The last Waterfest of the summer ...

Last night was the final Waterfest concert of the summer, and the Leach was pretty packed. So packed, in fact, that the man and his wife standing so close to me in front of me kept stepping on my toes, and bumping into me. Good thing I was invisible, so they didn't have to turn their 6-foot bodies around to apologize when they dropped their beer and it splashed on my leg, or when the wife elbowed my head. I'm all for marital bliss, but the argument they had that they took "outside" made me happy.

When they moved away, Joan Jett was there -- OK, not like, right there, but she was up on stage, and I could see her, and it was pretty awesome. She's small, and punk-rocky, and pretty much all I expected. My friends and I knew about four of her songs ("I Love Rock 'n' Roll," "Crimson and Clover," "I Hate Myself For Lovin' You," and "Bad Reputation"), so we were kind of glad she spread them out a bit between her new stuff (which wasn't as good ...).

She also threw in the "Mary Tyler Moore" theme song, which rocked. So, five songs I knew, and some songs I've heard on her promo CD she sent us, which all kind of sounded the same. But hey. She's about 50. She was on the Warped Tour this year with people who knew her music from "Shrek" and "Ten Things I Hate About You" and karaoke contests. Joan Jett could hold her own. Gotta give her that.

It was an awesome show -- despite the giants standing in front of me, but I'm kinda used to that, being 5-foot-1 -- but I'm really sad to see the summer end. No more music at the Leach. No more free passes, no more opening bands wearing beanies or playing the accordion. Sigh.

(Photo: from "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," at a Web site whose name would make my grandma uncomfortable.)