HOW-OF-WHY
Friday, January 25, 2008
WHERE BEAUTY GOES UNRECOGNIZED
Some were friends, loves, peers, my own daughters. Some were artists, comedians and grifters.
Some I never met, the dead heros and heroines. And, of course rock n' roll has saved my life again and again.
The new and old poem/songs of Bob Dylan continue to bring me solace, courage and even hope in sometimes hopeless times and situations... Do you hear Patti Smith. I listen to her as often as I am able. And even for her, I have to thank Bob Dylan.
In 1995 Patti was lost and hiding. A widowed housewife, with two young son's, who had once surfaced as American Music’s Princess Punk Poet and Rocker, blasting out soul searing poetry set to music so it would mainline right into the listener’s heart.
Life brings you heartbreak as a wonderful/hideous choice. When your heart is broken you can hide it and armor it and close your self to all of life's lessons and gifts. You will then grow cold and adopt ways that maintain and deepen a living death...
Or you can see that the heartbreak miraculously has opened you and your heart and let the Pain, Confusion and Healing expand you and your understanding and capacity to love unconditionally and with indefinable but amazing compassion.
Sometimes you need an act of kindness to open the door. And that is when the savior comes in, often thru a window accidently left open rather than the front entrance.
Patti Smith's friend and mentor, the controversial artist Robert Mapplethorpe, had died. Her partner in life and rock, Fred "Sonic" Smith and her brother Todd had died within two weeks of each other. Her parents had also recently passed away. She was hiding out in Michigan. She didn't drive a car. That is not so remarkable in NYC, but in the upper midwest, it is a serious brach of Americanism. And then there were her two boys.
Patti had not performed for close to 15 years in NYC. Bob Dylan invited her to do a show with him. He arranged for her to get to NYC and the Beacon Theatre.
As a 12 year old New Jersey girl she had been schooled as a Jehovah's witness. "I quit the Jehovah's witnesses," she said, "because they said the Museum of Modern Art wasn't going to be around after Armageddon." She heard James Brown. She dropped out of teachers college. No teen boyfriend matched her desires, so she adopted Rimbaud as her fantasy boyfriend.
Then she heard Bob Dylan singing with Joan Baez. Better a live poet than a dead poet as a fantasy lover.
She studied Buddhism, and prayed every day for the Dalai Lama, She saved up money and traveled to Paris with her sister, learned to be a street busker and a pickpocket, met more poets.
She studied Buddhism, and prayed every day for the Dalai Lama, She saved up money and traveled to Paris with her sister, learned to be a street busker and a pickpocket, met more poets.
Once in NYC, Sam Shepherd would bring her onstage to yell her poems while he banged on drums. Sam taught her how to tune her guitar and gifted her with a '30s black Gibson, that she still plays. She swam in the shallow pool of NYC celebrity for a time. In 1977 she fell off a stage while performing and her eyesight was damaged.
Patti Smith disappeared off the scene and the map.
Fast forward to 1995. Bob Dylan finds out where she is and arranges to get her to NYC to perform once again.
Fast forward to 1995. Bob Dylan finds out where she is and arranges to get her to NYC to perform once again.
Patti, barefoot, in a long baggy T-shirt was back and was better than ever. After their set’s her teen fantasy lover, her idol, her savior, Bob Dylan asks her to sing a duet of his song DARK EYES.
“They tell me to be discreet for all intended purposes,
They tell me revenge is sweet and from where they stand, I'm sure it is.
But I feel nothing for their game
“They tell me to be discreet for all intended purposes,
They tell me revenge is sweet and from where they stand, I'm sure it is.
But I feel nothing for their game
where beauty goes unrecognized,
All I feel is heat and flame and all I see are dark eyes.”
Patti was born the same year as I was, 1946. In 2007 she was inducted into The Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame. At the end of the induction the gathered musicians sang Patti’s anthemic song, PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER. Every time I hear it, to paraphrase Lou Reed, my life is saved by Rock N’ Roll.
All I feel is heat and flame and all I see are dark eyes.”
Patti was born the same year as I was, 1946. In 2007 she was inducted into The Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame. At the end of the induction the gathered musicians sang Patti’s anthemic song, PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER. Every time I hear it, to paraphrase Lou Reed, my life is saved by Rock N’ Roll.
Labels: bob dylan, patti smith, saviors
posted by m j m # 1:58 PM 
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