Pathway to Paris Virtual Festival

just kids

Patti Smith & Robert Mapplethorpe

photo by Judy Linn

Law & Order

Patti Smith & U2 : Law & Oder & Spiderman - Turn Off The Dark... wtf? :D ...even more absurd than Patti Smith & her band as a support band for U2 in 2005... but then again, Velvet Underground, Ramones, Einstürzende Neubauten, Rage Against The Machine, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Public Enemy and many others did the same before...

http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2011/06/first-look-patti-smith-guest-stars-on-law-order-criminal-intent/

setlists

http://setlists.pattismithlogbook.info/index.html


26 August 2005, Archa Theatre, Prague, Czech Republic (with Tom Verlaine)
Are You Experienced?, Space Monkey, Redondo Beach, My Blakean Year, Free Money, Ghost Dance,Beneath the Southern Cross, Ain’t it Strange, We Three, About a Boy, Dancing Barefoot,Because the Night, Peaceable Kingdom, Not Fade Away, People Have the Power, (encores): Wing,Like a Rolling Stone, Rock n Roll Nigger/Gloria

Note: Our source said that Patti read a few poems but has no idea which ones and when they were read.

24 June 2007, Alter Schlachthof, Dresden, Germany (with Jackson Smith)
Redondo Beach, Space Monkey, Changing of the Guards, Ghost Dance, Pissing in a River,Are You Experienced?, Summer Cannibals, Wild Leaves, Ain’t it Strange, Gimme Shelter, Pushin’ Too Hard,White Rabbit, Because the Night, Soul Kitchen, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Gloria, (encore): Helpless,Babelogue/Rock n Roll Nigger

13 July 2008, Arena Wien, Vienna, Austria (with Jackson Smith)
Pissing in a River, Frederick, Are You Experienced?, Within You Without You, Don’t Say Nothing,Beneath the Southern Cross, Helpless, Ain’t it Strange, For Your Love, Ghost Dance, Dancing Barefoot,Because the Night, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Gloria, (encore): Gimme Shelter, People Have the Power, Rock N Roll Nigger

15 July 2009, Divadlo Archa, Prague, Czech Republic (with Tom Verlaine)
Redondo Beach, Paint it Black, Birdland, Ghost Dance, Beneath the Southern Cross, We Three, Ain’t it Strange, Pissing in a River, Dancing Barefoot, Peaceable Kingdom/People Have the Power (spoken), Because the Night, Land/Gloria, (encore): People Have the Power, Rock n Roll Nigger

17 July 2009, Pohoda Festival, Letisko Trencín, Trencin, Slovakia (with Tom Verlaine)
Gloria, Redondo Beach, Ghost Dance, Beneath the Southern Cross, Pissing in a River, Dancing Barefoot, Because the Night, People Have the Power, Rock n Roll Nigger

5 July 2010, Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin, Germany (with Jack Petruzelli)
Ask the Angels, Redondo Beach, Ghost Dance, Free Money, Space Monkey, Play with Fire, Pumping My Heart (false start), Pumping My Heart, People Who Died^*, Beneath the Southern Cross,We Three, Dancing Barefoot, Because the Night, Pissing in a River, People Have the Power^*+%, (encore): Wing, Gloria, Rock n Roll Nigger^*+

Note: Patti Smith & Her Band.
Special guests Peter Buck^*, Michael Stipe⁺ , Scott McCaughey⁺ , Bill Rieflin⁺ and Daniel Kahn^%.

30 May 2011, Burgtheater, Vienna, Austria
"An evening of music and words with Patti Smith"
Grateful, Redondo Beach, Birdland, Ghost Dance, Dancing Barefoot, Paths That Cross, Improvisation/My Blakean Year, Beneath the Southern Cross, Helpless, People Who Died, Because the Night, Pissing in a River, Gloria, (encore): Rock n Roll Nigger

Note: Patti Smith and Her Band, electro acoustic performance.

SUMMARY:

About a Boy: I
Ain’t it Strange: IIII
Are You Experienced?: III
Ask the Angels: I
Babelogue: I
Because the Night: IIIIII
Beneath the Southern Cross: IIIIIII
Birdland: II
Changing of the Guards: I
Dancing Barefoot: IIIIII
Don’t Say Nothing: I
For Your Love: I
Frederick: I
Free Money: II
Ghost Dance: IIIIIII
Gimme Shelter: II
Gloria: IIIIIII
Grateful: I
Helpless: III
Land: I
Like a Rolling Stone: I
My Blakean Year: II
Not Fade Away: I
Paint it Black: I
Paths That Cross: I
Peaceable Kingdom: II
People Have the Power: IIIII
People Who Died: II
Pissing in a River: IIIIII
Play with Fire: I
Pumping My Heart: I
Pushin’ Too Hard: I
Redondo Beach: IIIIII
Rock n Roll Nigger: IIIIIII
Smells Like Teen Spirit: II
Soul Kitchen: I
Space Monkey: III
Summer Cannibals: I
We Three: III
Wild Leaves: I
Wing: II
Within You Without You: I
White Rabbit: I

Oh, Vienna

Pred pár mesiacmi som si na internete prečítala, že Patti Smith bude vo Viedni. Na last.fm mi napísal Anton z Drážďan, že či som to ja, lebo že si pamätá môj nickname a že či idem. S Antonom sme si vymenili na úplne inej platforme pár mailov asi 4 alebo 5 rokov dozadu a odvtedy sme si nič nenapísali a nikdy v živote sme sa nevideli. Ja som odvtedy bola v Drážďanoch niekoľkokrát, Anton zatiaľ dokončil školu, stihol žiť nejaký čas v Mníchove a neskôr sa presťahoval do Viedne. Dohodneme sa, že na tú Patti Smith vo Viedni ideme a že sa tam stretneme.

Vo večerných hodinách v deň, kedy sa začal oficiálny predpredaj lístkov, ma však prekvapil správou, že je úplne vypredané. Ja som lístky samozrejme tiež nemala. Tak sme sa bavili, že teda možno na Dum Dum Girls alebo Esben And The Witch alebo že možno v Bratislave niekde niekedy. A uvidíme, čo s tou Patti. Mne žiadny zo spomínaných koncertov nakoniec nevyšiel a po zlyhaní všetkých možných spôsobov ako dostať lístky na Pattin koncert, som sa zmierovala s tým, že nejdem ani tam. Minulý piatok sa však na Facebook stránke divadla Burgtheater objavil status (ach, tie facebooky, myspacey a last.fmká), že sa uvoľnilo pár lístkov na predaj. Okamžite som napísala Antonovi, snáď si to stihne prečítať včas. Ja som na to už kašľala (ale nie tak celkom, asi 5x som už mala lístok v košíku a ďalší krok bol už definitívne zaplatenie), no po commente od Geša a správy od Antona, že má lístky, som nakoniec neodolala a klikla na „kaufen“. Yes, v pondelok sa ide na Patti Smith!

V pondelok bol krásny deň. Do Viedne som sa dostala síce až večer a vlak mal 20-minútové meškanie, ale vôbec mi to nevadilo. Strašne rada mám tu cestu vlakom do Viedne. Električkou som sa previezla cez centrum až k Burgtheater. Po vyzdvihnutí lístka som mala ešte asi trištvrte hodinu čas, tak som sa poprechádzala po okolí, zjedla pizzu, posedela v parku......okej, stačí. Niečo mi to začína pripomínať. O ôsmej je už pred a v Burgtheater kopa ľudí, stretávam sa s Antonom a jeho kamarátkou Babsi. Bolo to strašne milé stretnutie, skoro ako keby sme sa všetci traja poznali, a to už celkom dlho. Zakrátko ale ideme dnu do sály, dohodneme sa, že dáme pivo po koncerte.

20:39. Na pódium prichádzajú nie punkovia, ale štyria slušiví pánkovia a Patti. „Hello everybody!“ Na tvári mám úsmev a v očiach takmer...

Viedenské Burgtheater je druhé najstaršie divadlo v Európe. Krásna a majestátna historická budova je dnes večer zaplnená tými najrôznejšimi ľuďmi – boháči, umelci, básnici ulice, pankáči, stratenci, kokoti aj vedci, starí, mladí, všetci. Tento koncert bol avizovaný ako "An evening of music and words with Patti Smith plus Lenny Kaye and Tony Shanahan“, no na moje potešenie vidím na pódiu okrem piatich akustických gitár aj klavír a bicie. To znamená, že dnes to nebude „len“ akustické trio v zložení Patti, Lenny , Tony, ale zahrajú aj bubeník Jay Dee Daugherty a ďalší gitarista Jack Petruzelli.

Okrem zopár najznámejších pesničiek vôbec neviem, čo čakať, navyše sa Patti v prvých minútach, ako inak, ak nie s úsmevom na tvári, priznáva, že je chorá a že jej hlas dnes večer zrejme nebude v najlepšej forme. Po šiestich úžasných a zároveň úplne iných koncertoch som bola veľmi zvedavá, čo to bude tentokrát a opäť sa mi v hlave ozývali aj isté pochybovačné hlasy, či som radšej nemala ostať doma, veď to už predsa lepšie byť nemôže. Nemôže. Ale to, čo sa malo udiať v nasledujúcich 97 minútach, zahnalo všetky pochyby na míle ďaleko.

Patti srší humorom, medzi pesničkami kašle ostošesť, usmieva sa, tancuje, vtipkuje, rozpráva príbehy, párkrát si odpľuje ako to má vo zvyku (bez ohľadu na miesto, kde práve je), kloktá čaj(!), hrá na gitare a spieva. Zvuk v divadle je krištáľovo čistý, kapela v najlepšej forme, atmosféra je po celý večer skvelá, priateľská a dovolím si povedať až rodinná. Bariéra medzi umelcami a publikom už od začiatku neexistuje, no Patti aj napriek tomu niekoľkokrát počas večera zoskočí medzi divákov, tancuje, tlieska a podáva si s nimi – s nami ruky. Lenny Kaye sa zatiaľ pri mikrofóne strieda s Tonym Shanahanom. Spievajú pesničku People Who Died od Jima Carolla pre Jima Carolla. Spieva sa o mŕtvych, ale snáď najveselšie z celého večera. Spomína sa aj na fotografa Roberta Mapplethorpa (Pattinho partnera a dlhoročného priateľa, pre ktorého s manželom Fredom ‚Sonic’ Smithom napísali pieseň Paths That Cross) a na experimentálneho divadelného a filmového režiséra Christopha Schlingensiefa, ktorý práve v Burgtheater pôsobil.

In My Blakean Year začína niekoľkominútovou improvizáciou o meste Viedeň: okrem toho, že je Viedeň krásna, aj o radiátore Ludwiga Wittgensteina, o počúvaní Mozarta z jukeboxu, o Freudovom dome, o vražde Moritza Schlicksa a o tom, že má Viedeň najlepších skladateľov, ale nie Jimiho Hendrixa. Okrem vtipných výstupov, vynikajúceho muzicírovania členov kapely a spontánnych reakcií publika, k vrcholom večera patria pesničky Birdland, Southern Cross a Pissing in a River. Koncert sa blíži k záveru, nasleduje Gloria a Patti už počas prvých tónov a veršov strháva doteraz sediace publikum natoľko, že všetci vstávajú a mnohí sa hrnú dopredu priamo pod pódium. Je to krásny pohľad: ľudia v oblekoch, šatách, starý pán, čo (naozaj!) ledva stojí energicky gestikuluje a spieva, o kúsok ďalej podnapitý mladík v roztrhanom oblečení spieva do mikrofónu s Patti. Seriózne divadlo je odrazu na nohách. People Have The Power dnes večer nezaznie. A ani nemusí. Ako prídavok tentokrát zahrajú Rock‘N’Roll Nigger. Verzia s akustickými gitarami ani trochu nepostráda elektrinu. Nasleduje podanie si rúk s divákmi a je definitívny koniec.

22:16. Odchádzam s úsmevom na tvári a nie som sama. Ak si stále myslíte, že viedenské publikum je nudné, choďte si pozrieť Patti Smith. Je úplne jedno v akom priestore to bude. Ako sama večer povedala – nie je Maria Callas, ale…. no veď uvidíte.

Z koncertu sme všetci traja nadšení. Noví viedenskí kamaráti ma potom berú do maličkého útulného indie-alternatívneho klubu Clash pár zastávok električkou od Burgtheater. Anton je na bicykli, tak nás čaká na zastávke pri klube. Ako sa dozvedám, Babsi študuje divadlo a médiá a cestou mi rozpráva o Burgtheater, čo-to viac o Christofovi Schlingensiefovi, o tom, že akurát píše diplomovku (a že by tu vôbec nemala byť – aká to zhoda náhod!) a o kluboch vo Viedni. V klube sa stretávame s ich ďalšími dvomi kamarátmi. Je tu prázdno, hrá samá dobrá hudba, po stenách sú plagáty uskutočnených koncertov….David Bowie, Bob Dylan, nejaké domáce kapely a mnohé ďalšie.

Anton mi rozpráva o viedenskej scéne, o drážďanskej alternatívnej scéne, o umelcoch a hudobníkoch, o pouličných festivaloch a ich histórii tam, o robení koncertov, a o mnohých ďalších veciach. Bavíme sa o Morrisseym, Iggy Popovi, M.I.A., ale aj o Dire Straits a Catovi Stevensovi (obľúbenci jedného z ich prísediacich priateľov). Rozprávame sa o Bratislave a o tom, že sa sem chystajú prísť na bicyklový výlet. Ani neviem(e) ako, ale zrazu prešli 2 hodiny a ja si uvedomujem, že ledva-ledva (ne)stíham vlak. Strašne rýchlo sa lúčim s Babsi a ostatnými, Anton berie bicykel, ja utekám na električku, no tá mi pred nosom – tesne pred stlačním tlačítka na otvorenie dverí – uniká. Ďalšia ide príliš neskoro.

Plán B je rýchlo nájsť bicykel na požičanie a uháňať. To sa podarí fakt rýchlo a nočná jazda po Viedni na bicykloch je skvelá! Žiaľ posledná električka mi aj z ďalšieho stanovišťa ušla pred tromi minútami. Ostáva už len taxík, ale to vôbec nevadí. Ešte bol aj o dosť lacnejší, ako mi šofér povedal na začiatku. Sadám si do vlaku pár minút pred odchodom, zapisujem si dojmy a teším sa. Doma po vyše týždni konečne zaspávam na viac ako 2 až 3 hodiny za noc. Tak zas niekedy nabudúce, Viedeň! Veď si tak blízko…

in a sea of guilt

"It's actually sort of indulgent to just swim in a sea of guilt because you're not really helping anyone. It's important to forgive yourself and then do better so that you can be productive. So my motto is simply face up to it and try to do better."
- Patti Smith (April 11, 2011)

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11101/1138159-129.stm#ixzz1JGPTp21M

Dream of Life

Peace. Peace.
He is not dead.
He does not sleep.
He had awakened
from the dream
of life.



"footnote to howl" by allen ginsberg

Holy! (x15)
The world is holy...The soul is holy..The skin is holy..
The nose is holy..The tongue and cock and hand
and asshole holy
Everything is holy...everybody's holy..everywhere is
holy..everyday is in eternity..Everyman's an
angel
The bum's as holy as the seraphim...the madman is
holy as you my soul are holy..
The typewriter is holy the poem is holy the voice is
holy the hearers are holy the ecstasy is holy..
Holy Peter holy Allen holy Solomon holy Lucien holy
Kerouac holy Huncke holy Burroughs holy Cassady
holy the unknown buggered and suffering
beggars holy the hideous human angels..
Holy my mother in the insane asylum...Holy the cocks
of the grandfathers of Kansas..
Holy the groaning saxophone..Holy the bop
apocalypse..Holy the jazzbands marijuana
hipsters peace & junk & drums..
Holy the solitudes of skyscrapers and pavements..Holy
the cafeterias filled with the millions..Holy the
mysterious rivers of tears under the streets..
Holy the lone juggernaut!..Holy the vast lamb of the
middle class..Holy the crazy shepherds of rebellion
Who digs Los Angeles IS Los Angeles..
Holy New York Holy San Francisco Holy Peoria &
Seattle Holy Paris Holy Tangiers Holy Moscow
Holy Istanbul
Holy time in eternity holy eternity in time holy the
clocks in space holy the fourth dimension holy
the fifth International holy the Angel in Moloch..
Holy the sea holy the desert holy the railroad holy the
locomotive holy the visions holy the hallucinations
holy the miracles holy the eyeball holy the
abyss...
Holy forgiveness..mercy! charity! faith! Holy! Ours!
bodies! suffering! magnanimity!
Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent
kindness of the soul!

(Berkeley, 1955)

live is where we live

photo by Karen Shorter

Happy Birthday!

the 30th Dec.

Find a New City...or a Planet

I've been just recently thinking about all that stuff about moving into a foreign city with no one who you'd known before and starting a living on your own and stuff. I've been thinking how easy and simple it seems to do it from all the stories I've read, heard or seen in a movie. Like for example all the artists coming to New York City in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's whether they were poets, painters, junkies, lost souls or whoever. Or like the musicians coming to London Camden Town or to Berlin later in the 20th century. How simple it is to just come and get to know all those people...like standing by the doors of Chelsea Hotel for days and nights and then suddenly bumping into Jimi Hendrix who actually starts to talk to you or San Francisco and smoking a joint with Allen Ginsberg or stuff. It just sounds so easy. Almost like a fairy tale. But I'm not sure it's that way now. Nor it was that way years ago. Of course it wasn't. People just tend to glorify past. Anyway, New York or London is certainly not that kind of city that would gladly welcome any searching person right now.

During a recent panel discussion and audience Q&A discussion in New York, someone asked Patti Smith if it was still possible for a young artist to move to New York City and live a similar life to the one that Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe and other artists did years ago. Patti responded by recalling her move to Manhattan during the 1967 "Summer of Love," when one could still rent a cheap apartment and "build a whole community of transvestites or artists or writers.'" As for today, however: "New York has closed itself off to the young and the struggling. But there are other cities. Detroit. Poughkeepsie. New York City has been taken away from you. So my advice is: Find a new city."

All in all, although I really would like to believe what Patti says, I'm kind of sceptical on this. In this age of the internet and all that globalisation, glocalisation, etc. getting more personal on the social networks and the internet in whole just means getting more alienated with other people. It may sound quite contradictionary but to me it makes sense: getting more personal = getting more drift away. One personally doesn't want to share every single thing about one's privacy with 200+ so called friends on facebook. Although of course there might be also some real friends (or we can say all of them are real but are just don't interested in all that stuff). However, the amount of time spent on these sites - eventhough it doesn't have to be that enormous in the end - is big enough to make one feel tired of sharing something about one's self. Not just sharing, but it might make you feel more alone, lonely even. Now it reminds me of the urbanisation and industrialisation impacts and effects on individuals. By all those changes a man felt alienated. Everyone else was alienated. The work he did was alienated from him. And now this feels like another level. I can't imagine how this will develop and where it will take us. It certainly is an exciting time, everything is changing more and more faster. Though, it's a bit scary too.

Anyway, back to the topic that I started with. I'm really not sure if it is possible to start something like the artists did in the last century. To live a life like they did...I don't know. It seems like finding a new city is not enough. Finding a new planet - maybe. Haha. Though now I'm not thinking of the "invaders nature" of (the western/?/) human race at all. There are a lot of issues that are not solved (that's a bad word in fact - "being solved" is not the intention anyway). Intolerance, homophobia and fear of everything that's not "yours" - those are the things that are still present eventhough I would have thought they are actually not the case now when we live in this new modern tolerant democratic and FREE society (let me smile at this). It is here. And I'm not going to reveal any solution, any suggestion how to improve the actual state to end this blog with some stupid MAKE LOVE NOT WAR statement. I don't have a clue. I just don't know.

Three White Wolves

Autobiography - Patti Smith

great human wild animal
amoral
an outlaw
keep watch over her

I was born in Illinois...mainline of America...
beat to shit...Chicago tenement
big red eyd rats in the night...dead rats to tease at night
Morning...I waired for the organ grinder
with my nickle for the monkeys tin cup
gingerbread man,,,cotton candy man
bad girl setting fire to the oil cans
run like hell escape on the icemans truck
I was a lisping ugly duck
but I had good luck

Mama filled me with fantasy...my bears danced at midnight
even my toybox had a soul
Mama called me her goat girl...little black sheep
I loved my brother and sister: Todd and Linda
we drank each others blood...were double blood brothers
we rolled in fields...three white wolves...we practiced telepathy
no one could seperate us...our minds were one
One, little one eye...I had an eyepatch...I walked like a duck
In the yards the nursery children cried Quack Quack
I didn't care and I didn't fight back.
I floated off...fantasy gave me fire...I was made of water
the moon caused tidal waves and I'd cry like a coyote.

I learned to drift...magik...taroc pack
I paraded in thirty disguises
and when people laughed at my carnival family
We didn't care...We had amour:
Daddy was a tap dancer...acrobat...wild horse
tracing pornography through the bible.
Mama was the dream of every sailor...bootlegged whiskey
called spirits from the evenings half moon...dream weaver
We braved hurricanes...a new baby came...I named her Kim
the neighbors were suspicious...they called us witches
we didn't care...we were laughing and dancing and damned
and there was always music
Hank Williams crying off the lonesomes
funny valentine...Patty Waters
beat of the drum...bartok
song of the swamp rat
rock and roll music
rock and roll music

Rythum
On my own...my own rythums:
rythum of the railroad
steamheat of the factory
Alabama blues on a migrant bus
but as a blueberry picker I failed...I dreamed too much
the berry crop died...my mother smiled.
I ran off...I traveled...I broke down
kept running...TB trapped in the lung...spitting on the railroad track
I shook...I drank...rythum of one too many rhums
Drunk and broke down I slinked home...grabbed my sisters hand
and away we run...we took a frighter to Iceland
railway to Paris...Pigalle and wine in a black dress
I joined the fire eaters and sang in the streets...using all I learned
from Lotte Lenya...Bob Dylan...and motorcycle rock n'roll
We lived near a wishing well...milked goats...capyured snails
and crawled back to New York.
New York my greatest love:
Rise of the building
flash of 42nd street...the pool halls...the hustlers
the trucks along tenth avenue
the helicopter yards
ghost of Jackson Pollock
human shit and dead dog floating on the Hudson River
moving...I kept moving
dreaming:
Panama...heart of adventure
the hot life of Mexico
the drunkard...the dock worker
Rythum...flash of white hair...winter
the Jesters...the Paragons
rise of the blue heron
breathe through the great rythum
scream through the Shepard
sing through that rock n'roll music
rock n'roll music
rock n'roll music
rock n'roll

Published in The Patti Smith Fan Club, Journal, #6,

July of 1978 and luckily seen the light of a day again

just recently thanks to Don from Eternal Cafe.