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Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Godmother Of Punk Reads From Chapters Of Her Life

Jessica Donath |
January 30, 2010 | 9:04 a.m. PST

Staff Reporter
patti_smithf.jpg
Rock legend Patti Smith read from "just kids."
(photo by Jessica Donath)

The "Kamasutra," the "Sex Game Bible" and a picture book on how to make love like a porn star cluttered the podium on one side, Ozzy Osbourne's biography rested on shelves on the other.

"Book Soup," a small bookstore on Sunset in West Hollywood was a fitting environment for punk rock legend Patti Smith's signing and reading of her first non-poetry book "Just Kids" on Friday.

"I promised Robert [Mapplethorpe] one day before he died that I would tell our story," Smith said to hundreds of devoted fans of her motive for writing the book. In the packed, narrow space, she took fans on a tour through her early years in New Jersey to her relationship with photographer Mapplethorpe and their time at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City.  

"Before I was 14 I was really cool. I was the leader of a small loyal army. Then it went down hill for a while," Smith said about a chapter of her childhood. To the people who stood in line for hours and braved Friday night traffic, the singer/songwriter turned author was still pretty cool.

"She is a living icon," said Dana Kline, who came with her friends to see 63-year-old Smith in action. Kline admired her idol's ability to surpass the boundaries of genres and extend beyond labels.

"She was a huge influence on punk rock, feminism and politics," said Kline.

Smith was flattered by the positive reception her literary debut received. She told her audience that she never expected to write a book "or make a record," and rewarded her loyal listeners with more stories of her romantic and humble beginnings in New York.

"Everybody in Jersey was bothered by how I looked. In New York nobody cared," she said, summarizing the sense of liberation she felt when she moved to the Big Apple. Smith wrote with a lot of affection and humor about her not-always wild past.

"I was far behind the times and took my first acid trip in 1974."

The bemused public also learned that Smith had no idea the now infamous "Woodstock" festival was happening at the time.

"We had no TV and no radio. Sometimes certain facts just passed me by."

Fans who stood in long lines to attend the reading were not disappointed. "I have always appreciated her music, her writing ability and her amazing poetry," said Bruce Fischer, a vocational musician and long-time fan. 

Smith ended the evening with her song "My Blakean Year," performed on a guitar provided by a fan.

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