The Patti Smith Group’s first four albums starting with “Horses”, “Radio Ethiopia”, “Easter” and my personal favorite “Wave” were extraordinarily unique rock and roll albums with great lyrics written by the poet Smith and performed by a great group of musicians led by guitarist Lenny Kaye. The Patti Smith Group are true artists in the vein of Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen, who happened to pen her biggest “hit”, the surprisingly radio friendly, “Because the Night”. Patti Smith and the band s also carried with them the old school rock and toll cool vibe, mystique and swagger of a Keith Richards. I was heavily into the Patti Smith Group for quite awhile and tried to see the band live every time they came around. I have got to admit that these three shows are not bringing back any particular memories and until I went to write this I would have thought my first Capital Theatre concert was with Asia some years later. The last times I saw the Patti Smith Group was when they opened for Neil Young and Crazy Horse on the Psychedelic Pill tour. I then saw Patti Smith and I think her daughter perform at City Winery where Michael Stipe of R.E.M. was seated at her table. I do not remember if Stipe, who was sporting a long beard at the time, performed that evening, but he did play at the David Bowie City Winery tributes sometime after Bowie passed where he stole the show with an interesting take on “Ashes to Ashes” (as I recall).

The interconnections in rock and roll are quite extraordinary if you think about them, and one could probably put together a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” type game with a whole list of rock and roll artists if you were so inclined.

The Patti Smith Group rocks!

Year of the Monkey

Rock on!

GQ