up, play well. And hey, if you wake up on Sunday morning in Baltimore, maybe you can take any Orioles in the in the Indians on Sunday at one o’clock.
Joan Jett 10:10
Oh yeah, that’s true. They are home. I do have a gig. So I don’t know what time My flight is. I have a gig to fly someplace else, but if I’m around, you, bet I’m going to do
Nestor Aparicio 10:20
that. It’s always, it’s always another gig when you’re in the rock and roll band Joan Jett of Joan Jett black arts, Joan, thank you very much for taking a couple minutes and checking in. We’ll see you tomorrow night. We’re really excited about
Joan Jett 10:30
it. My pleasure go. Thank you.
Nestor Aparicio 10:38
Thank you. Joan played another Joan Jett song on the way out of here, because I had this, because I hate myself for loving her, but I do I.
