go see a Patti Smith concert. She rocks.

go see a Patti Smith concert. She rocks.

Lots of squabbling here. How about checking out this video interview with her from Amoeba Music in Hollywood.

www.amoeba.co m/vid eo-player/patti-smith.html

Cota, I’m not blaming Patti Smith at all! She’s like a lot of us liberal types; introspective and self-questioning. That’s why she’s an artist! But baby boomers have taken responisbility for something that is not their fault. The current state of society has happened DESPITE them, not BECAUSE of them. I say more power to Patti Smith, and I hope the next generations produce many more like her!

hey “elmore”, Patti has opened up a mind or two with the power of the pen (or power of music). At least she is trying to do something positive. Give her a little credit and dont blame her “for the sins of her enemies”

hey “tree climber”, some good points, but, um, maybe just a little bit bitchy, dont ya think? Do you have anything nice to say? Come on and dump the piss out of your cheerios!!!

If you want to see how beautiful Patti is just check out the dozens of Mapplethorpe portraits. She wasn’t the main muse for nothing and Robert didn’t waste his time on anything less than beauty. As for the stupid illiterate posts, they don’t even merit a response. Go listen to “EASTER” and then tell me the woman isn’t a genius.

Rolling Stone magazine just had its 40th Anniversary. What struck me about the interviews within and the comments by the publisher was the abysmal lack of leadership by a political stirring spoon that has left the left muddy for nearly half a century. Yet they claim to have moral fortitude. “Over the past six years Rolling Stone has been unrelenting in our opposition to the coverage of the Bush administration for its domestic and international lawlessness. We are proud to have helped elect two presidents and our passionate efforts on behalf of George McGovern, Al Gore and John Kerry.”

Celebrities who have not only lived through this Summer of Love and beyond, but influenced the response to it, look back at that time through the haze of drugs and with a lack of clarity that was mystifying.

Bob Dylan was the least focused of the bunch. And yet the most idolized by the rest of the celebrities. Bob’s answer to why the promise of the 60’s never materialized boiled down to the culture not realizing how profound his personal talent really was. Pregnant pause! “Because I had – and perhaps still do have – that originality that others don’t have.”

Have you heard any of his new work? Don’t bother.

As helpful as that assessment of the situation was, Paul McCartney was equally rudderless.

“You just need to pick a cause and go for it. It’s all connected.” All you need is love-Paul? That and a couple of billion dollars and happiness is all yours?

Jane Fonda. Why would anyone listen to Jane Fonda after the plethora of mistakes her life has expressed? Shut-up and act, Jane! It’s the only thing you’ve ever done well.

She proclaims her life journey to be a Zeitgeist? Way to take responsibility for your life choices at 70. I’ll never forget how depressed I was in my twenties when I found myself face to face with a life-size cardboard cut out of the “far more slim than me” Jane Fonda in a video store. I was determined some forty something actress wasn’t going to get me depressed. I worked out endlessly to her video and added a few extra hours of exercise just to make my point. I did finally loose 10 pounds only to find out that she had been smoking a pack a day and stuffing her fingers down her throat to get that shape.

Now she’s helping young black women in Atlanta get abortions. Not that I have a problem with abortion, just the focus and funding of her new pet project. Perhaps she might look at the timing of her educational attempts, like before the unwanted pregnancy, not after?

There were others who’s self absorption is as incomprehensible as their fashion choices. Mick Jaeger comes to mind. His thought on what was interesting about the 60’s centered on the “salon” which naturally revolved around him. The parties he was invited to were the most interesting part of the 60’s because he was the center of attention. He had no musings about what to do concerning the future. It didn’t revolve around him so it seemed to be of no interest to him.

To be fair, he did write a song about at the beginning of the Iraq war “Sweet Neocon” that blasted George and all Americans for supported his decision. “How can anyone support this? The theory of the situation seemed to me to be an impossible dream, this mixture of democratic theory with a large portion of evangelical fervor thrown in. So I just wore this.”

Jackson Brown, who I was never a big fan of, seemed slightly more grounded, if not less self absorbed. What he experienced then and how he expresses his outrage to the situations we face concerning not only war but the environmental crisis makes sense. “I want to go on making music because I like doing it. I don’t think I’m in danger of making a whole lot of money… Go raise food in a way that doesn’t harm anybody and nourishes you, and that would be as spiritually well aligned a thing to do as trying to write music that will make people feel and think when they hear it”, said Brown.

He also quoted that old chestnut,”” Be the change that you wish to see”… It makes you want to apply your beliefs to your daily life. It makes you feel to do so will be significant. To imagine the world that you want to have is the most fundamental tonic we have , the thing that will produce the best food, the best art and the best solutions to the problems we ‘re faced with.”

I skipped right over the article and picture showing Keith Richards lined and disheveled wearing eye liner. Who cares what he thinks.

Stewart Brand, former publisher of the Whole Earth Catalogue and one of the Merry Pranksters who popularized LSD pronounced, “Drugs were a self-limiting engine while computers are a self-accelerating engine.

He admits that taking LSD with Ken Kesey did not accomplish the goal of increased awareness and evolution, but they caused the opposite effect.

“Taking a drug would probably make a problem worse in the long run and in the short run and probably both.”

He sees the world crisis, other than the environment, as far less devastating that what the world faced during WWII or any number of other crises we have lived through. He’s not afraid of nano-technology and he’s not unsure the impending climate changes are an evolutionary bad thing. Survival of the fittest, he implies.

In each interview the boomer generation representatives define themselves as the outcome of the Atomic Bomb and the threat of total annihilation it brought with it. But none of them elaborate on how we now avoid the same from North Korea or any number of terrorist cells. Not one mention of nuclear non-proliferation.

What they each recognized is a world increasingly separating the “haves” and the “have nots”, making my own personal and desperate attempts to stay a “have” very questionable.

At what cost do we separate ourselves? At what cost do the uneducated and disenfranchised stay powerless? Until they explode, die or kill?

How much can we continue to depend on what we are fed in the media as a source of the truth and inspiration when the publishers of the Rolling Stone magazine and others insist that they are only mirrors of our culture and not perpetrators of our culture?

They separate us from our problems by minimizing our responsibility for them and lend zero guidance or leadership about how to proceed, except by endorsing political candidates for the most powerful position in our world.

The media remains baffled and outraged while counting the money they make perpetuating that confusion.

There’s a new movement in dance coming out of Salt Lake City, a city know for it conservatism not creative abandon. Ballet, modern dance and rock and roll are converging.

I remember dancing on point to Jethrol Tull, Pink Floyd and Moody Blues in 71’ to 74’ with my ballet buddies. Free and unencumbered, we flew with the music. We were just messing around having fun. What we did for fun is now a dance movement. Unfortunately, that’s what the Rolling Stone was doing 40 years ago. Just messing around and having some fun writing about rock and roll, but they became the voice of a political movement without providing a path or purpose. Fortunately, it had a great beat.

Forty years later it needs to grow up and take responsibility for its influence. In its defense, Rolling Stone plans to publish two subsequent special Anniversary issues exploring the Summer of Love and the challenges of the future. This is their chance to prove their worth and me wrong.

If the magazine will perpetuate the discipline required, it can help get us through the environmental crisis. Personal discipline in consumption of gas, electricity and food is required of each of us. Education is the future, not just information. Making it available to all people across the globe will save us. Supporting developing technology like nano-solar plastics and hand crank lap-top computers will help us get there. Walking to the store for those little trips will make a difference. Raising funds for the homeless and teaching the illiterate to read does make a difference.

I don’t take enough responsibility. None of us can separately. We have to cross the political lines and do it together. The Summer of Love can be the beacon if we allow it to shine the way to accomplishment instead of self indulgence.

Rock on.

I don’t really know if it’s worth posting here because the level of the conversation is so low… I’d like to respond to something Patti Smith said in her interview– She says she’s disappointed in her generation because they failed to prevent the Iraq war and they failed to teach their children to be politically active. I think her generation has a lot to be proud of. The political, environmental, sexual, and racial consciousness we have today all derives from them. This world has moved very far since the 1950s and it’s thanks to them. The real problem is that the enemy has gotten much smarter. Corporations, the corporate media, and politicians have become much more adept at lying and obscuring the truth, while at the same time anesthetizing the current generation into believing there is nothing they can do about the world’s problems. Don’t blame the baby boomers for the sins of their enemies.

Inarticulate personal attacks and poor genitalia references. Not much changes does it. Whatever you think of her work and her impact, thank your lucky stars she can speak freely because it seems the only excuse for your poorly thought out sentiment.

maplebeachmoon….you must be a fat, ugly chick. well, fat, ugly chicks can sometimes get love too…

The posts are discouraging.
Is ‘looks’ the only concern for an artist?
DO u like Art?
So do you like poetry?

DO you understand ART as analagous to the power of Love itself?
Are you capable of responding to what I am saying?

The only reason she was semi relevant is because she acted like a man. She was a dirty slut and a junkie. 2 things that should be strictly forbidden to women. Now put your burka back on biatch!

Anyone can be a poet asshole. Watch I’ll show you: Roses are red violets are blue I have a big cock and Patti Smith has one too. As far as intelligence. She has just as much as any other burnt out junkie piece of shit.

You guys should shut it. Who cares if she’s not the most attractive woman? She’s a pioneer, and a poet. No doubt, a slam pig in the looks category, but who cares? She’s an american Icon.

cota doesn’t shave her stinky bush.

Speaking of ‘Horses’, she is definitely a little long in the tooth, I’ll give you that.

Her musical ability should be compared to an average high school band. Empty, soul-less lyrics……oh, and she’s friggin’ ugly, too. Like an old, ugly, whore-ish Ric Ocasek.

anyone who has listened to her music, read her writing and can still post such mean spirited crap about this amazingly talented woman is utterly clueless!! This woman is a Goddess!!! And sorry guys,,,Patti is as beauttifull as she is talented,,,,for those that can appriciate it,,,,,(go drool over Britney Spears…..we won’t mis ‘ya)

What are you guys saying?

As usual, when ignorant men are threatened by an intelligent woman, they automatically begin to bash her physical appearance.

She’s an ex junkie. So what.

She should seriously think about pulling a Cobain on us……do us all a freakin’ favor. Anything so I don’t have to look at that face….

txasbranco | 4/30/2007, 6:49 pm EST

“These two post sum up why Patti Smith needs to constantly be interviewed.”

Yes, let’s have ‘constant’ Patty Smith interviews…I think that would be effective torture for terror suspects, actually.

She’s as annoying as she is ugly. Looks like an ugly man.

Patti Smith

A dame w/
No address, covered
Noble banalities, no Nuggets

These two post sum up why Patti Smith needs to constantly be interviewed.

Why is this woman important? She isnt. Unless you are Mike Stipe…and thank your lucky stars you are not.

It’s a man.