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  1. #1
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    Post My Patti Smith Blog

    If I had my own website, this babelog would be the front and center page. I don't have one so I hope no one minds that I use Rave Recordings to tell my story (Mods, feel free to move it if you so choose.)

    A year ago I was perusing through Rhapsody, which I used to be subscribed to, while in front of my computer listening to tunes through my Z5500's, cranked up to ear-splitting levels While looking at the Bruce Springsteen album selection page, I saw at the bottom of his album list a "if you like this artist, you may like..." which contained Patti Smith's "Horses" album, so clicked on it. It brought up the album's contents as well as showing all of her albums.

    At this point a flood of memories rushed into my conciousness. I was looking through my eyes while standing in the record department of Two Guy's discount department store in Cherry Hill NJ in 1979 holding "Horses" in my hand and looking at her picture (which I found out later was taken by Robert Maplethorpe). This mental image was so vivid that made me feel like I had just experienced that vision a day earlier. It was crystal clear in my mind. I remember that the next thing I did was put that album back on the shelf and then I picked up "Easter". A critisism about Patti at the time was that she was either androgenous or a flat out dyke, which those of us familiar with the 70's will recall was a curse. Yeah, she hadn't shaved her underarms, but she wasn't wearing a bra either, so I wasn't confused. The next thing I did was put that album down before anybody saw me oggling her womanhood and experiencing the natural, 19 year-old male reaction. At that point I walked away. That decision, I realized almost thirty years later was the biggest mistake I had ever made.

    Patti Smith, in every sense of the word, is a poet.She, before becoming a musician, could be found at college auditoriums, theaters, and anywhere anyone would listen, reading poetry based on Aurthur Rimbaud's writings. In the months that followed my epifany I became obsessed with learning more about her. I'd spend my Friday nights following any link that had interviews, music, pictures, whatever, absorbing everything she said and did. In one recorded interview she was asked how she felt about being labelled the queen of punk. She said "punk is a derogetory term" and she seemed annoyed with the interviewer. Ca't say I blame her. Again, she's a poet.

    She was born in Detroit, and when she was very young, her family moved to Philly, and finally to Woodbury Heights in South Jersey. I grew up in Westmont NJ, which was about 45 minutes away from where she grew up. Her high school, Deptford High, played my high school's football team while I was a student there in the 70's, and she went on to attend Glassboro College until she dropped out. Rumor has it she dropped out because she got pregnant. Later in life Robert Maplethorpe and her became lovers, but she ultimately married Fred (sonic) Smith, who was the lead guitarist for The MC5 (Kick Out the Jams!). Fred later died of heart disease, but the song she wrote, declaring her love for him: "Frederick", was a very prolific song and became ingrained in my subconciousness, which came to the forefront of my psyche last year when I found the album on Rhapsody, which of course I recorded. Bits of this song has played in my mind off and on throughout my life, and because of this, my weekends since last year, and for the rest of my life start with Frederick, Gloria, 'Til Victory, Because The Night (which she co-wrote with Springsteen), and everything she sung that was important in the 70's.

    Patti Smith enjoys recognition throughout the world for her groundbreaking efforts in advancing women's roles in the musical arts (she received an award in recent years from a French cultural society group honoring her efforts), but unfortunately she receives little recognition here at home. Nevertheless, I will always consider her contributions an important part of everything I value in the music that I listen to.

    Long live the queen!

  2. #2
    Crackhead Extraordinaire Dusty Chalk's Avatar
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    Depends how much discussion you want, but if you want to start an actual blog, try here.
    Eschew fascism.
    Truth Will Out.
    Quote Originally Posted by stevef22
    you guys are crackheads.
    I remain,
    Peter aka Dusty Chalk

  3. #3
    very clever with maracas Davey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rich-n-Texas
    Patti Smith enjoys recognition throughout the world for her groundbreaking efforts in advancing women's roles in the musical arts (she received an award in recent years from a French cultural society group honoring her efforts), but unfortunately she receives little recognition here at home.
    Not sure about that last comment. Always been pretty big here in the US. Surprisingly, even just got into the rock n roll hall of fame last month. Rousing show doing a great version of rock n roll nigger and because the night. Did you ever catch the SNL footage from way back in the day? Not my sins


  4. #4
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    Thanks for posting that dude. That's the first time I've seen that. I suspect that appearance on SNL was in '75 when she released Horses.

    A correction: Patti was actually born in Chicago, not Detroit in 1946 but moved to a suburb near Detroit to raise her family with Fred in 1980.

    I didn't see her induction into the Hall of Fame. Generally I don't watch that or even give it a lot of credence because of all the trash one has to endure during those "ceremonies". Besides, who doesn't get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

  5. #5
    Rae
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    a golden ball of light Rae's Avatar
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    maybe this can just be yr Patti Smith Thread.

    Yeah, punk or not punk, I love Patti Smith too. I'd always heard the big hit or two, but the first time I really had the inclination to explore her stuff was when J sent me a comp with "Piss Factory" on it. Have you heard that track?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rich-n-Texas
    Patti Smith enjoys recognition throughout the world for her groundbreaking efforts in advancing women's roles in the musical arts...
    Maybe we can just settle for advancing women's roles in the minds of 19-year-old males. ;-)

    ~Rae

  6. #6
    Dubgazer -Jar-'s Avatar
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    One of the oddest things I've seen in the past week, on Youtube:

    Patti Smith appearing on the show "Kids are People Too" (from sometime in the late 70's when variety shows were all the rage) answering questions from the audience (kids) and singing, get this, "You Light Up My Life"

    It was very surreal... check it out.

    -jar
    If being afraid is a crime we'll hang side-by-side,
    at the swingin' party down the line..


    The Replacements

  7. #7
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    If I recall correctly, Piss Factory was the B side of the first recording she released commercially in 1974. I think it was on a 45, but I don't remember what was on the A side.

    "And I got nothin' to hide here save desire
    And I'm gonna go, I'm gonna get out of here
    I'm gonna get out of here, I'm gonna get on that train,
    I'm gonna go on that train and go to New York City
    I'm gonna be somebody, I'm gonna get on that train, go to New York City,
    I'm gonna be so bad I'm gonna be a big star and I will never return,
    Never return, no, never return, to burn out in this piss factory
    And I will travel light.
    Oh, watch me now
    ."

    "Oh, watch me now." How prolific is that bit?

  8. #8
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    In case anyone wants the lyrics to her songs:

    http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/lyrics/lyrindex.htm

  9. #9
    Forum Regular Whooptee's Avatar
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    That Hall of Fame performance was great. Really enjoyed it. Eddie Vedder was actually quite funny in his intro for REM.

    I'm a big fan of Patti Smith (and Lenny Kaye). Unbelievably, I've never heard Radio Ethiopia. I need to remedy that sometime in the near future. Horses and Easter, on the other hand, have occupied regular rotation status to this day. That's remarkable IMO.

    John

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk
    Depends how much discussion you want, but if you want to start an actual blog, try here.
    Done! Thanks DC.

    The subject right now is my interpretation of the song "Land".

    This is unchartered territory for me ( I only partly know what blogging is all about), so I'm not sure right now what I do next other than the fact that I'm apparently a "Jounalist", so please bear with me y'all.

  11. #11
    Rae
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    a golden ball of light Rae's Avatar
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    Bump. I just finished reading Patti's Just Kids, her memoir of her life with Robert Mapplethorpe in New York in the 60s and 70s. A warm, heartbreaking, poetic book and a crucial read for anyone with even a passing interest in her aesthetic.

    ~Rae

  12. #12
    Can a crooner get a gig? dean_martin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rae
    Bump. I just finished reading Patti's Just Kids, her memoir of her life with Robert Mapplethorpe in New York in the 60s and 70s. A warm, heartbreaking, poetic book and a crucial read for anyone with even a passing interest in her aesthetic.

    ~Rae
    I picked that up for my wife for Christmas. Looking forward to getting my hands on it.

  13. #13
    Strange Ranger richmon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rich-n-Texas
    I grew up in Westmont NJ,
    Hey Rich, nother Jersey boy here, I grew up in Mickleton, Lived in Wenonah for many years too. Worked construction in Westmont many moons back.
    Fan of Patti too, though I despise most of the Lou Reed/Andy Warhol crowd's music. I thought Patti lived in Pitman for a while where she had her baby. I still remember her performance of Gloria on SNL back in the 70's.

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