patti

just saw patti smith live a couple of days ago. the geniuses over here had organised both patti and the white stripes on at the same day at two different ends of the city. the debate and dilemma was fierce. on the one hand a historic figure on the other, one of the few worthwhile contemporary bands. on the one hand i had seen patti before -glorious providence i guess 6 or 7 (!) years ago- on the other there will be more chances to see the white stripes live. on the one hand 35 bucks, on the other 50 (!). you get the point. anyway we debated with elias and found ourselves at patti's.
and a good thing we did. apart from the concert which was great, we later learned the ws came on and played five songs and then jack white complained about the wind and they promised to be back. just like that. patti would never do that. and she didn't. we saw a 2 hour set of patti accompanied by her long time guitarist lenny kaye (leeennnnyyyy) and television's tom verlaine on slide! she rocked. i think when you factor in the beautiful weather and outdoor venue it was just as good as the providence concert, john. of course she closed with r'n'r nigger and broke all teh strings in her guitar. she also played because the night, people have the power and a great deal from easter and horses. sidenote: "people have the power" is being currently used in a tv ad here about a chain of stores selling cell phones. as patti was singing it all the rebels and punks were taking pictures of her with their cell phones unaware of the irony. we jumped around and screamed outside of society is where i wanna be and then got in our car and left. i think patti was smiling at the end of that. talk about personal conflict. anyway, all in all it was a great night and i didn't even mind the stupid communists handing out fliers for a socialist camp(!) to discuss war and peace and socialism and how to bring down capitalism. patti still has it!