ON a cold morning in 1955, walking to Sunday school, I was drawn to the voice of Little Richard wailing “Tutti Frutti” from the interior of a local boy’s makeshift clubhouse. So powerful was the connection that I let go of my mother’s hand.
Rock ’n’ roll. It drew me from my path to a sea of possibilities. It sheltered and shattered me, from the end of childhood through a painful adolescence. I had my first altercation with my father when the Rolling Stones made their debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Rock ’n’ roll was mine to defend. It strengthened my hand and gave me a sense of tribe as I boarded a bus from South Jersey to freedom in 1967.
Rock ’n’ roll, at that time, was a fusion of intimacies. Repression bloomed into rapture like raging weeds shooting through cracks in the cement. Our music provided a sense of communal activism. Our artists provoked our ascension into awareness as we ran amok in a frenzied state of grace.
My late husband, Fred Sonic Smith, then of Detroit’s MC5, was a part of the brotherhood instrumental in forging a revolution: seeking to save the world with love and the electric guitar. He created aural autonomy yet did not have the constitution to survive all the complexities of existence.
Before he died, in the winter of 1994, he counseled me to continue working. He believed that one day I would be recognized for my efforts and though I protested, he quietly asked me to accept what was bestowed — gracefully — in his name.
Today I will join R.E.M., the Ronettes, Van Halen and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the eve of this event I asked myself many questions. Should an artist working within the revolutionary landscape of rock accept laurels from an institution? Should laurels be offered? Am I a worthy recipient?
I have wrestled with these questions and my conscience leads me back to Fred and those like him — the maverick souls who may never be afforded such honors. Thus in his name I will accept with gratitude. Fred Sonic Smith was of the people, and I am none but him: one who has loved rock ’n’ roll and crawled from the ranks to the stage, to salute history and plant seeds for the erratic magic landscape of the new guard.
Because its members will be the guardians of our cultural voice. The Internet is their CBGB. Their territory is global. They will dictate how they want to create and disseminate their work. They will, in time, make breathless changes in our political process. They have the technology to unite and create a new party, to be vigilant in their choice of candidates, unfettered by corporate pressure. Their potential power to form and reform is unprecedented.
Human history abounds with idealistic movements that rise, then fall in disarray. The children of light. The journey to the East. The summer of love. The season of grunge. But just as we seem to repeat our follies, we also abide.
Rock ’n’ roll drew me from my mother’s hand and led me to experience. In the end it was my neighbors who put everything in perspective. An approving nod from the old Italian woman who sells me pasta. A high five from the postman. An embrace from the notary and his wife. And a shout from the sanitation man driving down my street: “Hey, Patti, Hall of Fame. One for us.”
I just smiled, and I noticed I was proud. One for the neighborhood. My parents. My band. One for Fred. And anybody else who wants to come along.
Oh yeah. :) Just watched all three YouTube videos. In case they go poof the first has some comments by a young Patti on the transition from being a fan to being a performer, then an excellent performance of "Horses."
Second clip--great also--everyone knows the tune, I think.
Third clip is very raw--amateur video from the place where many of Patti's punk rock contemporaries got started. This is Patti paying respects to CGBG's on it's last night before closing forever. It's just fun to see her rocking and I think Flea from RHCP's is backin' her up on of all things, "My Generation."
Patti Smith. Watch the middle YouTube clip. She is so much more than a "poet & perfomer," as the article attribution so primly states. So much more.
Cool about Stipe's comments (and that you had a chance to interview him).
Wouldn't surprise me if a few other people got into writing & performing due to Patti's influence.
/EDIT Just watched some of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame inductions at http://spinner.aol.com/rockhall/2007-induction-ceremony. Hadn't realized that REM was being honoured as well--and sure enough Stipe stated that (he) wouldn't be (there) if it weren't for Patti Smith." :)
Posted by: Cyn | March 14, 2007 at 11:01 PM
"Horses" is one of my favorite albums. I actually interviewed Michael Stipe when I was covering music as a journalist and he told me it was "Horses" that inspired him to write and perform music. Kind of cool. Glad she's in.
Posted by: Dan | March 14, 2007 at 04:58 PM