Sunday night, October 15-16, 2006, I caught much of the final show at CBGB's via their website's live stream. Raw, real cool, fitting, Patti Smith's performance included frenetic backing by Lenny Kaye, Richard Lloyd, and Flea and ranged from spoken word to anarchic anthemic guitar clash.
Patti Smith walked the stage, put on glasses, read from sheets of paper, checked lyrics, did the hair flip, took her boots off, danced barefoot, sang, talked and occasionally played electric guitar.
Every once in a while, she took a short break and the band played on, doing things like Ramones medleys ("beat on the brat with a baseball bat, oh yeah! oh yeah!"). Including "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker," oh yeah!
I couldn't hear everything Patti said even with the volume cranked to max, but it seemed profound and ruminating and she looked like the poet-rocker she is. Well attuned to the world, she and the band performed The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" (allusions to nuclear war and other violence, as well as that which is "a kiss away. . .") and her own recently penned "Without Chains," about Gitmo detentions. In the end, she did songs from Horses (1975) and said farewell for now, very much alive and kicking just shy of sixty years old (December birthday).Today's Rune: The Self.
Viva Patti Smith! Let's hope for a better CBGB's relocation site than Vegas, unless they want Wayne Newton to be the main attraction.
3 comments:
Patti was once a good friend of Robert Mapplethorpe.
I loved Patti Smith's spoken word/song "Piss Factory." It was totally appropriate for the Detroit automobile setting.
Thanks for the comments -- Patti and Mapplethorpe lived in the Hotel Chelsea for a good while. They "dated," though he was gay. I remember Patti saying something about William S. Burroughs, "It's hard to get him into bed. I like that in a man." Wicked!
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