PATTI SMITH IS ROCK'N'ROLL

"She's not rock'n'roll." I'm dumbfounded because, to me-- and untold numbers of others-- that is precisely what she is. But the fella just quoted there has been... part, maybe even a very great part... of keeping Patti Smith from being inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. I'm on the nominating committee. Every year she gets nominated. Sometimes I'm close enough to the chairman so that I get the honor of nominating her. Sometimes she gets the most votes on the committee. But then it goes out to the voters and she never gets inducted. I ask why. "She's not rock'n'roll." I'm more than dumbfounded. Patti Smith IS THE SPIRIT OF ROCK'N'ROLL, especially all that is smart and edgy and eternally worthwhile in rock'n'roll.

If you've been reading DWT, you know I'd be lying my ass off if I said I love everyone. But suspend your judgment for a moment or two and at least believe me when I tell you I feel joy for everyone who gets inducted into the Hall of Fame-- not just my friends, not just my heroes, but even people I didn't vote for. I worship at the feet of Joni Mitchell, one of the most important writers of our time (and I certainly did vote for her) but is she "more rock'n'roll" than Patti Smith? Is Steely Dan? Is James Taylor? Is Bonnie Raitt? These are all absolutely great artists but they are rock'n'roll and Patti Smith isn't? LaVern Baker,
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Bill Joel, The Moonglows and Ruth Brown are rock'n'roll but Patti Smith isn't?

The first time I saw Patti play live I was visiting NYC-- I lived in Holland at the time, boycotting America because of the war against VietNam-- and my old bud Sandy said he wanted to bring me to hear the greatest rocker he'd ever seen. (Sandy managed bands and produced records, working with bands like Blue Oyster Cult, The Clash, Black Sabbath, The Dictators, Pavlov's Dog...) He brought me to the basement of some dodgey church. Patti, Lenny Kaye and Richard Sohl were on stage. My mind was utterly blown and re-opened to the possibilities of rock'n'roll. I agreed with Sandy that she was greatness personified but I said what she does could never be captured on record.

Oh, was I ever wrong! 30 years ago Arista released HORSES, one of the most influential and inspired and inspiring records ever made. Every song is perfect and every song helps define what rock'n'roll has evolved into. Yesterday Patti invited me to see her play a low-key show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, a sort of celebration of the anniversary of HORSES. She was accompanied by combinations of no one, Lenny Kaye, her daughter Jesse, her road manager Barry and Flea. My friend who says she's not rock'n'roll should have been there to see how the spirit of rock'n'roll was alive and well and glowing and vibrant on that stage. One poem read by Patti from a book is as rock'n'roll as anyone ever inducted into the Hall of Fame.

I didn't run into my old friend Karen at the show. She was there though. Karen is HITS Magazine's president and alternative music editor. I've known her since she was the music director of he college radio station decades ago. I just ran into her online and I asked her what she thought of Patti. "I heard HORSES the day it came out at my local record store/head shop. I was 14 and the very embodiment of awkward, and, as with many at that stage of development, music was my salvation. Springsteen and Rundgren were it for me--a female musical savior had never occurred to me--Linda Rondstadt, Helen Reddy and Olivia Newtwon-John dominated the radio. Hearing Patti Smith for the first time was a revelation. I asked the store manager if I could look at the album--wait, here's this amazing voice, on a WOMAN.
How is this possible? I brought home the album and everytime I tried to play it, I was ridiculed by my friends who preferred the Dead or Boston or, I'm sad to say, Styx. And then, maybe a year later, I saw Patti Smith on the Mike Douglas Show. She was just so so cool, but in a way I'd never seen before. That moment changed my life. Maybe I didn't have to conform to make my mark. Maybe my (different) point of view was as valid as the status quo. Patti paved the way for other strong women like Chrissie Hynde, Exene, PJ Harvey [who was at the show last night] and countless others. 23 years into a career in the music business, I always think about the life-long impact that one artist, one record, one television performance can have on someone. If any 14 year old girl (whose fragility is of greater concern to me than their male counterparts) feels empowered by the music of any of the artists I've worked with--either by hearing it on the radio or in concert, then my job has been a success."

Earlier last night I had welled up at soundcheck when she started singing some of the HORSES era classics. The voice is timeless, so evocative, so thrilling and inspiring. Between soundcheck and show time she told me about her last few weeks: a trip to Namibia with a troupe of German opera singers making a move, a show and some horseback riding in Iceland, this tour, a new book of poetry AUGURIES OF INNOCENCE... She was rushing back to NYC today to play at Madison Square Garden with this year's Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame inductees U2 (who didn't need her to sell any seats in the sold out arena but want her on the show for the influence she had on them and for the truth and beauty and the sheer rock'n'roll experience she offers to their audience.

If you've never seen Patti, do yourself a favor-- catch a show as soon as you can. There is no one better. And, unlike many, she's not resting on any laurels. Patti Smith is as exciting and vibrant and challenging today as she was when I saw her in the church basement 33 years ago-- as a performer and as a songwriter.

People Have the Power

I was dreaming in my dreaming
of an aspect bright and fair
and my sleeping it was broken
but my dream it lingered near
in the form of shining valleys
where the pure air recognized
and my senses newly opened
I awakened to the cry
that the people / have the power
to redeem / the work of fools
upon the meek / the graces shower
it's decreed / the people rule

The people have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power

Vengeful aspects became suspect
and bending low as if to hear
and the armies ceased advancing
because the people had their ear
and the shepherds and the soldiers
lay beneath the stars
exchanging visions
and laying arms
to waste / in the dust
in the form of / shining valleys
where the pure air / recognized
and my senses / newly opened
I awakened / to the cry

Refrain

Where there were deserts
I saw fountains
like cream the waters rise
and we strolled there together
with none to laugh or criticize
and the leopard
and the lamb
lay together truly bound
I was hoping in my hoping
to recall what I had found
I was dreaming in my dreaming
god knows / a purer view
as I surrender to my sleeping
I commit my dream to you

Refrain

The power to dream / to rule
to wrestle the world from fools
it's decreed the people rule
it's decreed the people rule
LISTEN
I believe everything we dream
can come to pass through our union
we can turn the world around
we can turn the earth's revolution
we have the power
People have the power ...