A quick Patti Smith story from last night's reading

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by maxnix, Oct 12, 2015.

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  1. maxnix

    maxnix Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Wanted to share a quick story . .

    The family and I went to see Patti Smith last night at Dominican University in Illinois, reading from "M Train", telling stories, etc. I have seen her do this several times, and it's always a lot of fun and a moving experience. Usually, she takes a break and takes (and tolerates!) a few audience questions . . mostly "what's your favorite poem" and the like.

    Last night, however, a woman stood up and told Patti that she had a bag of clothes that belonged to her 40 years ago and would like to return it. Smith (and everybody) looked totally confused, but asked the person to come up to the stage and hand her the bag. Patti looked inside and just froze.
    Turns out that 40 years ago the band's truck was stolen in Chicago, all their equipment/clothes/personal things . . basically everything they owned. These clothes among them. So Patti pulls out these items of clothing and talks about them (the shirt she wore on the Rolling Stone cover, the Keith Richards T-Shirt you've seen her wear in a hundred photos) and then gets to the bottom of the bag. Here was a bandana that her beloved late brother had worn and then given to her, and she starts to weep. Before long, half the audience was crying with her.

    Naturally, people in the audience were asking where/why/how?? but Patti just put her hands out and said she doesn't care how, she's just so grateful to have these priceless items back. Amazing. The rest of the program, after she piled everything on the podium, she couldn't stop touching them, eventually slowly slipping the bandana into her pocket . . and proceeded to do a ripping version of Because the Night with her son on acoustic guitar.
    What a night.
     
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  2. royzak2000

    royzak2000 Senior Member

    Location:
    London,England
    Thanks for that, made me weep and I wasn't even there.
     
  3. maxnix

    maxnix Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I see what you're saying, but there was no way this was manufactured for the moment. You had to see it.
     
  4. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame

    Location:
    DC
    Wish someone took video of this
     
  5. PlushFieldHarpy

    PlushFieldHarpy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana
    You're right. I deleted the original post. And if you want to remove it you can take yours off too. Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt anyone's appreciation.
     
  6. maxnix

    maxnix Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Hey, Plush, I didn't take it that way at all! I'm the most cynical b&^$^%d I know, and in a different situation this would have given me pause, but you had to see Patti's face (plus the woman giving it to her was so nervous I thought she was going to keel over).
     
  7. Jimmy B.

    Jimmy B. .

    Location:
    .
    Thank you, that's amazing.
     
  8. Guadalahonky

    Guadalahonky Forum Resident

    Thank you for that story.
     
  9. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    Truly amazing story, thanks for sharing!
     
  10. peter

    peter Senior Member

    Location:
    Paradise
    Nice.
     
  11. kouzie

    kouzie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Batavia, IL
    I'm not a big Patti Smith fan, but that was awesome.
     
  12. frog12

    frog12 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado
  13. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    incredie story. Wow!
     
  14. giantleech

    giantleech Lord of all fevers and plagues

    Cool story, bro. (meant genuinely this time, with no sarcasm at all.)
     
  15. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    What a great post. Thanks OP!
     
  16. Ignatius

    Ignatius Forum Resident

    Saw her on "Democracy Now!" last week and here she is, quite the raconteur
     
    spinalcrackerbox likes this.
  17. uncarvedbloke

    uncarvedbloke Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK - SOT
    Sometimes life is just ace.
     
    RobCos02330 likes this.
  18. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Wonderful story, glad you were there and told us.
     
  19. Wow ! :tiphat:
     
  20. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    What a great moment to experience along with Patti and everyone who was present. Thanks for sharing it with us, it was quite poignant.
     
  21. maxnix

    maxnix Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I'm a lousy clandestine photographer, but here goes. The white thing at Patti's elbow is the pile of clothes on the podium, minus the bandana already resting comfortably in her jacket pocket.
    [​IMG]
     
  22. Joe N

    Joe N Forum Resident

    Great story. Thanks for sharing it.
     
  23. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
    Wow!
     
  24. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas
    Thank you for sharing this story.
     
  25. emceemc

    emceemc New Member

    I was at the Smith event and happened to be immediately behind the group that gave the gift. Nothing indicated the moment to be manufactured. The two main people came in later than their friends, saying that they had gotten lost. Before the show they showed the Keith Richards shirt to the friends. I assumed it to be a replica they hoped to get signed. The interaction was: "We have a present for you!", yelled by a couple of them. Smith "Present?". "It belongs to you!" Smith: "It belongs to me?" Smith waved her up, looked in the bag, and said, "That's my stuff". She then recounted the theft and described the items like Maxsnix describes. Later, an attendee yelled, "I think we all want to know how you got that stuff". The woman responded, "I used to live with some crazy people".

    If you are conspiracy-minded, I suppose that you could cling to the fact that afterwards Patti quickly located in her book a passage about the importance of objects, but the moment was genuine.

    I'm sure there's video. Many people around me were periodically shooting throughout the show. It was a great moment in a great event. She was in stand-up comic mode and in a great mood all night. It was nice to see her speak without the filter of an interviewer.

    I doubt an image of the red bandana can be located. they're just aren't enough pictures of Todd Smith out there.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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