But, while informal, an air of inspiration still permeates the auditorium. Patti starts off with her countless inspirations. She reminisces her passion for art springing from books, “I loved everything about them,” she says.

She talks of finding characters she felt connected with, especially Jo of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. “I got attached to Jo, and she became a writer. And it clicked with me…People write books. They aren’t these magical figures that fall from the gods.”

Flash forward, and we know that Patti followed suit, compelled to write and absorb her surroundings.

This is especially relevant to her 2010 memoir, Just Kids, an exploration of her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe, which claimed the National Book Award for nonfiction. Even with this accomplishment, among her many, in tow, Patti humanizes herself.

She makes sure to underline her pitfalls as an artist, remembering times where she found it impossible to create. Yet she views these frustrations in a silver light: “They’re good moments…Sometimes you get sort of dogged and can’t relax.”

Instead of a roadblock these were opportunities for her to deeply live her life, to remember her experiences with utmost clarity. Experiences she remembered so well that she could write about them later. 

It’s not long before another facet of her creativity surfaces: her music. She steps center stage, dedicating each song to someone. “My Blakean Year,” “It’s a Dream,” and the iconic “Because the Night” just to name a few.

The night winds down with Patti’s thoughts on grief and loss. She explains how she’s transformed the loss of her husband, mother, friends, “and dog,” and channeled them into her art. Grief is “just like love,” she remarks, “It’s similar because the person you’ve lost is reanimated. When you channel the essence of loss, it’s a beautiful thing.” In this way, her work acts as a sort of elegy—namely a number of songs on Horses which are dedicated to various icons of her generation that had passed on. 

Ending the night with audience questions—many delving into the roots of various lyrics—and a few more songs, Patti takes her leave to thunderous applause. It’s a graceful exit that makes us feel as if we’ve just had a private conversation with the rock icon.

We feel we know her, not just as an artist, but as a human being, and that’s a beautiful thing.