can someone explain to me why this woman is so cool?

i don't get it. her music always seems so naively silly to me.

I am suspicious that it has something to do with drug connections. At one point, I'm pretty sure if you bought heroin from the same guy Burroughs scored from in the 70s you had a pretty good shot of being glorified and honored forever along with Nick Cave. C'mon, the damn record is named Horse.

actually it's called "horses."

and patti has more "cool" in one wrinkly old nipple than the entire current columbus music scene put together.

and that's even true despite the fact that she wrote that horrible "people have the power"song and still-to-this-day thinks it"s a good song . . .

LOL at user:BastardSuperstar thinking he knows ANYTHING about "the entire current columbus music scene"

I was kidding about the record being called Horse, BS.

I think Patti Smith and Nick Cave are as endlessly fascinating and likable people as their records are hit or miss and mostly boring. Ultimately their idea and image are far greater than their body of work, for me. They earn and hold their place in the rock and roll canon just fine and they obviously released records crucial to piecing together the rock and roll diaspora but that doesn't mean that their records ever spoke to me or that they ever need to.

In other words, you seem to have the credentials to explain what is so cool about Patti Smith which I lack. There is plenty to say about her coolness despite not being all that moved by her music. I always liked good lyrics. "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine" is a great line for example but I would never put on" Horses" again.

I have no way of quantifying her career vs. the present or past Columbus community but I bet she and Nick would be a lot of fun at the rock and roll potluck.

I saw some girls dancing at the Patti Smith show. They seemed so, idk, naively silly, or shumthing..

Shurely shum mishtake on my part, cuz, ya know, I was just standing there drinking beer and scratching my nuts..

well she married sonic, so shes got that going for her

beyond here lies nuthin..

no one has convinced me her art is worth paying attention to. this thread has done nothing to change that.

This is gonna sound way more dickish than it is meant to be.

Patti Smith is plenty great, however, If I am gonna take the time to listen to somebody doing William Blake poems over rock and roll music, I'll listen to the Fugs.

I have to agree. As likable as Patti smith is and as interesting as a figure I think if you keep digging and digging for brilliance in her work it would be like peeling an onion. You are not alone!

i was listening to this show back when air america was carried here in town, and unfortunately this is how i think of patti smith...

QUOTE (heinrich @ Sep 30 2004, 01:22 AM)
My impressions of Randi's and Patti's "discussion" -- after listening to it three times -- favors Randi. But let's let the facts guide us by looking at the timing of the dialogue in the first nine minutes or so:
First 30 seconds: Patti's music is played
Next 40: Randi praises Patti
Next 20: Randi starts to make a case that the music should have improved after W's war
Next 65: Patti interrupts before Randi can finish her point, and has misinterpreted Randi's point
Next 157: Randi riffs on W selling fear and the takeover of media by corporations
Next 96: Patti makes the point how Iraq infrastructure has been destroyed
Next 29: Randi amplifies Patti's point with specific detail
Next 19: Patti's notes that people are not asking questions.
Next 29: Rand and Patti go back and forth on corporate influence; Patti praises Nader; Randi criticizes Nader
Next 12: Patti rebuts Randi with "That's not true" and "That's a very glib statement"
Next 58: Randi gives her Prada shoe analogy, says Nader had done some great things, but that he's changed.
Next 10: Patti says she doesn't agree and "I don't want to argue with you on your show," to which Randi good-naturedly say's "Oh, come on (giggle)"
At this point, Patti says to Randi "Your point is narrow," accuses Randi of talking 90% of the time, and dismisses Randi with "If you really want to talk to me about Ralph Nader in any meaningful way, we can do it afterwards."
If you add up the amount of time each spoke during the first nine minutes or so, counting 29 seconds where it was going back and forth evenly, you get 261 seconds for Patti and 333 seconds for Randi, which means Patti (and her song) had 44% of the air time and Randi had 56%. This is actually a pretty even balance up to the point Patti accuses Randi of monopolizing 90% of the air time.
Also, the conversation was very civil until Patti said "That's a very glib statement," which is a putdown of Randi. Even then, Randi remained polite.
After Randi, in all good humor, encouraged Patti to argue the facts, Patti returns with "Your point is narrow," which is again an insulting putdown to Randi, and then the "If you really .. . in any meaningful way .. ." which is downright rude and condescending to Randi.
Up to this point, Randi had been very agreeable and very open in allowing Patti to make her point.
After this, the gloves were off and I think Patti's stonewalling and refusal to engage in the debate reflects poorly on her. Yes, Randi got passionate and probably stayed on the Nader point too long. But she had every justification. Patti should have done her homework before coming on the show, and should have been more polite.

i can't stand one second of patti smith music (which she had little to nothing to do with) past "piss factory" (which is great), but her book 'babel' is fantastic. also, browse thru 'blank generation revisited' or something similar someday and i bet you come away with at least a little idea of why she's so Cool™.

btw.. she was on colbert a few weeks back and it was alright.
she was Definitely less confrontational.. she let stephen do most of the talking. deer in headlights effect. said almost nothing.

with rhodes she was all up in her grill. randi was very disappointed with smith as was i. she was like shell shocked cause she was a big fan. really upset cause an interview with one of her heroes went horribly wrong.