For a brief while many years agoPatti Smith and I workedin the Strand Bookstore at the same time.I did get the chance to see her performwith Lenny Kaye playing guitaron a rooftop high above Grand Street,but our main interaction happenedwhen she strode up to me in the storeand thrust the Caedmon recordingof James Joyce reading into my hands.“Someone told me I looked like himand gave … Continue reading Me and Patti Smith by Ron Kolm
There is no “ideal” symbolism when it comes to the monkey as a portent. Sure, Chinese culture speculates that the monkey is a sign of good luck, but when it comes to their inherently mischievous nature, come to roost in 2016, the Year of the Monkey, it’s not something one wants around during an election year. This much is ruminated upon in Patti Smith’s latest … Continue reading In Patti Smith’s Year of the Monkey, 2016 Was Always Doomed Before It Began
As Patti Smith notes quite aptly in the first sentence of her latest book, M Train, “It’s not so easy writing about nothing.” And yet, she manages to do just that with all the poeticism and grace of a gentleman or socialite. Her scattered upbringing in Chicago, Philadelphia and, finally, Woodbury, New Jersey is perhaps what set the tone for her nomadic existence as an … Continue reading M Train, Or Take A Shot Every Time Patti Smith Eats Toast With Coffee
