Miley Cyrus Launches LGBT Youth Fund With Musical Help From Joan Jett

From Facebook page of the Happy Hippie Foundation:

Officially launching The Happy Hippie Foundation today with #HappyHippiePresents: Backyard Sessions! Watch the full video of Joan Jett and i performing “Different” now and donate to help us raise funds to create digital support groups for LGBT youth and their families #HappyHippie. All the videos will be released here first so check back soon for more special musical collaborations! The Happy Hippie Foundation is dedicated to fight the injustices faced by homeless youth, LGBT youth and other vulnerable populations.

(Tipped by JMG reader Cricket)

At The 2015 Rock Hall Of Fame Inductions

Among this year's inductees were Joan Jett, Green Day, and Ringo Starr, who had previously been inducted with the Beatles.

2015 Rock Hall Inductees: Joan Jett, Green Day, Lou Reed, Ringo Starr

The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame has unveiled its list of inductees for the 2015 class. Via Rolling Stone:

Lou Reed, Green Day, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Bill Withers and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band will all join the class of 2015. Ringo Starr will be given the Award For Musical Excellence and 1950s R&B group the "5" Royales will receive the Early Influence Award. Artists are eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single. Green Day, whose debut EP, 1,000 Hours, came out in 1989, are entering the institution in their first year of eligibility. Starr was inducted as part of The Beatles in 1988, though his three other bandmates have since entered the Hall of Fame as solo artists.

And once again Chic, who have been nominated NINE times since becoming eligible in 2002, are shut out.

BROOKLYN: Joan Jett Fronts Nirvana At Their Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction

Last night the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted its 2014 class at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, where Joan Jett was among the women who stepped in to front inductees Nirvana in the place of Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide 20 years ago last week.

Nirvana’s emotional induction included speeches from Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, as well as his mother, Wendy O’Connor. R.E.M’s Michael Stipe, whom Cobain greatly admired, gave the official induction. “Nirvana captured lightning in a bottle,” he said. The band pushed “us forward towards our individual and collective potential.” He saluted Nirvana’s anti-mainstream stance and specifically Cobain for offering an “outsider voice for the fags, the fat, the fed-up and the bullied.” “Kurt, I miss you,” he said, rawly. Cobain’s mother fought back tears as she said of her son “he would have been so proud. He’d say he wasn’t, but he would be.” An uncommonly terse Love echoed that sentiment, “Tonight, he really would have appreciated.” Love also vowed to give the award to their daughter, Francis Bean, “who isn’t here because she’s sick.” Novoselic thanked Cobain for fronting music “that means so much for so many people.” Joan Jett sang lead with the band on a ferocious “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Several other women also sang Cobain’s parts with genuine brilliance and edge: Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth on “Aneurysm,” Annie Clark on “Lithium” and Lorde on “All Apologies.”

Other inductees were the ever feuding KISS, the E Street Band, Yusaf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, and Linda Ronstadt, who was unable to attend due to her battle with Parkinson's. Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record.

#1 Thirty Years Ago Today

Joan Jett's cover of the 1975 flop by British power pop band Arrows pulled her from the Runaways pack and into the hearts of baby dykes worldwide. One of those baby dykes was my clubbing pal Razor (real name: Dorothy), who emerged from Jett's backstage to show me her hickey'd neck after I'd waited out front through a lackluster performance by that night's headliner, Iggy Pop, who'd actually berated the audience for not applauding more vigorously. With seven weeks at the top, I Love Rock N Roll tied with Ebony And Ivory (shudder) for 1982's longest running #1 single.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Cherry Bomb

I'll admit I'm quite skeptical about the coming Runaways biopic. But holy crap, this cast cover of their 1976 proto-punk classic Cherry Bomb totally does NOT suck. Just true enough to the original and different enough too. Dakota Fanning, who knew? (Yes, I was rocking the original on 8-track in my '73 Lemans. Suck it, kiddies.)

HomoQuotable - Joan Jett

"It was initially kind of laughing, like that kind of smiling, going, ‘What are you doing? You can’t do this. Girls don’t play rock ‘n’ roll.’ And when they saw were really serious about it, the attitude kind of changed. Anything from really just insulting and dirty, nasty things. Calling us names, every name that you can call a woman. Just stupid things. Bands feeling threatened by us. You’d think that in the rock ‘n’ roll world, I guess people think of it as a liberal sort of thing and it wouldn’t be a problem, but guys in bands had problems with it. We wouldn’t get sound checks because people were threatened." - Rocker Joan Jett, speaking at the Sundance Film Festival where the biopic The Runaways is screening.

Twilight's Kristen Stewart plays Jett, Dakota Fanning plays Runaways lead singer Cherrie Curry. Let's hope the flick isn't a (cherry) bomb.

What DADT? U.S. Military Uses Openly Lesbian Joan Jett to Promote Fleet Week

I find it more than a little annoying that while the Obama administration continues to kick out highly skilled soldiers like Lt. Dan Choi and Lt. Col. Victor Fehrehbach, the U.S. Navy has NO problem using openly lesbian rocker Joan Jett to promote NYC's Fleet Week.

Over on the website of the Commander Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, you'll find several photos of Jett (whom I adore, by the way) in flight gear and posing for photos with soldiers from several branches. Why, it's almost like they realize that Joan Jett is a lesbian icon and would be a great recruitment tool for young lesbians considering military service.