Patti Smith

Hello everybody, Here are a few shots, more to come. So happy to be back with wonderful memories all connected with books manuscripts and coffee, of course….

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

Hello everybody,

Yesterday we played at Riot Fest in Chicago in the rain. The people were great, I have to say they lifted my spirits. I am resting tonight, reading Graham Greene and stopping to say hello. Thank you for waiting for me, I appreciate it so much.

A few pictures, works friends, and good autumnal wishes.

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

Tony Shanahan on stand up base and Jackson on guitar. I loved this song when I was young. That love has not diminished. We are recording in Electric Lady Studio at the tail end of the pandemic. It’s such a nice video, I thought you may like it. Im still grappling with my challenges but doing fine….

Thank you all for your supportive, emotional and poetic comments. For those who wanted to know why I didn’t cast blame, there were no facts those first days, and lies and jumping to false conclusions lead to attacking Iraq. My diary pages that week were not focused on blame and revenge, it’s not how I operate. Almost all of you seemed to understand that. Thank you. See you soon.

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

Hello everybody,

Quite tired but happy with the work we accomplished. I am just including a few pictures. A stormy sky, a golden half moon. Annapolis is the historic capital of Maryland. It’s amazing to see so many pre revolutionary war structures. I was by the water and watched the storm clouds build above the calm waters. The Quartet had a really nice show there. Though I had to negotiate some challenges I was happy to be singing for the people. I took two phone videos. Here is the second less than ten minutes later. The whole sky changed and soon after torrential rains.

And that night a golden half moon. Hope everyone is well. I will report tomorrow.

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

Hello everyone,

It was nice to talk to you. I look forward to passing through this particular challenge, but being as productive as possible. Sorry the video is grainy. P.S I did see the moon, misty and cloudy not red yet but ever beautiful.

Below is Peter Cullen, a very fine man, the voice of Optimus Prime, who passed away today at 85. And beneath is a work by the beautiful Palestine artist Sliman Mansour who passed away at 79.

The world mourns the wondrous Dolly Parton who was as great as philanthropist s a singer songwriter. So we lost three very kind, humanistic souls this week. How lucky we were to have them.

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Hello everyone,

I am home rebuilding strength and hopefully finish my book and send more messages. My daughter Jesse Paris is taking good care of me and I am happy to be back in New York. Here are a few pictures of our last days in Rome and Milan.

Our tour ended in Milan on July 29th, my father’s birthday. Jesse shot the full moon overhead. The people were filled with happy energy that was infectious.

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

Hello everybody

I’m on the Eurostar with the fellows en route to Paris. Last night we had a great job at the Ghent jazz festival. Much improvising as it was the jazz festival. An impromptu version of Footnote to Howl celebrating Allen Ginsberg’s 100th year, A story about a stolen panel: The Judgement, from the great Altarpiece, and a take on our fireflies.

I am including some snapshots traveling to Ghent, and revisiting places I love.

I will write again from Paris, still have pictures from Arles. A time of continual motion, for sure…

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

Hello everyone, I am writing from Arles. Tomorrow it will be 98 degrees. I have found working in these high temperatures very challenging. But I have completed my work.

The audio above represents some of the audio work I do with Soundwalk. In the next couple days I will send pictures from the exhibition.

Below is an excerpt from my first post on Substack. I was writing about Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterpiece Andrei Rublev. I am including it as July 4th is one of the great icon painters feast day. It also marks the opening of the Exhibition that I collaborated with Soundwalk Collective for the Hoffman Foundation. Ten short films are part of the exhibition. It includes our homage to Tarkovsky and Rublev; the entire soundtrack which I improvised is above. I am sending it on Independence Day as it addresses the duality of the Artist’s blessed burden, and considers his dilemma. What does it mean to be free….

Excerpt:

The film opens with a breathtaking prologue wherein a visionary peasant with the heart of Leonardo successfully flies in a makeshift air balloon, beholding a panorama from a perspective that none have seen before, save the birds, or perhaps Icarus and ascending saints. The sequence closes with a dark horse rolling on his back then slowly rising by a glistening pond. Andrei Rublev appears in the first part called The Jester Summer 1400. We see him from above, reluctantly leaving his monastery, questioning the validity of his artistic path. As he tramped through heavy rains I felt his shivering body beneath his coarse robes. Pelted by a sad splendor, I was thinking.

The seasons change, the years go by. The music is holy, the rituals frozen and sad. The wanderings of the icon painter continue as a silvery dust seems to settle on every frame. A long film, the most perfect I had ever seen, so perfect it made me sick. I was struck with the sense of watching a documentary, shot in the onset of the 15th century. A black and white pageant of poetic realism.

I was transfixed by the overexposed Russian landscape where ice and smoke brutally unite. Winter expanses invaded and corrupted. Blood spattering nature’s canvas, echoed by a rage of paint smeared on chapel walls. Andrei endlessly tramps tumultuous Russia, confounded by nightingales, images of Jesus in the snow, and the crushed neck of a swan. He sacrifices his brush and speech, seeking unattainable peace, while turning his back on his God given gift.

Please drink a lot of water and considering these lines of the Declaration we so cherish. I hope you find the audio inspiring…

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Happy Independence Day.

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe

Hello everybody,

I am pretty much on my way to Arles. A few loose ends and off I go. I’m feeling very much like Uncle Wiggily embarking on a lone roadtrip. Jesse is indeed on a roadtrip. She left for Nashville after our small but loving birthday celebration, including a ride on the ferry and a visit to the ocean in Rockaway Beach.

It was a perfect day to be together and a perfect day to fly.

I hope everyone stays healthy, does good work, and considers the plight of others. Our prayers and donations for the people of Venezuela. The fact that our government struck without provocation and left the country in a state of administrative chaos only adds to their terrible challenges. We must do what we can, there are no small efforts. Every positive effort is indeed meaningful.

I will send a message soon. Good wishes to all…

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pattismith.substack.com/subscribe